Government

Unsatisfied With Current Levels Of Bigotry, Republican Congressman Suggests Stripping Citizenship From Immigrants On The Basis Of 'Moral Character'

Bill would strip citizenship from naturalized citizens who are part of a gang.

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Montauk Point — or, as the natives call it : You’re Going To Take This From Us Too, God You Suck Point

Lee Zeldin, former JAG lawyer and current Republican Congressman from Long Island, has introduced a new bill that would strip citizenship from naturalized citizens if they are involved in “gang” activity.

Personally, I think it’s way harsh to kick Irish immigrants out of the United States simply because they join the police force. Sure, they’re joining a paramilitary hunta, but you don’t know how difficult it is for new Americans to find good job. Walk a mile in their shoes before you judge… oh, we’re not about all peoples are we? This is just directed at brown people? Sigh.

From Think Progress:

The bill, “Protecting our Communities from Gang Violence Act of 2018,” would strip citizenship from people affiliated with a criminal gang either ten years before or within ten years of becoming a U.S. citizen, the Washington Examiner reported. The proposal would bar immigrants who do not “exhibit good moral character” because of gang membership, association, affiliation, or provision of material support from becoming citizens. According to the proposal, “good moral character” is based on “relevant information or evidence, including classified, law enforcement sensitive, or national security information and shall be binding upon any court regardless of the applicable standard of review.’’

“From the vicious machete attack of four young men in Central Islip, to the childhood best friends brutally murdered by MS-13 in Brentwood, our community has witnessed the indiscriminate brutality of gang violence firsthand,” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) wrote in a press release. “Every level of government has a role to play in combating the rise of MS-13 and other gangs, and we must crack down on the aspects of our nation’s broken immigration system and other policies that have allowed MS-13 and other gangs to take hold in our communities and stay there.”

This has all happened before, and it will all happen again. Lee Zeldin is just the latest in an unbroken line of American xenophobes who has decided that the current wave of immigrants have lower moral character than the previous wave — who in their time were told that they had low moral character. The Anglo-Americans railed against German immigrants who brought their beards and beer to the new world. Once established, the Germans railed against the poor Irish who were allegedly too drunk and violent and Catholic to be good, upstanding Americans. The Italians allegedly brought “gangs” and “organized” crime, which was thought to be very different than the, I don’t know, home-grown American disorganized crime.

Somewhat secretly, Long Island is one of the most virulently anti-immigrant places in America. My own late father who was a Long Island politician got called out by the Southern Poverty Law Center for making trash statements about immigrants, and he was an immigrant himself. I half expect Billy Joel to come out with a song about how MS-13 shot all the bluefish in Port Jeff putting half the town out of business.

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But I take solace in the fact that these bigots always lose. At least so far. New immigrant groups are treated to some of the worst America has to offer, but they hang on and eventually thrive, and in a few generations THEY get to be the ones who are racist and bigoted to whoever the next immigrant group is. Latinos on Long Island are in the suck now, but in 100 years, they’ll be part of the ruling class in Riverhead and they’ll be saying, “We must DO SOMETHING about all these Norwegians coming here looking for work. Just because their country got flooded by melting polar ice caps and then buried in volcanic ash, doesn’t mean they can just come here and bring their smelly fish and arctic crime with them.”

Yes, I’m saying that the never-ending cycle of human shi***ness towards each other gives me HOPE that Lee Zeldin will fail, and this too shall pass.

Republican bill seeks to revoke citizenship of immigrants who don’t ‘exhibit good moral character’ [Think Progress]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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