Sean ♥ illegals; Kerry not so much. From an already-widely-noted article in today’s Globe:
Sean Healey joined his colleagues at the July meeting of the President’s Export Council in agreeing to tell the president that the role of illegal immigrants is a “special and important part of our economic growth” and implore him not to implement policies that would disrupt their presence.
“Removing undocumented workers from an economy with near full employment would be devastating and counterproductive,” the 47-member council wrote Bush. “Documented and undocumented immigrants are filing the void. They continue to fill jobs Americans, for various reasons, are not doing.”
Yet, says Kerry,
“Every job they give to an illegal immigrant is a job that could been done by a Massachusetts worker,” states one of the 50 proposals that Healey is vowing to push as governor…. “By enforcing tough penalties on businesses that hire illegal aliens, we will discourage illegal activity in the Commonwealth and lower costs.”
What’s especially awkward about this for Healey is that Deval Patrick has consistently advocated toughening the penalties on employers who hire illegal aliens. Every time he’s asked, he says something along the lines of “people are not coming here for in-state tuition, they’re coming here for jobs. We need to come down hard on employers.” Yet there’s Sean Healey, the underwriter of Kerry Healey’s campaign, calling illegal immigrants “a ‘special and important part of our economic growth.'”
D’OH!
UPDATE: In this photo, Kerry Healey yuks it up on immigration as her husband (?) claps along. The T-shirt reads “Legalize The Irish .org,” a URL that redirects to The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform or ILIR. ILIR is a serious organization that advocates for the Senate version of immigration reform, believing that that is the best way to help increase immigration from Ireland. Here’s their front page:
NO IRISH NEED APPLY?
Under the current immigration system, neither President Ronald Reagan, nor President John F Kennedy’s ancestors or relatives could come to America legally today
- Ireland receives about 2,000 green cards a year out of a global total of 1.12 million
- The Irish will be unable to keep coming to America if Congress does not pass comprehensive immigration reform
Great Irish Communities in the US Are Already In Jeopardy
- There are 50,000 young Irish in the US trying to live the American dream like so many before them
- We have helped fight the wars (record number of Medals of Honor) helped build the cities, the schools and the Catholic Church
40 Million Irish Americans Are On Our Side
The ILIR supports President Bush, the US Senate,
and Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Even more interesting is the ILIR’s blog entry for the event — the Irish Games, held last weekend in Canton — at which Healey’s picture was taken:
An Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform Volunteer asked Healy to pose for a photograph with a Legalize the Irish t-shirt, which she did.
She received a very hostile reception from the crowd, with several Republican business owners from Boston saying that they would not be able to support her because of her stance on immigration.
It was pointed out to her by many people that she was actively calling for the criminalization of many of the people both attending and playing the games, a contradiction which she was unable to reconcile (despite wearing the t-shirt!).
Healy was booed arriving and departing the games.
If only they had known how Sean felt about it …
sharoney says
run out of feet to shoot if this keeps up.
the-ghost says
im generally not one to defend Muffy, but she is a different person than her husband. or is she supposed to have the same view as ‘the master of the house’? siiiigh.
blue-suede-shoe says
The saga of the flip-flopping Mrs. Healey continues. This time last year she was saying “let them eat cake,(pay for private school)” and “deprot them all.” That is until her husband was asked to consult the President. That’s when, all of a sudden she’s on RKO saying’ “If there are people here who have the potential to become good productive American citizens . . . who are going to pay taxes and obey the laws, let’s figure out a way of figuring out who they are and perhaps allowing them to stay under some circumstances,” she said.
”We have to deal with the people who are here,” she added. ”We can’t deport them all.” – Andrea Estes, Globe May 17.
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Now we have Healey supporting LegalizetheIrish.org, saying she supports undocumented Irish immigrants? What is it about the Irish that’s so different from the other immigrants, Mrs. Healey?
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I guess if you’re Spanish or Portuguese-speaking and your skin is a little brown, then you’re just an “illegal.”
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How can we “re-frame” all this xenophobia?
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What do you all think of this PSA posted on the MIRA site?
Do you think it would cause a black-lash if released on TV?
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