New Immigration "Tone." Or So We're Being Told.

Well, that didn't take long .  Liberals and their new-found "Republican" friends will once again, shove "immigration reform" and a guest worker program down our throats.  Our economy must be BOOMING and our unemployment rate at near 0% if we're discussing guest worker bills again.  

No?

Last week, there were 365,000 new jobless claims filed and according to the Department of Labor, there are 12.5 million unemployed U.S. citizens. Another 12 million are considered "under-employed."  There are an (extremely low) estimated 12 million illegals in the United States. (Is a guest worker program Bob Worsley's idea for creating jobs?)

Last month, Obama granted amnesty work permits to over 1.7 million illegals who will flood the workforce and compete with legal U.S. citizens for jobs.  Not only will illegals be given work permits but they will also have

"complementary access to welfare programs — will also be granted to individuals 'with a significant disability … or [who are] far, far below the national poverty level' " 

 

Spreading the wealth around.

It was almost funny to read in the AZ Central article that lewsley Republicans, Jerry Lewis and Bob Worsley, are considered "influential."  Huh?  What exactly have they even DONE that has been "influential?"  Worsley hasn't even been officially elected as a Senator yet and Lewis was nothing but a pariah for all of one session and who will more than likely lose his short-lived seat in November.  (Too bad Steve Pierce drained the Republican Victory fund to help his fellow lewsley Republican, Rich Crandall, in the primary election). We also thought it was funny that throughout the recent primary campaign, Bob Worsley was so influential that he dropped Bill Montgomery's name dozens of times when he discussed implementing a guest worker program Montgomery evidently supports.  

                                                             (Randy Parraz on left with Todd Landfried at a panel discussion)

The AZ Central article mentioned other illegal alien sympathizers like Tamar Jacoby and Todd Landfried.  For a refresher on Jeff Flake's good friend Tamar Jacoby and Randy Parraz's sidekick, Todd Landfried, visit our previous blog entries HERE and HERE.  In fact, it was Landfried who went to Utah to push for the Utah Compact back in 2010 along with Lydia Guzman from Somos America.  It is Lydia Guzman who is trying to line up discrimination cases in an effort to get the federal government to sue Arizona over SB1070's "show your papers" enforcement.

(Landfried on left, Guzman on right testifying in Utah about the Utah Compact)

Lydia Guzman with Tom Perez from the U.S. Justice Department

Just a quick reminder:


In January 2011, Jeff Flake said this:

 

 " 'Comprehensive' has gotten a bad word. But until we have a better one I'll use that. While we need to enhance border security, that's not enough. You have to have a viable mechanism to deal with the people who are here. My party hasn't come to grips with that.' He explains that his own state of Arizona passed a controversial law that allows for us to 'more easily round people up. But that's not the problem. The problem is what to do about them after we get them.' On a political level, he says the 'tone and tenor of the debate' needs to improve on the Republican side. But the substance remains the nub of the problem. He says the problem is 'more complicated' than his party would like to admit...But given the current politics, I'd like to be optimistic (about reform legislation), but I'm not."

 

 

 

A few months later in March 2011 (right before Flake announced his plans to run for the Senate) and just a month after a special meeting in the Oval Office with President Obama, he did a miraculous 180 and said this:

 

"In the past I have supported a broad approach to immigration reform - increased border security coupled with a temporary worker program. I no longer do...I've been down that road, and it is a dead end. The political realities in Washington are such that a comprehensive solution is not possible, or even desirable given the current leadership.

 

 

We imagine that if Flake is elected Senator, he will suddenly have another change of heart and go back to his desire for a guest worker program along with his fellow Senator, Juan McCain.  It will certainly be easier for them to push immigration reform and claim they are simply following the will of the "majority" (which majority, however, is the question). Given the new leadership and all...

 

 

And what about the statement from the AZ Central article by Jerry Lewis when he said,

 

(enforcement-only approach) "hasn't worked. It doesn't work. Any reform that is based on an enforcement-only platform is bound to fail."

 

Bob Worsley made similar statements during the Primary campaign.

 

Where have we seen this assertion before?

 

Ah, yes. 

 

 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is concerned that any state legislation that only contains enforcement provisions is likely to fall short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God.

 

 

 

This particular statement contradicts what the LDS Handbook states regarding emigration to ANY country.  Also, it seems odd that this same source would essentially imply that their position trumps current law, specifically the 10th Amendment and state sovereignty. 

It would seem strange that this same source would say this about the issue of abortion :

The Church has not favored or opposed legislative proposals or public demonstrations concerning abortion.

