Put three of this month's big immigration stories together, add a critical statistic missing from all of them and you get a powerful argument for passing the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885).
Late last week, the House approved a budget reconciliation package (H.R.5652) offered by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) that included Rep. Sam Johnson's bill to prevent Child Tax Credit refunds from going to illegal aliens. The refund that can be up to $1,000 per child goes to any taxfilier, but the measure proposed by Rep. Johnson (R-Texas) would require a valid Social Security number.
Muriel Watson, who helped focus nationwide attention on our porous Southern border long before groups like NumbersUSA existed, passed away last week in San Diego. Muriel demonstrated that citizens can have a major impact on their communities if they are willing to lead.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution's fact check division has determined that a claim made by Georgia labor leader George Fleming about the state's immigration enforcement law is mostly false. At a May 1 rally at the Georgia state capitol, Fleming claimed that HB 87 costs farmers $400 million during last spring's harvest even though the law didn't go in effect till July 1.
A report that aired on local television station WTHR in Indianapolis highlights an income tax loophole that is allowing illegal aliens to receive massive refunds from the IRS at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. According to the report, illegal aliens are filing false returns, claiming their own children, nieces, and nephews who, in some cases, don't even live in the United States to receive the alternate child tax credit. The cost to taxpayers is $4.2 billion per year.
The House approved an amendment offered by Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday night that would prevent funding for the Justice Department's lawsuits against state immigration-enforcement laws. The amendment was offered to the 2013 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Act that would provide funding for the Department of Justice for the next fiscal year. The House passed the measure by a 238-to-173 margin.
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.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the workforce participation rate among American teens has dropped by 10% to just 25% over the last 5 years. The participation rate was consistently near 50% during the 1980s and '90s, but has dropped steadily since then.
The owners of El Balazo, a well-known California taqueria or taco shop chain, are getting sentenced this week for hiring illegal aliens and hiding their wages from the IRS, Mercury News reported. El Balazo owner Marino Sandoval, 59, was sentenced to 41 months in prison and his wife, Nicole Sandoval, 51, was sentenced to five years or probation and one year of community confinement, according to federal prosecutors. The couple was also ordered to pay $2,216,010 in restitution to the IRS.
Illegal aliens who are picked up for minor offenses like driving without a license will no longer be picked by by Immigration and Customs and Enforcement officials under the DHS's Secure Communities program. The Obama Administration announced the new rule on Friday amid resistance from several illegal-alien-friendly states such as New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois.
When the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week on the Arizona SB 1070 case, the Justices left little doubt that the Obama Administration’s central argument – Congress gave the feds sole authority over immigration – just didn’t hold water. The discussion focused rather on how the Arizona law might work in tandem with federal law, or possibly be in conflict. This is good news for those interested in expanding state and local government immigration enforcement efforts.
The New York Times' April 23 story, "Justices to Rule on Role of the States in Immigration," was frightening, but dishonest. The anti-enforcement wing of the agricultural lobby must have been pleased with the Times piece which portrayed farmers as the hapless victims of state enforcement laws run amok (the photo for the story online depicted a forlorn-looking farmer, alone in his fields).
It's been almost a year since the Supreme Court upheld an Arizona law that requires all businesses in the state to use E-Verify or face penalties up to and including the suspension of its business license. And on Wednesday, the state heads back to the nation's High Court to defend its immigration enforcement law, originally known as SB1070, that's come under fire from the Obama administration's Justice Department.
Immigration officials discovered that herbal industry powerhouse HerbCo International, Inc. was knowingly hiring illegal aliens and over half of the 150 crop workers at the company's Duvall, Washington organic farm were illegal aliens. According to King 5 News, the Duvall farm immigration bust is one of the biggest federal investigations of its kind in the United States.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement hosted a hearing on Wednesday titled “Document Fraud in Employment Authorization: How an E-Verify Requirement Can Help." The hearing featured the testimony of Jennifer Andrushko who found out two years ago that the Social Security number of her 5-year-old son has been being used for more than a decade by an illegal alien for the purposes of employment.
The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement held a hearing yesterday on Document Fraud in Employment Authorization and How an E-Verify Requirement Can Help. Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) made a statement during the hearing about the growth of the underground market for fraudulent identification documents as a result of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 which requires employers to check the immigration status of an employee.
The Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah lost about 10 percent of its 580 member workforce after a federal audit found these employees were ineligible to work in the United States.
"The audit, conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, was random and the luxury hotel was given three days’ notice before the action. The audit was completed April 3," hotel spokeswoman Sara Myers told The Salt Lake Tribune.
A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies repudiates claims made by a high-immigration group that ending Birthright Citizenship would cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars per year. Earlier this year, the National Foundation for American Policy released a new report alleging that ending Birthright Citizenship would create a new "baby tax" for all U.S. citizens, create a second-class society, decrease income tax revenues for the federal government, and cause children born to illegal aliens to become stateless.
An April 3 story in the Boston Herald, it was reported that Onyango Obama, the president's uncle and a Kenyan national who has been living and working illegally in the U.S. since 1963 - even after he was ordered deported in 1992 - has obtained a driver's license. But, as always with the mainstream media, the Boston Herald didn't note that Onyango Obama was working illegally.
Our webcast on Thursday focused on the almost humorous aspect of 11 anti-enforcement states complaining to the Supreme Court that Arizona's immigration enforcement laws are too successful.
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.
