Both Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain recently made extreme attacks on illegal immigration at rallies on Saturday. While Republicans typically are stricter on immigration policy, both potential candidates took it to a new level.
Bachmann made a promise to make English the official language of America and suggested making a "secure double fence," and also wanted to remove taxpayer funded benefits for illegal immigrants. She called illegal aliens both an economic and security threat. While she insisted that she was not aiming her remarks at Hispanics, it carried that undertone.
At a tea party rally, Herman Cain was reported as saying that "When I'm in charge of the fence, we going to have a fence. It's going to be 20 feet high. It's going to have barbed wire on the top. It's going to be electrocuted, electrified, and there's going to be a sign on the other side that says it will kill you." He later claimed that this was merely a joke, but that intense position is likely to carry over to his real policy. Cain has met numerous times with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an Arizona law enforcement officer who has been very strict against immigration. Cain explained that his plan DID include a physical fence, new technology, stronger laws, tighter bureaucracy, and potentially troops on the ground to prevent illegal immigration.
Both of these plans are absurd and extremely insensitive. Crossing the border is at most a misdemeanor worthy offense, and both Cain and Bachmann are treating as comparable to murder in their intensity of opposition. Both are potentially isolating voters who are tired of having immigration brought up as a scare tactic.
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