President Obama tried to turn around accusations from amnesty advocates who called him the "deporter-in-chief" by claiming he is the "champion-in-chief" for a comprehensive amnesty. However, his remarks did not dissuade more pro-amnesty politicians from joining the chorus calling for an end to deportations.
The fiscal 2015 budget plan President Obama introduced yesterday for the Department of Homeland Security seeks to sell so-called comprehensive immigration reform by claiming it will reduce the deficit. The proposal, already considered dead-on-arrival in the House, also maintains some key programs like E-Verify that most consider critical to the passage of any immigration package.
When House Speaker Boehner defined amnesty to the Cincinnati Enquirer on Monday, he made it clear that he is a whole-hearted advocate of amnesty.
This past weekend, the Orange County Register ran a Q&A with NumbersUSA's Roy Beck. The interview, conducted by staff writer Roxana Kopetman, touched on the ongoing immigration debate in Congress, our recent evangelical poll and the disparity between church leaders and their followers, and the future of immigration policy in the United States.
Rep. David Valadao (CA-21) made his pitch for increasing immigration in "Reforming Immigration to Protect America's Breadbasket, calling for a "worker visa program" to serve agriculture's needs. But he fails to mention the existing worker visa program for the agriculture industry.
After House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama met privately this week, the Speaker identified immigration as a potential area for legislative cooperation. That may please Catholic and evangelical elites who started a new lobbying campaign to move stalled immigration legislation.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue renewed his call for comprehensive amnesty legislation, and backed it up with a letter to Speaker John Boehner from 636 businesses and related groups. Meanwhile on the left, MoveOn.org and other groups are pressuring Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to jumpstart action with a discharge petition.
The Washington Examiner broke the story on the new national poll of evangelicals by focusing on the disconnect between people in the pews and their highly visible pro-amnesty national leaders.
Biblical teaching about treatment of foreigners is more of a command to apply the law humanely to illegal immigrants than to give them work permits, according to three of four evangelical voters in a poll released here today at the National Religious Broadcasters annual convention.
A new national poll shows that by more than a 2-1 margin, voters opposed President Obama's and Speaker Boehner's proposals to give work permits to illegal immigrants before full implementation of enforcement measures. The most popular option among survey respondents was to remove the ability of illegal immigrants to have U.S. jobs and benefits, and to encourage them to return to their home countries.
Today's "Opinionator" page on the New York Times' website features a column, "Immigrants Welcome Here," by David Bornstein, co-founder of Solutions Journalism Network. But in the piece, Bornstein conflates the importance of welcoming immigrants with a "desperate need" to "pass major immigration reform."
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) doubled down on her support for amnesty earlier this week while hosting a business panel in Cary, N.C. She expressed her support of the GOP principles that includes legalization for most illegal aliens saying, "out conference has put forward principles and I want to stick to those."
Sen. Chuck Schumer today said he supports using a discharge petition to get debate moving in the House on the Senate’s comprehensive amnesty bill (S.744). Schumer also suggested another idea for spurring movement on a bill - delaying implementation until after President Obama leaves office.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is touting a new report from the American Farm Bureau in response to House Speaker John Boehner's recent statement that "immigration reform" is in jeopardy until Pres. Obama enforces existing immigration laws. The report's supposed shock factor is based on the claim that food prices in the United States will increase 5-6% over the next 5 years with an enforcement-first strategy.
According to new data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, nearly 50,000 more illegal aliens were granted deferred action through the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but the New York Times is reporting that the good news for illegal aliens means bad news for foreign citizens trying to come to the United States the legal way. According to the Times, thousands of green cards for foreign spouses or other immediate family members of U.S. citizens have been delayed while USCIS processes DACA applications.
The neoconservative publication, The Weekly Standard, and its editors have a history of supporting immigration reform with amnesty and massive increases in foreign workers. But in the ongoing debate, they've changed their analysis, and it may have helped slow House Speaker John Boehner's most recent push. While most of their recent analysis has strayed from the details and focused more on the strategy and timing for immigration reform, the cover story for their December 2, 2013 issue exposed the true motivation behind Silicon Valley's massive push for reform.
House Speaker John Boehner told reporters yesterday that he hasn’t decided on moving immigration bills this year because the issue is still under debate within his caucus. But behind the scenes, Boehner appears to be continuing his push while his surrogates make the case in the media.
