{"id":277474,"date":"2010-02-04T16:00:04","date_gmt":"2010-02-04T21:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/firedoglake.com\/?p=65148"},"modified":"2010-02-04T16:00:04","modified_gmt":"2010-02-04T21:00:04","slug":"why-congressman-patrick-murphy-should-reject-the-bridge-to-nowhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/277474","title":{"rendered":"Why Congressman Patrick Murphy Should Reject the BRIDGE to Nowhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Patrick<\/a>This year, we\u2019re getting closer to a legislative solution for real immigration reform, but we are still fighting like crazy to make sure it is introduced and passed. One indicator that we\u2019re getting there is the stepped-up activity from our anti-immigrant opponents.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been working on immigration reform for over a decade, so I\u2019ve seen my share of stupid ideas from the anti-reform, status-quo camp. H.Res. 1026, the so-called \u201cBRIDGE Resolution\u201d is the latest. I call it the “BRIDGE to Nowhere”<\/a> because it offers no actual solutions to our immigration crisis (just bigger, badder immigration enforcement with no fix for the broken system). It\u2019s not even a bill. It\u2019s a non-binding, but ugly, political ploy.<\/p>\n

The \u201cBridge to Nowhere\u201d is supported by the usual cast of anti-immigrant zealots in the House. The lead sponsor is Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and he\u2019s joined by the likes of Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and the ever-reliable Heath Shuler (D-NC). And, of course, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which has been designated a hate group<\/a> by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is touting the proposal.<\/p>\n

There was one name on the list of sponsors, however, that I frankly didn\u2019t expect to see: Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA).<\/p>\n

If a rising star in the Democratic Party wants to side with hate groups and Steve King<\/a> on immigration, that\u2019s obviously his choice. But, more and more, there are going to be consequences. In years past, the immigration reform side played very nice. We offered real solutions and tried to ignore the opposition\u2019s tactics. Perhaps we even gave Members of Congress like Patrick Murphy a pass when we figured they didn\u2019t know what they were signing onto. Not anymore.<\/p>\n

Today, America\u2019s Voice is launching an online ad campaign<\/a> targeting Murphy and his support of this anti-immigration reform gimmick. Murphy\u2019s fans should expect more from him.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

There have already been many calls for Murphy to remove his name from the \u201cBRIDGE to Nowhere. The Irish Immigration Center<\/a> in Philadelphia took the lead and has been vocally targeting Murphy:<\/p>\n

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The Irish Immigration center says they are “disappointed that Rep. Murphy is taking such a regressive stance on immigration reform. Immigration reform that does not provide a solution for the undocumented is impractical and inhumane.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Irish Center has been directing calls in to Murphy\u2019s offices in PA.<\/p>\n

At DailyKos, Markos wrote that Murphy\u2019s involvement was a \u201ccheap anti-immigrant shot\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Murphy thinks he can sign on to symbolic resolutions like this one as an easy way to score political points, yet the time to use immigrants as a punching bag is closing. Not only is it cruel, but it’s also bad policy and bad politics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Not to mention this kind of demagoguery would waste $4 trillion<\/a>, when our economy is already quite fragile.<\/p>\n

Patrick Murphy has a choice: He can side with a wide coalition of labor, business, religious, progressive, and community leaders who support immigration reform and want to solve the problem. And the majority of the American people.<\/a> Or, he can cast his lot with anti-immigrant the Steve Kings in the House and the hate group, FAIR, by supporting a \u201cregressive\u201d and \u201ccruel\u201d proposal that enshrines the status quo, insures our immigration system stays broken, and seeks to expel the 12 million undocumented immigrants currently living and working in our country.<\/p>\n

So, far, Murphy has sided with King and FAIR, but we\u2019re not giving up. We don\u2019t think Murphy really wants to stay on this \u201cBRIDGE to nowhere\u201d with the immigrant bashers. And, if he does, he can\u2019t say he wasn\u2019t warned.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Share <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year, we\u2019re getting closer to a legislative solution for real immigration reform, but we are still fighting like crazy to make sure it is introduced and passed. One indicator that we\u2019re getting there is the stepped-up activity from our anti-immigrant opponents. I\u2019ve been working on immigration reform for over a decade, so I\u2019ve seen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}