When a federal judge blocked Trump’s Muslim ban citing its obvious illegality, Arizona Republicans got busy. In a move they freely admit is designed solely to circumvent the judge’s order, the lawmakers decided if they couldn’t stop refugees at the federal level, they would simply attack charities that aid refugees with impossible to meet fines. If life-saving charities get bankrupted in the process, that would be acceptable collateral damage.
The potentially more far-reaching part of her legislation would impose a fine on charities of $1,000 a day for each refugee it helps place in the state. And if a refugee is arrested, the charity would be financially liable for the cost of arrest, prosecution and incarceration of that person.
Burges conceded that she is using that approach because, realistically, it’s the only option available to her to stem the flow of refugees.
“When you put a stay on the program, how do you keep them from continuing doing it?” asked Sen. Judy Burges, a woman whose hatred of Muslims apparently outweighs her desire to avoid going down in history as a morally-bankrupt monster. (Burges is perhaps best known as the conspiracy theorist who is obsessed with the idea that the United Nations is secretly trying to turn Arizonans into a communists - for some reason.)
And as if to highlight just how hypocritical Republicans are being in the name of bigotry, even religious charities - the kind the GOP might, say, appeal to when they want to oppose birth control - are saying this move is pathetic.
The measure concerns Ron Johnson who lobbies for Catholic Charities, one of the groups involved in helping refugees resettle in the state.
“Obviously we’re all concerned with proper vetting and national security,” he said.
“But that’s not something we do with Catholic Charities,” Johnson explained. “Once they’re here, we help them: find a job, find a place to live, learn the language, all kind of good things that help them be a part of society so they’re not dependent on the government.”
Arizona Republicans have a lot of experience in being dicks to people in need. During the last refugee crisis, when thousands of young children flocked to America’s southern border to escape famine and civil strife in South America in 2014, these same GOPers rallied a sizable crowd of craven bigots to scream at the children as they were being transported in buses to detention sites. One overzealous Republican even mistook a group of YMCA campers for “illegals” and stopped their bus to briefly harass them (in a deleted tweet the politician bragged about seeing the “fear” in their eyes) before realizing they were white.
Incidentally, Arizona’s most famous act of terror in recent years? The time a mentally unstable white man tried to assassinate Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, killing several bystanders in the process.
Priorities!
Featured image via YouTube
