U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued guidance under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that indicates illegal aliens can obtain a form of ID fraud amnesty in addition to deportation amnesty. A DACA applicant who has used a fraudulent or stolen Social Security Number to obtain employment does not have to reveal the felonious act on his/her work authorization form.
The U.S. Department of Justice weighed in on a case before the California Supreme Court in which an illegal alien is requesting permission to obtain a law license and practice law. In a brief to the court, Justice attorneys said federal law prohibits giving public benefits, such as a bar license, to an "unlawfully present alien."
In WTHR’s latest report on Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) abuse and fraud, the Indianapolis NBC affiliate discussed revelations brought forward by an IRS whistleblower - "We were being told by upper management to ignore fraud, to assign ITIN numbers and...pay out refunds to people who are lying…It's a license to steal when you allow that."
The unemployment rate for immigrant workers in the United States is lower than the unemployment rate for native-born workers, according to data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS). BLS’s data show that unemployment among foreign born workers in May 2012 was 7.4 percent, while for native-born workers it was 8.0 percent.
GPX, a Texas-based seismic surveying company, and a field operations supervisor were indicted for harboring and transporting 19 illegal aliens, and for failing to verify their immigration status. GPX faces a possible maximum fine of $10 million if convicted while the supervisor, Douglas Wiggill, could face a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison and a fine of $5 million.
Newark airport security supervisor, Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole, a Nigerian national used the name of a murder victim to hide his illegal alien status for twenty years. Authorities say Oyewole worked undetected for years as a security guard and later a security supervisor. Had the Legal Workforce Act, H.R. 2885, been enacted, the no-match provisions would have detected Oyewole.
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.
Eyewitness News of Indiana's WTHR reveals a massive tax loophole that provides billions of dollars in tax credits to illegal aliens and people living in foreign countries. The loophole is called the Additional Child Tax Credit. It's a fully-refundable credit of up to $1000 per child, and it's meant to help working families who have children living at home. Eyewitness News has found many undocumented workers are claiming the tax credit for kids who live in Mexico.
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.
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 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.
Some pundits and political operatives — mostly Democrats — have already announced the demise of the Republican Party. They point to the growth of the Hispanic community and assert that the GOP needs to embrace amnesty for illegal immigrants to attract Hispanic voters.
But in the 1986 election, after a Republican president signed into law the largest amnesty for illegal immigrants in American history, only 23 percent of Hispanics voted for Republican candidates.
Congress may be in recess, but state legislators are busy at work crafting legislation aimed at reducing magnets for illegal immigration and helping unemployed Americans in their state get back to work. Legislation was finalized in Montana, while legislation in Alabama, Florida, and Indiana took steps closer to final passage. And in Colorado, a proposal to reward illegal immigration was defeated.
Judicial Watch has announced that it will challenge a policy enacted by the County College of Morris that offers in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. In a letter sent to the college, Judicial Watch argues illegal aliens are generally ineligible for state and local public benefits such as discounted tuition under federal law.
Before wrapping up its 2011 legislative session, the Virginia Legislature approved several immigration-enforcement measures, including an expansion of the state's current E-Verify law and a bill that would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to cancel a state ID or driver's license for known illegal aliens. The bills are expected to be signed into law by Governor Bob McDonnell.
National restaurant chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill, has fired hundreds of illegal aliens from its workforce in Minnesota freeing up jobs for unemployed Americans. The chain announced that a substantial number of its 1200 employees in 50 restaurants across the state had been identified by a federal immigration audit of their employee records.
A gathering of 200 city mayors today condemned Arizona's enforcement efforts and asked Congress to pass an amnesty giving 7 million illegal foreign workers permanent work visas while increasing future importation of foreign workers. You would think the nation's cities had zero unemployment rates. In fact, most of these cities have worse joblessness than the nation as a whole. But on a voice vote, the city mayors took the side of foreign workers and the employers who hire them.
Carpetmaker Mohawk Industries has settled a lawsuit with employees who claimed the company depressed wages by hiring illegal aliens. The company will pay $18 million after the six year battle.
