Shame on Sensenbrenner

Editorial:

Sensenbrenner's crude language

A Cap Times editorial

We did not expect U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner to change his anti-immigrant position simply because tens of thousands of Wisconsinites rallied in Milwaukee this week to call for humane and responsible reforms to current immigration policies. But the Menomonee Falls Republican's cavalier dismissal of the massive demonstration as an "illegal alien rally" was as irresponsible as it was inaccurate.

While the crowd in Milwaukee was predominantly Latino, the best bet is that most of those present were citizens and legal residents of the United States. Even Sensenbrenner who is emerging as the House's leading immigrant basher ought to be smart enough to figure out that foreign citizens who do not want to reveal the fact that they are in the United States illegally do not show up in big numbers at public events organized to draw attention to immigration matters. Yet he dismissed the rally as a gathering of lawbreakers.

The congressman should be ashamed of himself.