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Selma to Montgomery: A Long Walk and A Long Stretch to Connect Illegal Immigration with the Civil Rights Movement

March 7, 2012 By Kristen Williamson 12 Comments

The advocates for illegal aliens are taking their cause to a whole new level of audacity as they attempt to identify their agenda with the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Hijack might be more accurate.

One of the turning points of the struggle for civil rights was a 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, during which hundreds of courageous men and women faced hostile mobs and hostile police. Now organizations like the National Council for La Raza (NCLR) and other illegal alien advocacy groups are seeking to exploit the legacy of that struggle, by staging a “reenactment of the march from Selma to Montgomery to protest Alabama’s law to discourage illegal immigration, HB 56.

As the statement below indicates, the illegal alien activists are attempting to draw invidious comparisons between the effects of Alabama’s immigration enforcement law and the suppression of African American voters. The march itself is an attempt to promote the idea that illegal aliens are victims of the sort of injustices that black Americans had faced for centuries.

“[HB 56] has deported a lot of potential voters, and we’re pushing back against that,” said Isabel Rubio, executive director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama.

Ms. Rubio argues that by enforcing federal immigration laws, Alabama is causing illegal aliens and their U.S. citizen children – potential future voters – to leave the state and even the country. Seems pretty weak, especially considering those U.S. children would not be in the country if their parents had not illegally entered or overstayed.

Alabamians and other Americans who support enforcing immigration laws know that the comparisons are not only false, but an insult to the people who risked their lives to promote civil rights for black Americans. They understand that HB 56 is about protecting the rule of law and preserving jobs and limiting taxpayer funded resources for Americans and legal residents. To compare these Americans to the proponents of segregation and racism who attacked African Americans on the original march from Selma to Montgomery 47 years ago is shameful.

The marchers’ goal is to manufacture racial division where none exists in order to coerce every politician, bureaucrat, police officer, and businessman to hesitate when attempting to fairly implement and adhere to laws passed by Congress and their state legislatures. In their relentless pursuit of amnesty for people who broke our laws they are even willing to co-opt the important symbols of those who fought to overcome racial injustice in our country.

Filed Under: Border, Crime, Jobs, Law, National, Politics, Population, Society

What is the EB-5 Visa Program?

December 7, 2011 By Kristen Williamson 2 Comments

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee is discussing whether to reauthorize a visa program that allows foreign investors to purchase green cards for themselves and their families in exchange for a $500,000 investment. Upon examining the background of some of the “regional centers” that facilitate the EB-5 program, FAIR discovered concerning issues. Some have websites only in foreign languages, if they had websites at all. Some of the contacts for the centers are immigration attorneys. And, there have been several instances of fraud and embezzlement, so far.

Never mind the fact that we’re selling green cards to the highest bidder, the program needs thorough investigation and oversight to ensure the middlemen running these regional centers are not operating fraudulent schemes.

Read more about EB-5 Regional Centers in an op-ed I wrote with Bob Dane on FoxNews.com entitled “Is Our Government Authorizing Shady Middlemen to Sell Green Cards?“

Filed Under: Jobs, Law, National, Politics, Society

Pearce Loses Election despite Continued Voter Support for SB-1070

November 9, 2011 By Kristen Williamson 16 Comments

During an off election year, a well-financed coalition of illegal alien advocacy groups and business interests pursued a recall campaign against Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce. Their goal was to take down a politician they saw as too conservative on a number of different issues, while attempting to frame it as a referendum on state immigration enforcement.

Pearce’s defeat, while disappointing, does not indicate any public rejection of state-based immigration enforcement. A special recall election of one legislator that attracted a narrow selection of the electorate to the polls cannot be used as any kind of barometer of public sentiment on immigration reform. And, the immigration legislation Pearce championed, SB 1070, remains popular with voters across the state and across the country.

Immigration reform is a statewide and nationwide phenomenon. It is a grassroots, non-partisan movement of Americans who will continue to push their elected officials to protect American jobs, communities and wallets from the influx of illegal immigration.

While illegal labor exploiters and special interests worked to unseat one man, activists for immigration enforcement passed groundbreaking legislation in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana and South Carolina. The Supreme Court upheld the Arizona’s statewide E-Verify law. Maryland voters collected enough signatures to get a referendum to defeat illegal alien in-state tuition on the 2012 budget. And, Californians are now confronting their legislature over the wasteful expansion of public benefits for illegal aliens.

Politicized attacks from the Obama administration and special interests didn’t stop the momentum of state-based immigration enforcement after SB 1070, and the recall of one politician will not stop it now. Though intimidation tactics employed by the Department of Justice and their amnesty partners do not go unnoticed by legislators, support for immigration enforcement and reining-in costs is consistently stronger at the polls.

