Republican Congressman Condemns GOP Effort To Use Boston Bombing Against Immigration Reform

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Republican Congressman Condemns GOP Effort To Use Boston Bombing Against Immigration Reform

By Zack Beauchamp

MIAMI — On Friday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) tried to use the Boston bombings to slow down the legislative push for immigration reform. Speaking during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s first hearing on a new bipartisan immigration proposal, Grassley said that “(g)iven the events of this week, it’s important to understand the gaps and loopholes” in the immigration system.

But leading Republicans, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), are already condemning Grassley’s sentiment. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), the House point man on immigration, slammed Grassley’s comments, saying “it’s not appropriate” to attempt to link the terrorist attack with immigration efforts. Diaz-Balart made the remarks at an impromptu conversation with the press attending the Hispanic Leadership Network conference:

MARC CAPUTO (MIAMI HERALD): Chuck Grassley took some time today to link the terrorist attack to the immigration debate. Now that we have a member of your own party doing this, what’s your reaction?

DIAZ-BALART: <...> Linking something like that to other legislation I think is probably not appropriate at this time. In the first place, we don’t have the facts. What I will tell you is, what is indisputable, we have an immigration system that is broken. [...] What is clear is the system we have not only is not working for our economy, it is also threatening the national security of our country. If somebody is here today in the United States and commits a crime, it is under the current immigration system. It is under the current immigration system. Obviously not everything can be solved. But again, every crime that is committed right now is under the current immigration system. So what does that lead me to believe? We need to fix the current immigration system, if in fact there is any connection between immigration at all.

Watch it:

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http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/04/19/1896261/mario-diaz-balart-immigration-reform-boston/

Right sees an opportunity, linking Boston and immigration

By Steve Benen

Within 24 hours of the attack on the Boston Marathon, when there were incorrect reports from some media outlets about the nationality of a possible suspect, we saw clowns like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) rush to link terrorism and immigration...at the start of a Senate hearing this morning on immigration policy, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) went right to work, noting, "We appreciate the ability to talk about immigration, particularly in light of the events in Boston."

As Greg Sargent reported, right-wing activists have been less subtle, with some declaring reform legislation "DOA" in light of the apparent fact that the suspected bombers are of Chechen origin and immigrated to the United States.

It's unclear thus far how widespread the effort among conservatives will be to connect the Boston bombing suspects to the immigration reform debate. But it's certainly something that bears watching. If this argument picks up steam, it will be another indication of how ferocious the resistance on the right to immigration reform is going to get.

I think that's right, though I'd add one related thought.

<...>

But in Boston, based on the latest available information, one of the suspects is a 19 year old who entered the country a decade ago. In other words, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was just nine when he came to the U.S. and began attending public schools.

Are we to believe the U.S. immigration system should be designed to identify nine-year-old children as potential terrorist threats 10 years later? Is that the new argument against comprehensive reform?

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/04/19/17825952-right-sees-an-opportunity-linking-boston-and-immigration

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