Legal Immigration

According to numerous news sources, approximately 400,000 illegal aliens have received deferred action preventing them from deportation proceedings through the Obama Administration DACA program. DACA - Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - grants deferred action to any illegal alien 30 years of age or younger who can prove they came to the United States at a young age. The deferred action is good for two years and allows certain illegal aliens to receive work permits should they meet certain criteria.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said last week that if the House and Senate went to conference over the Schumer-Obama amnesty bill, S.744, that the bill would ultimately pass. Two House Committee's have already approved several immigration-related pieces of legislation. Should the full House pass any one of the bills, the Senate could take up the bill, substitute it with S.744, and send it back to the House. In lieu of passing the bill, the House could opt to go to conference.

In a letter sent to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), the Black American Leadership Alliance said that granting amnesty to 11 million illegal aliens would have a detrimental effect on Black Americans. The group told Rep. Ryan that the unemployment rate for Blacks in the United States is nearly double the national level and that amnesty would have a "disastrous effect" on all low-wage workers.

The latest government statistics suggest that while the unemployment rate declined in July to 7.4 percent, the number of discouraged workers and those not in the labor force remains high. The report comes amid congressional discussions that could lead to amnesty for at least some illegal aliens in the country and legal immigration changes, both of which would dramatically increase the number of job seekers.

Reps. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), and Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) all testified in support of a DREAM-like amnesty before the House Immigration Subcommittee on Tuesday. The hearing was called by Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) with the purpose of educating subcommittee members before legislation that would grant amnesty to illegal-alien children is introduced by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

The House Immigration Subcommittee has announced that it will hold a hearing next Tuesday, July 23, regarding the fate of illegal aliens who were brought to the United States as children. The hearing was announced as Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that he supported an amnesty for this class of illegal aliens during a press conference with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

In a statement issued after a two-hour House Republican conference meeting, GOP Leadership and the chairmen of key committees reaffirmed their position today that it will take a piecemeal approach in reforming the nation's immigration system. They also said the House will not vote on the Senate-passed amnesty bill.

A new poll conducted by pollster John McLaughlin has found that 60% of Hispanic voters support amnesty only after the goal of stopping 90% of future illegal immigration has been achieved. Only 34% of Hispanic voters said they support an amnesty first plan similar to the Senate-passed S.744.

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) was on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday and said that he doesn't think a bill that provides a special path to citizenship for the nation's 11 million illegal aliens is likely to pass in the House. Rep. Goodlatte did indicate that he thinks a bill that offers legalization to some illegal aliens could pass, however. 

On Wednesday, the president of the union that represents 7,000 immigration and customs enforcement officers, Chris Crane, sent a letter to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) telling him his blill was "De Facto Amnesty." Sen. Rubio has said that the current situation is "De Facto Amnesty" for the 11 million illegal aliens living in the United States, but Crane writes that since the bill contains almost no interior enforcement provisions, it won't change the current situation.

The Center for Immigration Studies finds that the new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of the legislation confirms that the bill will almost completely fail in this regard. According to CBO, if S.744 passes, "the net annual flow of unauthorized residents would decrease by 25 percent." Because S.744 fails to stem a larger portion of illegal immigration, CBO projects that nearly 5 million new illegal immigrants and their children will be living in the United States 10 years after the bill passes.

In two separate votes today, the Senate voted to prioritize an amnesty for the nation's 11 million illegal aliens over enforcement of existing laws. Amendments offered by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) were defeated mostly along a party-line vote. Both amendments would have required the federal government to enforce laws already on the books before granting amnesty.

In a letter to Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), ICE Union President Chris Crane says the Gang of Eight's bill, S.744, is flawed because it places "new restrictions on interior enforcement." Crane writes that the bill would make the current situation worse and more hazardous and urges them to reject S.744 and instead focus on Rep. Trey Gowdy's (R-S.C.) interior enforcement bill and Rep. John Barrow's (D-Ga.) border security and interior enforcement legislation introduced in the House.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said that he plans to force a GOP conference should House Leadership decide to move forward on an unpopular amnesty bill in the House of Representatives. Under caucus rules, any Member can can force a closed-door session if he can gather 50 signatures. The session would force a caucus vote on the bill in question, and Leadership is supposed to follow the will of the caucus.

After several more North Carolina sheriffs signed on to a letter to Congress from the law enforcement agencies across the nation, Rep. Walter Jones issued a statement on Wednesday saying he stood by the sheriffs in their opposition to the Schumer-Rubio-Obama amnesty bill. Rep. Jones said he, too, is concerned about the bill's lack of interior enforcement.

Florida Governor Rick Scott vetoed a bill on Tuesday that would have codified existing state policy allowing illegal aliens with federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status to receive a driver's license.

A group of Black Leaders sent a letter to Congress on Monday warning them about the negative impacts the Gang of Eight's immigration bill will have on Black Americans. The group sent their letter to Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Senators from states with the highest levels of Black unemployment.

In 2007, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voted against amnesty for illegal aliens. Last Friday, in an interivew with the Washington Post, he expressed major concern with the Gang of Eight's bill after it was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A new Fox Poll surveying 1,000 registered voters over the last several days has found that 73% of Americans favor securing the border before making changes to immigration policy. This percentage is up from polls in April and February showing 68% and 69%, respectively, support for enforcement before amnesty. The Gang of Eight's bill, S.744, puts the amnesty before the enforcement provisions kick in.