By Doug Porter / Words&Deeds
Indicted San Diego Congressman Duncan D. Hunter and his father, former congressman Duncan Hunter, will participate in a joint town hall-style event focused on border issues on Saturday, May 25, 11:30am at the Ramona Mainstage, 626 Main Street.
Doors are open at 11am, the capacity for the hall is 400 people, and it appears entry is on a first come, first served basis. An article in the Union-Tribune says event organizers are expecting protesters.
- Rep. Hunter last held a town hall in March 2017, with an estimated 1,000 people in Ramona.
- That event drew Hunter supporters as well as hundreds of protesters inside and outside the venue. Hunter sang a line from Queen’s “We are the Champions” at one point in response to audience members booing President Donald Trump’s policies. Event organizers said they are anticipating protesters at Saturday’s event as well.
- Late last summer Hunter was criminally indicted alongside his wife on federal charges they stole more than $250,000 in campaign funds. They have both pleaded not guilty and are set to go to trial in September. Hunter calls the prosecution a politically motivated witch hunt.
This weekend’s event is hosted by the American Liberty Forum of Ramona, a group describing itself as “A Pro-Constitution Citizens Action Group In The Heart of San Diego County, Promoting Common Sense Education and Responsibility.”
Other recent events hosted by the group include:
- Aynaz “Anni” Cyrus, who tours the country speaking on “the dangers sharia law and Islam pose to America,” flanked by members of the Three Percenter militia movement — a subset of the antigovernment extremist militia movement — who act as her personal security. At a speech before a known hate group in Minnesota she called for eradicating Islam from the U.S.
- Mark Tapson, speaking on “Toxic Masculinity-The War on Men and Boys and its Impact on America,” no doubt an extension of his article in FrontPage: GILLETTE: THE WORST A MAN CAN GET – Has the Marxist assault on masculinity pushed men too far?
- San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan, speaking on Human Trafficking, a topic often misused by anti-immigrant forces to justify their stances on a border wall. Stephan’s 2018 election campaign featured images and distortions widely viewed as anti-Semitic.
Given that Rep. Hunter is not allowed to serve on any congressional committees, thanks to his legal troubles, he’s gotta try something–besides the smear campaign against his likely Democratic opponent– to get attention.
In April, the East County Congressman, received some national coverage for an embarrassing video on social media claiming to be “15 meters” from the border before walking over to a fence he alleged was the only thing separating migrants seeking asylum from entering the U.S. by foot.
From Times of San Diego:
- Rep. Duncan Hunter posted a video Thursday showing himself at the “grand border wall in Yuma, Arizona.” He says: “It looks pretty tough to cross. Let me see if I can do it.”
- He swings his legs over a horizontal rail less than waist high and declares: “There you go. That’s how easy it is to cross the border in Yuma, Arizona.”
- Only he didn’t. The actual U.S.-Mexico border is the Colorado River 75-100 feet away, said a Border Patrol spokesman.
Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, who opposed Hunter in 2018 and is running against him in 2020, was quick to point out that the Congressman actually crossing the border would have been a violation of the terms of his release on bail.
In case you haven’t heard, fear mongering about the border will be a key part of the GOP strategy for 2020.
It’s a sadistic scheme based on inflating fear and promoting racism. I’m sure there will be plenty of misinformation and xenophobia passed around during the Hunters’ appearance.
Just to show just how perverse and un-American this border stuff has become I’ve included some recent headlines (with links)
ICE Has A Record-Breaking 52,000 Immigrants In Detention, Report Says
Kris Kobach Is Demanding Some Insane Perks To Be Trump’s Immigration Czar: Report…24-hour access to a government jet, walk-in privileges with the president, a staff of seven people, and a security detail…the highest salary for White House senior staff…weekends off to go home to Kansas. (No word about excluding brown M&M’s from his candy bowl, tho.)
Thousands of immigrants suffer in solitary confinement in U.S. detention centers The newly obtained documents paint a disturbing portrait of a system where detainees are sometimes forced into extended periods of isolation for reasons that have nothing to do with violating any rules.
Trump Officials Identify 1,700 More Children Who May Have Been Separated From Parents
Immigrant service members are now denied US citizenship at a higher rate than civilians
Yes, Trump Can Invoke the Insurrection Act to Deport Immigrants In other words, if the president determines that ordinary law enforcement is inadequate to enforce federal law, he can deploy the military to assist. And although Congress in the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 generally prohibited use of the federal military for domestic law enforcement, the Insurrection Act was always understood as the principal exception to that general rule.
Teen dies in Border Patrol custody, marking 5th death of migrant child since December
Trump Is Making Race Vigilantism at the Border Great Again This has led to two related forms of premeditated cruelty: the seizure of undocumented immigrants already here, leaving a trail of destroyed and distraught families, and the detentions of refugees seeking asylum at our borders. Neither torment has discouraged immigration, as the current chaos at our border demonstrates. At most, they offer a dollop of satisfaction to nativists who take solace in retribution as a substitute for immigration reform.
Trump Is Fetishizing Death to Justify His Cruelty at the Border The president is furthering a legacy of brutality that stretches back to the Mexican-American War.
Border Patrol Agent Charged With Hitting Guatemalan Man With Truck Had Called Migrants “Subhuman” and “Savages”…Bowen believed migrants are “disgusting subhuman shit unworthy of being kindling for a fire,” according to the documents. “PLEASE let us take the gloves off trump!” he said in another text …
Secret Service Officers Are Being Sent to the Border
ICE wants more immigration detention space in California Centers for 5,000 sought in San Diego and throughout state…
