John McCain's Campaign Clears Up Controversial Illegal Immigrant Quote

Senator John McCain's office is clearing up a controversial statement the Arizona Republican made implying, during a recent interview on Fox News, that illegal immigrants were "intentionally causing accidents" on highways.

In an email to the Huffington Post, Brooke Buchanan, a spokesperson for the Senator relayed that McCain "was referring to a story Pinal County Sheriff Babeu told" at a press conference on Monday.

In that story, Babeu said that there had been "numerous officers that have been killed by illegal immigrants in Arizona" and that "in just one patrol area, we've had 64 pursuits -- failure to yield for an officer -- in one month."

The line didn't fully mesh with McCain's inference that illegal aliens were causing disasters on the roads "intentionally." But Buchanan pointed out that in a subsequent interview on MSNBC (this Wednesday), Babeu did, in fact, make that point.

"[J]ust last month alone we have had 64 pursuits. That's where these illegals are failing to yield to lights and sirens, as every good citizen would pull to the side of the road, they are intentionally causing serious traffic hazards. They have caused wrecks, running red lights. It puts our deputies and officers in harm's way. One thing new in their tactics, nearly every one of them is armed. So this created, even with one of our deputies crashing into an actual ditch and into water, he was face down unconscious. And a Casa Grande officer literally saved his life."

Certainly, it appears that McCain was influenced during his interview on Fox by information from law enforcement sources on the ground (though his delivery remains a bit in-artful)

But what stands out more than any particular word choice is just how deeply McCain is dabbling in anti-immigration rhetoric and policy after having willingly played the role of Republican pariah on the same issue several years ago.

As Buchanan notes, Senators McCain and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) have "announced a 10-point border security plan - regarding illegal aliens causing car crashes trying to avoid apprehension." The two have also called for the deployment of 3,000 National Guard troops to the Arizona-Mexico border.

McCain's GOP primary campaign in Arizona has had profound political effects on the senator. If immigration reform is to be considered in the months ahead (as President Obama suggested recently), it's all but impossible to see McCain playing a collaborative role in the process.

Comments

[MyGuyO]

02:39 AM on 04/28/2010

McCain needs Sistah Sarah standing beside him.
Again Sen. McCain puts his foot in his mouth.
He blames the "federal Government" for not taking care of the border situation. Well, McCain, YOU are the Fed Gov and YOU have not been working for the state of AZ in many a year. You do not belfieve in earmarks so there you go...Nada for the state of AZ. So now, you want to blame it all on the Obama Adm. Ha, That's a good one.

[henrypapillon]

09:37 PM on 04/27/2010

John McCain runs for cover after another stupid comment.

[Humanrights11]

02:07 AM on 04/27/2010

Chinese Exclusion Act:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00veSu3aJEU

[Humanrights11]

02:07 AM on 04/27/2010

Emmett Till had his Civilrights violated because of his SKIN COLOR:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amxbnwrO9g8&feature=related

[Humanrights11]

02:07 AM on 04/27/2010

Racial Profiling=Unconstitutional, it violates American CitizinRights, such as, they did with the Black Community, Asian, and Italians and now to Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, and so on)! It is wrong to violate Latin American civil rights!

[atexasdem]

12:03 AM on 04/24/2010

Obviously this is a last desperate act by a soon to be white minority of Arizona. With this popular law racial profileing, harassment and intimidation is now the law in Arizona.
Every projection has whites becoming less than 50% of the Arizona population within ten years so whites know they must act quickly. This reminds me of Rhodesia and South Africa when it became inevitable that blacks would eventually take control. The whites of Arizona are no different than those white South Africans and Rhodesians who seeing their minority future did everything they could to delay or minimize it. It didn't work in Rhodesia or South Africa and it won't work in Arizona either.

[Ghost Dance 2010]

08:31 AM on 04/23/2010

"Research reviewed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office indicates that between 50 percent and 75 percent of unauthorized immigrants pay federal, state, and local taxes"

"The Impact of Unauthorized Immigrants on the Budgets of State and Local Governments". The Congress of the United States - Congressional Budget Office. 12-2007.

[Ghost Dance 2010]

08:30 AM on 04/23/2010

"Professor of Law Francine Lipman writes that the belief that undocumented migrants are exploiting the US economy and that they cost more in services than they contribute to the economy is "undeniably false". Lipman asserts that "undocumented immigrants actually contribute more to public coffers in taxes than they cost in social services" and "contribute to the U.S. economy through their investments and consumption of goods and services; filling of millions of essential worker positions resulting in subsidiary job creation, increased productivity and lower costs of goods and services; and unrequited contributions to Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance programs.""

J. Lipman, Francine, J. (Spring 2006). Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without Representation. The Tax Lawyer.. Also published in Harvard Latino Law Review Spring 2006

" Undocumented workers are estimated to pay in about $7 billion per year into Social Security."

Eduardo Porter (April 5, 2005). "Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security With Billions". New York Times.

"“There is little doubt that unauthorized, that is, illegal, immigration has made a significant contribution to the growth of our economy,” Greenspan said. An overhaul of U.S. immigration laws is “badly needed” to create legal avenues for skilled and unskilled workers to enter the country legally, he said."

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aeQKG53ULolk

[margoharris]

02:43 AM on 04/23/2010

So if this law passes then a person who commits the crime of being hispanic while driving will be pulled over and his papers checked. So won't that mean that more and more undocumented workers will run from the police if more are profiled, thus more accidents? Ruh Roh.

[ProudMilVet]

01:39 AM on 04/23/2010

What's McCain doing in that photo ? Telling us how many votes he got in the last election ?

[Ghost Dance 2010]

01:24 AM on 04/23/2010

Can we PLEASE sell Arizona back to Mexico?

[WeCanDoMore]

01:23 AM on 04/23/2010

Is that a worm crawling out of his ear?

[coloradodreaming]

11:40 PM on 04/22/2010

Maybe I have made a mistake in my history but I think Hispanics were settled in Arizona before the snowbirds. Could someone clarify this for me. Seems as though most of the Hispanic population would be alittle upset at having their citizenship questioned by the new comers.

[AZterritory]

12:55 AM on 04/23/2010

You're right. 1528 to be exact. We didn't even get to be an American territory until 1854. So the longest term (except for NAm) language in our area is Spanish. These d0rks forget that in AZ and New Mexico's (and Texas and California's) cases, the people didn't necessarily move, the border did.

[Celebrindan]

03:26 AM on 04/23/2010

Did you forget that you lost the Mexican American War?

Do you think that there is a single nation on earth that was NOT created by conquest?

Did you forget that your 'beloved Mexico' was stolen from murdered Aztecs?

Don't try to play the victim here.

[hibeam]

11:06 PM on 04/22/2010

Keep bailing out the boat. Don’t ever stop to plug the leak. Just keep bailing out the boat.

[hibeam]

11:04 PM on 04/22/2010

Thanks for doing nothing forever John. Thanks for doing nothing forever.