President Obama Talked Immigration Reform While Jan Brewer Got Stale at the Border

Categories: Border Disorder
Obama grim.jpg
President Obama got some heavy applause during his bits on immigration reform during yesterday's State of the Union address, as he delivered points that were almost echoed in  Republican Senator Marco Rubio's response.

Then, we read what seem to be some unintentionally hilarious accounts of Governor Jan Brewer's apparent response to Obama's speech, which she did in the form of a tour of the border.

See also:
-Border Patrol Arrests in Arizona Lowest in Nearly Two Decades

As for Obama, he didn't seem to piss off too many people last night with his points on immigration.

"Real reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress my administration has already made -- putting more boots on the Southern border than at any time in our history and reducing illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years," Obama said. "Real reform means establishing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship -- a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning English, and going to the back of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally.

Without getting too specific, Obama was basically reiterating the immigration-reform proposals that are being  tossed around by some members of both parties in Washington.


Then there was Brewer's tour of the border, which Brewer's office invited the media to attend.

As expected, Brewer said just about the only thing she ever seems to say: secure the border.

Specifically, the Arizona Republic's account of this trip was hilarious, although we're not completely sure if that was intentional.

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19 comments
mikefrombisbee
mikefrombisbee topcommenter like.author.displayName 1 Like

A typical meaningless dog and pony show staged to impress the ignorant. Our dipsomaniac governor needs to dry out and come down to the border without her handlers, to stay and look and listen. If she did she would find some very interesting  things:

Most residents who live near the border have little or no contact with border crossers, who have no desire to attract attention to themselves.. I travel extensively in southeast AZ and southwestern NM (the bootheel) and have observed very few border crossers - but lots of Border Patrol agents.

Border communities such as Bisbee, Douglas,and Naco have low incidences of violent crime and their property crime levels are no higher than those of other communities. We never lock our doors unless we go on extended trips. We have never been victims of a crime. The Bisbee Observer is locally known for having a police report that consists mainly of reports of livestock blocking roadways or of skunks or rattlesnakes in yards.

I was in Naco, AZ, which is right on the line,  yesterday on business. The Turquoise Valley RV park is packed with snowbirds, as is the RV park at the Douglas golf course. Those winter visitors come to the U.S.-Mexican border each year to enjoy warmer weather and to play golf. They quite obviously have no fear for their lives and property. Retirees move to Naco and Bisbee because they are peaceful, quiet communities.

The hysteria over the "brown invasion" from the south is a manufactured contrivance that serves to distract ignorant people from real issues involving corporate greed and mismanagement and to blind them to a very cozy relationship between the executive and legislative branches of state government and corporate interests in AZ.

.



JohnQ.Public
JohnQ.Public topcommenter like.author.displayName 1 Like

@mikefrombisbee Thanks for the first hand, in-person reporting.

mikefrombisbee
mikefrombisbee topcommenter like.author.displayName 1 Like

@JohnQ.Public @mikefrombisbee I have been dealing with border issues for many years as a journalist, teacher and community member. What is reported about life on the border is mostly bullshit. I was present when Fife Symington made his dog and pony show pilgrimage to the Douglas-Agua Prieta drug tunnel. He didn't have a clue and quite frankly, neither do most other elected officials. Few elected or appointed officials really take a long, hard, objective look at the border and what conditions are really like. If things were really as bad as Fox News and the tea baggers portray you would hear it from ordinary citizens who live here. But you don't. Now what does that say?

sarum
sarum

@JohnQ.Public @sarum Thanks.  It is important to have this dialogue with everybody, with every POV and to realize that when someone needs to stifle dialogue with insults they are raising huge red flag about themselves and their allegiances, their agenda.   I am not IN Douglas, I am in Glendale but we still have family there at all stages of life  and I am sure mikefrombisbee would know them, many of them and he has tried to get me to "out" them here before.  No, mikefrombisbee.  We keep our ammunition close.   Anonymity permits some freedom to discuss in some cases.   

