Muslims, Arabs and more recently Chechens aren’t the only ones bearing the brunt of collective blame following the Boston Marathon bombing last week.
Since learning that bombing suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev immigrated to the United States as children, anti-immigrant zealots have capitilized on the moment to argue against immigration reform.
Right-wing talk radio host and frequent Fox News contributer Laura Ingraham insisted that the US block Muslim immigrants from entering the country, particularly from the ex-Soviet region of the world where the bombing suspects were born.
“I would submit that people shouldn’t be coming here as tourists from Chechnya after 9/11,” Ingraham said. “Dagistan, Checnya, Kergystan, uh-uh. As George Bush would say, ‘None of them stans.’”
You might be thinking: Who cares what Ingraham says? She’s nothing more than an inflammatory radio host with no power over actual public policy. But Ingraham isn’t alone.
For example, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tx.) has demanded that the US government investigate and deport all Chechen immigrants with violent leanings.
Because the Boston Marathon attack came as the Senate began debating an immigration reform bill, certain politicians wasted no time in using the tragedy to pile on additional fear and hatred of immigrants.
Today, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) joined in the hatefest in a letter he wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) calling for the bill to be delayed in light of the Boston bombings.
“Why did the current system allow two individuals to immigrate to the United States from the Chechen Republic in Russia, an area known as a hotbed of Islamic extremism, who then committed acts of terrorism?”, wrote Paul, who is now apparently an expert on Chechnya and ex-Soviet Muslims.
But the notion that stricter immigration policies could have prevented the Boston bombings is ridiculous given that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsaraev were 15 and 8 when they came to this country with their parents as asylum-seekers. As The Atlantic‘s Elseph Reeve explains, “The two individuals were allowed to immigrate because we don’t expect children to become terrorists just because people of their ethnicity live in a violent place.”
Nevertheless, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) used the bombings to denounce the immigration bill as well, expressing disgust to MSNBC host Martin Bashir that the bill bans law enforcement from racial profiling. In a creative mix of Islamophobia and anti-immigrant rhetoric, Walsh said the following:
“We’re at war, and this country got a stark reminder last week again that we’re at war,” Walsh said to host Martin Bashir during an appearance on MSNBC. “And not only should we take a pause, Martin, when it comes to immigration, we need to begin profiling who our enemy is in this war: young muslim men,”
“The fact is, Martin, neither you or I or Jonathan knows of the 11 million, and it’s more than 11 million, how many are bad characters,” Walsh continued, addressing Bashir and fellow guest, columnist Jonathan Alter. “And what we’re going to do is replicate what we did in ’86, provide amnesty to all of them, which in essence is providing legal status to a lot of bad characters. You know, Martin, there’s also a piece of this legislation that bans our law enforcement officials of profiling. We need to profile even when it comes to our immigration policy.”
I wonder if these hate-mongerers know that Carlos Arredondo, the man in the cowboy hat being hailed as a hero for providing life-saving services immediately after the Boston bombings, was once an undocumented immigrant. Probably not. Facts don’t seem to be their forte.
Eventually all immigration barriers between nations must go. A free-flowing humanity is necessary to the future health and happiness of the planet.
April 22, 2013 at 9:36 pmI think that a nation’s immigration policy should be based on its needs, the wishes of its citizens, and its capacity to absorb and assimilate the immigrants. The policy should not be driven by identity politics.
So far as I’m concerned, those here can stay. We need to decide what the upper limit in terms of population the country can sustain. Does anyone think that 400 million people US desirable? Think of resources, water, overcrowding. We fight wars for oil now,
April 22, 2013 at 9:50 pmThe most common thing between them is that all of them guys…… when anyone tells you that all Muslims are terrorist!!! don’t bother yourself just say all MEN are terrorist. Sometimes I really hate men!!
April 22, 2013 at 10:15 pmJoe Walsh, thankfully, is an EX-Rep. He was thrashed last November. He was given an award by the “pro-family” Family Research Council, a Christianist hate group, though he was years behind in paying child support for his own kids.
Louis Gohmert is an idiot. He claims that al Qaida has “training camps” on the Mexican border and that Muslim terrorists sneak across the border pretending to be Hispanics. Like many of his fellow elected Flat Earthers he probably doesn’t believe in anthropogenic global warming, evolution, etc. He may well be the stupidest man in congress, though Joe Barton, Paul Broun, Steve King and Steve Stockman make it a real contest.
Dzhokhar wasn’t “from” Chechnya. He’s never been in Chechnya.
April 23, 2013 at 5:52 amthe people who think muslims are terrorist are dumb.
they should first see themselves and then should give opinion to others.
http://www.celebrityo-1visalawyer.com/resources/immigration-forms
April 23, 2013 at 6:32 amThe Muslim community in Canada was responsible for letting police know about the two would-be terrorists who had targeted a passenger train.
