Minnesota Governor:"You'd have to be really living under a rock not to see this as a real issue"
01/05/2006
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"If you're an illegal immigrant, watch out."< /strong> says the St. Paul Pioneer-Press. [Illegal immigration a 'real issue' Jan. 4, 2006] Hold onto your hats. It really hit the fan Jan. 3 when Gov. Tim Pawlenty fired a second salvo at the estimated 85,000 folks searching for a better life in his state. Now the "election-year grandstanding" Pawlenty says he wants to create something called the "Minnesota Illegal Immigration Enforcement Team of 10" that will make life miserable for illegals, their employers and even those rascals who earn a living cranking out phony IDs. Waving some of those bogus ID documents in front of reporters, the iron-fisted Pawlenty stunned everyone: "You'd have to be really living under a rock not to see this as a real issue" A real issue for just about all of us, with the exception of politicians like the newly inaugurated St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (e-mail him) who already has placed his oath of office in the Circular File:

"The governor is wrong on this issue. Inclusion is the future, and trying to differentiate between people, instead of including all people and working together, is just the wrong message and the wrong direction."

God, what's next? Will Minnesota lose its image of being a "welcoming state" for immigrants? Will Pawlenty succeed in creating an atmosphere that will forever change the "public perception of Hispanics?" Stay tuned . . . .

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