Illegal Immigration

Speaking at an invitation-only event, Pres. Obama's senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, told attendees that House Speaker John Boehner has made a commitment to the White House to pass amnesty legislation this year. The gathering included investors, elite political donors, hedge fund managers, political and business leaders, and celebrities.

A new Center for Immigration Studies report reveals that ICE in 2013 released from detention over 36,000 illegal aliens with criminal records who were awaiting the final disposition of their deportation cases. These releases are in addition to the 68,000 criminal-alien cases that ICE declined to prosecute for immigration violations that year.

Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., was indicted on federal fraud charges for under-reporting the payroll and wages at his New York City restaurant, and for employing illegal aliens. He surrendered to federal authorities today.

Multiple news sources are reporting that the House GOP Leadership are working behind the scenes to insert an amnesty bill into the Defense Authorization bill, which will likely be marked up by the House Armed Services Committee this spring. The plan would include the ENLIST Act - a bill introduced by Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) that would grant amnesty to illegal aliens who came to the country prior to 2011, were under the age of 15 when they arrived, and enlist in the military.

A new poll might seem like a nightmare for proponents of the N.Y. DREAM Act, which would give illegal aliens access to tuition financial assistance. A poll taken during the period when the bill failed in the N.Y. Senate says that 56% of likely voters oppose offering tuition aid to illegal aliens.

Tennessee state senator Todd Gardenhire, a first-term Republican from Chattanooga, withdrew legislation he sponsored that would have extended taxpayer subsidized in-state tuition to illegal aliens. Gardenshire said he doesn’t have enough support to get his bill through the Senate or House this year.

The Georgia State Senate defeated legislation that would have removed verification requirements in existing state law for non-citizens, including illegal aliens, when renewing certain state benefits illegals began to access after the Obama administration created the DACA program. Under Georgia law, non-citizens must demonstrate eligibility for public benefits by presenting various documents at renewal. HB 1051 would have allowed DACA recipients, who obtain a driver's license or state ID card, to use the numbers from those documents to renew access to an array of state benefits.

The New York State Senate, surprisingly, voted down a bill on Monday that would allow illegal aliens to receive tuition financial aid at state colleges and universities. The measure received 30 votes in favor with 29 against, but it needed 32 for final passage.

In a stunning admission before a House Committee panel on Tuesday, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson admitted that the Obama Administration has been artificially inflating deportation numbers. While the administration has claimed a "record number" of deportations, earning Pres. Obama the nickname "Deporter in Chief", Johnson admitted that the administration has been counting border apprehensions that are turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as deportations.

In the race to fill the seat vacated after the passing of Rep. Bill Young, David Jolly defeated former state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink by a 49-to-47 margin. Sink has been open about her support for the Senate-approved Schumer-Rubio-Obama amnesty bill and in a recent debate wondered who would clean hotel rooms without an amnesty for illegal aliens.

The pro-amnesty group Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform will hold a lobbying day on Capitol Hill on March 12th. Unlike prior ILIR efforts, this one targets just House Republicans who are not in favor of amnesty and legal immigration increases.

This past weekend, the Orange County Register ran a Q&A with NumbersUSA's Roy Beck. The interview, conducted by staff writer Roxana Kopetman, touched on the ongoing immigration debate in Congress, our recent evangelical poll and the disparity between church leaders and their followers, and the future of immigration policy in the United States.

Pres. Obama has made cracking down on employers who hire illegal workers a focal point of his immigration reform plan, but a new audit shows that the administration is anything but tough on unscrupulous employers. According to the audit by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, administration officials have cut fines by an average of 40%.

A Gallup poll released this week found that a roughly equal number of Americans want to beef up border security and deal with illegal aliens in the U.S. As blogger Micky Kaus notes, the poll never specifies what “deal with” means but that did not stop main stream media outlets like CNN from trumpeting the good news for advocates of a comprehensive amnesty.

Voters in Fremont, Nebraska resoundingly defeated an attempt to repeal an ordinance that requires all renters to attest they have legal permission to live in the U.S. Unofficial election results show that the repeal attempt failed by a 60-40 margin.