A new estimate from the Migration Policy Institute puts the number of illegal aliens who could receive amnesty from the Obama Administration's deferred action policy at 1.8 million. The number is up 500,000 from the institute's initial estimate, but takes the policy's procedures into account. The procedures were made public by the Department of Homeland Security late last week.
Today marks the start of the month-long recess in Congress. Things may be slowing down here in Washington, but around the country some lawmakers have a busy few weeks planned. August is prime time for town hall meetings. Everyday I send out alerts for town halls, mobile office hours, and campaign events. Little may be going on in Washington, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make an impact this month.
Former Texas State Solicitor Ted Cruz overwhelmingly defeated Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst on Tuesday in the GOP runoff for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by long-time Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Cruz completed a NumbersUSA immigration-reduction survey answering "yes" to all questions earning him "True Reformer" status.
Border Patrol Union heads slammed the Obama administration yesterday over its' executive amnesty policy that they claim is forcing officials to ignore the law and allow illegal aliens to exploit the system. President of the union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, Chris Crane said the executive amnesty policy ends up allowing illegal aliens to avoid detention without any proof.
Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), told The Hill on Thursday that he's open to taking legal action against the Obama Administration over its massive use of prosecutorial discretion to offer amnesty to at least 1.4 million illegal aliens. Sen. Grassley told The Hill he's still exploring options, but he hasn't ruled out legal action.
On July 23rd, Mexico’s 50 Consular offices across the U.S. held national DREAMer Day events in preparation for the Obama Administration’s Executive Amnesty. The events, held in partnership with the pro-illegal alien group United We Dream, are part of an ongoing effort to ensure that Mexican-born individuals have the information and documentation necessary to apply for the amnesty.
The Associated Press obtained an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document that says the executive amnesty for younger illegal aliens could cost the government $585 million in the first two years and necessitate hiring more than 1,400 federal employees and contractors.
On Thursday, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano faced Members of the House Judiciary Committee who are likely the most outspoken critics of her policy memorandum that provides amnesty through the use of prosecutorial discretion to at least 1.4 million illegal aliens. When the policy was first announced, several questions were left unanswered due to its ambiguity. While Members of the committee asked for answers to many of those questions, Secretary Napolitano dodged, avoided, and redirected her way through the more than two hour hearing.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said this week that the Obama Administration's termination of the county's 287(g) agreement combined with its new policy to grant amnesty to illegal aliens who meet certain criteria is resulting in what he calls a "roadside amnesty" in his county. Under the new conditions, county officers can no longer apprehend illegal aliens they lawfully come in contact with, but instead must call Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ask if the agency wants to take action.
Since Pres. Obama’s announcement last week to offer an Executive Amnesty to at least 1.4 million illegal aliens, the three agencies most effected have been scrambling to fill in the many holes that exist within the new policy. A week later, it appears the heads at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Patrol are no closer to closing up those holes.
House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith has sent two letters - one to Pres. Barack Obama and another to USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas - asking for answers to several questions regarding last week's policy announcement. Pres. Obama announced that the Department of Homeland Security will begin using deferred action to adjust the status and extend work permits to illegal aliens who would qualify under the provisions of the DREAM Act. The Pew Hispanic Research Center estimates that the policy could provide an amnesty for at least 1.4 million individuals.
Twenty GOP Senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, have sent a letter to Pres. Barack Obama looking for answers to several pressing questions regarding the administration's new plan to offer an ExecutiveAmnesty to certain illegal aliens. Last Friday, Pres. Obama announced that his administration would amnesty illegal aliens aged 30 or younger who attend school or have been honorably discharged from the military using deferred action and/or prosecutorial discretion.
President Obama thwarted the will of Congress and shunned the 20 million under-employed and unemployed Americans by announcing he will grant work permits to 2 million to 3 million illegal immigrants.This appears to be an unconstitutional fiat that not only usurps congressional authority to set immigration policy but directly contradicts what Congress has already decided on three separate occasions.
Perhaps I’m missing something but I can’t find a provision of the US Constitution that authorizes a president to act because he/she just can’t wait for Congress. The Obama Administration must have found the language. Otherwise, the new administrative amnesty-in-place for illegal aliens under the age of 31 would be considered an extra-constitutional directive by fiat.
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced that effective immediately, people who were brought to the United States before the age of 16 and meet certain criteria will be considered for relief from removal from the country or from entering into removal proceedings. Those eligible will receive deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal, and will be eligible to apply for work authorization.
