DOES THIS MAN BELONG IN THE SENATE?
When somebody says something dumb, it’s usually for one of two reasons.
Either because he’s dumb, or because he thinks you’re dumb.
Either he’s so dumb that he doesn’t know better, or he thinks you’re so dumb that you don’t know better. Either way, it’s no good, because he’s either an idiot or a conman.
Which brings us to Mike Lee.
He’s one of four Republicans hoping to unseat Sen. Bob Bennett at the Utah GOP’s nominating convention this spring. The former counsel to liberal Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., and a one-time clerk to Obama-defying Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito, Mike Lee is also the son of the late Rex E. Lee, a well-beloved Utahn who was solicitor general of the United States and president of Brigham Young University.
He’s also a guy who said something dumb. Or, more precisely, wrote something dumb.
On his campaign website – www.mikelee2010.com -- he, naturally, has a section devoted to issues. One of those issues is illegal immigration. After saying various things – none of which was “deny them citizenship” or “send them home” – he comes to Point 5, which is:
“Requiring illegal aliens who commit crimes in the United States to serve their prison sentences in their countries of origin.”
That sounds fine, as long as you don’t think about it, as long as you don’t actually understand what it means. If you do that, it gets dumb. World-class dumb.
Now, there is a problem with illegal aliens committing crimes. A huge problem. Overlooking the fact that being an illegal alien is itself a crime, Justice Department statistics show that the demographic category most likely to commit crime in America is illegal aliens. More than inner-city youth, more than anybody. And that’s bad. And it clogs courts and jails. Many jails, especially in Utah, are packed with criminals who also happen to be illegal aliens. The federal government contracts for several private prisons to hold illegal aliens who have committed felony crimes in the United States.
To most Republicans, the solution seems clear: To limit the amount of illegal-alien crime, limit the number of illegal aliens.
But back to Mike Lee’s idea. When illegal aliens break the law in the United States, he wants them to “serve their prison sentences in their countries of origin.”
Presumably, that means if a guy from Mexico robs a bank, he gets deported to Mexico to do his time in a Mexican prison. Ditto for the drug-gang member from Columbia, who would go to Columbia, and the Russian identity thief, who would go to Russia.
All of which presumes that the Mexicans, Columbians and Russians would abide by the decisions of American courts and foot the bill for imprisoning people who commit crimes in America. Hint: Neither of those things would ever happen.
And, just for the sake of conversation, what if Guatemala should agree to take back its law-breaking illegal aliens. What if having sex with a 14-year-old girl in America gets you 10 years in prison but having sex with a 14-year-old girl in Guatemala gets you a high five, how long will you spend in that Guatemalan prison then?
And what about those countries that hate the United States, what about those countries – like Mexico – that actively encourage their people to go, legally or illegally, to the United States. Would they cooperate for a minute with any of this? Would they do anything other than laugh and immediately turn the criminal loose, to wander north again and see what sort of other mischief they could get into?
Recently, a Utah deputy sheriff was murdered in cold blood, allegedly by a twice-deported drug-dealing illegal alien with a long criminal history. Utah law will, upon conviction, keep that gunman locked up, and it may execute him. Mike Lee would rather send him back to Mexico.
Does that make sense? Is that justice? Does anyone at all think that in his “country of origin” they would actually imprison or punish him?
In Utah’s biggest cities and in its most remote wilderness areas, Latin American drug gangs are selling or growing drugs, almost exclusively using illegal aliens. Mike Lee would arrest those people, convict them, and then send them back to wherever they came from. Back to countries where corruption and bribery have made the justice and corrections systems nothing more than a joke.
Illegal aliens who commit high-profile crimes in Utah now run for the border. Mike Lee will save them the effort and expense. After fattening up on jail food, and going through the expense of a trial, he will send them back to whatever corrupt revolving door it is that serves as a prison system in their homeland.
It’s a preposterous idea. Not a single part of it would work or serve the interests of justice. By essentially removing real punishment from the equation, it almost invites crime. It is a laugh-out-loud bad idea.
Simply put, it’s dumb.
Which gets us back to our initial premise, and the pertinent question: Is Mike Lee dumb, or does he think you’re dumb?
Does a man who has had the privileged of a legal education, who has advised a governor and a Supreme Court justice, does a man like that really believe in those words?
Or is he playing a trick on you?
Does he think that, needing conservative votes to come out of the GOP nominating convention, he can throw you red meat – even if it doesn’t make any sense – and you’ll eat it up?
Does he think, like most Utah politicians, that if he acts conservative at election time and says a few platitudes about principles and the Constitution that you’ll vote for him?
Time, and the nominating convention, will tell.
- by Bob Lonsberry © 2010
