A recent Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) report shows that federal immigration courts’ backlog of cases awaiting resolution has reached an all time high of 496,704. A third of those cases involve border surge minors (69,278) and family units (74,502) which have increased as a result of the Obama administration’s catch-and-release policies.
While discussing the new GOP agenda at a CNN town hall yesterday, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) repeated his support for a Gang of Eight type amnesty of offering work permits to illegal aliens currently living in the U.S.
According to the Department of Homeland Security figures by May 2016 more illegal alien family units have been apprehended at the border than in all of FY 2015. 44,524 illegal family units have been apprehended crossing the border so far this fiscal year compared to the 39,838 that were apprehended last year.
The Boston Globe conducted an investigation review of 323 criminal aliens released in New England from 2008 to 2012 and found that 30% of these criminal aliens went on to commit more crimes, including rape, robbery, and murder, after being released. This is a much higher rate than ICE and the Obama administration have reported.
A new study released by the Center of Immigration Studies shows that both legal and illegal immigration increased 39% between 2014-2015. More than 3 million immigrants settled in the U.S. in the last 2 years, this rate is now higher than the pre-recession levels of 2007.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection's latest report shows that 38,000 illegal aliens were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in April 2016, this is the highest number caught since the 2014 border surge.
The American Action Forum, an organization closely aligned with the Republican National Committee, on May 5 released a “study” authored by Ben Gitis and Jacqueline Varas.
A new Wall Street Journal Survey showed that 20 out of the 25 counties in the U.S. with the highest levels of illegal aliens are using state funds to provide healthcare for local illegal aliens.
The Wall Street Journal picked up Harvard professor George Borjas’ study that shows how the employment gap for hiring illegal aliens over native born American workers has increased dramatically in the last twenty years. The study suggests that the reason for this is that while American workers would do the jobs they are not willing to work for below average living wages.
In testimony released by the House Judiciary Committee on Monday Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, confirmed that he and other border patrol agents were told to release illegal aliens caught at the border since DHS had “no intention” of deporting them.
At the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) disclosed information about criminal aliens they have released since 2010, including information that shows that 124 criminal aliens were charged with homicides after being released from ICE custody.
Two non-profit organizations, Familias En Accion and Los Ninos Cuentan, and five illegal aliens are suing Oregon Governor, Kate Brown, and other state transportation officials saying that their constitutional rights were violated when voters struck down S.B. 833, which allowed illegal aliens to receive driver’s license.
On Tuesday night, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said that “Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.” While that statement may not be what is technically referred to as a political whopper, a la John McCain’s pronouncement in 2008 that “The fundamentals of the economy are strong;” or even Obama’s own promise that the 2009 stimulus bill would fund hundreds of “shovel-ready” projects, it is misleading, nonetheless.
Immigration does “grow the economy” and highly-skilled immigrants do contribute more in taxes than they receive in direct government services (education, healthcare, entitlements, etc.). It would be very difficult to find an economist who disagreed with the above statement.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) has published a report, The Integration of Immigrants into American Society, 50 years after the passage of the Hart-Cellar Act, which eventually resulted in an almost four-fold increase in immigration to the United States. The recent NAS report is similar to one it published in 1997 in that it trumpets the positives of immigration while ignoring the negative consequences of expansionist immigration policies. The report 18 years ago played up the fact that adding millions of immigrants “grows the economy” simply by increasing annual GDP, and it downplayed the enormous fiscal burdens and effects on American workers that result.
The new report deals with issues of assimilation, or as the NAS terms it, integration. Steven Camarota at the Center for Immigration Studies looked at the report and has written up his initial thoughts. Camarota, who is one of the nation’s foremost experts on U.S. immigration policy, was disappointed in the lack of balance in the NAS “findings.”
The Pew Research Center released a new report on Thursday that is well-timed given Martin O’Malley’s emphatic, and unfounded, claim that “net immigration from Mexico last year was zero.” We pointed out that O’Malley was conflating legal and illegal immigration, and that he either misinterpreted or misrepresented data from 2007-2014 in order to make the point that illegal immigration was a thing of the past, so therefore is is unreasonable for Americans to demand a secure border.
According to the most recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, Texan voters say illegal immigration is the greatest threat to the U.S. The poll was conducted before the Paris terrorist attacks and listed 11 choices for participants to chose which one they thought presented the greatest threat to America.
In a Roll Call op-ed published today, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) called for the end of the EB-5 visa program that allows foreign nationals to buy green cards and eventually gain U.S. citizenship. The program is set to expire in December unless renewed by Congress.
