While Congresswoman Michele Bachmann may be leaving the House of Representatives at the end of her term, she's not leaving the headlines. Today's item shows up in Politico's Michele Bachmann: Far right ‘losing badly’.
That fight is immigration reform.
Bachmann's statement is mild compared to a March 18, 2013 on-air radio rant against a MInnesota state version of the DREAM Act, in which Emmer predicted that passage would lead to a slippery slope, at the bottom of which "Caucasian" children would be discriminated against in favor of the foriegn born and the brown:
You could move to the front of the line against a kid who has been here--and by the way, make no mistake about it, what they will do is they will evaluate, if you allow the DREAM Act, you think that a kid who's here that suddenly will be the minority, the a-Caucasian whatever, is going to be looked at at an equal par with somebody who's coming from a different country and is a person of color? No! They've got to met all kinds of quotas, Bob.
Bluestem thinks that in the race for Republican endorsement in Minnesota's Sixth, Emmer will likely take up Bachmann's crown on this issue, regardless of how those urging the Republican Party to grow up about CIR think. Emmer has a long record of proposed anti-immigrant legislation and statements.
While hardcore anti-immigrant sentiment may mark the GOP as the grumpy old guy party nationally, the sentiment may still play well in the Sixth. Bachmann was milking it for what it's worth on the Glenn Beck show, Politico reports:
Rep. Michele Bachmann urged the viewers of Glenn Beck’s show to “melt the phone lines” on immigration because currently, conservatives are “losing badly.”
The Minnesota Republican appeared on Beck’s show on TheBlaze TV on Thursday with Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) to talk about how Republicans “don’t even know” they’re in a fight over the bill yet.
“We’re losing badly. Why? Because members of Congress don’t even know this fight’s going on, so we need your viewers to melt the phone lines,” Bachmann said.. . .
Gohmert brushed off criticism of party infighting, saying the foundation of the Republican Party was being destroyed by working with Democrats, and polls show the public is paying attention.
“Some people say, ‘Well, you’re hurting your party politically,’” Gohmert said.
“[Members of the public] see how the termites are eating through the framework that’s holding this house up. … We need to shore up the framework before this thing comes down on our heads.”
The group plugged a public news conference next week that will feature a “Lincoln-Douglas-style debate” on the issue, Bachmann said.
Recent internal reports by the Republican Party suggest that anti-immigrant and anti-Latino sentiment is a liability.
Tom Emmer must not believe so, because he had this to say in an exchange with co-host Bob Davis on March 18, 2013 (full audio below):
Davis: Well, what are Robiespierre and the rest of the French legislators up to over there in St. Paul
Emmer: Oui! oui!--
Davis: Do you think Minnesotans should subsidize higher education for illegal aliens? They're called DREAMers. These are the non-citizen children of illegal aliens in this country who are not born in this country. So therefore they're citizens of another country.
After the spirit of the DREAM Act, which by the way was never passed, but it was implemented, parts of it through presidential executive order, the state senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee, which is, you know, a classic French committee, held a hearing on sending illegals to college, and I'm incensed by this.
Quote: "Just because I'm undocumented, my grade point average means nothing." You can argument that these people should be made citizens, and you can argue about how to do that--
Emmer: --Right--
Davis: --and you can argue the need for that and I accept those arguments. But, if enacted, the bill would make illegal students eligible for state financial aid in the form of [in] state tuition [rate] and private scholarships. Is this okay? . . .
Emmer: Doesn't that get you all flamed up?
Davis: Well, it inflames me because there are a lot of people who do not get those benefits and their kids are citizens.
Emmer: I'm going to tell you, you're sitting across from one right now. You have a son who's wrapping up college, I have kids who are entering college.
It's worth remarking here that Tom Emmer's children would be eligible for in-state tuition rates at Minnesota's public universities, colleges and tech schools. Private scholarships would be awarded on the criteria set by the groups that administer them; usually this is a combination of achievement and need.
Bluestem is curious why Tom Emmer, a resident of Delano, believes his children aren't eligible for in-state tuition rates at public institutions or that they can't apply for private scholarships. He continues:
Emmer: It's not a matter of unfairness or--again, you're right, you can argue laws about citizenship and how you become a citizen. But when you say--talk about the arrogance and foolishness of some of these legislators--when you say that you're going to put, potentially put an illegal immigrant to the front of the line ahead of children that are actually legal citizens of this country, when it comes to--ah--in-state tuition, financial aid, and private scholarships? Really? That's what you were elected to do?
Davis: Well, that is a classic definition of buying votes, and you wonder why Dayton wants to increase the funding for higher education. I wonder if he'll go out and tell the people in outstate Minnesota, whether they want to hear it or not, I wonder if he'll tell people that he wants to raise money for education so that he can give the children of illegal aliens who are also illegal aliens free educations on the backs of everybody else in the state. I think it's an equal protection issue, if you want my honest opinion.
