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.
The various federal agencies that deal with border security and immigration issues are still not on the same page, according to a report by the Office of the Inspector General. The report concludes that agencies such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol still have significant problems linking databases and maintaining efficient lines of communication.
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.
The Department of Homeland Security is finalizing its plan for a biometric data system to track when immigrants leave the United States and will present it to Congress within weeks, a DHS top official said today during a Congressional hearing. This comes weeks after DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said the current biographical data works well and said there were no plans to implement an exit system.
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.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director John Morton has offered to pay the costs of holding suspected illegal immigrants who are arrested for other crimes in Cook County, IL, as part of an effort to get county officials to reconsider their refusal to cooperate with federal detention requests.
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.
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.
When the media covers identity theft and fraud as an isolated story, it treats those crimes as serious felonies that adversely impact the lives of victims in real and compelling ways. Young children are often targets, and by the time they realize they have had their identities stolen, the damage has already been done. But when the media covers immigration, it ignores the numerous felonies that aliens have to commit to live and work in the U.S. illegally without being detected.
Freshman Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) has cosponsored the CLEAR Act, H.R.100, that would increase interior enforcement by requiring the federal government to work with local municipalities to enforce immigration laws. By cosponsoring the bill, Rep. Palazzo has now cosponsored at least one bill in each category of our "5 Great Solutions".
In the upcoming 2012 session, the state legislature in New Mexico will revisit the issue to repeal a 2003 bill which allowed illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses in the state. New Mexico is one of three states that allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Since 2003, more than 80,000 foreign nationals have been issued driver's licenses.
Secure Communities, an immigration enforcement program, will be made mandatory for all states by 2013, according to a recently released memo. The three year old program consists of an information-sharing partnership between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The program helps to identify criminal aliens without imposing any new or additional requirements on state and local law enforcement.
Top Officials within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are pressuring rank-and-file officers to quickly approve immigrants' visa applications, sometimes against the officers' will, according to a report by the Office of the Inspector General.
The report details the immense pressure immigration service officers are under to rubber-stamp visa applications, sometimes while overlooking concerns about fraud, eligibility or security.
2011 is coming to an end and many state lawmakers have their eyes on curbing illegal immigration in 2012. With several states -- Arizona, Utah, South Carolina and Alabama -- already paving the way, lawmakers in other states are looking for similar legislation to remove "magnets" drawing illegal aliens to their states.
Pacific Steel in Berkeley, Calif. is laying off 200 illegal-alien workers who weren't able to provide valid documents after an audit conducted by the Department of Homeland Security. Earlier this year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement requested the company's I-9 files and found that the paperwork for 200 workers, approximately one-third of the company's total workforce, didn't match up.
Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) has cosponsored House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith's Legal Workforce Act (H.R.2885), making him the first Democrat to do so. The bill, which is now officially bipartisan, would require 100% of businesses to begin using E-Verify for all new hires within 2 years and require all federal, state, and local governments to check new hires and existing employees within 6 months.
Last Tuesday Utah joined Arizona, South Carolina and Alabama as states being sued by the U.S Justice Department for their respective immigration enforcement laws. The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the state of Utah in regards to House Bill 497. The Justice Department is arguing that Utah's immigration law is unconstitutional because it overlaps federal authority, and could potentially lead to the harassment and detention of American citizens and authorized visitors.
“Pearce would have retained his seat in a regular election,” said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, adding, “Probably the key factor to keep in mind is that the recall election occurred when only a half-dozen states were having elections. That allowed open-border forces to concentrate most of their money and energy on Pearce’s tiny Arizona district.
There were few competing requests for the money that was used to buy signatures to create the recall election and then run the outside-group advertising.”