And yet, the LDS church DOES have a strong opinion of opposing legislation regarding illegal immigration? 

Just so we understand, anti-abortion legislation doesn't qualify for "falling short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God" yet legislation to crack down on those who choose to disobey the law and willingly separate their families is more worthy of an opinion by the LDS church?


The LDS handbook states:

  

"Generally, members are encouraged to remain in their native lands to build up and strengthen the Church....As members remain in their homelands and work to build the Church there, great blessings will come to them personally and to the Church.

 

Experience has shown that those who emigrate often encounter language, cultural, and economic challenges, resulting in disappointment and personal and family difficulties.

 

Members who emigrate to any country should comply with applicable laws.

 

When coming to the United States or other countries on student or tourist visas, members should not expect to find jobs or obtain permanent visas after entering that country."

 

 

This would imply that members of the LDS church who emigrate to Mexico, or Belgium, or South Africa, or anywhere else in the world, should comply with the applicable immigration laws of that country.

The immigration laws of Mexico are far stricter than those in the United States.  Mexican law

"...mandates that federal, local and municipal police cooperate with federal immigration authorities in that country in the arrests of illegal immigrants.

Under the Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison. Immigrants who are deported and attempt to re-enter can be imprisoned for 10 years. Visa violators can be sentenced to six-year terms. Mexicans who help illegal immigrants are considered criminals."

Notice that the laws of Mexico allow for cooperation from both local and municipal police with the federal government.  Does the LDS church feel as strongly about Mexico's state enforcement only laws as they do with U.S. state enforcement laws? 

 

In the first unnamed LDS Newsroom source, it implies that those who come to the United States are somehow immune from following the U.S. immigration laws.  It also gives the impression that states are not allowed to protect themselves for fear of being accused of "falling short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God."

Something else that falls short of the high moral standard?  An illegal who steals a 10 year old girl's identity and destroys her credit in order to take a job that should go to a LEGAL citizen.  Or another illegal who uses our country's generous resources (schools, hospitals, etc) and doesn't pay for those services but rather, forces others to pick up the tab. 

Remember this video of an immigration lawyer who teaches others how to NOT hire legal citizens:

 

"Our goal is clearly, NOT to find a qualified

and interested U.S. worker."

We suspect that we will once again see something similar to the Utah Compact paraded around Arizona very soon by radical leftists.  That is, now that the tone and tenor has shifted thanks to liberals who masquerade as Republicans and partner with Democrats, all in the spirit of compromise.

As Van Jones once said, you have to "forgo the radical pose for the radical ends."  Like Van Jones and Barack Obama, the open borders, Aztlan crowd have learned that they will attract more flies with honey than with vinegar.  It appears these infiltrators to our country have learned that they can use "faith-based" organizations to help give the illusion that they just want a new tone and an elevated conversation, when what they really want is JUSTICE.

Jeff Flake: Fool Me Once, Shame On You...

Fool me twice, shame on me.


Jeff Flake gave us lip service when he first ran for Congress claiming he would term limit himself to three terms.

That obviously didn't happen. 


Now, Jeff Flake, who has spent the last decade leading the charge to pass comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) while in the House, claims to have SUDDENLY had a change of heart about CIR, now that he is running for the Senate.

Only this time, we aren't buying it.

We've covered Flake's flaky-ness on this issue before.  You have to suspect SOMETHING isn't quite right when Angela Maria Kelley, vice president for immigration policy and advocacy at the Center for American Progress, says this about Flake's recent 180 degree turnaround:

It's kind of hard for him to walk away from this when he has his fingerprints all over the issue.  It's not like he just gently engaged it - he was a full-throttle supporter of comprehensive reform. So it's hard for him to erase what in fact has been written in Sharpie pen.

Turns out, Ms. Kelley was right.  Flake was even more involved in CIR than we could have ever imagined.  She should know.  Prior to joining the Center for American Progress in 2009 (whose major funders include George Soros and Peter Lewis), Kelley was a director at the National Immigration Forum where she "headed its legislative, policy, and communications activities" and was "a frontline negotiator as Congress debated proposed comprehensive immigration reform legislation." 

Another former Executive at the National Immigration Forum is Frank Sharry.  We've discussed Sharry several times before, and we will mention him again later.

The current Executive Director of the NIF is Ali Noorani.  After the Russell Pearce recall election, Noorani tweeted on December 11th,

Ali Noorani‏@anoorani

Mesa Compact follows Pearce recall. AZ slowly comes to its #immigration senses. http://www.alternet.org/story/153375/after_recall%2C_arizona_moves_towards_humane_treatment_of_immigrants

(Who would have thought that Ali Noorani from the NIF would link to an article that discussed how Lewis used the LDS church and endorsed a Utah-style Compact?)