In a new report on the state of the economy, the Congressional Budget Office has revised some of its initial projections for Pres. Obama's health care law. The CBO now says that the number of work hours lost due to the law is three times more than their initial estimate. So, if the CBO got Obamacare wrong, it begs the question: could they be wrong on immigration too?
The Mark Zuckerberg-funded group, Americans for a Conservative Direction, has launched another television ad with the hope of advancing the immigration principles that were unveiled at last week's GOP retreat. Zuckerberg is the founder of both Facebook and the pro-amnesty group FWD.us, which helps subsidize Americans for a Conservative Direction. The ads make an enthusiastic push on behalf of the GOP principles, but the information is vaguely presented in an attempt to mislead the American people.
Appearing on Sunday morning news shows, Reps. Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor appeared hesitant to confirm that the House will pursue immigration legislation this year. Ryan said that the likelihood of a broad immigration bill reaching President Obama's desk this year is "clearly in doubt," while Cantor said Congress should focus on “things that we can agree on.”
According to media reports, many House Republicans rejected holding an immigration debate this year after the unveiling of Speaker Boehner's immigration proposal. Participants who attended the Republican retreat yesterday said that Members who opposed moving forward on immigration comprised 70-80 percent of the speakers. Leading Democrats, on the other hand, appear to view the Republican leaders' proposal as a starting point for debate.
There are many admirable standards proposed at the House Republican retreat today. But too many are clearly against the interests of too many Americans. And although the leaders declare that the purporse of immigration policy is to promote the national interests, much of the text seems to tie the national interest primarily to what the Republican leaders' corporate donors want rather than protecting the ability of unemployed Americans to gain jobs and of working Americans to obtain raises for their productivity.
In their January 28 story, "Backing in G.O.P. for Legal Status for Immigrants" for the New York Times, Jonathan Weisman and Ashley Parker provide a nuanced look into the division between the corporatist and populist wings of the Republican Party over immigration. But their good reporting is marred by an inaccurate description of the Senate bill that has the effect (intended or not) of transforming an otherwise well-reported story into an advocacy piece.
House GOP Leaders have relased their principles for immigration reform, which include a plan to legalize at least 11-18 million illegal aliens. The principles do not call for a path to citizenship for illegal aliens except for those who were brought to the country by their parents through no fault of their own so long as they earn a college degree or serve in the military. The priniciples call for border security, mandatory workplace verification, and a biometric entry/exit system, but it's unclear whether those things would have to be in place before legalization is granted.
In a press conference yesterday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said House Speaker John Boehner is making a “good-faith effort” to develop immigration principle which, the Speaker said, should be acceptable to most if not all Democrats.
The president of the union that represents Immigration Service Officers has sent a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) warning of the problems a mass amnesty bill would create for the agency that process immigration applications. Ken Palinkas said that officers are currently forced to "rubber-stamp applications and have been denied the resources and mission support necessary to carfully screen and vet each application." Palinkas warns that immigration reform would "overload the system."
Even before Speaker Boehner and other leaders formally unveil their immigration principles at the House Republican retreat, several members of the influential Republican Study Committee have said there is a growing consensus of Members who believe that it is a bad idea to consider immigration on the House floor this year. Not having the support of the Republican Study Committee, which is comprised of over 160 conservative Republicans, could damage Boehner’s efforts to move piecemeal legislation in 2014.
As House Republicans prepared to leave Washington for a three-day retreat, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has sent them a 30-page memo entitled "Immigration and the GOP Agenda." In it, Sessions argues against House action on immigration reform for any number of reasons that include a lack of trust in the Obama administration, the already high levels of legal immigration, wage stagnation, and the enormous growth in social welfare programs.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) confirmed with MSNBC that he and the GOP House leadership are advancing an immigration plan that totally disregards the struggles of the 20 million Americans who want a full-time job but can't find one, including about 10 million who are less educated and compete the most directly with foreign workers.
One phrase that stood out last week - amidst all the immigration reporting - comes from a description of the Senate bill claiming that it establishes (among other things) a "minimum 13-year pathway to citizenship." Setting aside the poll-tested, pro-legalization activist-approved use of "pathway to citizenship," the main problem here is the factually errant depiction that the minimum amount of time a newly legalized foreign national would have to wait to naturalize is 13 years.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., published an op-ed in USA Today that criticizes President Obama for pushing Republicans to pass an immigration reform plan that hurts American workers while claiming to be concerned about their plight. He called upon Republicans to set aside the demands of business groups and “stand alone as the one party defending the legitimate interests of American workers” in the immigration context.
