Donnelly talked up his rally on Fox News recently:
Donnellys protest took place on the occasion of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nietos visit to Sacramento and a deluxe lunch with Gov Jerry Brown. Nieto has used the opportunity to beg for amnesty for millions of his people who reside in this country illegally.
In a rational world, it would be a matter of shame for a national leader when millions flee his country, but Nieto is not embarrassed at all because he wants the easy money of remittances (2 percent of MXs GDP). Instead, Nieto knew his audience well enough to speak in liberal platitudes of embracing diversity by crushing Americas national sovereignty.
The Tahmooressi case is a perfect example of how Mexico plays America for a fool repeatedly, yet Washington continues to submit to the Mexicans two-bit harassment. Mexico pretends to be the poor victim of the colossus to the north, while Mexico is the #14 wealthiest nation on earth according to GDP. Despite Mexicos obvious wealth, stupid Washington sends it $265 million in foreign aid (2013), allows open borders, a snoozes through a trade deficit for America of $54 billion in 2013 and permits $23 billion in untaxed remittances to be sent south.
Heres a brief interview with Donnelly during the rally from San Francisco Chronicle reporter Carla Marinuccis Tube channel:
It would have been nice for Donnelly to mention illegal immigration as the #1 cause of tension between the United States and Mexico, but I havent seen it reported. A recent IPSOS poll revealed that 70 percent of Americans believe illegal immigration threatens traditional culture, and the largest number of illegal aliens are Mexicans, whose culture is quite foreign to our own.
Below, Andrew Tahmooressi, the American Marine who has been imprisoned by Mexico for nearly five months.
Update: here is a late afternoon report from Fox News that shows more of the crowd and where Donnelly mentions the word immigration (once):
Protesters, lawmakers criticize Mexicos handling of Marine case, Los Angeles Times, August 26, 2014
Demonstrators, including a Republican lawmaker, gathered outside the historic Leland Stanford Mansion in Sacramento on Tuesday to protest the jailing of a U.S. Marine in Mexico.
Gov. Jerry Brown is hosting a luncheon for Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto at the mansion, part of Peñas two-day visit to California.
I refuse to eat with Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressis captors, said Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R-Twin Peaks), who helped organize the protest. We want him to give us our Marine back.
The Marine reservist, Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, illegally entered Mexico in March with three firearms and is awaiting trial. Tahmooressi says he crossed the border by accident, and his case has become a cause celebre for some conservatives in the United States.
Mexican officials say the judicial system must run its course, and Brown did not publicly address the issue when he was in Mexico City on a four-day trade mission last month.
The protesters said they believed Tahmooressis explanation that he crossed into Mexico by accident.
It was just an honest mistake, said Diane Nye, a mother of four from Fair Oaks, Calif.
Fidel Taylor, a firearms instructor and retired police officer, drove an hour from Valley Springs, Calif., for the protest. He wore an American flag shirt, carried an iPhone in an American flag case and hoisted a Free Our Marine sign.
Taylor served in the Army during Desert Storm and said protests are needed to get the attention of political leaders. Asked about the Mexican legal process underway in Tahmooressis case, he said: We have to respect their system. But do I feel like hes gotten a fair shake? Not at all.
Hes disappointed Obama has negotiated for captives such as Bowe Bergdahl, who was held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, but has not addressed Tahmooressis case publicly.
Brown, speaking on KNX-AM (1070) in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, declined to answer questions about Tahmooressi.
I think it’s the prudent course for me, as the chief executive, not to start opining on factual legal matters that only a radio host is presenting, he said.
Brown also dismissed Donnelly, who ran for governor this year until finishing behind Republican opponent Neel Kashkari in the June primary, as a conspiracy theorist.
“He thinks Common Core, which are new standards for school curricula, is some U.N. plot or something, Brown said. Some people are so far out in right field.”
Other Republican lawmakers have taken different approaches to the situation. Sen. Joel Anderson (R-Alpine) said he wont join the protest, but he wont attend the lunch either.
“I am concerned that our military would feel betrayed if it appeared we condoned the harsh and unfair treatment of Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi,” he said in a statement.
Assemblyman Donald Wagner (R-Irvine) said he will attend the lunch and hopes to speak with the Mexican president directly about Tahmooressi.
I do not believe a sidewalk protest by members of the Legislature is an appropriate or particularly effective way to continue advancing the cause of justice in this case, Wagner said in a statement.
In a letter to Nieto, Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) lamented how the Tahmooressi case has caused unnecessary friction between the United States and Mexico.
If you personally examine the facts, we are confident that you will come to the same conclusion that we and many others have made Sergeant Tahmooressi made an honest mistake and should be allowed to return home as quickly as possible, Melendez wrote. She intends to deliver the letter during the luncheon; 16 additional Assembly GOP members have signed on.
Donnelly said he was glad some of his Republican colleagues planned to address the issue with the president.
Thats how they choose to deal with it, he said. I have my own way.
