Two border security amendments offered by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) to the 2012 DHS spending bill were passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday. The two amendments would reallocate funds to provide funding towards removing lookout posts along the U.S.-Mexico border and to hire shadow wolves.
The House has wrapped up debate on amendments to the 2012 DHS spending bill. Call your House Rep. NOW at (202) 224-3121 and urge a YES vote on the CRAVAACK AMENDMENT. Rep. Cravaack's amendment ensures that funding from the DHS spending bill complies with current federal law requiring the detention of illegal aliens who have committed violent crimes.
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.
Despite Pres. Obama's claim last week that our nation's borders are secure, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has asked Congress for $30 million to keep 1,200 National Guard troops on the border. The troops were first assigned to the border last year at Pres. Obama's direction.
A new poll conducted by Rasmussen in the days following Pres. Barack Obama's immigration speech in El Paso, Texas last week finds that the overwhelming majority of Americans disagree with the President's assessment of our Southwest border with Mexico. 64% of likely voters said the border is not secure, while only 30% feel that the border is somewhat secure.
Freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) criticized Pres. Obama's immigration speech on the House floor last week. Rep. Walsh said Pres. Obama isn't taking border security seriously, and instead, chose to joke about building a moat with alligators.
Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) has introduced the Loophole Elimination and Verification Enforcement (LEAVE) Act, H.R.1196, which is a comprehensive immigration enforcement bill that would require the use of E-Verify for all employers nationwide, end the practice of birthright citizenship, prohibit states from granting in-state tuition benefits to illegal aliens, increase the number of border patrol and immigration and customs enforcement agents, and assist local municipalities in the enforcement of federal immigration laws, among other things.
After facing a more hostile House Committee last week, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano testified before the more friendly confines of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Even though the Democratic-controlled Committee allowed Napolitano to be less defensive, she still faced tough questions about border security and the amnesty memos that circulated last summer.
The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) is a national, non-profit, public interest organization of concerned citizens. Our ranks include officers who spent their careers on the Canadian and Mexican borders, in Florida, on the Gulf Coast, in Puerto Rico, and in foreign lands enduring discomfort and danger as they worked to protect and serve our nation. Many of us went on to high positions in the Border Patrol or its parent organization, the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Last month, the Government Accountability Office issued a report saying that the Department of Homeland Security had less than 50 percent 'operational control' of the Southwest Border. The House Homeland Security Committee brought in DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to discuss the findings of the report, but instead, the Members and Napolitano quibbled over the definition of 'operational control'.
A new study from the Government Accountability Office finds that less than half of the 2,000-mile border with Mexico is "operationally controlled" by the Border Patrol. The study says the Southwest border with Mexico "is vulnerable to cross-border illegal activity." The study evaluated the Border Patrol's ability to detect and respond to cross-border illegal activity and detect and respond to illegal activity at the border or after entry into the United States.
The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security hosted a hearing Tuesday morning on the definition of “Operational Control” of the border. With new rumors of an immigration bill developing in the Senate, it has become important to define the meaning of “operational control.” Chairwoman Candice Miller (R-Mich) even admitted that “it’s starting to become a buzz word…but we really don’t know what it means.”
During the past year, untold thousands of illegal aliens have crossed into Texas from Mexico. And immigration officials don't know why. Even more troubling, they are often released to disappear into America.
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was in El Paso, Texas earlier this week where she once again insisted that the Southwestern border is more secure now than ever before. While statistics show how that might be true, uncontrollable illegal crossings will continue without a broader enforcement solution that includes E-Verify.
A new website established by the state of Arizona focuses on the environmental damage that is caused by illegal immigration. According to the new website, http://azbordertrash.gov/index.html, more than 2,000 tons of garbage are left in Southern Arizona due to illegal border crossings.
A new report by the Government Accountability Office states that individuals using public lands along the border face an increasing risk of crossing paths with armed individuals who are involved in illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
After spending more than $1 billion, the Department of Homeland Security is ending a program to build a virtual fence along the Southwest border with Mexico. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano called the project ineffective and too costly and said that it didn't meet the department's current standards for viability.
Christos Papoutsis, the Greek Citizen Protection Minister, says his country wants to build a 130-mile fence to keep illegal aliens out. The Greek border with Turkey is one of the most popular locations for people from Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia to illegally gain access to the European Union.
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano is visiting Afghanistan with a contingent of border security and customs officials to advise their Afghan counterparts on border control, according to a DHS press release. Her surprise visit comes before charges have been filed in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry near the U.S. border.
The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers issued a strong statement after the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. The association criticized the leadership in Washington for its mishandling of the border violence issue and is calling for the immediate elimination of restrictions that prohibit border patrol on public land.
A Border Patrol agent was shot and killed late Tuesday in Southern Arizona, according to the Associated Press. The U.S. Border Patrol confirmed that four suspects are in custody. Another is being sought.
Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.) detailed the need for passing the bi-partisan SAVE Act at a Town Hall Meeting over Labor Day weekend. Rep. Bright is one of the 117 total sponsors of the pro-Attrition through Enforcement legislation offered by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) that would mandate E-Verify nationwide and increase resources for border and interior security.
Terrible recent reports of a record pace of deaths of illegal aliens in the U.S. desert and in Mexico at the hands of ruthless gangs point an accusatory finger at the political, media and religious leaders of this country who talk incessantly about their plans to reward the act of illegal immigration with U.S. citizenship. It is not a stretch at all to say that people who talk big about winning a "comprehensive immigration reform" amnesty bear great guilt for enticing these illegal aliens to their deaths.
The Border Patrol's increased efforts along the U.S. - Mexico land border are forcing more and more would-be illegal aliens to sea in their efforts to come to the United States
Two Texas bridges, or "grade control structures" as the International Boundary and Water Commission likes to call them, that cross the Rio Grande are unguarded and allow for easy illegal immigration into the United States
Over the past two weeks, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have called their respective chambers back to Washington from the summer recess to pass a $600 million border-spending bill. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano decreed the border secure with the supplemental funding, but a new video released by the Center for Immigration Studies shows quite a different reality.
Federal officials routinely assure the public that they are gaining control over the Arizona border. Despite these assurances, "Gaming the Border: a Report from Cochise County, Arizona" and produced by the Center for Immigration Studies, shows why the border there remains porous, as illegal immigrants avoid the Border Patrol and walk around checkpoints on highways north of the border.
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.) added her name to the long list of cosponsors to the House version of the SAVE Act introduced by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.). The list of total sponsors to H.R.3308 is now at 117.
A new Gallup Poll reveals that only 29% of Americans approve of Pres. Obama's handling of the immigration issue. Sixty-two percent of Americans disapprove of the President's handling of the issue.
The Senate reconvened on Thursday to unanimously consent to a the $600 million border spending bill that provides funding for more border agents and unmanned surveillance drones. The spending bill initiated in the Senate, but due to a Constitutional clause that requires all revenue bills to originate in the House, the House introduced a new bill with the same provisions during a special session last week.
The House of Representatives passed a proposal first passed by the Senate last week that provides $600 million in emergency spending for security along the Southwest border. But since revenue bills must originate in the House, a new bill had to be offered, which now must be passed again by the Senate when they return from recess in September.
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced on Tuesday morning that the Department has deployed its "Secure Communities" program to all 25 counties located on the Southwest border with Mexico. The "Secure Communities" program allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to root out criminal illegal aliens incarcerated in local jails.
The pro-amnesty, open-borders coalition 'Reform Immigration for America' is activating its membership and urging them to oppose the $600 million border security bill passed by the Senate last week. The spending bill provides for additional border patrol agents, unmanned surveillance drones, justice department support among other things.
The Senate unanimously approved $600 million of additional funding to support border operations on Thursday night just before adjourning for a month-long summer recess. The bill includes funding for 1,000 additional border patrol agents, 500 immigration and customs officials, and unmanned drones, among other things.
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) became a cosponsor of Rep. Heath Shuler's (D-N.C.) SAVE Act. In doing so, he has joined an elite group of Congressmen and women who have cosponsored NumbersUSA's 5 great immigration bills. These bills are the SAVE Act, the Nuclear Family Priority Act, the SAFE Act, the Birthright Citizenship Act, and the CLEAR Act.
Pres. Obama officially asked Congress on Tuesday for $600 million of emergency funding to be used to hire 1,000 border patrol agents, acquire two drones and take other steps to increase border security. In his 2011 budget released this past February, Pres. Obama, however, proposed cutting border patrol agents along the Southwest border and slashed funding for the "virtual fence."
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer met with Pres. Barack Obama at the White House yesterday to discuss security plans along the Arizona-Mexico border and the state's new immigration enforcement law. While the two leaders don't agree on how to handle the steady and dangerous flow of illegal aliens into Arizona, both did agree that something needs to be done.
A new CNN Poll reflects a shifting mood among Americans and the issue of illegal immigration. While support for Arizona's new immigration enforcement law remains strong, support for securing the border is also on the rise.
Three border security amendments were defeated on Thursday morning after failing to reach the necessary 60 votes. Originally, five border security amendments were offered the Emergency Spending bill now being considered in the Senate, but amendments offered by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) were kept off the floor by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
UPDATED: Several immigration-related amendments are being offered to an Emergency Spending bill that is making its way through the Senate floor. Senators Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) have all offered amendments to a spending bill with an underlying goal to help create jobs this summer. The amendments offered by Senators DeMint and Hutchison did not make it through the cloture vote.
Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has announced that the Obama Administration will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border. Pres. Obama also plans to request $500 million from Congress to increase border security.
Racists, Xenophobes, and Bigots: Immigration 111
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is the lone Republican working on an Amnesty bill, and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano debated the nation's efforts to secure the Southwest border. Sen. Graham said there can't be a mass amnesty bill unless the borders are completely secured.
