TX HD 12: Republicans Try To Make Noise With Immigration Nonsense And Statistics From A Racist Organization
By Vince Leibowitz on Aug 21, 2008 in 2008 Texas Elections
No doubt taking a cue from State Rep. Frank Corte (R-San Antonio) and State Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) following their request that the Texas Attorney General rule on some anti-immigration legislation, and in preparation for the GOP’s launch of its “Contract with Texans” campaign theme, a Republican state rep candidate in East Texas is beating the drum on immigration:
Van Brookshire, candidate for Texas House of Representatives in District 12, today announced that ending illegal immigration will be a cornerstone of his campaign, and that he will make it a top priority in the Texas Legislature.
Brookshire, who shares a last name with a popular East Texas chain of grocery stores, is evidently running for the wrong office. Either that, or he forgot the difference between the federal and state government. Newsflash: the federal government, you know, the one in Washington, is the one that is responsible for immigration.
Of course, making immigration one’s top priority totally ignores other things that a state representative can have an actual impact on–like the economy, taxes, health care, transportation and education. Surely people in HD 12 are more concerned about the price of gas and their kids’ education than immigration.
As if that wasn’t enough, Brookshire continues:
“It is very apparent to me that we cannot control the Texas budget until we are able to control the Texas/Mexico border,” Van Brookshire said from his home in East Texas. “I have sympathy for people who want to make a better life for themselves, and I invite them to the United States, but immigrants must enter our country legally.”
Evidently, Brookshire didn’t learn much from finishing third in seeking the GOP nomination for Senate District 3 against Todd Staples back in 2000.
Too, Brookshire evidently hasn’t read the study done by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts that says our state’s economy would head straight to the toilet without the people he’d like to send back across the border. Brookshire actually has it wrong. The budget would be totally out of control without them, because the economy would be in a downward spiral.
Then Brookshire makes the ultimate mistake: he uses numbers. Check this out:
Brookshire pointed out that illegal immigrants cost the State of Texas billions of dollars annually. Texas spends an estimated $4 billion* on educating illegal immigrants, $520 million* in medical care, and $150 million* incarcerating illegal immigrants.
Those stats came from the Federation for American Immigration Reform. And they are wrong. Of course, what can you expect when you use statistics from an organization that is the creation of a man who operates a racist publishing company and has compared immigrants to “bacteria;” has employed members of white supremacist groups in key positions; has promoted racist conspiracy theories; and has accepted more than $1 million from the Pioneer Fund, a racist foundation devoted to eugenics and to proving a connection between race and IQ?
Now, let’s look at the real stats, courtesy of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts:
Education: $967.8 (million)
Healthcare: $58.0 (million)
Incarceration: $130.6 (million)
It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that Brookshire’s numbers (lifted from FAIR) are far, far, far off the mark. The numbers, in fact, are even debunked in the Comptroller’s report!
And, as if that wasn’t enough for you, try this on for size, also from the Comptroller’s report:
The absence of the estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in Texas in fiscal 2005 would have been a loss to our gross state product of $17.7 billion. Undocumented immigrants produced $1.58 billion in state revenues, which exceeded the $1.16 billion in state services they received.
Also, keep in mind that even when you take the entire number of $1.16 billion, it pales in the face of the entire state budget. But, don’t tell that to Brookshire:
Van Brookshire believes more state funds should be directed to control the Texas border and empower local law enforcement by giving them the ability to investigate the citizenship status of suspected illegal immigrants. He also believes the State of Texas should outlaw sanctuary cities. Lastly, Van believes Texas should improve election integrity by requiring voters to present valid photo identification before they are able to vote, which would ensure only US citizens are able to participate in our elections.
Oh, yes. No Republican candidate whoring himself out to his base would be complete without throwing in the voter ID argument, which we’ve debunked here at Capitol Annex many times. As for outlawing “sanctuary cities,” I imagine that the voters of House District 12 are more concerned with making sure their kids have a good education and that they can get medical treatment if they get sick than whether or not cops in houston ask people who look too brown to be citizens their immigration stauts when they stop them for going 50 in a 45 mph speed zone.
[...] Vince from Capitol Annex takes a look at Republican State Representative candidate Van Brookshire’s stupid press release about immigrat…. [...]
[...] Vince from Capitol Annex takes a look at Republican State Representative candidate Van Brookshire’s stupid press release about immigrat…. [...]