IOW, Jan Brewer is LYING
Heard this on Here and Now. Seriously, this piece of actual reporting cannot be re-linked enough:
During this election cycle, Arizona politicians are touting the potential dangers of illegal immigration. Gov. Jan Brewer is one of the loudest voices.
She has made several statements to the national media, the validity of which CBS 5 Investigates could not confirm. The governor told one media outlet that almost all illegal immigrants are bringing drugs across the border. U.S. Border Patrol officials said that statement is false.
Brewer also said law enforcement officials have found decapitated bodies in the desert. Calls to all of Arizona’s border county medical examiners revealed no decapitated bodies have been reported to them.
A look at data from the FBI shows crime in Arizona is actually down. Murders in Phoenix have dropped by 50 percent since 2003. The violent crime rate across the state has dropped every year since at least 2004. Even the number of illegal border crossers is down. Border Patrol numbers show they are arresting half as many illegal immigrants as they did in 2004.
U.S. Attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke, told CBS 5 Investigates, “If you’re not into drug trafficking and you’re not into human smuggling, you’re going to be safe. This is a safe place to live.”
Well, geez, what if I WANT to smuggle drugs and humans over the border? What about MY safety?
Meanwhile, Talk of the Nation gave way too much credence to the “anchor baby” hysteria driving the GOP and Dem wingnuts to demand a revision of the 14th Amendment. To be fair, the main guest was a thoughtful and patient opponent of such a revision, and most callers gave great arguments against it. But host Neal Conan’s “objectivity” failed to fact-check the reality behind the “anchor baby” term or psuedo-phenomenon. “Well, gee, one caller said she sees illegal aliens dropping babies all the time, so it must be true.” C’mon, man — prepare! Call bullshit when you see it! Sadly, this is probably the best treatment of the subject one can expect from the major news outlets.