House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) wrote an op-ed that calls the Obama Administration's record number of deportations in 2011 a "trick". Two weeks ago, the Administration said it deported a record number of illegal aliens last year, totaling almost 400,000 deportations, but Rep. Smith said the are "using smoke and mirrors to achieve its so-called historic record."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following report is from the House Immigration Subcommittee's oversight hearing on the priorities of immigration enforcement. ICE Director John Morton had to defend the Administration's policy of granting deferred action or parole to illegal aliens who hadn't committed a serious crime. Rep. Ted Poe challenged Morton for implementing a policy that encourages future illegal immigration, while Rep. Trey Gowdy challenged Morton for creating a policy instead of asking Congress for assistance.
On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security released new figures showing that the federal government deported a record number of illegal aliens in 2011. Nearly 400,000 illegal aliens were sent home, most of which had been convicted of crimes. However, not everyone is buying those numbers.
On October 9, 2011 California Governor Jerry Brown signed three bills aimed at supporting illegal aliens, including AB 1236, a measure that outlaws E-Verify in the state of California. Many Californians have expressed frustration over the bill and Congressman Ken Calvert is one of them.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday, charging that South Carolina's new immigration law is unconstitutional. The law requires law enforcement to check the immigration status of all people that they detain, including those that are stopped for traffic violations. The ACLU and its allies are hoping to get a federal injunction to prevent it from taking effect. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson stood behind the law, saying, "We have a strong opinion this law is constitutional and we’re prepared to defend it to the U.S. Supreme Court if we have to.”
The federal government asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday to halt the Alabama immigration law. A federal judge earlier upheld two key provisions in the law that allow authorities to question people suspected of being in the country illegally and hold them without bond, and let officials check the immigration status of students in public schools. The measure has already had an immediate impact.
Employers in Alabama's Marshall County are hiring new workers following the stepped-up federal and state enforcement of immigration laws. "It is amazing to see the effects" as illegal workers leave town, said Chuck Ellis, a member of Albertville’s city council. In Alabama’s Marshall County, "three in four [locals] endorse the fact that there’s something being done" by the federal and state governments. "Self-deportation is a real thing," Ellis said.
An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit filed last week accuses a South Georgia farmer of discriminating against U.S. and black workers because of their race and national origin while giving better treatment to workers from Mexico. The suit alleges that the firm in 2009 let go the bulk of its U.S. workers but kept nearly all of its 370 workers from Mexico. The next year, lawyers say the company terminated the majority of its 233 U.S. workers, but it kept the vast majority of its 518 workers from Mexico.
In 2008 the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch became the first municipality to pass an immigration enforcement law after the city council enacted a law that prohibited landlords from renting to illegal aliens.
Democrat State Senator Richard Moore and Republican State Senator Bruce Tarr have co-authored a massive illegal immigration enforcement bill in Massachusetts that the two lawmakers hope will come up for a vote during the current session. The bill would deny illegal aliens access to in-state tuition, overturn Gov. Deval Patrick's policy by requiring the state to join Secure Communities, and punishes employers who hire illegal aliens.
Freshman Rep. Rich Nugent (R-Fla.) has joined NumbersUSA's 5-for-5 Club after cosponsoring Rep. Marsha Blackburn's Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal (CLEAR) Act of 2011. The CLEAR Act of 2011 would help local law enforcement detect, arrest and detain illegal aliens in their communties.
Senior managers at the wooden pallet manufacturer, IFCO systems, have pleaded guilty to hiring and employing thousands of illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America.
Rep. Ed Royce has joined NumbersUSA's 5-for-5 Club after cosponsoring the SAFE for America Act, which would end the Visa Lottery. Rep. Royce has now cosponsored at least one bill in each of our 5 Great Immigration-Reduction categories and joins 10 other Members of Congress to cosponsor a bill in each of the categories.
Eurofresh Inc., the nation’s largest grower of greenhouse tomatoes, last week pled guilty to knowingly hiring illegal aliens and was fined $600,000. The Arizona-based company will remain on probation for five years.
