http://devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] talkpolitics2010-04-23 12:22 am

San Francisco Police Chief says AZ immigration bill "catastrophic"

[George] Gascon, who was the top cop in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa before being tapped for the San Francisco job last year, said the Arizona legislation "will have a catastrophic effect on policing and set back community policing efforts for decades."

The bill "essentially legislates racial profiling, putting police in the middle of the train tracks to face an onslaught of civil-rights violations lawsuits," said former Sacramento Police Chief Arturo Venegas. "No other law in the country allows citizens to sue a government agency for not arresting enough people."

(more)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=61951

"We [Republicans] should be open-minded about big issues like immigration reform, because if we're viewed as anti-somebody -- in other words, if the party is viewed as anti-immigrant -- then another fellow may say, 'Well, if they're against the immigrant, they may be against me.' "
- George W. Bush, 2009

I did a grad school (Mass Communications) study of the 2006 congressional elections in sixteen districts in eight states - including the border states - with significant (at least 13%) Latino populations. Republican candidates who made even a cursory effort to address that demographic were successful; those who didn't, or were overtly hostile, lost.

It amazes me that so many on the Right voice an opposition to addressing the concerns of demographic 'groups' - as if they don't exist. It seems like political suicide to me. In Texas, Latinos have been the majority population for five years now.

Your thoughts?

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