JohnQ.Public
JohnQ.Public topcommenter

@sarum Thanks for providing additional perspective.  Mikefrombisbee, just cause his perspective is different from yours doesn't necessarily mean his is invalid.  He feels uncomfortable providing facts because he feels that endangers his family - I respect that.  Assumining he truly lives down there like he says he does, it just a difference in perspective.

mikefrombisbee
mikefrombisbee topcommenter

@sarum @mikefrombisbee @JohnQ.Public "Silence or refusal to give specifics" means that you have nothing valid to say. So why say anything? But if you don't find looking the fool, by all means, continue. 

sarum
sarum

@mikefrombisbee @sarum @JohnQ.Public No . . . when I read your comment to my family you should have been able to hear the noise eruption specifically about crime committed by border crossers.   Silence or refusal to give specifics means self protection and that of family.  It does not mean that nothing happens.  We agree about corporate greed, mismanagement and cozy relationships but the nationality, skin color or legality of the intended targets are irrelevant - we are dealing with equal opportunity predators.

sarum
sarum

@JohnQ.Public @mikefrombisbee Cuz when you live in a small town everybody knows everybody - and no, if I mention specific crimes done to my family in Douglas and Bisbee by border crossers that outs my/their identity and this becomes very dangerous.  Then there are people like yourself, mikefrombisbee, who get very adversarial on sites like this one - like you think you are omnipotent and knows everything that happens.  Most choose to suffer in silence rather than be targeted twice.

JohnQ.Public
JohnQ.Public topcommenter

@mikefrombisbee Quite frankly, most of us would rather stay 250 miles away from the border but make up "facts" that support our pre-existing political belief. So your personal reporting is either completely wrong or completely right depending on what I already believe to be true.

TaxpayingVoter
TaxpayingVoter like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

She actually claimed to see groups "staging" and getting ready to illegally cross the border?


My god, every time I think she can't be any dumber she comes along and outdoes herself.

MaskedMagician1967
MaskedMagician1967 topcommenter like.author.displayName 1 Like

@TaxpayingVoter

Reminds me of JoeArpaioFan.

"My God, every time I think she can't be any dumber she comes along and outdoes herself. "

Lone_Wolf
Lone_Wolf like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

I was disappointed with this lame brain-farting Gov. of ours, did not mention the "headless bodies in the desert" to the embedded media. She's a real piece of work, ain't she?

MaskedMagician1967
MaskedMagician1967 topcommenter like.author.displayName 1 Like

I have a much better idea: why not have Jan ask New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, a Latina and a Republican, about border security, given New Mexico is also a border state and home to legendary Old West outlaw Billy the Kid?

HaddieNuff
HaddieNuff like.author.displayName 1 Like

Don't forget this is the same woman that asked the president for 250 additional troops for the border. When she got 524, she said it was 'disappointing, to say the least.' 

http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2010/04/22/brewer-pledges-border-assistance-demands-federal-help/

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/06/28/20100628arizona-guard-troops-from-obama.html

danzigsdaddy
danzigsdaddy topcommenter like.author.displayName 1 Like

@HaddieNuff  beautiful! only the pickled pig could complain that she not only got what she wanted, but they doubled it up for her. I am not even an Obama supporter and I have to agree, he  went above and beyond what she wanted. if she cant make do with 2 times what she initially asked for......he isnt the problem, she is. the sea hag isnt trying for a secure border, she's just looking to complain, NO MATTER WHAT.  if she really wanted a secure and safe state, she'd move her rapist son into real prison instead of camp snoopy the med center and make Arpaio deal with ALL crime, not just immigration

JohnQ.Public
JohnQ.Public topcommenter like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 4 Like

Chuck Coughlin hasn't told her what a "secure border" is yet so she doesn't know.  Even if Chuck had told her it's doubtful that she would remember it.  Corrections Corp of America defines a secure border as any border that funnels at least 750 crossers into its facilities in any given day, but Jan got confused about the 750 number and assumed that they were talking about the 750 ml in her favorite bottle of scotch.

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