Retired federal agent Estela Biesemeyer said that the federal government was ready to deal with illegal hirings at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa in 2000 before the operation was delayed for fear that it might impact the 2000 presidential elections. The raid eventually took place in 2008 and resulted in the arrest of more than 400 illegal workers.
The Department of Homeland Security has told the nation's governors that the agency doesn't need their approval to run Secure Communities in their states. Secure Communities is a program managed by DHS that identifies criminal illegal aliens who have been booked into state and local prisons.
Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) has joined NumbersUSA's 5-for-5 Club after cosponsoring Rep. Bob Goodlatte's SAFE for America Act that would end the Visa Lottery. Rep. Miller has cosponsored at least one bill in each category of our "5 Great Immigration Solutions". Rep. Miller is a long-time champion for lower immigration levels, and in the previous Congress, he joined Reps. Sue Myrick and Lamar Smith in forming the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus in Congress.
Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), Ralph Hall (R-Texas), Kay Granger (R-Texas), and Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) have co-sponsored House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith's (R-Texas) E-Verify bill. Chairman Smith's bill would require most employers to use E-Verify within two years of enactment.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents issued a Notice of Intent to Withdraw (NOIW) the school's authorization to admit foreign students. ICE didn't arrest anyone or take anyone into custody, but they did confiscate boxes of documents and has instructed the school not to admit foreign students until further notice.
Reps. Hal Rogers (R- Ky.), Bill Young (R- Fla.), and Peter King (R-N.Y.) have co-sponsored House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith's (R-Texas) E-Verify bill. Chairman Smith's bill would require most employers to use E-Verify within two years of enactment.
Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) have co-sponsored H.R.100, the CLEAR Act, that was introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). The bill would provide the resources and training necessary to local police for enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Freshman Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) added his name to 14 different bills on Thursday that would reduce overall immigration levels and work to end illegal immigration. Rep. Brooks was identified as a "True Reform" Candidate during last year's mid-term elections, agreeing in the affirmative to all 12 questions on NumbersUSA's Immigration-Reduction survey.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Wednesday that they have notified 1,000 companies that the government will inspect their hiring records. The notifications are part of the Obama Administrations efforts to go after employers that hire illegal workers.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley today signed legislation (HB 56) that requires the use of E-Verify by all employers in the state, and establishes eligibility checks for public-benefit applicants. The law gives Alabama some the strongest illegal-immigration enforcement tools in the country.
Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Howard Coble (R-N.C.) have co-sponsored the bipartisan SAVE Act (H.R.2000) introduced by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.). The SAVE Act would mandate E-Verify nationwide and increase both border security and interior enforcement.
In the middle of major partisan and parliamentary shenanigans in the U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon, we hope there will finally be some roll call votes on immigration amendments to the 2012 Homeland Security appropriations bill.
These would be the first roll call votes of this new Congress (6 months into session). And they would provide a window into which Members want to continue the federal government's lax attitude about unlawfully present citizens of other countries being able to remain in this country to use up resources, jobs and taxpayer benefits.
Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) reintroduced his comprehensive immigration enforcement legislation that would mandate E-Verify nationwide, strengthen border security, and improves interior enforcement. The SAVE Act (H.R. 2000) was introduced with 36 original co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle. This is the third consecutive Congress Rep. Shuler has introduced the legislation.
Freshman Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), who recently created the Freshman Immigration Caucus, took to the House floor this week to question the policies of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Rep. Barletta is the former mayor of Hazleton, Pa. where he passed the first local ordinance to combat illegal immigration. During his floor speech, Rep. Barletta demanded a reason why an illegal alien stopped in his district was not detained by ICE.
Reps. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Andy Harris (R-Md.) have co-sponsored H.R.100, the CLEAR Act, that was introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). The bill would provide the resources and training necessary to local police for enforcement of federal immigration laws.
The Minnesota State Senate passed a bill earlier today that would require the state to enter into the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Communities program. Under the program, local jails would send fingerprints of all individuals booked into local jails to DHS who would then check to see if the individual is in the country legally.
