Ruling Lets Obama’s Uncle Stay in U.S.

Ruling Lets Obama’s Uncle Stay in U.S.

“President Obama’s illegal-alien uncle has been granted the right to remain in the United States to immigration court today, after going before a judge to seek permanent residency and quash a decades-old deportation order today,” the Boston Herald reports.

“Onyango Obama, a Kenyan national who was ordered deported in 1992, appeared before immigration judge Leonard I. Shapiro — the same judge who granted asylum to Obama’s sister, Zeituni Onyango, in 2010.”

City Tries to Weaken SB 1070 Enforcement in Arizona

“The passage by conservative state lawmakers of Arizona’s controversial immigration law SB 1070 in 2010 inspired copycat measures in several other states that made them similarly hostile to illegal immigrants… Tucson, in liberal-leaning Pima County, is a longtime foe of the tough immigration law designed to push out of state those in the country illegally,” the Christian Science Monitor writes.

“But now the city council is going a step further, voting this month to change how police implement the immigrations status inquiries during law enforcement stops, a provision upheld by the US Supreme Court when it struck down most of the rest of SB 1070 in June 2012. For instance, minors may not be questioned away from an attorney or guardian, and people who report a crime can do so without fear of having their immigration status checked.”

“While the Department of Justice sued Arizona to keep the state from enforcing its tough immigration law, the federal government has ‘done nothing to hold these local communities and states accountable for policies that impede immigration enforcement,’ says Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.”

Did Obamacare Web Problems Help Derail Amnesty Push?

“David Plouffe, a former top Obama adviser still close to the White House, sees a future in which fixing the technical problems of Obamacare will give President Obama the energy and clout he needs to finally accomplish his most important second-term priority: immigration reform,” the Washington Examiner says.

“‘Let’s fast forward to the State of the Union and the months after that,’ Plouffe said on ABC on Sunday. ‘Health care working better, a lot of people signing up, the economy continuing to strengthen, hopefully no Washington shutdowns. I think the president’s numbers will recover, I think people’s confidence [in Obama]will recover, and then we need to push Congress to do immigration.'”

The Minimum Wage Solution to Illegal Immigration?

“Last week, Ron Unz, a California businessman, submitted a ballot initiative to the California secretary of state that would raise the state minimum wage to $12 an hour in 2016 from the current $8. The federal minimum wage is $7.25,” says Bruce Bartlett at the New York Times.

“What is curious about the Unz initiative is that he is a conservative who defends a higher minimum wage on conservative grounds. In an interview with The New York Times, he said it would reduce government spending on welfare. A recent study from the University of California, Berkeley, estimated that welfare benefits for low-wage workers amount to $7 billion a year.”

“More controversially, Mr. Unz also contends that a higher minimum wage would curb illegal immigration. He has made this argument for some years in a variety of liberal and conservative publications.”

Family Remembers Loss Due to Criminal Illegal Alien

“It’s been more than two years since Jesse Benavides was gunned down at a family birthday party in Dallas by a man who never should have been on U.S. streets,” says The Blaze.

“Santana Gaona had been in jail less than two months earlier for allegedly raping and beating his estranged wife. He was flagged as an illegal immigrant and scheduled for deportation. Despite a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ‘detainer’ that had been placed on Gaona, requiring him to face a deportation hearing, ICE officials canceled the order and he was released from jail.”

“In 2011, a federal law enforcement officer confirmed to this reporter that Gaona had been an informant for multiple federal agencies, including the FBI, which was responsible for his release. The official said Gaona showed no signs of being a violent criminal and there was no reason to believe he would have committed murder.”