I hope House Republican leaders will surprise me and prove me wrong when they release their Immigration Principles that the news media have been hyping the last two weeks. Here are seven ethical principles that I believe should and can undergird all immigration policies.
House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), the third-ranking House Republican, said in an interview that he backs granting illegal aliens legal status and the ability to work, but not a “new pathway to citizenship.” Since Republican leaders have not released their immigration principles yet, McCarthy’s statement is seen as a trial balloon for measuring public reaction on including a legalization component.
Breitbart reports that Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is calling on House Republicans to put the interests of American workers ahead of lobbyists, political consultants and Democrats who want who want a comprehensive amnesty. He said the House was the last line of defense for Americans whose wages and livelihood would be put at risk.
As Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans gear up for an internal debate over whether to address immigration in 2014, a new Gallup poll lends support to those who want to delay consideration. The poll found that only three percent of Americans think immigration is the top problem Congress must tackle this year. So why does Boehner consider immigration to be so urgent?
An estimated 6.5 million illegal aliens could receive amnesty under ideas being publicly shared by House Republican leaders, according to a nonpartisan research group. The National Foundation for American Policy based its estimate mostly on statements made by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).
In a Telemundo interview that will air Jan. 12th, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte says he sees “no reason” why illegal aliens shouldn’t be legalized if border and interior enforcement measures are “up and operating.” Goodlatte also broadly discusses the GOP immigration principles Speaker Boehner said will be released soon.
House Speaker John Boehner told House Republicans today that he expects to release a outline of GOP principles on immigration within weeks. He had announced in November that such guidelines were a prerequisite for bringing any immigration bill to the House floor.
Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) has introduced legislation that would permanently eliminate the "public advocate" position within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The position has been defunded through continuing resolutions passed by both chambers of Congress and signed into law by Pres. Obama, but the agency has found other ways to keep the position intact. According to Rep. Black, the "public advocate acts as a lobbyist for illegal aliens by serving as a special point of contact."
The House of Representatives returns from its winter recess this week, and according to a memo sent to House Republicans by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), immigration, while on the to-do list, will not be a priority at the start of the session. Instead, the House will focus most of its attention on a farm bill, the 2014 budget, health care, and Iran.
Open-border advocates are waging an aggressive, non-stop campaign to convince House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy to support a comprehensive amnesty. But their tactics are backfiring, according to the Wall Street Journal.
This is the time of year when many pro-amnesty advocates in the pulpit and the press misuse the Bible to try to try to advance their cause. This year, churchgoers are fortunate to have access to a much different explanation of scripture, thanks to the emergence of a group called Evangelicals for Biblical Immigration and to a fascinating panel recently sponsored by the Heritage Foundation to inform congressional staffers and the media.
A new Quinnipiac poll finds that Iowa voters would be less likely to support candidates who support amnesty. The poll specifically asks about candidates for the United States Senate, but the results are revealing since Iowa is typically the first state to hold a presidential primary. The poll surveyed 1,617 registered voters and 46% said they would be less likely to support a candidate who supports amnesty, while only 24% said they would be more likely.
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said the Obama Administration is nullifying the laws Congress passed at "an unprecedented level" and supports taking the Administration to court over executive overreach on issues related to immigration and other matters.
In an interview with Telemundo, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the Obama Administration’s deportations were “totally unjustified” in her hometown of San Francisco. “Our view of the law is, if somebody is here without sufficient documentation, that is not reason for deportation,” Pelosi said. “If someone has broken the law or committed a felony or something, that is a different story.”
With the House approving a budget deal before its December 13 deadline, some are trying to predict how the deal, and the process of getting to a deal, will impact immigration in 2014. House Speaker John Boehner took a harsh tone with some of the conservative groups that oppose the deal, and many of those groups also oppose an amnesty. Still, 70% of his caucus approved the deal, making it much less controversial than amnesty.
Jeh Johnson, who President Obama nominated to head up the Department of Homeland Security, defended the Senate’s comprehensive amnesty bill in a letter to Republican senators. The letter also defended the Administration’s use of prosecutorial discretion to forego deportation for certain groups of illegal aliens.
Yesterday, Judicial Watch hosted an Amnesty panel, featuring Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), the Center for Immigration Studies' Mark Krikorian, and NumbersUSA's Rosemary Jenks. The panel discussed the impact of passing and amnesty, who's really behind the push, and provided an update on the the prospects of passage in the 113th Congress.
