In just over a year, if one of the GOP presidential candidates who's most hardline on immigration wins the White House, say Donald Trump or (sneeze) Ted Cruz, we could hypothetically be in the midst of mass deportations, the building of a giant border wall or two, and possibly even in the process of repealing an important constitutional amendment.
That's because many of these candidates have been riding a wave of xenophobia, misinformation and skewed statistics, and have crafted, nay, hammered, platforms incorporating hateful rhetoric to appeal to a xenophobic and grossly misinformed base.
Those who know better are trying to fight it, but the lies are creeping in.
Take that five-year-old "Florida doctor" chain email your uncle may have sent you from his Earthlink account, which is apparently circulating around again, writes The Palm Beach Posts's Frank Cerabino.
The email depicts a doctor who saw a 25-year-old "illegal" who, though well-manicured and bedecked in expensive clothing and accessories, has eight (!) "illegal anchor babies," for which she gets $1,500 a pop, every month, in government assistance.
The State's Department of Children and Families thoroughly debunked that, instead pointing out that a mother of eight would only get maybe $671 a month in assistance, tops, and would thus be living in abject poverty "like one of every four children in Florida," Cerabino writes, but it's coming around again.
In Tampa later today, a group of pro-immigrations advocates will hold a demonstrations to help negate all of the dishonesty about immigration that's floating around in the public sphere.
The event takes place at La Teresita Restaurant, 248 W. Columbus Dr. in Tampa at 4 p.m., and aims to encourage immigrants who are eligible to apply for citizenship to do so.
"We will not let politicians scare us or intimidate us," said activist Ana Lamb in a media release. "I will go out and help as many of my neighbors in the greater Tampa area to become citizens as possible."
