The Gang of Eight filed an amended version of its "comprehensive immigration reform" amnesty bill on Tuesday that, most notably, continues the current E-Verify program. There was some debate over whether the original bill scrapped the existing E-Verify program to create a brand new system, but the updated bill adds some clarity to the contested point.
Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) uncovered a loop hole in the Gang of Eight immigration bill that would allow illegal aliens to access state and local welfare benefits immediately, according to a press release issued by his office.
If Congress passes the Senate Gang of Eight bill, it would be like re-creating ALL of the Top 20 cities in the United States, filling them entirely with foreign citizens and giving them lifetime work permits to compete with America's struggling workers -- and in just 10 years time. At this moment, your Members of Congress probably don't even know about the 33 million figure. But that's the number our analysts came up with after nearly two weeks deciphering the 844-page bill.
On January 29, 2013, shortly after the Gang of Eight announced their bipartisan blueprint for "comprehensive immigration reform", Sen. Marco Rubio went to the Senate floor and said illegal aliens that receive an amnesty through the Gang's proposal would have to "pay back taxes." Now that the bill is public, it's become apparent that most illegal aliens will not be required to pay back taxes.
Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), has officially scheduled the markup of S.744, the Gang of Eight's "comprehensive immigration reform" bill that includes an amnesty for most of the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens, for Thursday, May 9. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) continued his vocal opposition of both the bill and the speed at which Chairman Leahy wants to proceed with the bill by reading a page of it during today's Committee meeting.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has already held two hearings this week. The first was a nearly 8-hour long marathon with a parade of witnesses from Big Business to Big Labor to Special Interest groups. And there were a few that testified about the need for more interior enforcement, better border security, and the huge fiscal drain that an amnesty would have on the nation's future. Yesterday, the Committee brought in DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano who was first scheduled to appear before the Committee last week. Here's what we learned from the past few days . . .
A new poll conducted by Fox News has found that a majority of Americans support reducing legal immigration. The United States currently grants more than 1 million green cards each year; the Gang of Eight's "comprehensive immigration reform" bill would likely double legal numbers, and in the first ten years after enactment, it would triple current legal immigration levels.
ICE Union President Chris Crane has been critical of the Gang of Eight's intentional decision to ignore law enforcement while drafting its "comprehensive immigration reform" bill that would grant amnesty to most of the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens. He's sent a letter to the Gang requesting a meeting, he's asked for a meeting while talking with the press, and he's even got himself thrown out of the Gang's public unveiling last week when he tried to ask a question during the Q&A portion. Yesterday, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Gang's refusal to talk with immigration enforcement agents.
ICE Union President Chris Crane testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 22, 2013. Crane testified that as the representative of 7,600 immigration agents, he was not consulted by the Gang of Eight in their drafting of a "comprehensive immigration reform" bill. Crane said that numerous special interest groups were all invited to the negotiations, but the law enforcement agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws was not.
Indiana Senator Dan Coats urged caution this weekend as the Senate prepares to take on the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill. Sen. Coats appeared on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" and said the country learned some things after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and that there may be similar revelations after the Boston bombings.
Since NumbersUSA began running TV and radio ads in February highlighting the amnesty leadership of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), his popularity among South Carolina voters has dropped rapidly, according to a new Winthrop University poll.
Although he retains majority support among Republicans, his approval rating among them fell from 71.6% in February to 57.5% in April.
The effort to build more conservative support for Sen. Schumer's latest giant amnesty began to crumble over the last 24 hours.
No development was bigger than Rush Limbaugh's backing away.
Now that there's an actual bill to read, Rush wasn't so charmed by Sen. Marco Rubio's promises of immigration enforcement on his show today.
The Gang of Eight officially unveiled its amnesty bill to the public today, but one of the press conference's attendees wasn't welcome. ICE Union President Chris Crane was removed from the event when he tried to ask a question during the Q&A portion of the press conference.
If the Senate is going to pass the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill in the 113th Congress, they're going to need Marco Rubio to sell it to his Republican colleagues. After the bill's introduction yesterday morning, Rubio began his sales pitch last night by appearing on Mark Levin's radio program. But the big sell came today when he tried to convince Rush Limbaugh. Unfortunately for Rubio, Limbaugh didn't bite even with his distorted details.
The Gang of Eight's immigration reform bill prohibits illegal aliens that receive amnesty from accesing public benefits until they receive green cards, but that's just an accounting trick. Every bill in Congress is scored by the Congressional Budget Office to determine its impact on the federal budget, but the CBO only examines the first 10 years, which is why the Gang has delayed green cards for most illegal aliens for 10 years. But the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee is urging the CBO to score the bill beyond the 10 years.
Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Fla.) support for a "comprehensive immigration reform" bill that offers amnesty to most of the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens has him at odds with an unlikely foe - the Tea Party. Tea Party activists held protests at all of his Florida offices earlier this week, and Sen. Rubio and the Tea Party Patriots have gotten into a war of words over the last few days.
Just how long was the Gang of Eight Senators in that back room pounding out the massive immigration bill they released today?
Supposedly, it has been three months, but I'm wondering if they've been in that back room for five years and missed the fact that the country during that time lost millions of jobs and the top concerns of voters are putting Americans back to work in an improved economy.
The Gang of Eight released a 17-page summary today of their "comprehensive immigration reform" bill, detailing a path to citizenship for most of the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens and massive increases in legal immigration. The bill could result in an additional 15 million green cards being issued in the first 10 years above and beyond the 1.1 million green cards that are currently issued each year. That would result in more than a 150% increase in legal immigration over the first decade after the bill's passage.