As part of S.T.O.P. Amnesty in 4 Days, Roy Beck gave a presentation to a group of House staffers on Monday, March 22, bringing the message of uncontrollable population growth, high immigration numbers and the impact of illegal immigration on America's unemployed.
Victory and success often carry complex consequences. The health care win could be prescription for Immigration Reform defeat. With 25 Million Americans out of work, Pres. Obama and Congress need to do something popular next.
There is ample blame to be laid at the White House door, but the 43 members of the CBC who represent largely black constituencies also bear a large share of the responsibility. While some 8 million existing U.S. jobs are estimated to be held by illegal aliens, the CBC, like Mr. Obama, has consistently opposed tough enforcement of laws against employing illegal aliens. Many of the jobs filled by illegal aliens could be filled by black Americans, especially the huge cohort of black youth who are neither in school nor part of the labor force.
We had huge success in Day #1 of our S.T.O.P. Amnesty effort yesterday with more than 7,000 NumbersUSA activists around the country visiting their local Congressional District Offices. But we can't let up on Day #2!
About 8 million jobs are held by illegal immigrants. Vulnerable and disadvantaged American workers have seen their incomes and job opportunities shrink. Forcing unemployed workers to compete with undocumented workers is not fair to hard-working Americans. http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/19/reclaim-8-million-jobs/
By Reps. Lamar Smith, Sue Myrick and Gary Miller -- The Daily Caller
As of January 1, 2010, Utah’s Driving Privilege Card (DPC) will only be issued to individuals who are not able to prove legal presence in the United States. This change makes the DPC a clear and unambiguous illegal alien identification card.
State-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards open doors of opportunity in the United States. Not only does the driver’s license grant Americans the privilege to operate a vehicle, it also is widely accepted as an identification card that enables the bearer to access a plethora of services and benefits. Driver’s licenses and ID cards are used to rent apartments and cars, open bank accounts, cash checks, enter secure buildings, buy guns, and board commercial aircraft, among other things.
The Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), has hit out at Rep. Luis Gutierrez's comprehensive amnesty bill
The Associated Press has just reported that, after the Hispanic Caucus confronted Pres. Obama at the White House this afternoon, the chair of the House Rules Committee indicated she is giving the Caucus what it wants: She indicated that the House will have to vote on a bill that allows illegal aliens to use the new health care "exchange" and that does not require verification to keep illegal aliens out of the other parts of the proposed new federal health care system.
Pres. Obama has scheduled a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for this (Thursday) afternoon, presumably to smooth the growing acrimony between the two parties over whether Obama should keep his promise to guarantee that illegal aliens won't be part of any new federal health care plan.
Columbia Farms of Greenville, SC, has been charged with knowingly hiring and employing illegal aliens. In June 2008, six plant supervisors were arrested hiring illegal aliens and instructing illegal employees to use falsified documents and the plant manager was indicted in April for hiring illegal workers.
Only after the July 2008 attack did Kiefer learn of the crime's political ramifications. Izaguirre, police told her, was an illegal immigrant who had pleaded guilty four months earlier to a drug felony for selling cocaine in the seedy Tenderloin area.
He had avoided prison when he was picked for a jobs program run by San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris, now a candidate for California's top law enforcement post. In effect, Harris' office had been allowing Izaguirre and other illegal immigrants to stay out of prison by training them for jobs they cannot legally hold.
Even though E-Verify has been postponed until September of this year, one California company heeded the government’s warning and put all their employees through the verification process.
Three immigration-related amendments have been offered to the FY 2010 House Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill (H.R. 2847), which is currently under debate in the House of Representatives. The amendments would deny agency funds to states and local governments providing sanctuary for illegal aliens and ensure that no agency funding would be used to employ illegal aliens.
With pressure coming from former Arizona governor and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, the Senate has introduced the Pass ID bill, which would loosen some of the requirements set forth by Real ID. Real ID was passed in response to 9-11 and required states to issue a more secure driver's license or state ID, but several states complained that it was too costly.
Oregon lawmakers drew a line in the sand Friday: The state will do no more to comply with the U.S. Real ID Act of 2005 unless federal officials send some money to help.
