Dave Weigel has had much more experience reporting on the Minutemen than I have, so I sent him the questionnaire Jeff Sessions sent to Obama’s nominee to head the Civil Rights Division, Thomas Perez. Sessions, of course, who believes groups like the NAACP and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund to be “radical” nonetheless stood up for the Minutemen, chastising Perez for referring to them as “xenophobic”, which is basically their mission statement. Sessions was also upset about Perez’ time working with Casa de Maryland, an immigrant support group that was formed to assist Central American immigrants fleeing political turmoil in their home countries.
On the one hand, it’s remarkable that we’ve come to a political moment where people who have experience working with the least fortunate among us are considered “radicals” while groups like The Minutemen are defended by sitting U.S. senators. But more frustrating about Sessions’ hostility to Casa de Maryland is that, like Perez’ own parents fleeing the Trujillo regime in the Domincan Republic, the immigration of Central Americans to the DC area is a direct result of American foreign policy in the region, and our habit of backing brutal dictators in order to counter leftist influences. In other words, these people are largely here because of U.S. policy, but Sessions thinks it’s “radical” for social service groups to make sure new immigrants have health care, access to legal services, job training–and in the even that they’re undocumented, an understanding of their legal rights.
— A. Serwer