The Boston Islamic prayer group to which Tamerlan Naezev belonged were very unhappy with him and told him he could not continue to criticize sermons that preached peace and understanding.
April 23, 2013 at 7:03 am[…] Anti-Immigrant Zealots Capitalize on Boston Bombings | Dispatches from the Underclass. […]
April 23, 2013 at 9:23 amThe Tsaraev boys were 15 and 8 when they arrived. They did not feel they belonged…
Would it not be useful to ask ourselves how we might do a better job, as adults of welcoming refugees and immigrants to our counties? We need to stop talking about “integration” and focus on belonging, thriving and mutual enrichment. More understanding of identity construction and the nomadic experience are essential so that we can find the right words to say: “You exist in our eyes, we are here for you, this is home.”
April 23, 2013 at 9:59 amI suspect that the homicidal behavior of the brothers had a lot more to do with their parents, particularly their mother, who raised them to think of themselves as victims and to hate the world, than it did with their reception in the U.S.
April 29, 2013 at 12:22 amPerhaps. As time progresses, we’ll uncover more – I just read an indepth article about his exclusion in the boxing Tournament of Champions, a disappointment he wasn’t able to process… And parenting definitely has an impact on resilience. I do believe that “a sense of belonging” is also a key to mental health. And in that, more could be done for immigrants and refugees…
April 29, 2013 at 2:25 amI’m not sure that those of us who are concerned about immigration are zealots. My concerns are largely based on economic and environmental concerns. Adding millions more poor, unskilled people to the labor pool will be devastating to lower skilled Americans of all races. This perpetuates a race to the bottom just as NAFTA did by shipping jobs to Mexico (and now to China, Vietnam, etc), leaving Americans to essentially fight for table scraps.
Also, consider the numbers and how this affects the environment and welfare spending – there are currently 310 million people here. What would it be like to have 400 million people here (or 500 million)? I live in the DC area and traffic is horrible and infrastructure investments are decades behind where they should be. What about water and pollution? What about energy? We are drawn into endless wars in the Middle East, largely for oil. What is our future, more wars for energy?
What would it be like to have 100-150 million poor people? Can we as a country afford to add such a number of people to the welfare roll (housing, food stamps, healthcare)? Shouldn’t we work to take care of the people here before bringing in millions more?
Finally, shouldn’t we know who is coming in to this country?
April 29, 2013 at 10:56 amThis poorly written blog post has left out other radical jihadists like the Ft. Hood bomber, the Times Square bomber, the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber, etc. And, how could you not even bother to mention the 19 Saudi nuts who unleashed 9/11 terrorism that killed thousands?!? The author is very irresponsible, and so are the people who praise this blog post and opinions herein. Remember, folks: after 9/11, under President Bush, we had seven years of no radical Islamic terror on our soil; in over four years under President Obama, we have seen five terror attempts. To ignore this fact is to have your head in the sand (funny, that’s where the radical Muslims belong)!! Speak up, all you moderate Muslims!! Why do you remain silent?!?!
April 28, 2013 at 9:40 pmMolly,
After 9/11, there were no attacks in the US. Well, 9/11 was a pretty big screw-up, much bigger and more consequential that others that followed. And as president, it is Bush’s responsibly. “Bin Laden determined to attack in the US.
Jeff
April 28, 2013 at 9:47 pmI seem to remember that Bush invaded a country that had no connection to the 9/11 hijackings, had no weapons of mass destructin, in the process getting 5,000 Americans killed, squandering $3 trillion dollars, starting a war that killed over 100,000 Iraqis and brought a million to an early death, created almost five million refugees and disgraced the U.S. before the world.
Since the automatic weapons bad expired in 2004, while Republicans held congress and the White House, there have been endless massacres that used easy to purchase firearms. Almost all have been perpetrated by white American men.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks such groups, the number of hate groups remained essentially unchanged last year — going from 1,018 in 2011 to 1,007 in 2012
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) count of 1,360 Patriot groups in 2012 was up about 7% from the 1,274 active in 2011. And that was only the latest growth spurt in the Patriot movement, which generally believes that the federal government is conspiring to take Americans’ guns and destroy their liberties as it paves the way for a global “one-world government.” From a mere 149 organizations in 2008, the number of Patriot groups shot up to 512 in 2009, jumped again to 824 in 2010, and then skyrocketed to 1,274 in 2011 before hitting their all-time high last year.
April 29, 2013 at 12:20 amI find it perfectly appropriate to question why this family collected over a half million dollars in various government benefits and we are rewarded with the terrorist bombing. The mother was caught shoplifting and is now out of the country, back to the country from which they left as ‘refugees’. Also, does anyone find her anti-Semitism troubling? Her reference to her two fine sons being framed by ‘filthy Jews’ likely didn’t garner much support for her cause.
May 17, 2013 at 1:12 pmIt’s conservatives, not immigrants, who are screaming let it burn.
May 17, 2013 at 6:45 am