Seems like someone is using the immigration card for political points.
109th House Republican candidate Greg Seabury is running against Democrat Joe Taborsak whose mother, Common Council member Lynn Taborsak, publicly chastised Republican Mayor Mark Boughton's role in the arrest of eleven day laborers at Kennedy Park last week.
Well, someone gave Seabury the Republican memo as out of nowhere, with less than five weeks until Election Day, Seabury is jumping on the anti-immigration bandwagon.
Seabury, who is running against Democrat Joe Taborsak for an open seat, proposes making English the official language of the state; cracking down on contractors who hire illegal immigrants; and granting cities and towns more flexibility to enforce zoning laws if multiple families are living in one housing unit. These issues would require legislation.
Seabury also calls for limiting driver's licenses to legal residents -- already the law -- and opposes granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, a proposal that failed in 2005 but could be resurrected in a future legislative session.
A bill providing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants was defeated, while the federal government requires that driver licenses only be granted to legal residents, Taborsak said.
Thinking that he can use the Taborsak name to his advantage, Seabury suddenly proposes an immigration policy but if you look at the so-called detail, Seabury is actually proposing nothing at all as most of what he's suggesting is already law. The State already limits giving illegal immigrants driver licenses, as well as denies granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.
So what is Seabury talking about?
If Seabury were honest, he would propose a detailed plan which would crack down on contractors who hire illegal immigrants. Where was Seabury when the ICE rounded up the day laborers two weeks ago? Why didn't he comment about the fact that the ICE didn't target the contractor who picked up the day laborers in their sweep? Contractors have been picking up day laborers on Kennedy Park for at least the last five years and although Seabury has been on the Common Council for years and been campaigning against Taborsak for months, this is the first we seen the Republican address this issue to date.
You see where I'm getting at here? Well Joe Taborsak see the writing on the wall and call Seabury out on it.
"I'm missing what his point is. If he has a plan he should be more specific," Taborsak said. He added immigration is "the result of a failed federal policy. We need to push the federal government, particularly the Congressional representatives."
It didn't take long for Seabury to show why he really raised this issue...he's trying to use the views of Lynn Taborsak against her son (classy).
"The people who were arrested in the recent ICE raid were illegal aliens who do not have the rights to be here," Seabury said. "Hence, they should fear deportation, and they shouldn't be seeking health care provided by the taxpayers of the city of Danbury."
Seabury added, "What (Lynn) Taborsak should be doing is encouraging people to take the necessary steps to gain legal status," Seabury said. "... I assume Joe and Lynn are on the same page."
Notice the key phrase "illegal aliens" and "health care." These are key anti-immigrant talking points expressed by the most extreme anti-immigrant members of Danbury.
Connecticut AFL-CIO John Olsen hit the nail on the wall when he addressed the hypocrisy of the ICE round-up and Republicans who are looking to score political points like Seabury when he spoke last week.
Seabury hasn't a clue about how to address illegal immigration and if he really cared about this issue, he would have said something eariler in his campaign as well as during the many years he has been on the Common Council. Stevie Wonder can see that this typical Republican is just making stuff up to rally the anti-immigrant crowd so he can get more votes.
This quote in bold from the News-Times article tells you all you need to know about the honesty of Seabury.
Seabury wasn't specific about legislation to penalize contractors who hire illegal immigrants.
Seabury isn't specific because what he's doing is nothing more than a cheap campaign trick. Seabury is going after a seat, which was held by Lew Wallace so he knows he's in a tough campaign fight since the district is heavily Democratic. Seabury's proposal is nothing more than dishonest and a slap in the face to all those who want to find a honest solution to this FEDERAL ISSUE.
What Taborsak needs to do is attack Seabury hard and expose the Republican's proposal for what it really is...a cheap stunt.
Note to the accurate News-Times: This is a picture of Joe Taborsak. This is a picture of Chris Murphy. It doesn't look good when you confuse Chris Murphy with a man who was only born and raised in Danbry as well as part of a popular local political family.
Just sayin'...
UPDATE: Attaboy News-Times! Thanks for correcting the photo error.
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On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.