Kobach slammed in Alabama
Barb ShellyLet’s just say that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is not the most popular politician in Alabama right now.
In an editorial headlined, “Alabama paying for failed ‘experiment,’” The Mobile Press-Register leads off by declaring that:
Alabama allowed itself to be used as a guinea pig on illegal immigration so that a Kansas lawyer could build his political career.
Ouch. But there’s more. Much more.
Kobach, of course, helped Alabama state legislators write the harsh anti-immigrant law that has had severe unintended consequences. The Press-Register sums them up:
It has embarrassed the governor, discouraged industry, scared legal immigrants and, according to a recent report, been a drag on the state economy it was supposed to help.
Also, two foreign auto executives, one from Mercedes-Benz and one from Honda, were detained because they lacked the proper identification when police officers pulled them over while driving. The Mercedes visitor, from Germany, had to cool his heels in a Tuscaloosa jail until a coworker could be rounded up to retreive his ID from his hotel room. Great for business!
The editorial concludes, bitterly:
In return, what have we gotten for playing the guinea pig? Crops rotting in the field, a net loss to the economy, higher racial tensions and a PR black eye, to boot. Does any of this matter to an up-and-coming politician in Kansas? Sure doesn’t sound like it. Anyway, it’s just part of Mr. Kobach’s Alabama experiment.
In place after place, laws drafted by Kobach have either been declared unconstitutional or proven disastrous. Yet he happily forges ahead, representing the state of Kansas as an elected official and acting as an adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. How many editorials will it take before people figure this guy out?
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year, 4 months agonice try ms. shelly…
Kovach is helping states draft laws that attempt to control ILLEGAL ALIENS that are so beloved by lefties.
What is stopping these laws from being enforced is a DOJ that is led by a lib who could not prosecute voter intimidation by the Black Panthers ms. shelly, but can sure prosecute these nasty laws trying to rid ourselves of these ILLEGAL ALIENS.
So, what are the political leanings of the Mobile Press RegisteR????? I would have thought you would have at least “mentioned” that ms. shelly.
Steven Fetter
66223
1 year, 4 months agoJust because an editorial “slams” a person or an idea, does not mean that the local citizens concur. Surprisingly, and somewhat ironically, many newspapers do not seem to be aware that their local constituents have indeed “figured a guy out” and have reach a conclusion different from the oracles of the Fourth Estate.
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year, 4 months agoPray tell Steven, are you referring to any newspaper that we are perhaps familiar with???
I can’t think of one that is in a conservative area yet leans far to the left. Maybe you can help me here???? :)
Mark Hastert
1 year, 4 months agoBeware the law of unintended consequences. The shortage of farm laborers has cost Alabama farmers millions. Now Kobach’s home state wants an exemption to hire illegals to work on feed lots. The irony is sublime.
Bill Mccwiliams
1 year, 4 months agoSecretary of Agriculture, in the state of Kansas. DALE RODMAN, REPUBLICAN RIGHT WINGER, appointed and anointed by the your Lordship Reverend Throwback. Asked for Federal waivers so ILLEGAL ALIENS could work for Kansas ranchers and farmers, and the dairy industry.
SAY IT ISN,T SO
Roger Feeley
1 year, 4 months agoPerhaps what Mr. Kobach is doing is forcing us to deal with this problem in a substantive way. Because of the economics of farming, we want illegal aliens here and we want them to be illegal. We want them to be illegal because they are off the books and we can treat them like slave labor. We want them here so we can have cheap food. It’s our dirty little secret.
If we truly let the market determine the wages of the folks who pick our fruits and vegetables, we might not like the prices at the grocery store.
Alabama has learned a costly lesson and will most probably go back to turning a blind eye to the undocumented. It will take a major shift in national policy to change things.
Kent Mueller
1 year, 4 months agoRoger…I would be in favor of letting markets determine prices. That would be a good thing. And, oh, we can enforce our immigration laws, too.
Mark Hastert
1 year, 4 months ago“It will take a major shift in national policy to change things.”
Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/kobach-slammed-alabama/#storylink=cpy …it’s gonna take some politicians with stones enough to face facts and deal with the issue realistically. Fences, walls, moats, and drones in the sky won’t fix it. If you want to stop it go after the employers in a big way or set up a guest worker program with a path to citizenship.
Phil Cardarella
1 year, 4 months agoUMKC Law School owes an apology to all Mizzou alums for giving this clown credibility when they hired him.
Carrie Watts
1 year, 4 months agoThe Feds Had Better Stop Alabama…Before Everyone There Has a Job!
January 23, 2012 By Ira Mehlman 66 Comments
Oh no! It’s happened again. Alabama’s unemployment rate continues to plummet.
Ever since Alabama began implementing its immigration enforcement law, H.B. 56, in late September, the state’s unemployment rate has been dropping like a stone. In just the first month the law was in effect, unemployment in Alabama shrank from 9.8 percent of the workforce to 9.3 percent. And now the latest figures are in…and the news couldn’t be worse (for the Obama administration, the illegal alien lobby, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that is): Alabama’s unemployment rate checked in at 8.1 percent in December. That’s more than a 17 percent reduction since September.
No wonder the Department of Justice sued Alabama and its Civil Rights division continues to harass state agencies, even though the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed that all but a few provisions of the law could go into effect. Illegal aliens are responding to the law by leaving, which is not what the Obama administration or the illegal alien lobby want. And lots of jobs being vacated by illegal aliens are being filled by American workers, which is not exactly good news to cheap labor interests which have insisted that only illegal aliens would do those jobs.
Why the next thing you know, other states might get the idea that they too can reduce illegal immigration, tame unemployment, and cut costs by enacting similar policies. People might even start to wonder why the federal government isn’t doing it.
http://immigrationreform.com/2012/01/23/the-feds-had-better-stop-alabama%E2%80%A6before-everyone-there-has-a-job/