It’s obvious that the sudden upsurge in border crossings by Central Americans–many of them children–has caused legal, logistical and political problems for the Obama administration. But it’s also creating a dangerous temptation for Republicans to move from the frying pan of being perceived as favoring “self-deportation” for the undocumented to the fire of publicly and loudly demanding forced deportation at gun point and via cattle car–not just in border areas but far away.
Check out this report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s Jim Galloway on how embattled 11th district congressional candidate (and former Libertarian presidential candidate) Bob Barr is seizing on this issue and announcing a completely hallucinatory “immigration emergency” in the northwest suburbs of Atlanta:
Bob Barr, a former member of Congress locked in a tight Republican runoff with former Barry Loudermilk of Cassville for the 11th District congressional seat, has declared an immigration emergency in Georgia. From the press release:
“As tens of thousands of illegals continue streaming across our southern border, citizens of Georgia are increasingly concerned that the Obama Administration is planning to surreptitiously ship many to locations in our state; or that our government may already have begun doing so under cloak of secrecy.
“Questions from this campaign to federal agencies inquiring whether shipments of these illegals are planned for Georgia – or whether such shipments may already be underway – have been met with silence or refusals to provide meaningful answers. Our questions have been prompted by accounts stating that Georgia is in fact a recipient state for some of these illegals…..
“I call on Governor Nathan Deal, Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss and our delegation to the House of Representatives to demand that President Obama give appropriate and advance notice if he has plans to ship any illegals to Georgia and what the exact details are. I also urge Governor Deal to file action in federal court to enjoin the Department of Homeland Security or any other federal agency from entering our state to deposit busloads of illegals, and to take other action if necessary to prevent such entry.”
Ah yes, the African-American president “shipping” Latinos into the interior and “depositing” them in red states. Not since the Freedom Rides a half-century ago have white Georgians heard so many alarums about busloads of people of color violating the state’s virginal borders. And conservatives wonder why minority voters take a dim view of the GOP.
