Sunday, June 26, 2011

FACT CHECK: State Sen. Pres. Russell Pearce Claims President Barack Obama Secretly "Enacted the Nightmarish DREAM Act"; "100% True" Claim Is Really 100% False

Google the two search terms "Russell Pearce" and "Fact Check", and you will come up with 21,200 results in less than a second.  (I am proud to say that the first two are from this blog.)  If Arizona's Tea Party Senate President continues affixing his signature to rants like this (see below the jump for the entire text), the results number will mushroom and the two terms will become inextricably linked.

Pearce, in his position as the "Honorary National Chairman" of the semi-tax exempt (501(c)(4)) Ban Amnesty Now organization, sent out another wild (and wildly inaccurate) rant claiming that President Obama "secretly enacted the nightmarish DREAM Act", painting him as a dictator and juxtaposing his picture with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, and noting that the claims must be "100% true" because "news reports online" said so.

That line - coupled with the fact that I thought I would have heard about something as newsworthy as Obama using an Executive Order to enact the DREAM Act - had me scrambling to search engine land.  However, I did go back to finish the nearly-hysterical fund-raising letter, and learned that it contradicts its own claims: it was not a "Stroke of a pen" by the President, and it did not enact the DREAM Act.

The origins of the anti-DREAM Act rants:  apparently, Sen. Pearce saw this report from WorldNet Daily.  That story was based upon a Fox News panel from last week.  And, that panel was based upon this pretty vanilla June 17 memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") Director John Morton

In it, he reiterates long-standing tenets of prosecutorial discretion and how they can be applied in the context of enforcement of immigration laws.  He does not direct ICE agents to exercise that discretion in any certain way - that would be contrary to the entire concept - but, he does suggest that many factors be taken into consideration when deciding whether to pursue enforcement action (both negative and positive). 


(more later)

ICE memo: http://bit.ly/lqVx20
other BAN stories: http://bit.ly/kkVp3z
Fox panel video, transcript: http://fxn.ws/kaKWzv
WND story: http://bit.ly/iMOYnV

Text of Pearce e-mail:


Obama Dictates: AMNESTY NOW!

With the Stroke of a Pen Barack Obama Has Granted Amnesty to Virtually All Illegal Aliens


Dear Fellow Patriots,

This is the most important, and troubling, email I have ever been forced to write.

What I am about to tell you is unthinkable. It is also 100% true. (Check news reports online to see for yourself!)

Last Friday, with no fanfare, no press coverage, and with every effort made to hide his actions from the American people...

Barack Obama enacted the nightmarish DREAM Act!

Opposed by a majority of the American people and TWICE defeated in Congress, the DREAM Act grants amnesty to Illegal Aliens criminally residing in the United States if they agree to enlist in the U.S. military or enter college.

TIME IS UP! Obama Just Enacted AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS! FIGHT BACK HERE! FIGHT BACK NOW!

The Obama administration memo from the John Morton, Director of I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) directs I.C.E. agents now to use “prosecutorial discretion” with regard to enforcing immigration laws.

Writes Director Morton of the new Obama Administration policy not to enforce immigration laws: “When ICE favorably exercises prosecutorial discretion, it essentially decides not to assert the full scope of the enforcement authority available to the agency.”

You read that right: according to the Obama administration; “favorable” enforcement is NOT enforcing the law!

According to one of the first press reports to break this important story, the new Obama policy is cut and dry: “federal immigration officials do not have to deport illegal aliens if they are enrolled in any type of education program, if their family members have volunteered for U.S. military service, or even if they are pregnant or nursing.”

TIME IS UP! Obama Just Enacted AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS! FIGHT BACK HERE! FIGHT BACK NOW!

Does Barack Obama expect us to stand idly by and watch him grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens – AGAINST the rule of law, AGAINST recent votes of Congress, and AGAINST the express wishes of the American people?

This is the most important message I’ve ever sent! We must unite today! We must speak with one voice!

Barack Obama cannot be allowed to think that his actions will be allowed to go unchallenged. Whether through public pressure, through Congress, or through legal action in America’s courts we will not let this unprecedented, un-American act stand!

TIME IS UP! Obama Just Enacted AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS! FIGHT BACK HERE! FIGHT BACK NOW!

Join me today – help BAN AMNESTY NOW lead the fight to stop this most-blatant AMNESTY attack!

For America,



Sen. Russell Pearce
Author, SB-1070
Hon. National Chairman

P.S. The situation is now more dire than we imagined! The only way we successfully defeated The DREAM Act AMNESTY scheme before was with the help of American patriots like you. To push back Obama's unprecedented power grab for the liberal special interests like La Raza, we need you to join BAN with a donation of $25 or more today.

To contribute by mail, please send your check (payable to "B.A.N.") to:

Ban Amnesty Now
60 E Rio Salado Parkway, Suite 900
Tempe, AZ 85281


We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com. Thanks.

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