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Rep. Goodlatte Says Amnesty Bill Won’t Stop Illegal Immigration

May 23, 2013 By 1 Comment

Gang of Eight Claim No Deficit Impact from Amnesty

“Members of the Gang of Eight say their immigration reform bill will not add a dime to the nation’s deficit. That anticipated Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score will defy conservative policy experts who recently claimed the measure would cost trillions of dollars,” The Hill reports.

“The budget office has announced it will depart from its usual practice and apply a dynamic scoring model to estimate the costs of the law over the next decade. This is good news for the Gang of Eight because the model will factor in the expected economic boost provided by millions of new legal workers. Projecting higher tax revenue from increased economic activity will produce a more favorable budgetary outlook.”

Poll Says Public Wants Border Security First

“Most American voters want tougher new border security measures before changing immigration policies. A Fox News national poll released Wednesday also shows a majority favors giving illegal immigrants already in the United States a chance to qualify for citizenship. On Tuesday, a Senate committee passed an immigration reform bill that would create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The bill would also strengthen border security. It now goes to the full Senate for a vote,” Fox News reports.

Boehner Says House Immigration Deal Will Happen

“House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday he’s confident the House will “work its will on immigration” reform and come to a deal — he’s just not sure how,” the Huffington Post says.

“‘We’re not going to be stampeded by the White House or stampeded by the president,’ Boehner said at a press conference. ‘The Senate is working its will, a lot of good work that’s going on over there, but the House will work its will. Don’t ask me how, because if I knew I’d certainly tell you, but the House is going to work its will.’”

Rep. Labrador Says Obamacare Will Kill Amnesty

“A key House Republican negotiator on immigration is warning Democrats that the health care law – a favorite boogeyman of the GOP – could be the downfall of comprehensive immigration reform. ‘What might be the story at the end of this year, at the end of this session, is that Obamacare killed immigration reform,’ Rep. Raul Labrador said Wednesday. The Idaho Republican is one of eight House lawmakers who have engaged in private talks on immigration reform,” Politico reports.

“House Democratic leaders are uneasy with the idea of blocking undocumented immigrants from accessing publicly-subsidized care – such as health coverage if they have to be treated in an emergency room. That could have the effect of deporting the immigrants if they can’t afford those expenses, Democrats worry.”

Rep. Goodlatte Says Amnesty Bill Won’t Stop Illegal Immigration

“House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte leveled several criticisms of the Senate Gang of Eight bill on Wednesday, saying the legislation ultimately will not stem the flow of illegal immigration to the United States. Those remarks from Goodlatte — who will be a central figure in whether immigration reform is enacted — were his most critical yet on the landmark Senate legislation, which passed the Judiciary Committee Tuesday night on a bipartisan 13-5 vote,” Politco writes.

“Reflecting the concern of many House and Senate conservatives, Goodlatte said he was not convinced the Gang bill would sufficiently secure the border. The Senate legislation requires a series of security benchmarks before undocumented immigrants can transition into a provisional status and, a decade later, obtain a green card.”

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Border, Crime, Politics

Another Houston Law Officer Killed by Illegal Alien

May 22, 2013 By 2 Comments

Another Houston Law Officer Killed by Illegal Alien

“On Sunday, police in Houston arrested Andres Munos-Munos, 23, after he reportedly ran through a red light on Little York at N. Shepherd, crashing into a pickup truck driven by 47-year-old Harris County Deputy Sheriff Dwayne Polk,” the Examiner reports.

“Deputy Polk was on his way home from work and died at the scene. Polk had been with the sheriff’s office for 16 years, reaching the rank of sergeant. The illegal alien charged with his death actually has a serious criminal record and should have been deported last year.”

National Review – Gang of Eight Bill Wrong Solution

“If there is an upside to the debate unfolding over the Gang of Eight’s immigration-reform bill, it is this: The simplistic version of the conversation — pro-immigration vs. anti-immigration — has been supplanted by a more relevant set of questions: How many new immigrants? Of what sort? On what timeline? Under what conditions? It is good that these questions are being asked — but the answers coming from Congress are anything but reassuring,” says a National Review editorial.

“One need not accept the wrongheaded dystopian views of the Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus to believe that there is some number that is too high, and one need not hew to an exclusively economic view of the question to conclude that some immigrants will be more desirable for the purposes of a nation with a highly complex modern economy than others. This bill would create more than 30 million new legal immigrants in the next ten years, including the 11 million illegals already here; with the new arrivals added to current immigration trends, nearly one in five Americans would be foreign-born.”

Who Are Schumer’s Republicans?

“Many on the right have remarked on the delicious video of Senator Chuck Schumer at yesterday’s Judiciary Committee markup of the amnesty bill saying “Do our Republicans have a pass on this one if they want?” with regard to one of the amendments being considered. But the comment is about more than the jockeying over one amendment. All members of the GOP caucus in the Senate who end up voting for S. 744 are as a practical matter Chuck Schumer’s Republicans,” says CIS Executive Director Mark Krikorian.