Note how Davis moved from in-state tuition and private scholarships to free education for undocumented residents. The details of the law are available here; the law requires students who meet certain criteria to pay in-state tuition, to apply for state financial aid and to receive privately-funded financial aid. It's no guarantee of "free college."
Davis continues, and like Emmer, sudden changes the intent of the legislation from allowing DREAMers from paying in-state tuition and competing for private education, to give those students "a free college education":
Davis: I think that the citizens of the state should sue the state if they even consider this, saying look you can't give them something that you don't give everyone else. So if you're not prepared to give everyone a free college education, which by the way, they want to do it so it's probably not a good idea, then you can't do this for people who aren't citizens of the United States. This is terrible--
Emmer: No, this is criminal--
Davis: And these idiots over there, these useful idiots at the state legislature, literally, because they're afriad to say no. This isn't the issue. I realize that you feel if you are an illegal alien who has grown up in the United States, you feel that it is your country, but that's not the legislative problem. The legislative problem is how to make these people citizens and until the federal government figures out where its ass is, they're not going to be able to do anything about it. So the solution is for me to pay for your education? No, the answer is no. And we will not do that.
Emmer: I don't even look at it that way. I look at it this way. I'm raising seven kids, I'm here legally, we're working our tails off to make ends meet and you're going to pass a law that says we don't care where you come from in this country, we don't care whether your family actually has been contributing to the economic growth or whatever the economic situation is here, we are going to give you not only in-state tuition as if you belong here but we're going to give you any aid that is available and even private grants.
You could move to the front of the line against a kid who has been here--and by the way, make no mistake about it, what they will do is they will evaluate, if you allow the DREAM Act, you think that a kid who's here that suddenly will be the minority, the a-Caucasian whatever, is going to be looked at at an equal par with somebody who's coming from a different country and is a person of color? No! They've got to met all kinds of quotas, Bob.
But even Davis grasped the harshness of what his co-host said:
Davis: Absolutely. Well I would look at it this way: you know you can't do that! ...Many of these people's parents do contribute to the economy. That's the problem, it's a federal problem that hasn't been addressed. . . .
There's more. At the point, Emmer addresses the need for Republicans to connect with America's rising tide of color:
Emmer: And you watch how many of these politicians will take a vote, not because it's right or wrong but because, oh goodness, we can't be--
Davis: We can't say no!
Emmer: --especially on the right side of the aisle now, you watch them, "Oh, we've got to be more sensitive to the immigrant population because you know that's--
Davis: --you're already hearing it--
Emmer: It's coming from the top.
Davis...[at CPAC] The chairman of the RNC, talking about being more compassionate, Michele Bachmann, was at CPAC, talking about being more compassionate....
Will Emmer emulate that Bachmann, or the more recent Glenn Beck version? How will chief rival Rhonda Sivarajah, whose husband immigrated to the United States for economic opportunities, tackle the issue of comprehensive immigration reform?
Here's the audio for March 18, 2013 Davis and Emmer show:
But this is nothing new.
Tom Emmer's anti-immigrant record
Tom Emmer supported anti-immigrant and anti-Latino legislation:
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He called SB1070 “a wonderful first step” (MPR, April 28, 2010)
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Emmer reiterated his support of Arizona’s right to preempt federal powers over immigration in a July 28 statement opposing the court injunction blocking some sections of SB1070 on constitutional grounds.
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Emmer was a co-author of English-only bills such as HF4087 and HF0336.
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The first bill includes measures similar to Arizona’s SB1070 law.
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Emmer voted against the 2007 state version of the DREAM-Act ( MPR Vote Tracker, DREAM Act - In-state tuition for illegal immigrants, 2007)
- He was chief author of a 2006 bill to eliminate prenatal care for immigrant mothers, HF2877.
- Emmer also supported a 2006 bill, HF2576, that would have required local law enforcement agencies to collect more information on the citizenship and immigration status of those they arrested, overriding so-called "sanctuary city" local ordinances designed to encourage all residents to be willing to come forward to police. The measure passed the Republican-controlled House on a bipartisan vote, but never got a hearing in the DFL-controlled Senate.
Beyond the bills
Beyond the bills, there's a record of statements that indicate an anti-reform mindset. Via Nexis, there's a January 24, 2006 letter to the editors of the Star Tribune:
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
The price we pay
Through a series of editorials, the Star Tribune started its caring, calm talk on immigration by alleging nastiness, scapegoating, political opportunism and divisiveness against those of us who think illegal immigration is an important issue that needs immediate attention.
Then it accused the governor of "intellectual incoherence" when he released his legislative package on immigration. Talk about getting off to a civil start.
On top of being uncivil, I believe the Star Tribune misled Minnesotans by implying that illegal immigrants do not benefit from public welfare programs.
Let's look at the facts from the Department of Human Services: The state of Minnesota paid approximately $17.3 million for illegal immigrants to receive public health care assistance in 2005. The federal government paid another $18 million for a total of $35 million in public health care funds for illegal immigrants in Minnesota alone.
