Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano -- deporter of 2 million, coddler of serial racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and advocate of police-state programs such as 287(g) and Secure Communities -- was confirmed by the University of California Regents on Thursday to head the UC system.
I was happy to see that the vote was not unanimous, and that a small but determined group of student protesters disrupted the meeting. The Los Angeles Times reports that six demonstrators were arrested and the meeting was held up for 15 minutes.
Unfortunately, Napolitano was not present till later, and missed the chanting protesters and the struggles some had with campus police officers.
I can only hope this is the beginning of a long campaign of defiance directed at Napolitano, who brought the 287(g) program to Arizona when she was governor, and helped Arpaio get his now-disbanded 160-member 287(g)-force.
See Also: Janet Napolitano Oversaw a Massive Ethnic-Cleansing Against Immigrants
This allowed Arpaio's deputies to become de facto immigration cops and spread fear and panic throughout Maricopa County's immigrant community.
(The last vestige of Arpaio's 287(g) authority was not removed until 2011, after the U.S. Department of Justice announced the findings of a civil rights investigation into the MCSO, documenting Arpaio's record of biased policing. A federal judge has since found Arpaio guilty of racial profiling.)
The Los Angeles Times further reports that Cinthia Flores, the regents' student representative, was the only vote against Napolitano.
Flores made clear that it was Napolitano's record as President Barack Obama's chief hunter of Hispanics, which motivated her no vote.
"I will not deny the pain and experiences of countless students and their families," the Times quotes her as stating.
Indeed, with Obama's approval, Napolitano has deported close to 2 million people, roughly equivalent to how many President George W. Bush deported in eight years as president.
Asked about the student opposition to her becoming UC president, Napolitano attempted a conciliatory tone.
"I would say to those students, documented or undocumented, we welcome all students to the University of California," she said. "We're in the business of education. And I will be an advocate for that. I will be an advocate in Sacramento, I will be an advocate in Washington, DC."
In other words, forget about those 2 million lives, the families and children who suffered because of those removals, take this olive branch, and let me cash in.
NBC Bay Area's report on Thursday's anti-Nappy demo
And cash in, she will. Though her yearly salary reportedly will be less by $21,000 than her predecessor's, Nappy will still make several times her current government salary of $200,000.
Napolitano, who is set to start sometime in September, will score a base salary of $570,000, an auto allowance of $8,916, and a one-time relocation fee of $142,500. This, according to a statement on the University of California's website.
A word of warning to student activists: Napolitano is very good as disguising herself as a progressive, and she will do what she can to placate you, expressing support for comprehensive immigration reform, the DREAM Act, and so forth.
Don't buy the con. She's done more than just about anyone else in recent memory to militarize the border, persecute immigrants and implement an Orwellian regime that affects all residents and citizens of the United States.
The powers that be are forcing her down the student and faculty's necks for their own political ends. They know she's stellar in the role of "bad cop," as commentator Ruben Navarrette recently wrote. I suspect it is a role she will continue as UC president.
Appointing Napolitano to such a position in the Land of Lefties is like making a war criminal the head of the Red Cross.
Napolitano's legacy of ethnic cleansing should be neither forgotten nor forgiven. And UC's students should continue to raise hell over her being their new boss.
