What does an aged blowhard like Sheriff Joe Arpaio know about the humanitarian crisis involving thousands of children from Central America crossing the border into the United States?
Not a damn thing. Arpaio proved this categorically on the conservative site Newsmax TV in a recent interview with washed-up former Republican congressman J.D. Hayworth, where the "shurf" spouted a bunch of mishegas.
"First of all, the executive order, if you recall, on the DREAM Act?" grumbles Joe. "They get a pass. Well, who do you think is coming into the country? All the people who qualify for the DREAM Act. I don't know if anybody realizes that."
First up, Joe, the DREAM Act is just a proposal, one that has yet to pass both Houses of the U.S. Congress.
Gilman outdoes himself, and the rest of the local news media, with this mini-doc on some of the folks crossing the border
What Arpaio's talking about is DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, created by the Obama administration in 2012.
As the name implies, the program defers deportation proceedings against immigrant kids who meet certain requirements, requirements that happen to exclude children who have been crossing the border in the current crisis.
For instance, a DACA-applicant must, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, "have continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007, up to the present time," and have been "physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012, and at the time of making [a] request for consideration of deferred action with USCIS."
Which of the children Arpaio's speaking of meet these requirements?
Much less the requirement that they be:
"...currently in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States."
If you guessed "none," you are officially smarter than just about all of the idgits commenting on the conservative site Breitbart.com, where this clip was posted.
Arpaio goes on to offer this cockamamie conspiracy theory that the Obama administration engineered this crisis on purpose in order to push immigration reform.
Remember, this is a guy whose agency is hopelessly corrupt, and is currently under the court order of a federal judge.
Not that this matters to the wingnuts, who are about as froth-mouthed and delusional as the moonbots who believed that 9/11 was an inside job.
If you want an accurate explanation of what's going on with these kids, I urge you to watch Phoenix videographer Dennis Gilman's recently-posted mini-documentary on the subject.
Gilman combines original reporting and research to produce a cogent, non-hysterical video. At eight minutes, it may be a little long for some with short-attention spans. But it's worth every second.
Various local media outlets have hyped this story mercilessly, spreading misinformation and incendiary rumors in the process.
Gilman's report, with its interviews at the Phoenix Greyhound station, where large groups of immigrants were being dropped off for a while, serves as a nice antidote to the irresponsible efforts of some Sand Land journos.
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