This one is good for the har-hars:
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Fourteen Republican state lawmakers are accusing the U.S. Justice Department of threatening to “undermine Alabama’s state sovereignty” by attempting to block the state’s strict new immigration law.
House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, and House Majority Leader Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, are among those listed in a court brief filed Monday that outlined the lawmakers’ position.
Someone needs to explain Federalism to these folks, especially the bit about immigration being specifically named as a power of the federal government in the Constitution. And in the sense that sovereignty is about a government’s sole power to carry out various functions of the state, these are the very people who have been destroying Alabama’s “sovereignty” by cutting department budgets to the bone and eliminating teacher pension plans.
But please, let’s hear more from the guardians of whiteousness:
“The federal government has willfully relinquished its right to enforce its immigration law and now, the Department of Justice is trying to take away Alabama’s right to enforce our own laws,” Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, said in a statement.
“If the federal government won’t do its job and protect us, we must protect ourselves,” he said.
In Hubbard’s fantasy-world, federal authorities are secretly trying to help illegal immigrants vote for Democrats. This is not an exaggeration; it reflects what Alabama Republicans like Scott Beason and Mo Brooks actually say out loud, and to applause, in rooms full of Alabamians who want to believe such nonsense. It is a direct appeal to their motivated reasoning.
It is also utter balderdash. In the actual, real, not-imaginary world, deportations are at an all-time high — which has immigrant rights activists fuming:
Some Latinos around the country rallied on Tuesday against the White House’s deportation policies, attempting to send a message to President Barack Obama that they may not support him for reelection if he continues to deport record numbers of undocumented immigrants.
See, it doesn’t matter how much the president enforces immigration laws, because they would rather everyone continue to believe he doesn’t. It’s a neat, unspoken way of dovetailing with the widespread belief that the president himself is an illegal alien. Wrap it up in a nice bow of secessionist nonsense, and you’ve got classic, fact-free Alabama pandering:
Attorney (Dan) Williams said the Department of Justice claims Alabama’s law conflicts with the U.S. Constitution and federal law.
“All it really conflicts with is this administration’s agenda,” he said. “Our state has the right to govern itself without running our decisions by whomever happens to be in the White House at the time.”
I do wish that Alabama would “govern itself.” We might start by making millionaires pay the same effective income tax rate as the poorest citizens, which would eliminate the budget gap in one fell swoop. But that would be actual governing, which is hard, as opposed to pandering, which is easier to do and doesn’t interfere with selling out Alabama to untaxed corporations.
Remember, corporations are now “people,” too — and because they can make unlimited campaign contributions, they’re never undocumented. If we make it impossible for state agencies to conduct the most basic enforcement actions against corporate persons, then we will have enough resources to check the papers of every brown person in Alabama and maintain our “sovereignty.” See how that works?
