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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Arizona governor Jan Brewer immigrant crime claims revealed as nonsense

Posted on Friday, July 09, 2010 at 05:53 PM

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Thank goodness for good journalism.

In one of the best examples of digging beneath the headlines Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank has skewered the nonsense from the right that crime on the Arizona border is out of control.

Instead he finds the border has never been more secure.

Milbank believes Arizona governor Jan Brewer,(above), has lost her mind.

He uses this quote "Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded," she announced on local television.

Turns out there is not a shred of evidence to support her claim.

Medical examiners in Arizona's border counties say they had never seen an immigration-related beheading. Brewer's press office refused to comment when asked to defend their claim.

Milbank also nails several other immigration falsehoods being spread by Arizona politicians.

He says these include "Border violence on the rise? Phoenix becoming the world's No. 2 kidnapping capital? Illegal immigrants responsible for most police killings? The majority of those crossing the border are drug mules? All wrong."

He quotes the Arizona Republic which published an exhaustive report that found that, according to the FBI and Arizona police agencies, crime in Arizona border towns has been "essentially flat for the past decade."

For instance , "In 2000, there were 23 rapes, robberies and murders in Nogales, Ariz. Last year, despite nearly a decade of population growth, there were 19 such crimes."

The Pima County sheriff stated that "the border has never been more secure."

FBI statistics also show violent crime in all of the border states are lower than they were a decade ago.

Enter Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who claims that violence is "the worst I have ever seen."

When President Obama told the truth last week that "the southern border is more secure today than any time in the past 20 years," Rush Limbaugh said the president was "fit for the psycho ward" on the basis of his remarks.

Despite this McCain told NBC, ABC and CNN that Phoenix is the "No. 2 kidnapping capital of the world" behind only Mexico City based on an entirely erroneous ABC report in February 2009 "

In fact kidnappings in Phoenix are declining.

Then there's Brewer's claim that "the majority" of people immigrating illegally "are coming here and they're bringing drugs, and they're doing drop houses and they're extorting people and they're terrorizing the families. That is the truth."

How come then the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector has apprehended more than 170,000 undocumented immigrants since Oct. 1, but only about 1,100 drug prosecutions have been filed in Arizona in that time.

So where Milbank asks is this "terrible border security crisis" that Brewer claims has only "gotten worse"?

Fact is it is not remotely as bad as the anti immigrant groups are claiming.

Milbank has done a great service by pointing that out.

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AmAncINED | Jul 16, 2010, 05:28 PM EDT

My Hispanic sister-in-law's grandparents and their siblings entered the U.S. from Mexico LEGALLY. They learned English and fulfilled all the requirements to become Am. citizens. They deeply resent all those who enter the U.S. illegally. Elena's entire family believes in Arizona's immigration law. They say they are proud to show their citizenship papers and valid driver's licenses, whenever, wherever. Those who have nothing to hide, hide nothing. And yes, they all live in Arizona.

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hancock | Jul 16, 2010, 10:25 AM EDT

A more tolerant society? I don't think so . Holding camps until they check out? That doesn't sound so warm and fuzzy. Typical lefty hypocrite. We should do that here . What do you say?

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Monsoonman | Jul 16, 2010, 10:12 AM EDT

Just so we can get a monument point for clarification Dennis and find some common ground perhaps. You say the American public is easily duped and swindled. Do you think some of the main perpetrators have been Senator Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank?...Just trying to find where your indignation stops and mine starts.

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DennisQ | Jul 16, 2010, 06:36 AM EDT

Thank you for your kind remark, Sean. I've been wondering why the Republicans are so confident of victory in November that they've lifted their oars out of the water already. They're not participating in governing the country anymore - everything coming out of Washington is the result of Democratic initiatives. So I wondered how Republicans predict great electoral success without any accomplishments. It turns out that there's a new theory being kicked around among pollsters - the midterm elections are already decided by the incumbent president's approval rating five months out. But Republicans are like investors who buy a stock based on its historical price performance. They are betting the rent money on their belief in a system that can't lose - all they've got to do is fiddle with the numbers. If they drive down Obama's approval with smear and fear attacks, there's no way they can lose. However, Wall Streeters know that so-called "technical analysis" is a sucker's bet if insiders can manipulate the figures to falsely suggest a buying opportunity.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 16, 2010, 04:14 AM EDT

I don't have to post here Denis says it all so succinctly.

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DennisQ | Jul 16, 2010, 02:56 AM EDT

America is losing its grip. We haven't won a war since 1945, there's massive unemployment, and we're in debt up to our ears. A frightened people are easily swindled, as was noted over a century ago by historian Jacob Burckhardt. Burckhardt predicted that 20th century would be dominated by violent demagogues, whom he called "terrible simplifiers." What I've called cartoon journalism is an oversimplification of political reality. Fox News is popular because it's entertaining, but also because it makes ignorant people feel like they understand what's going on. Hitler scapegoated the Jews; Gov. Brewer scapegoats foreign workers who come to Arizona.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 15, 2010, 07:27 PM EDT

Right on DennisQ! but one only has to look at the audience they're trying to convince. Smear and fear works well on their party faithful.

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DennisQ | Jul 15, 2010, 09:29 AM EDT

Governor Brewer's world is like the Saturday morning cartoons - its characters are so broadly defined that even a 5-year old can tell the good guys from the bad guys. Republican political narratives are cartoon-like in their view of human motives. Immigrants don't come here to find work; they come here to loaf around, sell drugs, corrupt our young people and destroy our way of life.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 15, 2010, 04:48 AM EDT

We are an island(which helps)but we do intercept boat loads of refugees,they are sent to holding camps. Over 90% of them will eventually be released into the community after their bona fides are checked.Our biggest problem is people flying in and overstaying their visas.After all we do have the best economy in the world and have superior working conditions to the U.S. WE have a more tolerant society than yours or so it would seem going by your antics.

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hancock | Jul 14, 2010, 11:13 PM EDT

How is the immigration policy in Austalia? or in Mexico? Maybe we should adopt similar plans. Then you will here some howling from the left.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 14, 2010, 08:38 PM EDT

I have posted about 6 or 7 down the line,I did mention you in dispatches.

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hancock | Jul 14, 2010, 03:09 PM EDT

Sean any question for me?

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Kilrush1 | Jul 14, 2010, 12:28 PM EDT

Good to read factual reporting; we don't often see it in the US. Too much vested interests and axes to grind!

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JimThompson | Jul 14, 2010, 10:17 AM EDT

Don't know what world Milbanks lives on but it is not this Earth. till can't understand why ILLEGAL is now considerede as alright.

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IrishAndProud | Jul 14, 2010, 05:25 AM EDT

Incorrect though that statement is, Dennis ('cartoonish notions of good and evil'), at least those on the right even HAVE a notion of good and evil. When a person is so deliberately nuanced that they can't tell gray from black from white (like a typical LEFT winger), they've truly lost it. The only thing that becoming more and more cartoonish, Dennis, are your posts. You've almost become a parody of yourself, if you'll pardon me.

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