Summary: Featuring guests Elliott Ozment, immigration law attorney; Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall; and Karl Frisch of Media Matters for America.

Immigration Nation, Part 1 Nevermind the boy not in the balloon, there’s real news afoot. Ty Cobb 2.0, a healthcare reform package out of committee in the Senate, Senator Al Franken gets his first amendment passed by a roll call vote no thanks to Tennessee Senators Lamar Alexander and Senator Bob Corker who would rather let corporate plunderers off the hook for rape, Tennesseans deserve fair and accurate elections, and an interview with immigration law attorney Elliott Ozment, who covers the controversial 287g program up for reauth in the Metro Council, why he used to serve on the Sheriff’s Immigration Advisory Council for the program but doesn’t anymore, the basic civil and human rights inherent in the immigration debate, Juana Villegas, and what he thinks would be a good solution to crime prevention in Nashville’s undocumented immigrant population. [21.3MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20091019part1.mp3)

Immigration Nation, Part 2 We hear from you, our listeners, as well as another immigration attorney, Sean Lewis, about immigration matters, and conclude that we are not looking at immigration reform as comprehensively as we need to. And we talk to Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, the man behind the controversial 287g program, to get his take on why the program is important, how it does or doesn’t work, accusations of racial profiling, and why it’s coming before the Metro Council once again. Plus, it’s an abbreviated version of the Media Matters for American Smackdown with Karl Frisch, in which he packs a whole lot of funny in a short time. [24MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20091019part2.mp3)

Mmmmmmmmm...

HB 0808, a bill sponsored by Rep. Stacey Campfield that would “require students attending public colleges and universities in Tennessee to be lawfully in the United States,” was rolled a week in the Higher Education subcommittee until next Tuesday, May 5th. Cinco de Mayo.

Cinco. de. Mayo.

I’m sure Rep. Campfield believes his bill addresses the “immigration problem.” But it will fix nothing and could lead to more problems.

As long as conditions in southern hemisphere continue to deteriorate, we will have people pushing to come North as economic refugees. They will make the treacherous trip across the border to come here to work and provide a better life – a life they can’t get in their home countries – for their families. They come here to work hard and they contribute to society.

I’m sure Rep. Campfield believes that if his bill passes then these college-age kids will just go home.

But as long as they are here, they’re staying. And instead of continuing to better themselves – and society – by seeking more education, they’ll simply become additional statistics in the categories that we’re all trying to eliminate – the unemployed, the poor, and the incarcerated.

• Early Voting Has Begun! (Part 1) – Participatory democracy – it’s not just for breakfast anymore. (16:57 27.2MB)
• Interview with Kenneth Eaton (Part 2) – Hear about Eaton’s journey from seeking citywide office to seeking statewide office and why he thinks Lamar! needs to be replaced. Note Mr. Eaton: If you’re running on the Democratic Party ticket, you might not want to use conservative talk radio’s code words. Say it with me now, “The Democratic Party.” (20:24 32.7MB)
• Welcome to Nashville! Now Y’all Go Home (Part 3) – They said the 287g Program would help rid the community of the most dangerous of criminals. Apparently that includes a pregnant mother of three. (17:36 28.2MB)
• Interview with Mike Padgett (Part 4) – Kenneth Eaton labeled him a far-left liberal, but Mike Padgett describes himself as conservative Democrat. He also believes he’s the only one who can carry East Tennessee. Hear what he said to Bob Tuke when Gray Sasser came a-knockin’ and why he thinks Lamar! needs replacing. (18:55 30.3MB)
• The Last Straw of Michael Savage (Part 5) – Talk radio charlatan Michael Savage says that Media Matters has “no place in America.” They must be doing something right. (19:16 30.9MB)

They’re probably a decade ahead of us in terms of the illegal immigration problem, but we’re quickly closing that gap. It’s as if we have a crystal ball and can see what Tennessee will look like. Highway signs in English and Spanish, overcrowded hospital ERs, taxpayer-funded health care diverting resources away from needed services, more crime and the added cost of incarceration, more deaths on the highway. In many respects, we’re closer than we think.

Perhaps Phil needs to get out of his house more. Visit any continent and you’re bound to land in a country where the signs are in both the native language and English. Trust me, you’re never confused about where you are. Or is Phil’s point something more? Is it a *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* to his nativist friends who like to couch their xenophobia in fake public policy debate?

According to a report released by the Tennessee Comptroller’s office in August of last year:

Unauthorized aliens are not eligible for most federal, state and local public assistance programs such as TennCare, housing, food stamps and welfare. Federal law requires access to elementary and secondary education, as well as emergency health care.

Many economists nationwide agree the increase in immigrants boosts the national and state economies and that unauthorized aliens are not taking jobs or significantly affecting American workers’ wages. Unauthorized aliens contribute to state and local revenue through sales tax,
property tax included in rents and other consumption taxes.

A majority of Americans want immigration reform. Smart immigration reform. We can also witness first hand the negative effect of bad immigration policy by reading about the current situation in Springfield, TN:

Some estimate that 1,000 Hispanic residents fled the city in fear or went into hiding after a handful of immigration raids.

Those left behind deal with the fallout — empty homes and businesses and anxious waiting for what comes next.

Springfield landlord James Huffine said he’ll lose $5,000 this month in cleaning, hauling and lost rent after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested members of five families last month who lived in his apartment units. Huffine said his tenants showed him work identification and paycheck stubs issued by Electrolux, Robertson County’s largest employer, and he believed they were here legally.

“I don’t think people ought to be here illegally, but these raids, sweeping up people in the dead of night, it just doesn’t seem right or productive,” he said, motioning to the tangled mess at the edge of the road. “I know a lot of people think we need to get all the illegals out of here, but you’ve got to look at stuff like this. Look at what those raids have done to this entire town.”

and

County Mayor Howard Bradley said the change is noticeable. He blames faulty immigration policy for allowing the community to build its economy, at least in part, with illegal labor only to have it yanked away.

And can someone tell me why Valentine chooses to cite immigration “facts” from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as a “hate group” because of its ties to White Supremacy Groups and the anti-latino and anti-catholic attitudes of its founder, John Tanton? Phil writes:

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the net monetary cost of illegal immigration in Texas alone, after figuring in how much they pay in taxes, is somewhere north of $3.7 billion. We have the luxury of being able to see into our own future, and it is not pretty.

Is this hubris? How low will he go to boost his inflammatory rhetoric?