Politicians usually reserve Fridays to release news items for which they don't want a whole lot of media coverage. Last Friday, the Department of Homeland Security released its annual estimates of the illegal-alien population in the United States. The number remains mostly unchanged - DHS estimates that there are 11.5 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. as of January 2011 compared to 11.6 million in January of 2010. But several things stand out in this year's report.
A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of likely voters think that when it comes to the issue of immigration reform, gaining control of the border is more important than legalizing the status of illegal workers who are already in the country.
Last week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor launched a new citizen tool on his leadership website that was the subject of our weekly webcast. The Citizen Cosponsor Project allows citizens to show their support for legislation in Congress by using their Facebook account. But currently, Leader Cantor excludes a popular mandatory E-Verify bill from his website.
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.
A new study from the Migration Policy Institute shows the impact of immigration on U.S. population growth. According to data, 17 million of the nation's 70 million children under the age of 17 have at least one immigrant parent. That equates to roughly one of every four children in the U.S. The report also found that immigrants make up 13% of the nation's total population, up from 5% in 1970.
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 Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Alejandro Mayorkas told the Washington Times that the E-Verify workplace verification system can handle many more requests than it currently does. The agency, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, oversees the E-Verify system. Currently, only companies that contract with the federal government and a employers in a handful of states are mandated to use E-Verify.
Minnesota State Rep. Bob Barrett has offered legislation that would prohibit local municipalities in the state from forbidding its employees from sharing information with federal immigration authorities. The state's two largest cities -- Minneapolis and St. Paul -- are currently sanctuary cities.
A new cell phone app is being developed by a man in Arizona that would help illegal aliens when they get arrested. The app would allow illegal aliens to immediately notify their friends, family, and legal representation and the location of the arrest should they get picked up by police.
This past Thursday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security hosted a hearing with Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) John Morton about the FY2012 budget. The hearing was initially scheduled for February 17th, but was moved to accommodate Director Morton who had a scheduling conflict. Among the topics of discussion were prosecutorial discretion, the 287(g) program, Secure Communities, and sanctuary cities.
Immigration officials say that three illegal immigrants will not be deported after they protested a North Carolina legislative meeting on cracking down on illegal immigration.
A group of illegal immigrants walked into the meeting wearing T-shirts that declared "Undocumented and Unafraid", according to Fox News Latino.
What do you call an American who denies another American a job because they would rather hire an illegal alien? Would calling them a racist be appropriate? How about a xenophobe or bigot? Maybe those words are too strong - you can be the judge - but let me start with a story that happened in New Jersey just a few weeks ago.
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.
Rep. Doug Lamborn has joined NumbersUSA's 5-for-5 Club after cosponsoring the Nuclear Priority Act, which would end Chain Migration. Rep. Lamborn has now cosponsored at least one bill in each of our 5 Great Immigration-Reduction categories and joins 14 other Members of Congress to cosponsor a bill in each of the categories.
On February 10, Politico posted a story with the provocative headline "'Oppo' men break silence on Kris Kobach." Kris Kobach is the Kansas Secretary of State who played a central role in promoting attrition through enforcement laws in states like Arizona and Alabama. The "'Oppo' men" are, according to Politico, "seasoned opposition researchers" Alan Huffman and Michael Rejebian, and they broke their silence about...well, nothing, it turns out, except a couple of false accusations.
In Arizona where immigration was near the top of voter concerns, the candidate who “owned” the E-Verify issue was bound to benefit. While many pundits claimed Romney’s robust advocacy of national mandatory E-Verify was a blunder that somehow put him on the political fringe, the Arizona election results tonight and a new national poll show him to be identifying with overwhelming majorities of virtually every type of American.
Self-proclaimed religious experts on immigration policy browbeat the good, law-abiding, Christian citizens of Alabama again. At a conference last week, modern-day Pharisees took Alabama's civil authorities to task over the state law designed to restore the rule of law against illegal aliens who have overrun the state.
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."
Roy, Chris, and Andrew demonstrate the E-Verify Self Check system and discuss the ongoing grade cards faxing campaign.
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 Friday, Amine El Khalifi, a 29-year-old Moroccan citizen, was arrested by FBI agents as he made his way to the U.S. Capitol for what he believed would be a suicide mission. El Khalifi is an illegal alien who has been living in the United States unlawfully since 1999 after his visa expired. The near miss highlights the need for a functional entry/exit system that works and prevents visa overstayers from staying in the country illegally.
The House Homeland Security Committee hosted a hearing Wednesday afternoon called “An Examination of the President's FY 2013 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security” with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.The President's budget essentially cuts all 287(g) funding despite an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the House last year to keep the program. With little chance for the budget to pass, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle didn't put too much pressure on Sec. Napolitano, missing an opportunity to ask hard questions of the Administration and its efforts to curb illegal immigration.
Anne Arundal County Judge Ronald A. Silkworth issued a ruling on Friday that will allow Maryland voters to decide the fate of the state's DREAM Act. State legislators rushed passage of a bill in final moments of the 2011 legislative session that allows illegal aliens who attended a Maryland high school and hold either a diploma or GED to receive the in-state tuition rate at public colleges and universities. A grassroots effort collected thousands of signatures sufficient enough to try and repeal the law through referendum during this November's elections.
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and the rest of the Obama Adminstration have been preaching the repetative Quixotic declaration that the Southwest border with Mexico is more secure now than it's ever been. Well, a shocking new video shows quite the contrary as drug smugglers use a simple car jack to lift the fence panels near Lukeville, Ariz. to open up an unobstructed gateway into the United States. Watch this eye-opening video now . . .
