According to Sarah Palin, Obama Doesn’t Have the “Cojones” to Detain Illegal Immigrants

Published in Clarin
(Argentina) on 3 August 2010
by Gustavo Sierra (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Joseph Locatelli. Edited by Alex Brewer.
There is still resentment from the presidential campaign of two years ago. Every time it is possible, they jab at each other. This time the ineffable Sarah Palin, the ex-vice presidential candidate for the Republican Party and current leader of the ultraconservative Tea Party, took her turn. On a television show she said that President Barack Obama doesn’t have “los cojones” (spoken in Spanish and repeated multiple times) to secure the borders and prevent more undocumented immigrants from entering.

Mr. Obama, who finds himself with a low voter approval rating, responds by saying, “I understand the frustration of people in Arizona. But what we can't do is demagogue the issue.” He added, “And what we can't do is allow a patchwork of 50 different states, or cities or localities, where anybody who wants to make a name for themselves suddenly says, 'I'm gonna be anti-immigrant and I'm gonna try to see if I can solve the problem ourself.’”

On the other hand, Ms. Palin thinks that Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona, “has the cojones that our president does not have to look out for all Americans, not just Arizonans, but all Americans.”

The debate over what to do with the 12 million Latin American immigrants who live in the United States without legal residence is becoming even more heated. It culminated last Thursday when a judge blocked a law called SB1070, which would for the first time give the local police the power to detain any individual in order to ask them for identification as a resident, from going into effect. If an individual does not have the proper papers, the police would be able to turn him or her in to the immigration authorities for deportation. The rest of this anti-immigrant law went into effect, but these special provisions will be revised in November by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the man that took center stage in all of the controversy, the sheriff of the city of Phoenix and the surrounding area, Joe Arpaio, announced that he received a death threat from a Mexican drug cartel that, he assures, put a price of one million dollars on his head. The office of public relations for Mr. Arpaio stated that the threat came directly from a disposable Mexican cell phone.

Finding themselves in the middle of all this are 3,000 Argentineans who arrived here after the crisis of 2001. They are losing their jobs due to the end of the economic boom in Arizona. They live in fear that the political confrontation between these ultraconservative groups and the liberal government of Mr. Obama will end with them as scapegoats.


Todavía quedan resquemores de la campaña presidencial de hace dos años. Y cada vez que pueden se lanzan estocadas. Esta vez, fue el turno de la inefable Sarah Palin, la ex candidata a vicepresidenta por el Partido Republicano y ahora líder de los ultraconservadores del Tea Party. Dijo en un programa de televisión que el presidente Barack Obama no tiene “los cojones” (así, en español y repitiéndolo varias veces) para asegurar las fronteras y que no entren más inmigrantes indocumentados.



Obama, que se encuentra con un bajo nivel de aprobación por parte de los votantes, le respondió que “no podemos enfrentar este tema en términos demagogos. No podemos permitirnos un remiendo de cincuenta estados distintos, en el que cada uno quiera lucirse diciendo: yo estoy contra los inmigrantes y quiero resolver yo solo el problema”. Y agregó: “Comprendo el sentimiento de frustración de la gente de Arizona, pero no es la forma de resolver este problema tan complejo”.



En cambio, Palin cree que es la gobernadora de Arizona, Jan Brewer, “la que tiene los ‘cojones’ (otra vez en español) que no tiene Obama para impedir el flujo de inmigrantes, no sólo en Arizona, sino en todo el país”.



El debate sobre qué hacer con los 12 millones de inmigrantes latinoamericanos que viven en Estados Unidos sin una residencia legal se calienta cada vez más. Tuvo un punto culminante el jueves pasado cuando una jueza bloqueó la puesta en vigencia de la llamada ley SB1070 que le daba por primera vez el poder a la policía local a detener a cualquier individuo para pedirle una identificación de residente. Si carecía de papeles en regla, entonces, la policía lo podía entregar a las autoridades de migraciones para su deportación. El resto de esa ley antiinmigrante entró en vigencia pero esas provisiones especiales serán revisadas en noviembre por la Corte Suprema de justicia.



En tanto, el hombre que ocupó el centro de la escena en toda esta controversia, el sheriff de la ciudad de Phoenix y sus alrededores, Joe Arpaio, denunció que recibió una amenaza de muerte por parte de un cartel de la droga de México que, asegura, puso el precio de un millón de dólares por su cabeza. La oficina de relaciones públicas de Arpaio informó que “la amenaza provino directamente de un teléfono celular mexicano”.



En el medio de toda esta controversia se encuentran unos 3.000 argentinos que llegaron aquí tras la crisis del 2001 y que ahora perdieron sus trabajos por el fin del boom económico en Arizona. Viven con temor a que el enfrentamiento político entre estos grupos ultraconservadores y el gobierno liberal de Obama termine con ellos como chivos expiatorios.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Switzerland: Ukraine Is No Longer a Priority for America: Trump Leaves the Country High and Dry

Thailand: US-China Trade Truce Didn’t Solve Rare Earths Riddle

Poland: Calm in Iran Doesn’t Mean Peace Yet

China: Trump’s ‘Opportunism First’ — Attacking Iran Opens Pandora’s Box

Australia: Tech Billionaires To Reap the Rewards of Trump’s Strongarm Tax Tactics

Topics

Germany: Trump’s Opportunity in Iran

Canada: Elbows Down on the Digital Services Tax

Thailand: US-China Trade Truce Didn’t Solve Rare Earths Riddle

Ireland: The Irish Times View on Trump vs the Fed: Rocky Times Ahead

Cuba: The Middle East Is on Fire

Australia: Could Donald Trump’s Power Struggle with Federal Reserve Create Next Financial Crisis?

Taiwan: After US Bombs Iranian Nuclear Facilities, Trump’s Credibility in Doubt

Switzerland: Ukraine Is No Longer a Priority for America: Trump Leaves the Country High and Dry

Related Articles

Argentina: Trump Is Laying His Cards Down

Argentina: The US-China Microprocessor War

Argentina: Help for Trump in 2024

Argentina: Understanding a 2nd Cold War