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ColorLines is reporting that Republican Sen. John McCain is blaming undocumented immigrants for the wildfires spreading across Arizona. The state currently has five active wildfires that together have burned close to 764,000 acres, according to InciWeb, an online interagency database that tracks fires. McCain offered no evidence that the current fires were started by immigrants, and yet said:
"There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally," McCain said in a press conference Saturday, CNN reported.
"They have set fires because they signal others, they have set fires to keep warm and they have set fires in order to divert law-enforcement agents and agencies from them," McCain explained before going on to offer his solution. "The answer to that part of the problem is to get a secure border."
On Sunday, one day after McCain made his claims, the U.S. Forest Service reported that there is no evidence that undocumented immigrants started any of the wildfires in Arizona.
According to ABC News, when Tom Berglund, spokesman for the federal group managing the Wallow fire that McCain toured Saturday, was asked if there was substantial evidence that some fires were caused by undocumented immigrants, Berglund responded, "Absolutely not, at this level."
What a novel concept: John McCain making up stories about undocumented immigrants. Xenophobes like him will find a way to blame everything on undocumented immigrants, whether it involves them or not. McCain is just tapping into his base, which thrives on idiocy and paranoia, as opposed to finding out what's really causing the wildfires. That would be too much like right, and he might actually have to do some work outside of his comfort zone.
Read more at ColorLines [12].
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