by Karen Johnson
former Arizona State Senator
We will attempt to highlight pieces of this article. You are encouraged to read through the whole article in order to better understand the lefts plan of attack.
The campaign to pass "comprehensive immigration reform," or amnesty, is charging like a speeding train at Congress. After the last major attempt went down to defeat in 2007, the open-borders advocates licked their wounds and regrouped, realizing they would have to reframe amnesty to make it look conservative and reduce the pressure on conservative Congressmen. The end result was the Utah Compact...
Although it was superficial and simplistic, the Compact was dripping with all the trappings of conservatism. It came from Utah, a very conservative state. It appeared to be the product of conservative politicians, a conservative think tank, Catholic and Protestant churches, and nonprofits. The Compact spoke of humaneness, family values, and free markets.
...they began dancing the Compact in front of legislators all over the country to persuade them that the public had had a change of heart on immigration and that they now wanted amnesty. But the Utah Compact was a fake. It was all propaganda. (See "Propaganda and the Utah Compact.") The Utah Compact was conceived by radical Hispanic advocacy groups and foisted on Utahns through a masterful facilitation process by Carter Livingston of the National Immigration Forum. (See "Who Wrote the Utah Compact.")
...many supporters of the Utah Compact included left-wing and radical groups in Utah and other states. The following are only a few of the liberal-to-Marxist groups which support comprehensive immigration reform and which all signed the Utah Compact:
• American Civil Liberties Union of Utah • Communidades Unidas
• Enriching Utah Coalition• Equality Utah (a pro-homosexual civil rights group)
• Human Rights Education Center of Utah (an anti-bullying, homosexual-tolerance group)
• National Council of La Raza• MEChA B Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/Chicano de Aztlan• Peaceful Uprising•United for Social Justice
• American Civil Liberties Union of Utah • Communidades Unidas
• Enriching Utah Coalition• Equality Utah (a pro-homosexual civil rights group)
• Human Rights Education Center of Utah (an anti-bullying, homosexual-tolerance group)
• National Council of La Raza• MEChA B Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/Chicano de Aztlan• Peaceful Uprising•United for Social Justice
Notably absent from the list of groups which signed the Compact are conservative organizations.
...Another hint that the Utah Compact wasn't as conservative as it was cracked up to be came in the form of a conference held in Chicago a week before the Utah Compact was announced. The conference was co-sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and a group called "People Improving Communities through Organizing" (PICO) The title of the conference was "Justice for Immigrants." Its purpose was to train churches of all denominations to promote the passage of amnesty by Congress...PICO uses Saul-Alinsky-type techniques to promote an array of socialist programs, such as national health care, affordable housing, and amnesty.
...Another hint that the Utah Compact wasn't as conservative as it was cracked up to be came in the form of a conference held in Chicago a week before the Utah Compact was announced. The conference was co-sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and a group called "People Improving Communities through Organizing" (PICO) The title of the conference was "Justice for Immigrants." Its purpose was to train churches of all denominations to promote the passage of amnesty by Congress...PICO uses Saul-Alinsky-type techniques to promote an array of socialist programs, such as national health care, affordable housing, and amnesty.
The "Justice for Immigrants" conference in November, 2010, consisted of three days of workshops, all focused on comprehensive immigration reform. The speakers at the conference included the leaders of some of the most prominent pro-open-borders, progressive/Marxist/liberal groups on the left, including:
Ali Noorani, National Immigration Forum — NIF is the Godfather of the Utah Compact, which would be unveiled a week later. The Forum has ties to the Service Employees International Untion (SEIU), the Arab American Institute, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the National Lawyers Guild (a communist front organization).
Angela Kelley, Center for American Progress (CAP) Funded by George Soros, CAP is a Progressive think tank and supporter of the radical Left and the Democratic Party.
Michele Waslin, Immigration Policy Center. — The IPC is funded by George Soros, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and other Leftist foundations and has ties to the National Council of La Raza and other radical groups.
Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America's Voice — Sharry is the former Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum. While with the Forum, he helped organize the opposition to Arizona's 2004 ballot initiative (Prop 200) which prohibits illegal aliens from receiving welfare benefits.
Helen Harnett, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights — Chicago-based housing, healthcare, economic security, and legal advocacy group which advocates for amnesty, homosexual rights, and government-supported social services.
The conference included instruction on immigration issues... comprehensive immigration reform (amnesty), administrative advocacy, the DREAM Act, and immigration enforcement issues. There was a session on "best practices in organizing," including how to organize in parishes and congregations, and sessions on how to oppose the arguments for enforcement, the rule of law, and SB1070-type bills in the states.
Once the Compact was public, the congregations were ready to launch grass-roots campaigns to adopt the Compact in their state. Behind the scenes, the radical groups provided advice, talking points, and local Hispanic activists as foot solders for demonstrations. It was a battle on two different fronts. At the state legislatures, they were working to defeat "enforcement-first" legislation. In Washington, they were lobbying to pass comprehensive immigration reform, insisting that there was a new mood out in the states — a conservative mood.
The results began to show in February.
On February 2, 2011 "Value Georgia."
February 7, 2011 Florida Compact
With a few state compacts in hand, the Chamber of Commerce, the religious Left, and the radicals were ready for the next step -- an American Compact. On March 8, 2011, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who was one of the primary sponsors of the Utah Compact, presented his state Compact to a national meeting of Attorneys General in Washington, D.C.. During the meeting, he told the audience, "What I'm working for is to try and expand the Utah Compact and make it a national compact," he said. KSL-TV, March 8, 2011
The next day Shurtleff met with White House officials to provide them with an overview of the Utah Compact and the concept for a national version. By the end of March, a draft of the national version of the Utah Compact, called the "America's Compact," was ready to go.
Utah's Attorney General Shurtleff headed back to Washington to present both versions of the Compact to the President and coalition leaders at an immigration summit at the White House. The summit took place on April 19, 2011. Approximately 70 people gathered...ONLY open-borders advocates were invited to the summit. No advocates for border security were present.
