Politics

Boehner Says House Will Produce Its Own Bill

“House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has been saying for months it’s up to the Senate to get the ball rolling on a major overhaul of the nation’s immigration system. When that happens, he said, the House will take a look,” PBS reports.

“But as Senate Majority Harry Reid, D-Nev., laid out the path forward for next month’s Senate debate on a comprehensive bill that seems to have wide support, Boehner cautioned that his chamber won’t just accept that measure, no matter how bipartisan.”

Libertarian Objections to Amnesty Bill Grow

“Does anyone else feel like the Obamcare model of government control is being adapted, with little improvement, to immigration policy?” says Ross Kaminsky at the American Spectator.

“The legislation would be anti-capitalist enough if its quotas were sufficiently high to allow most of the likely demand for foreign labor by American employers. But this is a bill that limits visas for construction workers to 15,000 per year and those for ‘qualified immigrants seeking to enter the United States for the purpose of creating new businesses’ to 10,000 per year. These are just two of the measure’s various ‘not to exceed’ limitations, which fly in the face of economic liberty and historical commonsense.”

3 Plead Guilty to Murdering Immigration Agent

“Three men have pleaded guilty in US federal court for the 2011 killing of a US immigration and customs agent and the attempted murder of a second agent, the Justice Department said. Julian Zapata Espinoza, 32, known as ‘Piolin,’ a commander in Los Zetas cartel, entered his plea on Thursday, according to a Justice Department statement that also announced previous guilty pleas from two other suspects,” Rawstory.com reports.

“The three admitted to being members of a hit squad for the drug cartel and to participating in the attack on the US agents.”

Flake Says Police Death Shows Need for Senate Bill

“Sen. John McCain joined other politicians and activists raising concerns about the immigration status of the owner of the SUV that investigators believe killed a Phoenix police officer last weekend. McCain sent an open letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday asking detailed questions about the criminal history of the SUV’s owner, Jesus Cabrera Molina, and his interactions with the immigration system,” the Arizona Republic says.

“Earlier this week, Flake said the suspect’s immigration status only strengthens the case for the comprehensive immigration-reform legislation now under consideration in the Senate. ‘It makes the point that we’ve been making: We’ve got to have a better handle on who’s here and have an entry/exit system that works,’ Flake told The Arizona Republic.”

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.”

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.”