Maldo Goes Immigrant Bashing

06 Oct, 2010 by CalWatchdog Staff

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Anthony Pignataro:

The Abel Maldonado for Lieutenant Governor camp recently put out a new radio ad attacking San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s “sanctuary city” policies. “For four years while Newsom was mayor, San Francisco refused to turn dangerous illegal immigrant criminals over to authorities for deportation,” a stern-sounding female narrator says after the ad opens to the sounds of gun shots and sirens.

It’s anything but subtle, but has Maldonado become so desperate that he’s going after Newsom on illegal immigration? Maldonado needs to be very careful here, since his own views on undocumented immigrants differ quite sharply from the Republican Party he still (for some reason) insists he’s part of.

In a recent Sacramento Bee interview, Maldonado did a tap dance around the issue, opposing “amnesty” but supporting letting people stay if they “pay a fine or perform community service and pass background checks.” He opposes tasking state inspectors to clear worker’s ID documents, but says the fed should do it. And he also believes that undocumented immigrant students should have access to public colleges.

Of all the issues to attack Newsom — taxes, government regulations, simple ineptitude — why try to shore up a right flank that melted away years ago? Maldonado exemplifies the hypocrisy of using illegal immigration as a political issue. This is a state, after all, that enjoys the low wages undocumented workers are willing to accept, so what’s the harm in one more little piece of illegal immigration propaganda anyway?

OCT. 6, 2010