Robert B. Reich, who served as Secretary of Labor during President Clinton’s first term, has released a video for MoveOn.org in which he claims to debunk four “lies” about immigration. Reich’s effort is the worst example of pure political hackery. He simply invents “facts” and tries to convince the viewer of their veracity by looking earnestly at the camera. Reich doesn’t provide any evidence, nor does he come up with any novel argument – it is doubtful he even believes what he is saying – and his so-called facts are easily refutable. But the video is interesting in that much of it contradicts his previously stated views on immigration and economic policy.
Immigration continues to dominate discussions at local meetings.
The Center for Immigration Studies released a new report, based on monthly Census Bureau data, that shows the legal immigrant and illegal alien population in the second quarter of this year reached a record of 42.1 million.
A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has found that an estimated 2.5 million new illegal aliens have settled in the United States since President Obama took office in January 2009. While the pace is slower than the previous administration, the numbers are still startling.
World Magazine -- J.C. Derrick
The U.S. Senate has no plans to write immigration legislation during the 114th Congress, according to the chairman of the committee in which it would originate.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the comments while laying out the panel’s agenda during a press conference Monday at the National Press Club.
International Business Times -- Howard Koplowitz
The president’s most unpopular stance, according to the poll, is on immigration. Obama announced executive actions late last year that would protect some 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation -- a move that angered Congress and set up a fight between the president and the legislature over how to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which enforces immigration. The agency is set to run out of money later this month if Congress doesn’t secure funding.
The focus is on the Senate now that the House passed legislation to block funding for President Obama’s executive amnesties, so Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., took to the floor to warn Democrats about the seriousness of the coming Senate votes. Before House and Senate Republicans left for a retreat in Pennsylvania, Sen. Sessions’ staff hand-delivered a copy of his new immigration primer and plans to discuss it at the retreat.
House Republican leaders are developing measures for inclusion in the new spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security that would negate the executive amnesties the Obama Administration adopted dating back to 2011, Politico reports. The full House is expected to vote on the funding bill next week.
The U.S. Coast Guard has seen a spike in the number of people trying to come to the United States illegally from the Caribbean over the past fiscal year. According to reports, U.S. authorities captured, intercepted or chased away at least 5,585 Haitians, 3,940 Cubans and hundreds from the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean countries trying to enter the country illegally.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who helped develop and promote the Senate-passed comprehensive amnesty bill (S. 744), told the New York Times that Republicans don’t need to pass an “immigration solution” (aka amnesty) in order to help their chances in the 2016 elections. He said those who argue it would result in a “bonanza” of votes for the GOP are lying.
The Tucson Sentinel reports that more “family units” are crossing the border illegally and seeking help at temporary shelters in the Rio Grande Valley. “It doesn’t look like it’s going to end any time soon,” said Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. “The numbers increased a lot this past month, almost to 100 every day."
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bureau released its enforcement and removal operations report for fiscal year 2014, which shows that illegal border crossings rose dramatically this year while deportations dropped. Many expect illegal immigration, especially from non-contiguous countries, to surge again in 2015, and the president’s executive amnesty is designed to drive deportation numbers even lower.
Los Angeles Times -- Cindy Carcamo
"They see their only hope being the national government," said Roy H. Beck, who heads NumbersUSA, a powerful national advocacy group opposing illegal immigration. "They don't see a solution coming from inside California."
Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times
The Washington Times -- Stephan Dinan
The Obama administration told federal immigration lawyers to release illegal immigrants with “old” drunken-driving convictions and those found guilty of stealing other people’s identities, according to a lawsuit filed by one of the lawyers at the center of the operation.
Yesterday voters in the blue State of Oregon rescinded a state law giving illegal aliens access to driver cards by voting down Ballot Measure 88. The citizens veto referendum, which was placed on the ballot by an issue committee called Protect Oregon Drivers Licenses (PODL), gave voters an opportunity to decide whether the 2013 law (SB 833) should be implemented. Voters said “No” by a 68-32 margin.
Karl Rove, a top political aide to former President George W. Bush, has long been an amnesty advocate and steered Republican leaders away from the pro-immigration enforcement, pro-American worker elements of the Party. So, as the Daily Signal reports, it is interesting to note Rove’s political action committee, American Crossroads, is running an ad in Iowa that attacks Democrat Rep. Bruce Barley for supporting “immigration amnesty.”