Filed Under: Border, Law, Local, National, Politics, Society, White House Watch

Obama’s Magic Act: Total Deportations Up but Deportations Down for Those “Only” Breaking Immigration Laws

October 27, 2011 By Kristen Williamson 10 Comments
Deportations

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has just announced that 396,906 illegal aliens were removed from the United States in FY 2011, proudly claiming that immigration enforcement is at an “all time high.” What they failed to disclose is that fewer and fewer illegal aliens are being removed for immigration law violations. New ICE priorities suggest that in order to be deported, an illegal alien must have committed other crimes. In effect, breaking U.S. immigration law is no longer a deportable offense.

FAIR has carefully analyzed the trend. In 2009, 65 percent of removals were for immigration violations only. In 2011, that number has fallen to 45 percent. The downward trend represents a new hands-off policy for most illegal aliens living in the U.S. and is a core component of this administration’s affirmative dismantling of most interior immigration enforcement.

Read Bob Dane’s take on the Houdini-like tactics used by the Obama administration on FoxNews.com.

Filed Under: Crime, Law, National, Politics, Society, White House Watch

Alabama Law – Fact vs. Fiction

October 12, 2011 By Kristen Williamson 9 Comments

Alabama’s immigration enforcement law has come under intense attacks by amnesty and civil rights groups that fail to understand the true intent of the legislation. It isn’t so much that the states are passing their own immigration enforcement laws as much as it is that they’re passing bills that allow them to enforce laws already on the books. To that end, we have compiled a short list of Fiction versus Fact.

FICTION: This law makes it a crime for illegal aliens not to carry their “papers” at all times.
FACT: This has been required by federal law since 1940 for ALL immigrants – both legal and illegal.  Alabama law simply enforces federal law.

FICTION: The Alabama law allows law enforcement to check the immigration status of any person they stop, detain, or arrest who they reasonably suspect is in the country unlawfully.
FACT: Again, federal law already allows law enforcement officers to determine the immigration status of those they reasonably suspect to be in the country illegally while stopping, detaining or arresting someone for another infraction.  The Alabama law now merely expands on federal law to require officers to check immigration status if suspicion exists.

FICTION: Requires people to prove their immigration status in order obtain an Alabama driver’s license.
FACT: Applicants for Alabama driver’s licenses were already required to prove immigration status prior to the passage of HB 56.  Also, the federal REAL ID law requires all states to implement a system to check immigration status of identification applicants.

FICTION: Law enforcement will now arrest and verify the immigration status of those driving without a license.
FACT: Once again, law enforcement is already permitted to do this under current federal law.  Alabama will now require enforcement.

FICTION: Alabama will require law enforcement to check the status of arrested and incarcerated individuals.
FACT: Getting the picture? Yes, federal law already allows law enforcement to check the status of arrested and incarcerated people – and even encourages it with the expansion of programs like Secure Communities.

FICTION: Alabama will transfer arrested or convicted illegal to immigration authorities.
FACT: Surprise! Local and state law enforcement agencies across the country can already cooperate with federal authorities to transfer illegal aliens into immigration custody.  Alabama has simply chosen to consistently contact federal immigration authorities to alert them when illegal aliens are in custody – giving the federal government the choice to pursue removal proceedings.

FICTION: Public elementary and secondary schools will be forced to verify the immigration status of students and potentially their parents.
FACT: This is one provision that represents a new authority for Alabama but the collection of immigration status is for data and cost analysis purposes only.  There is no “verifying” of status and illegal status does not preclude illegal alien students from attending Alabama – or any other U.S. – public school.

In reality, like many Americans, Alabamians are seeking jobs, improved education, and the ability for personal advancement.  And, they believe that the enforcement of laws is integral to American society.  Enforcing immigration laws that already exist will provide Alabamians improved access to jobs, a better picture of the costs their state faces from illegal immigration and enhanced public safety.

Filed Under: Crime, Law, Local, Politics, Population, Society

The Politics of the Immigration Shame Game

October 7, 2011 By Kristen Williamson 1 Comment

Calling the Alabama law the “cruelest” immigration law in the country, organizations like the SPLC and ACLU, and even some media outlets, imply that Alabama has not learned anything from their past struggles during the civil rights movement. In order to shutdown debate about the rational enforcement of immigration laws, opponents purposefully mischaracterize provisions of the law, accusing state officials and a federal judge of condoning racial profiling, failing to protect civil rights and operating agendas of hate.

Cameron Smith of the Alabama Policy Institute addresses this messaging in “The Politics of the Immigration Shame Game.”

Filed Under: Crime, Law, Local, National, Politics, Population, Society
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