NASHVILLE,
Tennessee–On Tuesday, the Tennessee General Assembly declared it will
sue the federal government over its refugee resettlement program on
Tenth Amendment grounds.
“The General
Assembly clearly
understands the importance of public safety and state sovereignty as
demonstrated by the overwhelming support of this Resolution for which
we are thankful. The Syrian surge heightens our sense of urgency to get
this properly before the courts, and we urge the Attorney General to
act without delay,” [FULL]
The
1997 film is set in a United States in which foreign immigration has
skyrocketed: The mayor of Los Angeles speaks only in Spanish, Rhode
Island is populated mostly by Chinese-Americans, and Alabama has a
congressman from India. Politics is openly reduced to a matter of
catering to various ethnic groups for their votes - the Alabama
congressman will only support the president if his state receives more
money for Hindu temples. When an atomic weapon is used in Pakistan, an
international organization makes plans to bring orphans to Idaho.
Idaho governor Jim Farley (Bridges) orders the state's National Guard
to close its borders, as Idaho has already received more than a million
refugees; he acknowledges this even though the Governor himself
routinely indulges in Mexican food, Mexican soap operas, and an affair
with a Mexican-American reporter (Peña). Despite the best efforts of
his press secretary Jimmy Cannon (Kevin Dunn), Farley remains largely
oblivious to the national crisis he's the center of, since Farley is
more concerned with rekindling his romance with his mistress rather
than dealing with national matters.
Meanwhile, the President of the United States (Hartman) turns out to be
an equally ineffectual leader, ruthlessly exploiting immigration to
fill districts and states with those most likely to vote for his own
party. He will move more Koreans to New York since Koreans are one of
his core constituencies. Reputed as indecisive, the President delegates
his decision-making entirely to his advisors, most notably his
unofficial chief advisor, lobbyist Jack B. Buchan (Coburn).
Buchan, however, is less concerned with the good of the nation, and
more concerned with politics, especially how the President's actions
will play on television (resulting, for example, in a 72-hour deadline
being shortened to 671⁄2 hours to prevent the news from interrupting
Susan Lucci's farewell appearance on the soap opera All My Children).
Buchan regularly influences the President's decisions by manipulating
his desire to emulate previous U.S. presidents, even going so far as to
pepper presidential statements with fictitious "quotes" from President
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Meanwhile, the NN cable network is reporting the events and influencing
them at the same time. News director Mel (Dan Hedaya) attempts to time
events to maximize ratings, while his staff becomes polarized over the
political issues involved in the conflict between the Governor and the
President. Standard fare for the cable network is to show footage of
crying immigrant children, which is done with the Pakistani orphans
waiting to move to Idaho.
As the deadline approaches, the Governor and the President call in,
respectively, the Idaho National Guard and the United States Army.
Tensions rise when the commanders of both units turn out to be bitter
rivals from the Gulf War. Meanwhile, governors from other states send
in their own National Guard units to aid one side or the other, causing
the conflict to escalate into the national arena. Mexican-American
pro-immigrant rioters bomb the Alamo, while anti-immigrants retaliate
by bombing the Statue of Liberty because of its plaque, stating that
"We no longer want your tired, your poor or your huddled masses."
[Second
Civil War]
