Vasquez and commissioner cohorts conspire

In yet another attempt to destroy and humiliate the immigrants of this great state, Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez and two others on the Board of Commissioners decided to write a letter to Santa (a.k.a. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne).

It goes something like this:

Dear Santa Kempthorne,

People with brown skin and heavy accents are overcrowding our schools, hospitals, and neighborhoods. They do not play nice, take our lunch money, have cooties, and are growing in numbers. If big Larry (a.k.a. Sen. Larry Craig) gets his Ag Jobs proposal passed, these sworn enemies of ours may have an opportunity to vote next election. If this happens, me and my friends won?t be in charge anymore. Please invite us to the North Pole, so we can plead our case.

Thanks Santa.

Sincerely yours,

Little Robbie Vasquez, Davey Ferdinand (II), and Matty Beebe

Unfortunately, these commissioners have not done their homework well enough for any politician to take them seriously. Furthermore, they have not been very ?nice,? which should preclude them from any Christmas wish list.

A proclamation or executive order handed down by Gov. Kempthorne in declaration of an emergency disaster in Canyon County, Idaho would not only be inappropriate, but would also run counter to the situation that the commissioners are describing.

In their letter to the governor, the commissioners say that local taxpayers have assumed harsh tax burdens due to illegal aliens. Declaring a ?disaster emergency,? according to state code and the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, would require ?…as a condition of state assistance a local taxing district be responsible for paying (40 percent) of the nonfederal share of costs…? If it is money they are after, it will come from local taxpayers first. These are genius politicians we are dealing with.

Also in their letter, the commissioners provide flagrant distortions about criminal arrests, including that out of 8,100 arrests from 2002-2004, roughly 1,310 claimed non-U.S. citizenship. Work visas, lawful permanent residents, conditional residents, refugees, asylees, non-immigrant visas, worker permits, all of these classifications are under one group: Non-U.S. citizens. So it does not mean that 1,310 of these people were undocumented, they likely could have been here legally. To shed further light, their cries concerning the almost 400 people who had been held pending deportation ignores the fact that ALL non-U.S. citizens face the possibility of deportation for whatever reason, even if they are here legally.

In talking with Lt. Col. Tim Marsano, who is the Public Affairs officer for the State of Idaho Military Division, which would handle some aspects of this type of executive order, he explained that the request made by the Canyon County commissioners is not a situation that was typically applied or even outlined within his division, or range of expertise.

Mike Journee, secretary to the governor?s office, remarked, ?It?s a unique request, and the governor is looking at it closely.? When I asked about the apparent discrepancies and appropriateness of the request, he declined to comment on specifics.

These commissioners are on a wayward path in dealing with any legitimate problems there may be with immigration laws, so much so, that one is in a good position to question their cognitive thinking skills. Santa Kempthorne should send their letter back marked ?Return to Sender,? the ridiculousness of the proposal and the skewed facts should be of deep concern to the residents of Canyon County and all of Idaho.

They should anyway understand, cry babies are on Santa?s ?naughty? list.

Aubrey Salazar
Columnist

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