What happens to the few immigration lawbreakers who won't be offered work permits and legalization by the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill? The Associated Press and others are reporting that foreign citizens who unlawfully entered or overstayed a visa after Dec. 31, 2011, will not get the Gang's legalization. Others will also be excluded because of various behaviors past and present.
Everybody in Washington is looking to see the fall-out from the marathon TV gig by 2016 Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio. Did he convince the American people that he did not break his Senate campaign promise in 2010 that he would oppose amnesties for illegal aliens?
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) appeared on most of the Sunday morning talk shows to begin building his case to grant an amnesty to the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens. Rubio's said individuals that are in the country illegally will be allowed to apply for legal status and work permits if they meet certain requirements, and they'll be allowed to apply for citizenship once a few enforcement provisions kick in.
On the floor of the House of Representatives Wednesday night, Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa), Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) voiced their opposition to the amnesty bills being drafted in both the House and the Senate. The three have been mostly silent, but decided it was time to speak out with news that legislation is likely to be introduced next week.
San Antonio's WOAI radio is reporting a surge in illegal border crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, and Border Patrol agents say the detained border crossers are asking for amnesty. Border Patrol agents say the number of illegal border corssers being found dead in the Texas brush country is also up and on path to beat last year's record mark.
Three members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights have sent a letter to the Congressional Black Caucus urging them to oppose amnesty. In their letter, the Commissioners ask if there are currently enough jobs in the country for minorities and they say no.
Sens. Jeff Sessions, Chuck Grassley and Pat Roberts wrote the Republican members of the “Gang of Eight” to ask for information about the long-term costs once millions of illegal aliens become eligible for major entitlements and approximately 80 different means-tested welfare and low-income assistance programs.
Pro-amnesty groups are holding a demonstration in Washington, D.C. today on the anniversary of the 2006 march, which brought out over 200,000 people. Organizers expect a much smaller crowd for today’s demonstration, which is dubbed the “Rally for Citizenship” or the "Time is Now Rally."
Separately, groups like Numbers USA, which calls for lower levels of immigration, are preparing to step up their campaign urging lawmakers to vote against reform....
Meanwhile, Numbers USA plans to start a new radio campaign as soon as the debate over control has been concluded. This would increase the pressure it is already applying to lawmakers, having sent 2m faxes objecting to legalisation, said Roy Beck, chief executive.
“The difference between now and 2007 is that there weren’t 20m Americans looking for jobs who couldn’t find work then,” Mr Beck said.
The Senate returned from a two-week recess today, and most of us were bracing for the Gang of Eight's introduction of a "comprehensive immigration reform" bill that would grant amnesty to at least 11 million illegal aliens. As the new Senate work session begins, the good news is that there's still no bill. The bad news is that we know a bill is right around the corner.
Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act requires that legal immigrants demonstrate that they won't be a public charge before they're granted entry into the United States. However, according to Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) the bill being drafted by the Gang of Eight that will offer instant legal status and work permits to the 11-19 million illegal aliens living in the country won't subject amnestied illegal aliens to the public charge rule, which could cost taxpayers trillions of dollars.
A story in the Los Angeles Times reports that a sophisticated airborne radar system being used along the border has found that more individuals trying to cross the border illegally elude Border Patrol agents than what has been traditionally thought. According to the story, between Oct. 1, 2012 and Jan. 17, 2013, the radar helped Border Patrol detain 1,874 people, but another 1,962 people were able to elude capture.
A new poll from Rasmussen finds that likely voters overwhelmingly favor border security before legalization for 11 million illegal aliens, and 53% of respondents don't think it's likely that the federal government will actually secure the border to prevent future illegal immigration.
President of the National ICE Council, Chris Crane, hosted a conference call with the media on Wednesday and said the current plan being drawn up by the Senate Gang of Eight will do nothing to fix our broken immigration system. Crane referred to a statement made by Sen. Chuck Schumer on Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" when he said that legalization will come before enforcement.
Over the weekend, Gang of Eight Members, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) urging him to have an open and transparent process when the Committee begins work on the Gang's soon-to-be-released legislation. On Tuesday, Sen. Leahy responded to Rubio with his own letter and stated that he plans to move "quickly and decisively" on the bill.
This ad is running across Alaska and asks voters there who Sen. Mark Begich represents. A Gang of Eight Senators are putting together a "comprehensive immigration reform" bill that would grant amnesty to 11-19 million illegal aliens. Sen. Begich has not said whether or not he supports the proposal.
Ever since the Senate's Gang of Eight began work on legislation that would reform the nation's immigration system and grant amnesty to 11-19 million illegal aliens, the union that represents the 7,600 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have asked for a seat at the table. But a spokesman for the one of the Gang of Eight members has said the Gang has officially snubbed the union.
Last week, Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy said the Committee would move the Gang of Eight's anticipated "comprehensive immigration reform" bill with "deliberate speed." But this weekend, Gang of Eight Member, Sen. Marco Rubio, sent a letter to Sen. Leahy calling for an open and transparent consideration of immigration legislation.
Is the country's unemployment nightmare over? It sounded like it from all the excitement over the weekend about the Senate Gang of Eight's near agreement on comprehensive immigration reform which is about greatly increasing the number of work permits for foreign workers. Yet, other news of the week for all to read told a different story in which a nation awash with too many workers for too few jobs can't possibly need more immigration.
