
On Monday August 3rd, 2009, an act of political cowardice was committed in Austin, Minnesota. The mayor and city council refused to sign a petition calling for more vigorous enforcement of illegal immigration laws, because they were afraid of making common cause with "neo-Nazis".
The Austin Post-Bulletin reports that Samuel Johnson, who's the leader of the National Socialist Movement's Southeast Minnesota Unit, and who's organized anti-immigration rallies in the past, most recently on July 11th, showed up at the city council meeting and asked the mayor and city council members to sign a petition demanding the local sheriff enter into an agreement with federal authorities to enforce immigration laws. This has also been posted on the NSM national website and on the official NSM blog.
Reading from the petition, Johnson said, "We demand that the Mower County Sheriff's Department enter into a memorandum agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce immigration laws... .I was just wondering if anyone here would like to be the first to (sign the petition)".
In response, Austin Mayor Tom Stiehm said, "If anyone wants to sign it, speak up. I certainly don't want to sign it". When Johnson asked why he wasn't going to sign the petition about illegal aliens, Stiehm interrupted, saying "This isn't a forum for that. If you want to say something, make your statement and then sit down, but we aren't having a forum."
Not intimidated in the least, Johnson fired back, "This isn't a forum. This is a petition for the city of Austin and the gang problem that is increasingly going on, and you can't deny that anymore. I think this is a clear issue here in the city and it needs to be taken care of now instead of hiding behind the city council and other local agencies." Afterwards, Johnson immediately left the meeting.
After the meeting, Mayor Stiehm showed his true colors and gave the real reason why he rebuffed the petition. "The reason I don't support him is because that guy is a Nazi," Stiehm said. "We fought a war against the Nazis, and I am sure as heck not going to support anything they do." But perhaps Stiehm doesn't see a problem yet because Austin is still 90 percent White; Whites who live in mostly-white communities tend to be more enthusiastic about diversity than those who live in multicultural areas.
While Stiehm's statement represents political cowardice, showing he's more afraid of "neo-Nazis" than he is of illegal immigrants, it also represents one of the biggest stumbling blocks to national socialist activists nationwide. Too many World War II veterans fought against the Germans, and as a result, too many Americans believe that supporting NSM activism is a betrayal of these veterans, even though Germany never attacked the American homeland. As long as national socialist activists understand this limitation and are prepared to account for it, more power to them. Besides, the mayor probably would have rejected the petition even if it had been proffered by the Nationalist Coalition or European Americans United.
Anyone who doesn't like the NSM being involved in this issue in Austin is welcome to step up to the plate and take the initiative themselves.
The voters of Austin, Minnesota would do well to remember that their elected officials were offered an opportunity to take a firmer stand against the illegal aliens in their community and refused to do so when the next election rolls around. Mayor Stiehm has compromised his political integrity by refusing to promote more vigorous enforcement of immigration laws. He has failed in his primary mission - to protect the community.
As for the cops themselves, they're not unwilling. The real problem, according to Mower County Sheriff Terese Amazi, is lack of funding. Amazi said the sheriff's department has neither the manpower nor the budget to send deputies to the two-month, out-of-state training session, which is needed in order to work with ICE officials. "I have looked into this issue," she said. "What the program does is it gives our deputies the ability to work with ICE officials, it doesn't give them independent status. If they want to give me the funding, then sure. But even with that said, they still have to work with ICE officials. We cannot enforce federal laws." So it appears that Amazi does at least recognize there is an illegal immigrant problem.
According to OJJPAC, Minnesota has three sanctuary cities for illegals; Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Worthington. OJJPAC classifies cities with both active and passive sanctuary policies as sanctuary cities.