By 39-6 vote, the House approved Senate Bill 536. It prohibits state agencies from spending money to cover the costs of complying with the federal law unless the federal government shares the bill.
Michelle Cole - Oregonian News
A new report released by the Federation for American Immigration Reform conclusively disproves many of the arguments used by amnesty proponents; in particular, that an amnesty would help America's ailing economy and improve working conditions for all Americans.
Locals in Shelbyville, Tenn. aren't happy with who they're having to compete with for jobs at the town's Tyson Foods Plant. As millions of unemployed Americans are looking for any kind of work, many, like the ones in Tennessee, are finding themselves competing with foreign workers for jobs in their own hometowns.
National Syndicated columnist Froma Harrop in light of high jobless rates called for nationwide use of E-Verify in her May 14 column entitled "Illegal Immigration in Tough Times." Harrop ranks No. 14 nationally in reader reach according to Media Matters for America and was a Hillary Clinton and John Edwards supporter.
The immigration lawyers’ national bar association called on the Justice Department on Tuesday to consider dismissing the guilty pleas of nearly 300 illegal immigrant workers arrested in a meatpacking plant raid in Iowa last year, one day after the Supreme Court rejected a statute that prosecutors used to pressure them.
The Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday that it is shifting the department's immigration enforcement efforts to the employers that hire undocumented workers. The announcement is a move away from the Bush Administration's policy of workplace raids.
The conduct of immigration agents during a raid at a meat processing plant in Minnesota did not violate the constitutional rights of 10 Latino plaintiffs who were working there legally, a federal district court ruled March 27 (Barrera v. DHS, D. Minn., No. 07-3879, 3/27/09).
By Gayle Cinquegrani -- Daily Labor Report
Many of the 28 workers arrested during February's ICE raid at Yamato Engine Specialists in Washington state have been released and granted temporary working papers. The move raises questions as to the future of worksite enforcement raids.
A new poll reveals that New Jersey residents are against both driver's licenses for illegal aliens and in-state tuition benefits for the children of illegal aliens. The Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll conducted in February shows that 62% oppose a limited type of driver's license and only 32% support in-state tuition rates for children of illegal aliens.
In an online Spanish language chat room, people from all along the East Coast seek tips on how to get a driver's license in Maryland, though they don't live in Maryland.
Carol Swain, professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University, has noted in the Nashville Tennessean that Pres. Obama has now promised to lead the way to cure cancer, end foreign oil dependence and guarantee higher education to everyone who wants it. But when it comes to keeping illegal aliens out of U.S. jobs so that unemployed Americans (especially Blacks and Hispanics) can have them, Obama can't seem to lift a finger.
Jimmy Nguyen was sentenced to more than five years in prison and forced to pay more than $550,000 after running a business that helped illegal aliens find factory work in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Nguyen pleaded guilty in October to charges of money laundering and conspiracy.
Guan and Hoa Le Chen were both sentenced on Wednesday for harboring illegal aliens in their home near Ann Arbor, Mich. The couple owns a Chinese restaurant and were charged with providing work, transportation and a place to live for illegal aliens.
Hawaii may ban illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses as the state tries to comply with the federal security law known as Real ID.http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?S=9816495&nav=menu554_2
Associated Press
A manager of a leather goods manufacturer in New Bedford, Ma. has been sentenced to two years probation after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in 2007 revealed that she had helped the factory hire and conceal illegal workers.
At a news conference held last week to detail his agency’s recent achievements, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff discussed how the economy, along with increased enforcement, are reducing the number of inbound illegal aliens and increasing departures home. He cited certain “metrics,” such as fewer illegal-alien apprehensions at the borders, and pointed to illegal-alien population studies as evidence of a reversing migratory trend.
Anti-enforcement entities are crowing about estimates that the raid on the Postville, Iowa meatpacking plant cost more than $6 million thus far to deal with only 389 suspected illegal aliens. And that does sound like a lot of money. But my rough calculations suggest that if all 389 are deported, taxpayers are likely to save nearly $8 million in the first year alone.
