A group of six GOP Senators that sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Committee Chairman Pat Leahy on Tuesday urging him to hold more committee hearings before marking up the Gang of Eight's legislation when it's introduced. The letter was signed by Ranking Member Chuck Grassley and Senators Jeff Sessions, Mike Lee, John Cornyn, Orrin Hatch, and Ted Cruz.
The Republican National Committee endorsed amnesty on Monday through its report entitled "Growth & Opportunity" that analyzes the 2012 election results. In the report, the Party concluded that it needs to do a better job reaching out to minorities and young people, and comprehensive immigration reform that includes an amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens is one way to do just that.
The organizers of this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held just outside of Washington, D.C. embraced amnesty, but judging by the reaction of the attendees, it wasn't exactly well received. After the three-day conference, it became clear that if the GOP wants to also embrace amnesty, it risks losing its base.
An op-ed written by Clemson Professor Mark Thies and published in the Greenville News says the number of U.S. students enrolled at Clemson in STEM fields is up 60 percent over the past five years. Furthermore, he says that one-third of STEM graduates aren't working in the field and starting salaries within the field have remained flat since 2010.
In his new Center for Immigration Studies backgrounder, "Sulzberger's Voice," former Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Jerry Kammer details how the New York Times editorial page became a destructive voice in the immigration debate by taking an intolerant view of - and casting aspersions on - those who disagree with their policy preferences. Kammer has also written backgrounders on the immigration advocacy of the Carnegie Corporation ("The Carnegie Corporation and Immigration: How a Noble Vision Lost Its Way," March, 2011) and the Southern Poverty Law Center ("Immigration and the SPLC," March, 2010). You can find them all at www.cis.org.
A new report shows that immigration is costing the Miami-Dade public school district $22 million more per year. The report says that 1,000 new immigrant students enter the school district each month, adding 11,000 new students per year at a cost of $2,000 per student than those that already live in the county. Miami-Dade is the nation's 4th largest school district with more than 353,000 students.
The U.S. tech industry has been a central part of the "comprehensive immigration reform" debate in Congress this year. Representatives from the tech community have testified before both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees speaking to the need for an increase in tech-trained foreign workers, but a new report from Politico reveals that a few tech firms may be more interested in satisying its immigration needs than pushing for an amnesty for the nation's 11 million illegal aliens.
In February, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO released a joint press release stating that the two sides have agreed to principles for immigration reform. But after recent meetings on Capitol Hill, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says he's unsure the two sides can agree on legislative language.
In a recent op-ed published by The Hill newspaper in Washington, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte wrote that it's important not to shove immigration reform through Congress without a full debate. Rep. Goodlatte urges Congress to seek feedback from the American public, and discusses the vast number of issues that could fall within a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
We are told that reforming immigration policy and combating climate change are two key policy goals of President Obama as he begins his second term. But there is no evidence that the Obama administration sees any connection between them. This despite the fact that the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified population growth as one of the two key drivers of climate change; and that most of the increase in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in the past two decades has occurred due to population growth, while per capita emissions have remained relatively flat.
Since there’s still no "comprehensive immigration reform" bill in either the House or the Senate, there's a lot of uncertainty about what a final bill may look like. But one thing is becoming clear; there are lots of opposing opinions on what should be and shouldn’t be in the bill, and those differences were on display during Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
The Capitol Hill newspaper Politico reports the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO are finding it difficult to reach agreement on guest worker provisions for the so-called comprehensive immigration reform bill. A stalemate over the guest worker issue led to the demise of the 2007 amnesty bill.
During Tuesday's House Judiciary hearing, several of the GOP Republicans pursued a line of questioning with pro-amnesty witness, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, that discussed the idea of compromise especially when it comes to dealing with the 11 million illegal aliens living in the United States. Mayor Castro's response was that a path to citizenship is the compromise. His opposition to support anything short of a blanket amnesty is just one of the many road blocks standing in the way of "comprehensive immigration reform."
Tuesday was a rough day for the new face of the pro-amnesty movement. During the first House Judiciary Committee immigration hearing of the new Congressional session, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro made a passioned plea for giving amnesty to the nation's 11 million illegal aliens. But he had no answers to tough but reasonable questions from GOP Members who were open to debating a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
Speaking in Las Vegas today, President Barack Obama laid out an immigration reform plan that would make illegal aliens eligible for provisional legal status and green cards without the additional enforcement triggers proposed by the Gang of Eight Senators. The president said his Administration has already patched up “some of the worst cracks in the system,” so now is the time for “common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform.”