Big Loopholes in Amnesty Bill

“About those strict new rules and requirements for border security set forth in the Gang of Eight’s immigration proposal: They’re not so tough after all. In fact, the 867-page mega-bill gives the secretary of homeland security pretty much carte blanche to waive the vast majority of the requirements detailed in the bill. And that’s not sitting very well with the folks charged with enforcing immigration law,” says Hans von Spakovsky at National Review.

“What the bill really says, then, is that people living in the country illegally can receive amnesty not when the border is actually secured but when the secretary tells Congress that she is starting to try to secure the border. That’s a loophole big enough to drive a tractor-trailer truck full of illegal immigrants through.”

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Border, Crime, Politics

150 Conservative Leaders, Organizations Sign Anti-Amnesty Letter

May 21, 2013 By 5 Comments

150 Conservative Leaders, Organizations Sign Anti-Amnesty Letter

“Over 150 conservative leaders, groups and grassroots activists have signed an open letter opposing the Senate immigration reform bill. ‘We write to express our serious concerns regarding the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill, S. 744. We oppose this bill and urge you to vote against it when it comes to the Senate floor,’ the letter to be released Tuesday and obtained by The Daily Caller reads,” the Daily Caller says.

“‘Reforming our immigration system is an important priority. But S.744 is such a defective measure that it would do more harm than good. We urge you to vote against it and against any cloture vote to bring up the bill. Only then can a constructive, measured debate take place on how to improve America’s immigration policy,’ the letter reads.”

Liberals for Low Wages

“[I]s there any other situation [besides agriculture] where progressives are inclined to believe that low wages are the key to competitiveness, and that this is a good reason to keep wages low? Any other industry granted this exception to the general progressive view that workers deserve compensation commensurate with the dignity of labor as such?” asks Noah Milman in the American Conservative.

What would happen if agricultural labor were better-compensated? To some degree American agricultural enterprises would become less-competitive—we’d import more of some kinds of food from abroad . . . The American agricultural mix might change. America farms might focus more on those crops where there is a greater return to the application of capital, while more labor-intensive agriculture moves to countries with lower labor costs.”

Gang of Eight Fight Amendments

“A bipartisan group of senators begin their fifth full day of debating changes to the immigration reform bill Tuesday. So far, the so-called mark up process has left the sweeping overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws–which would legalize most of the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants–largely untouched,” Yahoo News says.

“On Tuesday, the senators will address some of the final controversial changes to the bill, including increasing the number of visas for the high tech industry and whether to allow people in same-sex marriages to apply for green cards for their spouses.”

DHS Jumps to Counter Union Criticism

“Department of Homeland Security officials, responding to sharp criticism on Monday from a union representing 12,000 of its employees, said they had added many safeguards in recent years to protect against fraud and security violations by foreigners seeking to live in the United States,” the New York Times says.

“The officials reacted swiftly to a statement by Kenneth Palinkas, president of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, in which he called on lawmakers to reject an immigration bill before the Senate, saying security procedures were weak for checking the backgrounds of millions of immigrants who would apply for immigration documents under the legislation.”

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Politics

No Need for Speed on Immigration Bill

May 20, 2013 By 3 Comments

The Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, S. 744, now wending its way through the Judiciary Committee, has been sold as a “pathway to citizenship” for the estimated 11 million illegal aliens. It does a lot more damage than that, and the public needs to understand what’s in it.

Just a few years ago, key members of the “Gang of Eight” would have seemed content to enact the so-called Dream Act — a more modest amnesty for about 500,000 to 700,000 aliens brought here as young people. This has been replaced with a massive proposal that tries to rewrite virtually every aspect of U.S. immigration law, and not for the better.

Click here to read my full op-ed at WashingtonTimes.com.

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Law, National, Politics, Population, Society

USCIS Union Opposes Amnesty

May 20, 2013 By 2 Comments

USCIS Union Opposes Amnesty

A union which represents an estimated 12,000 immigration enforcement officers announced Monday it would oppose the Senate’s Gang of Eight immigration reform legislation,” The Hill reports.

“In a statement, National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council (NCISC) president Kenneth Palinkas said the bill would create an ‘insurmountable bureaucracy’ within his agency, and argued the legislation would interfere with the independent judgment of officers who were already ‘pressured to rubber stamp applications instead of conducting diligent case review and investigation.’”

Amnesty Bill Provides Incentive to Hire Immigrants Before Americans

“The current draft of the Senate’s “immigration” overhaul appears to give some employers a $3,000-a-year incentive to hire a newly legalized immigrant rather than an American citizen in order to avoid the new employer mandates in the health care law,” Roll Call reports.