The Wall Street Journal reports Administration insiders as saying the president’s executive amnesty may use two main criteria in deciding whether illegal aliens get additional protection from deportation - a minimum period of residence in the U.S. and family ties to others in the country. The vast majority of illegal aliens are already safe from deportations due to the Administration’s non-enforcement policies.
U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow, in a letter to President Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus, warns that “(g)ranting work authorization to millions of illegal immigrants will devastate the black community, which is already struggling in the wake of the recession.” He also highlights the adverse effects an executive amnesty would have on U.S.-born high-skilled STEM workers.
In an open letter to the public at large, National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council President Kenneth Palinkas asked for help in stopping President Obama’s plans for a massive executive amnesty. The letter, obtained in advance by Breitbart News, says the draft solicitation for 34 million green cards and work permits “predicts the Administration’s promised executive amnesty.”
In an op-ed for The Daily Caller, former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell rails against "Obama's pro-amnesty agenda". Blackwell calls Pres. Obama's unwillingness to institute a travel ban on Ebola-stricken countries "an extension of his larger, pro-amnesty, open border position."
CNSNews reports that Simon Rosenberg, a leading Democratic strategist, said that “the threat of deportation over the vast majority of undocumented immigrants in the United States has been lifted” because the Obama Administration is not enforcing immigration laws. He expects Obama to grant executive amnesty to millions of illegal aliens after the midterm election, even though all but criminal aliens already are safe from deportation under the Administration’s “prosecutorial discretion” guidelines.
Leon Rodriguez, the new director of U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS), said his agency is preparing for another surge of unaccompanied alien children and family units this year. As part of that effort, the agency is already hiring more officers to process asylum claims. Some 130,000 illegal aliens have been processed so far as part of this year’s border surge.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson today extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible nationals of Honduras and Nicaragua for an additional 18 months. The TPS designation, originally granted to Honduras in 1999 and to Nicaragua in 2001, gives work permits and legal documents to illegally-present foreign nationals from designated countries.
NPR -- Lourdes Garcia-Navarro
Eleven states and Washington, D.C., have passed laws to grant driver's licenses to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. But applicants face hurdles, like language barriers and fear of deportation.
Boston Herald -- Joe Battenfeld, Hillary Chabot
The Patrick administration has informed Homeland Security officials the state “will have the ability” to dole out special driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants as part of its plan to comply with a tougher federal ID law.
Breitbart -- Tony Lee
During Monday's National Security Action Summit, NumbersUSA's Rosemary Jenks, one of the nation's foremost immigration experts, said America must better screen legal immigrants to avoid another terrorist attack.
Jenks pointed out that just this year alone, there have been "474 so-called special-interest aliens from country's linked to terrorism" such as Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen. Jenks asked how a poor person from Yemen would have the funds to come to America.
The Center for Immigration Studies has issued a new report based on a recent DHS document that shows a decline in interior immigration enforcement in 2014 and, more disturbingly, that 167,000 convicted criminal aliens whose deportations have been ordered are still at-large in the U.S. The report by the Center's director of policy studies, Jessica Vaughan, found that deportations from the interior of the country are down 34% from 2013 and 58% from 2009.
At a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, Pres. Obama said it would be political "suicide" for Republicans not to embrace a mass amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, and he reinforced plans to move forward with a large-scale executive action that would grant amnesty and work permits to millions of illegal aliens after the November elections.
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., Thursday said White House press secretary Josh Earnest’s recent comments prove ‘raw politics’ were behind President Barack Obama’s decision to delay his executive amnesty until after the election. Earnest had said earlier in the week that Obama delayed action because he was worried Republicans would make political use of the issue.
Border Patrol agent, Chris Cabrera, told FoxNews on Thursday that border patrol agents are only apprehending about 30% of illegal border crossings. He also said nothing has been done to beef up border security since in light of warnings that there could be a mass migration to the United States should the Ebola outbreak reach Central America.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to renew its 287(g) program, a federal-state partnership that enables local police to send imprisoned illegal aliens to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bureau for deportation. Supervisors Gloria Molina, Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe voted to retain the program while Mark Ridley-Thomas and Zev Yaroslavsky abstained.
The clock runs out on S. 744 in January, but we have to get through the Fall and the looming lame duck session first. The lame duck has long been circled on the calendar as the most dangerous time for us, not just for legislative mischief but also for executive amnesty. As the mid-term election season heats up and boils over into the anticipated battles around the holidays, we're going to see the press-release-driven media fired up as well.