A group of eight Senators today announced the outline of an agreement they reached on immigration-law changes that substantially mirrors the failed 2007 attempt to amnesty illegal aliens and increase foreign-worker numbers. The Senators’ proposal includes a legalization of illegal aliens currently residing in the United States, higher levels of legal immigration, mandatory employment verification, and a new guest worker program.
While the current proposal is short on details, Rosemary Jenks has reviewed it and tells me it is basically the same sweeping amnesty we defeated in 2007 with "updated" language to re-brand the amnesty. We had hoped that the new voices of Senators Rubio (R-FL) and Lee (R-UT)[both members of the so-called Senate "Gang of Eight"] would bring some new perspective to an immigration proposal so we were especially disappointed to see their Amnesty 2.0 proposal be nothing more than a rehash of the failed 2007 amnesty.
The Economic Policy Institute’s analysis of recent jobs data undermines the common business theme that employers are not hiring because they can’t find enough qualified workers. EPI economist Heidi Shierholz argues there are more than enough unemployed workers in all sectors of the current job market to fill jobs in those industries.
Reps. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and Kenny Marchant (R-Texas) have cosponsored H.R.140, the Birthright Citizenship Act. The bill was introduced by Rep. Steve King and is part of NumbersUSA's 5 Great Immigration-Reduction Solutions. If passed, the bill would end the practice of granting automatic citizenship to all children born in the United States.
Pres. Obama made only one reference to immigration during his second inaugural address on Monday, but that wasn't the statement that stood out on the topic. Instead, it was his statement echoing his concern for a shrinking middle class. A concern, however, that is contradictory to his immigration proposal that would award millions of illegal aliens with amnesty thus putting a major strain on the middle class.
Earlier this week, an alliance of more than 100 leaders from the Evangelical community renewed their push for comprehensive immigration reform, including a mass amnesty for the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens. The Evangelical Immigration Table, as they've called themselves since their formation in 2012, is urging Christians in the United States to consider immigration from a biblical perspective -- of course, they only want Christians to focus on their interpretation of a few biblical passages while ignoring many others.
Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) have cosponsored H.R.140, the Birthright Citizenship Bill. The bill was introduced by Rep. Steve King and is part of NumbersUSA's 5 Great Immigration-Reduction Solutions. If passed, the bill would end the practice of granting automatic citizenship to all children born in the United States.
Immigration reform also took a prominent place in Donohue's remarks, with the Chamber president emphasizing the need for skilled workers to help stave off outsourcing. He advocated guest visas for lower-skilled workers and expanding the caps on high-skilled visas, as well as helping foreigners who earn advanced degrees in the U.S. to stay.
"Even with high unemployment, we have millions of job openings that go unfilled," he said. "Either the workers come here to fill those jobs or the companies take all of their jobs somewhere else."
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) put forth an outline for immigration reform last week that was published in this weekend's edition of the Wall Street Journal. His outline calls for legalization of the nation's illegal-alien population and major reforms to the existing immigration system. Sen. Rubio has not offered a bill, nor does he provide any specific details on his Senate website, but he does go into some detail of his immigration reform plan in the interview.
Rep. Steve King has introduced the first immigration bill into the 113th Congress - the Birthright Citizenship Act that would end the practice of giving automatic citizenship to every child born in the United States. H.R.140 would require at least one parent of newborns to be a U.S citizen or legal permanent resident in order to receive automatic citienship. The bill was introduced with 13 original cosponsors.
In the stampede of media advice to Republicans to pass “comprehensive immigration reform” (supposedly to win more Hispanic votes in 2016), hardly any dust has been kicked up by discussing whether more immigration would be good for Hispanic Americans themselves. If Republicans want more Hispanic votes, they might consider pushing policies that actually help Hispanic voters get back to work and increase their incomes.
A new Gallup poll finds that Americans aren't as enthusiastic about "immigration reform" as some Members of Congress and most of the main stream media would like you to believe. The poll asked Americans what is the most important problem facing the country today, and only 2% of respondents said that immigration was the top concern.
South Carolina congressman Trey Gowdy has been chosen to chair the House Immigration Subcommittee for the 113th Congress that starts in January. Rep. Gowdy is wrapping up his first term in Congress where he served as a prominent member of the subcommittee. He'll replace Rep. Elton Gallegly who is retiring at the end of the session.
