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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

GIGO – Garbage in garbage out: Center for American Progress issues new report

May 17, 2013 By 9 Comments

GIGO – Garbage in garbage out: Center for American Progress issues new report

A new CAP report offers a panacea for the economic doldrums of the 24 states with the largest illegal alien populations. Too good to be true? You bet.

The analysis by Robert Lynch and Patrick Oakford takes their earlier national study that was built on erroneous assumptions about the increased earnings potential of illegal aliens receiving amnesty and parses those supposed increased economic output and tax payments among the high illegal alien states.

The authors state that, “Legal status and citizenship provide access to a broader range of higher-paying jobs.” They appear to be unaware of the survey data conducted among the beneficiaries of the 1986 amnesty that found that five years after gaining legal status that there had been no significant gain in income relative to other workers and that many had actually lost ground economically. But even if it were true, it would simply means that amnesty would create greater competition for some jobs now held by legal workers. A greater number of job applicants would enable employers to hold down wages.

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, In the Spotlight, Politics, Population

Potentially the Greatest Comprehensive Immigration Reform Fiasco in the History of the World

May 17, 2013 By 10 Comments

Ads featuring Marco Rubio (and Paul Ryan) shilling for amnesty and major increases in guest worker programs are now blanketing the airwaves. These ads are paid for by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s lobbying group, Americans for a Conservative Direction, which is nothing more than a front for the tech industry that supports the Rubio’s bill because it will substantially increase their access to lower-wage foreign workers. The Gang of Eight even included the so-called Facebook loophole, which expands the number of foreign workers companies (i.e. Facebook) can employ without restriction.

In one of the ads, Rubio claims that the Gang of Eight bill put in place “potentially” the toughest enforcement measures in the “history of the world.” So why then has Rubio made it clear that the bill as it now stands is not tough enough, and has vowed to fight to amend the bill to cut down on chain migration, to prevent amnestied aliens from receiving welfare, and to build that dang border fence –at least the 700 miles that was required by legislation passed in 2006. By Rubio’s reckoning, these new measures should make the bill the toughest in the known universe, and potentially in all as yet undiscovered dimensions of space and time.

If these new security and enforcement measures are not met, Rubio claims that one of his amendments would prevent already amnestied aliens from renewing their probationary status when it expires in six years time; except, presumably, for all of those who are put at the front the line, such as the “Dreamers” and agricultural workers who are eligible for a green card after five years. Rubio, who has lost all credibility on this issue, now wants the American public to believe that if the enforcement triggers aren’t met then millions of amnesty recipients will either be deported, or will revert back to their previous status and remain in the country illegally –he hasn’t made that part clear yet.

Where was Rubio when the bill was being negotiated? Was he even in the room? Did he just vote present? Or did he send his staff’s immigration lawyer to negotiate in his stead? Whatever the case, Rubio now realizes that the public is not buying what he’s selling, and he’s furiously scrambling to position himself on the right side of public opinion. Problem is, his fellow gang members are none too happy with his newly discovered concern for what the American people actually want from immigration reform. Once in, in for life, Marco, remember that. The Democrats are threatening to call your bluff, and if you torpedo this thing now, John McCain will forever give you dirty looks in the elevator. Mark Zuckerberg might even unfriend you.

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

GOP Leadership Waits for Permission to Speak Out Against Executive Branch Abuses

May 16, 2013 By 12 Comments

The Republican leadership is outraged by the reprehensible behavior of the Obama Administration in the Benghazi cover-up, the use of the IRS to go after its political enemies, and the Justice Department’s unwarranted seizure of Associated Press phone records. They have every right to be outraged, but where was this outrage earlier, before the media gave Republicans the green light to express their indignation?

When President Obama usurped Congress’ authority over immigration policy and illegally declared that the DREAM Act would go into effect even though it had failed to pass (a Democratic controlled) Congress, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner said nothing about this abuse of Presidential power. When President Obama brazenly refused to enforce immigration law and ridiculed those who want a secure the border as people who must want a “moat with alligators in it” along the southern border, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner said nothing. As DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano continuously claimed that “record deportations” were taking place in the face of evidence, and the President’s own admission, that such claims were “deceptive,” Mitch McConnell and John Boehner said nothing.

McConnell and Boehner are content to let “gangs” in the Senate and House run the show on immigration reform. Neither has taken a position on one of the most transformative pieces of legislation in the history of the nation. If they are looking to be outraged there is plenty to be upset about in the Gang of Eight bill. Instead, they take their cues from the op-ed pages of The New York Times, demanding answers to questions they should have been asking long before now.

Selective outrage is better than none, but a party, any party, that would defend the Constitution and fight for the interests of the American people would be much better than what we have now.

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

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

Amnesty Then and Now

May 15, 2013 By 6 Comments

Amnesty Then and Now

In 1986, lawmakers decided the problem of illegal immigration had to be dealt with. More than 3 million people were living in the United States after crossing the border illegally or overstaying their visas…Less than 30 years later, the number of immigrants living in the country illegally is thought to have nearly quadrupled, and the freighted baggage of amnesty looms over new efforts to reform the nation’s immigration laws,” the LA Times writes.

“Both camps trot out economic projections. Higher immigrant wages will pad tax coffers and boost the domestic product by billions of dollars, one argument goes. Opponents predict a drain on public funds as newly legalized immigrants apply for government benefits, and harm to American workers as immigrants get better jobs.”

“‘After legalization, they’ll be eligible for virtually every job in the country,’ said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the anti-legalization Federation for American Immigration Reform. ‘People whose jobs are not threatened right now will find themselves in competition with these workers.;”

Kotkin: FWD.us and America’s New Oligarchs

“There’s been a huge surge of Valley investment in Washington lobbying, not just on immigration but also on issues effecting national, industrial, and science policy. Facebook’s lobbying budget grew from $351,000 in all of 2010 to $2.45 million in just the first quarter of this year. Google spent a record $18 million last year. In the process, they have hired plenty of professional Washington parasites to make their case; exactly the kind of people Valley denizens used to demean,” says Joel Kotkin.

“The oligarchs believe their control of the information network itself gives them a potential influence greater than more conventional lobbies. The prospectus for Fwd.us—headed up by one of Zuckerberg’s old Harvard roommates—suggests tech should become ‘one of the most powerful political forces,” noting “we control massive distribution channels, both as companies and individuals.’”

“Bipartisan” House Bill Bogs Down

“A bipartisan group in the House has gotten bogged down in its efforts to craft an immigration proposal, even as a similar group is moving its bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee. After spending most of the winter promising that the bill’s release was imminent, the House immigration group may now stop short of unveiling a comprehensive immigration overhaul and instead settle on releasing only those provisions on which it can reach agreement, according to aides and advocates following the talks,” Roll Call reports.

Council on Foreign Relations Says Border is Insecure

“The yardstick used in the immigration bill to determine border control may produce too rosy a picture of how well the Border Patrol is doing in cracking down on illegal crossings, according to an independent study released Monday that threatens to upend the immigration debate. In their 76-page report, three researchers at the Council on Foreign Relations also said the drop in illegal immigration is only partly a result of tougher border security and about two-thirds because of economic changes in Mexico and the U.S. that have made it less attractive for Mexicans to migrate north,” the Washington Times reports.

Filed Under: Amnesty 2013, Border, Politics, Society
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