Bachmann on Immigration

Sep 9, 2011
by Michael Sean Winters

When asked her stance on immigration at the GOP debate the other night, Michelle Bachmann said:

One thing that the American people have said to me over and over again -- and I was just last week down in Miami. I was visiting the Bay of Pigs Museum with Cuban-Americans. I was down at the Versailles Cafe. I met with a number of people, and it's very interesting. The Hispanic-American community wants us to stop giving taxpayer- subsidized benefits to illegal aliens and benefits, and they want us to stop giving taxpayer-subsidized benefits to their children as well.

Anyone who knows anything about immigration knows why this story is, well, silly. Cubans, of course, because of special treatment by the immigration laws, are never undocumented or, as the Congresswoman would have it, illegal. Once they touch our shores, they receive documents automatically. So, while it is true that Cuban-Americans may want to stop benefits to undocumented workers, most Hispanics have a different view of the matter. And, even Cubans, I suspect, do not share her evident delight in visiting the sins of the parents upon their children.

I hope in the next debate, someone asks Bachmann about Puerto Ricans.

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