During the debate over a bill that would eliminate the Visa Lottery and create 55,000 new green cards that would be awarded to foreign students with an advanced degree in a STEM field, Rep. Luis Gutierrez tells the House of Representatives of the influence NumbersUSA has on immigration legislation. This debate occurred on Nov. 30, 2012.
Make way for a new Gang of Eight. An octet of senators has begun to meet to discuss immigration reform, multiple sources told POLITICO. It’s a possible sign of progress on what’s expected to be a top legislative priority on Capitol Hill next year.
November unemployment numbers were released earlier today, and while much of the focus is on the fact that the overall rate dropped 0.2 points from 7.9% to 7.7%, a few media outlets are focusing on why the rate dropped - 542,000 Americans gave up their job search and are no longer being counted in the overall statistic. And while the overall size of the population grew by nearly 200,000 people, the number of people working or looking for work has dropped precipitously.
MSNBC today is suggesting that NumbersUSA's grassroots citizen army very well may stand in the way of the mass media's rush to proclaim "comprehensive immigration reform" (mass amnesty) a done deal in the next Congress. Thanks for the respect.
During consideration of H.R. 6429, a bill that would replace the Visa Lottery with green cards for foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges or universities with an advanced degree in a STEM field, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) raised a motion to replace the bill with another version that would increase foreign worker visas with no offsets. The House, however, voted, with bipartisan support, to keep the existing version of the bill, with the visa offsets, intact.
During his November 14 press conference, President Obama said his broad vision of comprehensive immigration reform "is very similar to the outlines of previous efforts at comprehensive immigration reform." This is newsworthy because previous comprehensive immigration reform efforts since 1986 have produced 7 amnesties, none of which reduced illegal immigration. This begs the question: "Is the permanent reduction of illegal immigration a goal of this administration?"
Let me arm you with some very important numbers to resist a frantic push today by open-borders-leaning journalists and pundits to persuade congressional Republicans to help Pres. Obama pass a mass amnesty early next year.
No question that the results were quite mixed for those of us desiring rational, pro-worker immigration policies. But I believe the net puts us in a somewhat stronger position the next two years than in the last two years. Let's take a first look . . .
Twenty-two incumbent True Reformers ran for re-election on Tuesday, and 21 of the 22 won their races, while one incumbent True Reformer awaits a recount. Six newly identified True Reformers also won re-election, and at least 13 of 14 5-for-5ers also won re-election on Tuesday night.
The best place -- perhaps the only place -- in America for you to follow the Election Night results and their implications for immigration policy will be at www.NumbersUSA.com on Tuesday night. We'll be live-reporting the news and analysis from 6 p.m. Tuesday night into the wee hours of Wednesday -- as we did two years ago.
A study by the Center for Immigration Studies concludes two-thirds of the net increase in employment since President Obama took office has gone to immigrants and illegal aliens. The analysis calls into question the wisdom of bringing in more than one million new legal immigrants each year.
Student visa holder Quazi Nafis was arrested last week for trying to blow up the Federal Reserve building in New York City with what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb. Nafis is not the first to use easily-acquired student visas to gain legal entry to, and plot attacks against, the United States.
With the baseball post-season in full swing, let's just say that the following eight U.S. Representatives are the ACES of the Democratic team in Congress when it comes to giving priority to American workers over illegal foreign workers and over bringing in new immigrant workers.
The media's failure to grasp the numerical impact of immigration policy inevitably results in its failure to understand other important issues of the day. An Associated Press story on U.S. birth rates is a perfect example. The Associated Press reported: "A rate of a little more than 2 children per woman means each couple is helping keep the population stable." That would be true if we had replacement-level immigration. But we don't. AP left that inconvenient truth out of its story.
Under the Obama Administration, immigrants have fared better at finding jobs than the native born. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data indicate that as of August 2012, over 1.7 million immigrants found jobs during Obama’s term while only 418,000 native-born Americans did.
Birth tourism – an industry that helps wealthy foreign women give birth in the United States and get citizenship for their babies – appears to be growing in California, according to the Sacramento Bee. The thousands of dollars these women spend later gives their children easy access to American universities and jobs. It also opens up green cards for the entire family after the child becomes 21.
A group of forty former world leaders, including President Bill Clinton and South Africa's President Nelson Mandela, have sounded the alarm on population growth and water scarcity, according to Reuters ("Twenty more "Niles" needed to feed growing population - leaders"). The subject is famililar to Clinton who in 1993 established a Council on Sustainable Development. One of the council's objectives was to chart a path towards the stabilization of U.S. population. Among the immigration-related recommendations . . .