The L.A. Times oped “Fixing Immigration” perpetuates the class myopia which often colors mainline media’s perspective on immigration. Once again, we’re told to “fix” immigration with another legalization scheme for the 11 million illegal aliens who are currently here (amnesty number 8), that Americans won’t do menial labor, that “self deportation” is a “fantasy”, that enforcing immigration laws is “draconian” and will cause our crops to rot on the ground, and that we need a “comprehensive” solution that leads to legalization (again) and more visas (again). Let’s examine the facts.
With the recent introduction of Rep. David Rivera's STARS Act that would provide amnesty to some illegal aliens brought to the U.S. at a young age and reports of a bill being drafted in the Senate by Sen. Marco Rubio, the vice chairman for the House Immigration Subcommittee Steve King told Fox News Latino that any DREAM Act alternative would be considered an amnesty and would have a hard time getting through the House Judiciary Committee.
We're starting to get quite a lot of inquiries from our members about what is going on with NumbersUSA and a much trumpeted "DREAM" amnesty proposal by Sen. Marco Rubio. Because he is Hispanic, Republican and possibly a VP candidate, and because he is meeting with long-time DREAM supporters among Democrats and Hispanic groups and with long-time opponents of DREAM, Sen. Rubio is creating a media frenzy.
The Obama administration is proposing to make it easier for illegal aliens who are family members of American citizens to apply for legal permanent residency, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Hill is reporting that a small group of Republican Senators are drafting an alternate version of the DREAM Act that would allow illegal aliens who attend college or enter the military to receive an amnesty. According to The Hill, the key difference between the Republican version and the Democrat version that failed in both 2007 and 2010 in the Senate is that the legislation would not provide citizenship to illegal aliens. Instead, it would provide a renewable visa.
With all kinds of Americans celebrating St. Patrick's Day last week, the news media have been almost aflutter with the storyline that the one pro-immigration bill that may be able to get by grassroots opposition this year is one that adds thousands of special new work visas for workers from Ireland. NumbersUSA President Roy Beck has been nearly the lone voice in public opposition, but his quotes have shown up widely in newspapers and radio across the country.
Amnesty advocates like Rep. Luis Gutierrez (IL) believe that an unauthorized alien's history of illegally taking and holding jobs that should have gone to citizens or legal aliens should be viewed as evidence of "good character." Much of the mainstream media has agreed. According to that twisted logic, the more jobs an unauthorized alien illegally works, the more compelling the case for amnesty.
The arguments for special work visas for Irish workers that may come to a vote in the Senate any day are among the most offensive and baseless that I've ever seen. As engorged and harmful as is our current level of foreign workers, can you imagine what would happen if every nationality asked for the same favors that the Irish lobby is asking in this bill?
Members of NumbersUSA and several other state and national pro-enforcement groups defeated initial efforts to pass a measure that grants in-state tuition to illegal aliens already enrolled in state universities. Last year, legislators banned in-state tuition for illegal aliens as part of a comprehensive immigration enforcement law.
A recent study conducted by Syracuse University has found that the Obama Administration's prosecutorial discretion policy has resulted in 33% fewer deportations. The policy prioritizes deportation cases. Critics of the policy, including House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, have called it a "backdoor amnesty."
In a radio interview on Thursday with Univision, Pres. Obama pledged to get an amnesty bill done while president. During the 2008 elections, Pres. Obama campaigned to pass comprehensive immigration reform in his first year of office, but despite overwhelming Democrat control in both the House and Senate, other legislative priorities took priority. Then during the 2010 Lame Duck session, the Administration tried to push through the DREAM Act, but the bill was met with bipartisan resistance in the Senate.
Last week, the American Conservative Union held its annual conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., offering three days of speeches from Conservative pundits, Members of Congress, and, of course, the GOP Presidential Hopefuls (minus Ron Paul). CPAC organizers are staunch supporters of free markets with leanings toward open-border policies and a more generous guest worker program. But the more than 10,000 attendees at this year's annual conference showed a preference for lower legal immigration levels and tough immigration enforcement.
Last year, the Judiciary Committee approved two important pieces of legislation to stem the flow of illegal immigration and protect America’s communities from dangerous criminal immigrants. Despite promises of bipartisanship, the president has not expressed support for either one of these proposals.http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/207643-rep-lamar-smith-r-texas
By Rep. Lamar Smith -- The Hill
Rep. David Rivera (R-Florida) introduced a bill that would give a path to citizenship exclusively to young people who served in the military.
Rivera's plan, Adjusted Residency for Military Service Act-the ARMS Act, is a military-only variation of the DREAM Act.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who serves as the chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, said there's no chance that a mass amnesty can be passed in 2012. Pres. Obama called for passage of Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the DREAM Act during Tuesday night's State of the Union address.
