It took the execution-style murder of three promising college students in Newark, N.J., said Michelle Malkin in National Review Online. But Americans may finally be getting serious about securing our borders. The cold-blooded murders in early August shocked even crime-ravaged Newark, but the outrage was compounded when two suspects turned out to be illegal immigrants from Latin America, including a 28-year-old Peruvian whom Newark officials let out on bail after he was charged with raping a 5-year-old. That's right: Some local governments are so indifferent to illegal immigration that they'll book and release an accused child abuser without even checking if he's a citizen. Newark happens to be one of the country's many 'œsanctuary' cities'”which means that no one asks about 'œimmigration status' at public hospitals, schools, or even the courts. Now three good kids are dead. 'œWill we at last abandon the deadly, chaotic, sanctuary-nation experiment and restore America's lost status as a sovereign nation?'
That's pure demagoguery, said Paul Krugman in The New York Times. The vast majority of Hispanic immigrants, legal and illegal, are hardworking souls who pose no threat; in fact, a greater percentage of native-born whites is jailed than of Hispanics. If the Newark crime means that we should deport all illegal immigrants, what, then, is the meaning of a recent Connecticut murder in which two native-born white men are accused of murdering a mother and two daughters? But the anti-immigrant wing of the Republican Party is immune to all reason, so it quickly tried to exploit the Newark tragedy as an anti-immigrant rallying cry. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney took a swipe at Rudy Giuliani for having presided over a 'œsanctuary city,' and now the entire GOP field is making get-tough statements about immigrants. It's the same old strategy of 'œracial animosity' that Republicans have used to win white votes since 1968.
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