by Javier Manjarres

Last week, The Shark Tank posted a story that questioned the true motives of a shadowy group known as “Somos Republicans”.  The group is led by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, a pro-amnesty community organizer, and either her or someone affiliated with the group has penned an unsigned article that not only disputes the claims made in the Shark Tank’s piece, it also takes aim at yours truly.   However, this “rebuttal” article was not only poorly researched, it contains a number of dubious assertions that are best described as either outright false or perhaps even disinformation.

Let’s start from the beginning. In the unsigned article that challenges our claim that Somos Republicans was a phony front group, the author makes the following assertion-

“Javier claims we are for amnesty, however, he is silent with regard to Cuban-Americans enjoying their unique amnesty privilege via the the Cuban Adjustment Act (wet-foot/dry-foot policy). Living in Florida, will Javier take a position to the CAA and the one year of entitlements?  We believe Javier and several mainstream Republicans are unaware of this unique amnesty afforded to Cuban-Americans, and it is hypocritical for Marco Rubio to take an enforcement only position when his own family was given this compassion. “–Tucson Citizen

Perhaps if the author had attempted to actually research the issue and any prior commentary I had previously written, he or she would have discovered that not only have I written on the issue of Wet/Foot Dry Foot, my position on the issue is the exact opposite they claim that I have- looks like this author didn’t bother with any due diligence before going to press.

Here’s what I actually wrote earlier this year concerning the Wetfoot/Dryfoot policy: 

“Many Republican candidates successfully ran on a pro-legal immigration/anti-amnesty platform, and none did so more prominently than Senator-elect Marco Rubio, who also happens to be the son of Cuban exiles. But it remains to be seen if Rubio will have the  conviction to take a fresh look at this difficult issue and advocate for a reform of immigration policy that puts national security first as well as places all Latin-American countries on an equal footing.”(Read the full story here)

So now that it’s clear that Blase/Somos Republicans are factually challenged amnesty hacks, let’s get back to finding out who exactly this ‘Somos Republicans’ group really is.  Dee Dee Blase, who is likely the author of the article, is also affiliated with an organization that identifies itself as the ‘Tequila Party’, a group that can best be described as a political flash mob, not an actual political party or other readily identifiable political organization.  First and foremost, why does this group use the word ‘Tequila’ to name their Hispanic political organization?  Is their purpose to lobby government for the increased consumption of tequila?  Much more likely is the probability that the group’s name is an obvious race-baiting tactic that seeks to call attention to itself in hopes of eliciting responses that the group will label as racist- regardless of whether these responses are actually racist ones or not.

It is very unfortunate that Blase and others like her continue to create discord amongst Latinos by attempting to frame the illegal immigration issue in a manner that paints those who support enforcement of our immigration laws as racist, and the Mexican nationals who cross our southern border as defenseless victims who are not breaking the law.  As a Colombian-American myself, I am truly embarrassed by Blase and others like her that marginalize themselves with these arguments- ‘all’ Latinos do NOT support their version of “comprehensive immigration reform.”  These immigration extremists conveniently categorize all Latinos as pro-illegal immigration as it suits their purposes.

In fact, the ‘Tequila Party” was previously identified by the publication The Week as being comprised of many disenchanted individuals who are “considering severing their ties to the Democratic Party and forming an independent, grassroots group called the “Tequila Party,” most likely because their conveniently identified flash mob has much more radical aims than establishment Democrats.

Here’s some more dubious activity from this group- it wasn’t that long ago when the “Tequila Party” was bragging how “Latino voters demonstrated their power in Nevada by putting Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid over the top in a close race against Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle.”  But wait- I thought Blase and Somos Republicans were Republicans??  Did they not support Angle in 2010?  How about John McCain in 2008, did she support him, or was he too extreme for her tastes as well?

The more we learn about this organization, the more it becomes apparent that Dee Dee Blase, “Somos Republicans”, and the “Tequila Party” are lying about where their real political loyalties are- but I’m not going to be holding my breath for any public apology from Dee Dee Blase or whomever actually authored this blatant piece of propaganda.