It's clear that with all of the various CIR bills that Flake was involved with over the years, he would have had the opportunity to work closely with Ms. Kelley.  We know at the very least, Flake was in the same room as Frank Sharry in 2003 when he, McCain and Kolbe all gave a press conference to introduce one of their CIR bills.  Sharry said, "This is huge!"  to have a Senator and two Representatives from Arizona, no less, behind a CIR bill.  Kelley was so instrumental in the immigration operation that Sharry referred to her as "The General".

Another close associate and policy director of Jeff Flake was his own Chief of Staff, Margaret Klessig.  Klessig played an important roll on an Immigration Task Force Committee as did her boss, Jeff Flake, along with Senator McCain, Leon Panetta, the late Ted Kennedy, Janet Murguia from La Raza, Tamar Jacoby and Frank Sharry in 2006.  This committee was organized by the Migration Policy Institute and funded through donations made by a slew of leftist slush funds such as the Open Society Institute, the Carnegie Corporation, JM Kaplan Fund and the Ford Foundation. Klessig has since joined a group called ImmigrationWorks USA as their Chief of Staff.  The founder of Immigration Works USA is Tamar Jacoby.  It was Flake who said that Tamar had "put out some really good work with regards to immigration reform."

See how connected they all are?

Now that you know who the players are, let's look at what else they have been up to over the years.

In 2003, prior to Flake, McCain and Kolbe pushing their immigration bill, a documentary fluff piece was put together titled, "Kids Across the Hill" featuring many of those who worked diligently behind the scenes.

(SEIU's Eliseo Medina)
Those interviewed for the film included
1. Margaret Klessig
2. Jeff Flake
3. Angela Kelley
4. Becky Tallent (aide to both McCain and Kolbe)
5. Frank Sharry
6. Luis Gutierrez (Flake's co-sponsor of the STRIVE Act)
7. Alfredo Gutierrez (co-chair of the Arizona Boycott Committee and founder of lafronteratimes.com.  He called on businesses to cancel their meetings and conventions in Arizona until SB1070 was repealed)
8. Tamar Jacoby
9. Eliseo Medina (SIEU)
10. Cecelia Munoz, one of Obama's Czars who has ties to La Raza, Campaign For Community Change (The action arm for Center For Community Change and who funded PAZ to canvass for Jerry Lewis during the recall.  They also supplied the sign at the Supreme Court protest above), Occupy, Moveon and ACORN

Young 20-something staffers for Republican Arizona Congressmen Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe race Senator Ted Kennedy and his Immigration Counsel Esther Olavarria to introduce a strong, bipartisan bill to Congress.

Will Kennedy's staff rally the unions, advocates and business community in time to draft a bill? Will Kolbe and Flake find a Democrat to sign on first?

Who were the partners and supporters for the documentary?  We mentioned a few of them earlier.  They include:

Open Society.  This is just one of the many grant making organizations for George Soros.  The link to soros.org on the documentary's website is currently "under construction".  Also, Cecilia Munoz, one of Obama's czars who we mentioned earlier, was a member of the board for the Open Society.
**UPDATE** The Blaze.com recently reported on the Soros funded Open Society.

Unbound Philanthropy.  The philosophy of the Unbound Philanthropy grants is "we envision a world where they (migrants) are engaged in their new communities with respect, compassion, fairness, and justice."  One of the board members is a former member of the Migration Institute who sponsored the Immigration Policy Conference which Jeff Flake was not only a member of their Immigration Task Force, but was also a guest speaker in 2005.

The Ford Foundation.  Offers grants to countless leftist causes.  Since 2010, donations were made to:

$800,000 Frank Sharry's organization "America's Voice"
$400,000 Casa de Maryland
$350,000 Catholic Legal Immigration Network (we'll discuss them in another entry as well)
$900,000 Catholics for Choice (participated in the faux outrage during the Fluke story)
$8.6 million Soros' Center for American Progress
$5.5 million Center for Community Change (who helped with Jerry Lewis' campaign.  See photo above)
$2.8 million Gamaliel (IAF organization Obama worked with in Chicago)
$400,000 ImmigrationWorks USA
$2.5 million Interfaith Worker Justice (another IAF affiliate)
$4.0 million Planned Parenthood, $5.0 million to MALDEF
$2.4 million Migration Policy Institute
$10.0 million La Raza
$1.0 million National Immigration Forum
$3.0 million PICO (another IAF affiliate)
$3.5 million Proteus Fund (See Gilbert Watch's account of this organization)
$6.5 million Urban Institute
$1.5 million University of Arizona
$11.5 million Tides Foundation


So, we have to ask:

Why would Jeff Flake be so willing to participate in a task force and project that not only involved radical immigration reform advocates, but was supported and funded by both George Soros and the Ford Foundation who have spent billions funding radical leftist organizations?