Compared to the heavy-metal terror I used to feel listening to Pres. Bush's State of the Union immigratiion appeals, Pres. Obama's obligatory immigration section tonight was easy-listening music. The verses and chorus were nearly identical to last year's and just didn't sound like he had a thought in the world that any of it could happen. What really galled me, though, was his bragging about more than 3 million U.S. jobs created during the last 22 months while I knew that the Obama Administratino over that same period had given out more than 3 million work visas to immigrants and other foreign workers.
U.S. Immigration officials are testing new protocols which give them discretion to use deferred action and/or parole to provide an administrative amnesty for illegal aliens. According to a report by CNN, 14% of the nearly 12,000 cases reviewed thus far in Baltimore and Denver were closed, allowing those illegal aliens set for deportation to stay in the United States.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, Presidential contender New Gingrich attacked his chief opponent, Mitt Romney, for his total opposition to giving permanent work permits to long-term illegal aliens. Gingrich also said that conservatives have generally been drawn to his "humane" approach to long-term illegal residents. At the same time, Romney and other candidates touted their anti-amnesty credentials in South Carolina.
On Saturday, GOP Presidential Hopeful Newt Gingrich held a two-hour town hall meeting with a group of veterans in Wolfeboro, N.H. A member of the crowd asked Gingrich, not about his position on immigration, but for the specific details of his policy should he be elected president. Typical of Gingrich, he laid out a 7-point policy plan for reforming immigration, earning enthusiastic applause on most of his points. But there was one of those 7 points that received more of a frosty reception from the few hundred in attendance.
Roy, Chris, Andrew, and Joe discuss Rick Santorum's immigration positions after he finishes second in the Iowa Caucuses. They also compare Santorum's positions to Mitt Romney's and review our radio advertising campaign in Iowa.
Immigration wasn't the top issue on the minds of Iowa voters today. But it is worth noting that they chose as their clear winners the two top contenders who have taken the most unequivocal stands against amnesty -- Romney and Santorum. The other two top contenders were Paul and Gingrich who came in third and fourth and each backed a significant-sized legalization for illegal aliens that would give them U.S. jobs but not citizenship.
Republican Presidential Hopeful Rick Santorum criticized the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops during an interview on Iowa public television on Monday. The USCCB have lobbied Congress for amnesty legislation, and over this past weekend, 30 bishops wrote a letter sympathizing with illegal aliens. Santorum is Catholic.
Much of the mainstream media seem stuck in the old paradigm that there are only two major options of what to do with the officially estimated 11 million foreign citizens living illegally in this country -- either deport them or legalize them. Nowhere is this false dichotomy more apparent than in the media treatment of Mitt Romney's immigration stance. Even though no candidate has talked more about the details of dealing with the 11 million, the common journalistic description is that Romney tells us what he opposes (amnesty) for them but not what he proposes to do with them.
Undocumented students who graduate high school and enroll in college in a science, technology or math program would be eligible for temporary student visas in an immigration overhaul bill introduced today by Sen. Michael Bennet.
Bennet, a Democrat and former Denver schools chief, said his proposed bill would also make it easier for students who graduate with advanced degrees in science or math to stay and work in the United States — particularly if there is a need for them.
It makes you wonder if the various denominations' bishops are in a contest to see who can be the most insensitive to their unemployed American parishioners. Certainly, the United Methodist, Episcopal and Lutheran bishops are vying for the title. But more than 30 Catholic bishops have perhaps put themselves ahead of the pack with their latest letter that could be interpretted to mean that unemployed Catholics should thank illegal aliens for breaking the law and taking their jobs.
Roy Beck, Chris Chmielenski, and Andrew Good analyze Newt Gingrich's immigration plan and how many illegal aliens could take advantage of the amnety. They also break down the overall immigration approaches of the other 2012 Presidential Hopefuls.
The Gingrich Amnesty proposal has suddenly revived all kinds of interest nationwide in trying again to legalize millions of illegal aliens. Nowhere is the frenzy higher than among media and academic pollsters who have rushed out to prove that Americans are really OK with letting 7 million illegal aliens keep their non-ag jobs instead of letting unemployed Americans have them. Of course, the polls don't state it that way which is a reason they get their results.
The reduced-immigration activists also are turning to elections, facing their own congressional blockades. "The balance has shifted to educating candidates," said NumbersUSA President Roy Beck. "The leaders in Congress seem to be putting everything on hold until after the next election. It's ridiculous." Beck said he is hoping for a revolt among rank-and-file House Republicans, many of whom sympathize with his point of view, to force a floor vote on the E-Verify bill.