“‘I think that is an issue, and I think that it needs to be addressed,’ said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the bipartisan group of eight senators who drafted the bill. McCain said he believes the matter will likely be addressed in the amendment process.”

Unions Seek Amnesty to Legalize Members

“As the head of the hotel workers’ union here in the 1990s, Maria Elena Durazo negotiated a contract with provisions rarely seen by labor unions: The jobs of workers who were deported or lost authorization to work in the United States would be held open for two years, with the same pay,’ the New York Times says.

“It was remarkable protection for the immigrant workers who made up the bulk of the union’s membership — and it implicitly acknowledged that many of those immigrants were working without legal papers.”

“‘They are simply searching for ways to make themselves relevant again,’ said Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group opposed to the immigration bill being discussed in the Senate. ‘Particularly in the large service industries, they are coming along to protect the people working in these jobs illegally.’”

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Jobs, Politics

LA Times Editors Say Gang Members Deserve Amnesty

May 16, 2013 By 13 Comments

LA Times Editors Say Gang Members Deserve Amnesty

“The Senate Judiciary Committee is just beginning its markup of the bipartisan immigration bill, but already opponents and supporters of the sweeping legislation are fighting over which immigrants should be allowed to legalize their status and which should be deported,” the LA Times says in an editorial.

“Clearly it makes sense to refuse legal status to immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes. But some lawmakers, including Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), are backing a provision that goes too far, excluding immigrants who have no criminal history simply because their names appear in a database of gang members or on a gang injunction.”

Republicans in Secret House Amnesty Group Ready to Bolt

“Republicans in the House bipartisan immigration group are threatening to leave negotiations if they don’t come to an agreement Thursday. Reps. John Carter of Texas and Raul Labrador of Idaho both separately said the time for negotiations is over,” Politico reports.

“‘I think it’s time for us to move ahead with a Republican plan if nothing happens tomorrow,’ Labrador said. He characterized such a plan as ‘conservative immigration reform.’ That the House’s eight-person bipartisan group appears to be breaking down is a major development in the immigration debate. If the House does not come out with its own plan, it will make immigration reform a lot more difficult. The theory from Republican leadership was that the bipartisan group’s product would give the House GOP buy-in.”

Immigration the Major Source of Population Growth

“Immigration will be the primary driver of population growth in the United States within a few decades, a milestone not seen in almost two centuries, the Census Bureau projected Wednesday. The Census Bureau said immigration will outstrip natural increase — the difference between births and deaths for the total population — by as early as 2027, but no later than 2038. The differing scenarios depend on how many immigrants continue coming to the U.S.” the Washington Post says.

Rubio Amendment List Leaked

“Sen. Marco Rubio’s office circulated a list this month of ways to toughen security in the immigration bill he helped negotiate, including potential amendments to cut down on chain migration, to require newly legal immigrants to show financial self-sufficiency and to build 700 miles of double-tier fencing along the border,” the Washington Times says.

“Mr. Rubio’s spokesman said the list was drafted by senior aide Alberto Martinez and was shared with some offices of senators who were interested in changing the bill. The list appears to be a debate that lays out problems some critics have raised and amendments that could be made to allay those concerns.”

ICE Union Says Obama Administration Has Abdicated Enforcement

“According to Chris Crane, the current president of the union for ICE agents, the National ICE Council, President Barack Obama, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and ICE Director John Morton have all but abdicated their leadership in the enforcement of immigration laws and the protection of U.S. borders and citizens,” the Examiner writes.

“In a letter to Congress on May 9, Crane and a number of law enforcement executives complained that while business groups, activists, and other special interests were closely involved in the drafting of the proposed Schumer-Rubio immigration reform bill (S. 744), law enforcement personnel were excluded from those sessions.”

La Raza, Islamic Groups Will Get Tax Dollars Under Amnesty

“In a recent NRO piece entitled “Saul Alinsky and the Gang of Eight,” I discussed how, if Schumer-Rubio becomes law, federal dollars devoted to “immigrant integration” will pour into left-wing and Islamist activist groups to fund their own vision of that process. Now the 844-page bill has been replaced by an 867-page bill that makes the “Alinsky section” of the legislation even stronger,” says John Fonte at National Review.

“Apparently the senators wanted to make sure that leftist and Islamist advocacy organizations (CASA, La Raza, MALDEF, and CAIR and other Islamist groups) would not simply be grant recipients themselves, but would also be entrenched on the “New Immigrant Councils” that will help guide strategy, funding, and implementation at the local level. One could guess why the four Democrats on the Gang of Eight wanted leftist and Islamist organizations with such ‘legal and advocacy’ experience in behalf of immigrants placed on the new immigrant councils, but why did the four Republicans agree to it?”

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Crime, Politics, Population
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