As Angela Kelley said,

It's not like he just gently engaged it - he was a full-throttle supporter of comprehensive reform. So it's hard for him to erase what in fact has been written in Sharpie pen.

We'll explore Flake's own words that are written in a big, black Sharpie pen over the last decade and the suspected motivation behind it... next.

Jeff Flake and the Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform

We've introduced you to Todd Landfried before. 

You can get a refresher course Here and Here.

He is the current spokesman for Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform (AZEIR).

His predecessor was Farrell Quinlan.

The AZEIR held an immigration forum breakfast (Immigration Reform Now) on May 30, 2007 at the Fiesta Inn in Tempe, AZ. 

Jeff Flake was the keynote speaker.

On the website "Arizona Marcha", a link at the top will take you to their homepage where you can find a compilation of many of the leftist immigration reform groups, leaders and protests which  have previously been discussed on SHIELD.

Puente AZ

Dolores Huerta  

ACORN

Anti-Arpaio marches

Anti-SB1070/Protest Arizona marches

According to the webpage, Arizona Marcha was started by Jose Munoz and his wife in early 2007 as a coalition of community leaders and activists to organize a march to the Arizona State Capitol on May 1, 2007 in an effort to advocate for comprehensive and humane immigration reform.  The photos on the Arizona Marcha/AZEIR forum page were taken by Jose Munoz.

Also on the Arizona Marcha/AZEIR webpage is a link to listen to Jeff Flake's comments.  This event took place during the time that Congressman Flake and Luis Gutierrez were working together to push through the STRIVE Act.  At one point, Flake mentioned that some people had put out some really good work with regards to immigration reform.  One such person was Tamar Jacoby from the Manhatten Institute.

Tamar Jacoby is a pro-immigration, self-proclaimed "Conservative Republican" who started ImmigrationWorks USA.  Her ultimate goal was to "have a grassroots army in place when immigration reform comes up again in Washington, ensuring that next time, there will be the national business presence that was missing during the last debate."

A member of the Board of Directors for ImmigrationWorks USA is former Arizona US Congressman, Jim Kolbe.

Kolbe donated to PACs such as "Judgement Matters" back in 2008 along with Bill Konopnicki and Farrell Quinlan in an effort to defeat Senator Pearce by supporting Kevin Gibbons....Jeff Flake's immigration lawyer brother-in-law.

In 2004, Jacoby came to Arizona to actively campaign against Prop 200 (Protect Arizona Now).

National pro-immigration figures realize late that if things

go badly in Arizona, they'll go worse in DC and for the country as a whole.

Eliseo Medina from the Service Employees International Union,

Tom Espinoza from the National Council of La Raza,

noted independent immigration advocate Tamar Jacoby, and Frank Sharry from the

National Immigration Forum all meet Alfredo (Gutierrez-State Senator from Arizona)

and local activists in Phoenix to work out a plan to fight PAN and a way to pay for it.

Former State Senator, Karen Johnson, outlined the role of ImmigrationWorks USA in a recent article.

The founder, President, and CEO of ImmigrationWorks USA is Tamar Jacoby, who once was viewed as conservative but over the years has drifted ever leftward in the immigration wars. Most recently, she was appointed as a Fellow of the New American Foundation. NAF supports universal health care, the green agenda, global governance, the Palestinian Arabs and, of course, amnesty.

The point man for ImmigrationWorks USA is Todd Landfried. Earlier in his career, Landfried worked for the Clinton Administration's "reinventing government team" and also worked with Vice President Al Gore's "Intergovernmental Team." After leaving Washington, Landfried had a Democratic-oriented radio program in Phoenix for several years which one newspaper called a "far-lefty" program. He recently served as the Executive Director of the Maricopa County (Phoenix area) Democratic Party organization and subsequently as a party officer. Landfried is now the adopted uncle of the Utah Compact. Under the direction of ImmigrationWorks USA, he chaperones the Compact on its tour through the states and lobbies it before state legislatures. He also presents the Compact to the public as a conservative document in ImmigrationWorks USA conferences. His audience is unaware of his liberal history and beliefs or the background of the founder of ImmigrationWorks USA.

Perhaps the meeting mentioned previously between Jeff Flake and the immigration activists in 2009 wasn't as out of the ordinary as we might have thought.