Maybe the editorial writers and defenders of illegal immigration think this is chump change. To most of us, that is a lot of our money that could be spent on people living here legally.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano
Later that year, Emmer decided to crack down, while associating welfare reform with undocumented residents. In a report to constituents, he wrote:
I am also working on two other important bills that will meet stiff resistance, both relating to illegal immigration.
It is no secret that Minnesota has great welfare benefits, but too many people come here to take advantage of our generosity. I have a bill that has passed the House that would require any person - illegal immigrant or just a person moving here from another state - to live her for 90 days before they receive full welfare benefits. Prior to meeting that requirement they could receive 60 percent of whatever benefit may be available to them. Do we really want people coming here and immediately receiving full public benefits or do we want them to actually be Minnesotans? Hopefully in those three months they can find gainful employment and won't need benefits.
The other bill seeks to prevent pregnant illegal immigrants from living here illegally long enough to be taken care of and have their baby before they head back to wherever they came from. People who support illegal immigration are predictably outraged, saying that the bill is anti-life and will result in great harm. This is not true. Expecting illegal immigrants would still get emergency care and would be able to receive care if they are in labor and delivering their baby.
When the second bill was heard in the --- committee, representatives objected to the measure, since prenatal care for children who would be born as American citizens was deemed cost-effective as well as humane. Staunchly pro-life DFLer Mary Ellen Otremba called him out for being callous about the health of the unborn.
2010 Punker's Paradise: parades, pennies and parodies
Fast forward to Emmer's gubernatorial bid. Although he later walked it back, he praised Arizona's notoriously divisive SB1070 racial profiling bill as "a great start."
Emmer might not be the chap to put on the Republican Party's Latino outreach committee. In June 2010, City Page reported that Tom Emmer supports English-only in Lino Lakes:
We suspected the other day that Lino Lakes City Council Member Dave Roeser was opening another front in the culture wars when he proposed declaring that English be the official language in a suburb where hardly anyone speaks any language other than English. . . .Yesterday, the Strib caught up with Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer and asked him what he thought about the Lino Lakes proposal, especially since he introduced a similar, state-wide measure two years ago in the Legislature (that went nowhere fast). . .
Emmer said he co-sponsored the 2008 measure because his home county said the cost of producing signs in multiple languages "was killing them."
Emmer's positions caught the attention of Minneapolis immigrant rights prankster Robert Erickson, aka Nick Espinosa, who punked the candidate's parade unit in St. Paul's Cinco De Mayo parade, endorsed Emmer in a now private parody video, picketed a fundraiser in Columbia Heights and--most famously--dropped 2000 pennies in front of Emmer at a town hall with irate servers at Old Mexico Restaurant in Roseville.
The Pioneer Press reported in Tips, Tempers and Tom Emmer:
...Another said Emmer's get-tough stance on immigration would wreck the restaurant industry.
And that's when Nick Espinosa entered the room. Espinosa, who later gave reporters the pseudonym of Robert Erickson, has confronted the Emmer campaign before, ironically asking him to send home "European" immigrants and posting a fake endorsement video on YouTube.
"This is not Arizona! That's my tip for you," Espinosa shouted, dumping out his bag full of change.
Espinosa was dragged out of the room. Emmer kept his cool, for the most part.
"I played hockey for a number of years, and that actually got me to jump a little bit," he said, adding that when he looked over at his wife, she was laughing at him.
Emmer grandstanded that he would have been willing to talk to the young man, but when the Penny protester invite[d] Emmer to immigration forum, Emmer turn[ed] down penny protester's invitation to immigration forum.
When Emmer opines on provisions Arizona immigration law being blocked
While immigration policy faded as an issue in the gubernatorial race when the Chamber of Commerce made its support for national comprehensive immigration reform know, while DFL-allied groups concluded that immigration tested more strongly for Republican candidates as a campaign issue and thus avoided it.
MIRac, an immigrant rights group, attempted to tie Emmer's anti-immigrant stances to the Target/Minnesota Forward debacle, but despite posts like Skeletons in Target’s political closet: immigrant and LBGTQ advocates come out against corporate hypocrisy, gained little traction in the broader media.
One exception? When Emmer volunteers attempted to organize a stealth meeting with Latino business people at a restaurant on Lake Street without telling the owner the purpose of the meeting, Alberto Monserrate interviewed the restauranteer about the incident on his radio show Cara a Cara. If Bluestem recalls correctly, IP candidate Tom Horner and DFLer Mark Dayton went on the show as well; Emmer did poorly in the election among immigrant communities and people of color.
Perhaps Bachmann's warning will come true, and conservatives will lose this fight by the time Tom and Rhonda have to duke this one out for the Republican endorsement in 2014.
Photos: The Famous Penny Drop by immigrant rights activist Nick Espinosa (above); Espinosa hands Emmer DREAMer doll Dora the Explorer (below).
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