Breitbart News -- Caroline May
Following the Obama administration’s admission that it granted executive amnesty to a known gang member — currently charged with the murder of four people in Charlotte, NC — the trio Tuesday introduced legislation to prohibit gang members from receiving such immigration benefits.
Breitbart News -- Caroline May
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) took Department of Homeland Sec. Jeh Johnson to task for what he highlighted as the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement failures during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.
“I believe Sen. [Chuck] Grassley (R-IA) is correct to say that we see a lack of will in your department. Before you took the office and from the president, frankly, on down,” Sessions began.
New figures provided to Congress show that deportation rates have taken a steep dive, another 25%, so far this year. For the first six months of FY 2015, which began Oct. 1, 2014, only 117,181 illegal aliens were removed. Compared to the 157,365 illegal immigrants deported during the same period last year, the statistics suggest President Obama's executive actions on immigration have significantly reduced total deportations.
During an interview on Monday, Wisconsin governor and potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker said that he would protect American workers from the economic effects of increases in both legal and illegal immigration. Walker joins former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum as the only potential presidential candidates to link high levels of immigration to American workers.
Texas Tribune -- Julián Aguilar
A bill banning so-called “sanctuary cities” in Texas – the common term for local entities that do not enforce immigration laws — advanced out of a Senate subcommittee on Monday.
Senate Bill 185 by state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, would cut off state funding for local governments or governmental entities that adopt policies that forbid peace officers from inquiring into the immigration status of a person detained or arrested.
Palm Beach Post -- Tammy Fox-Isicoff
The U.S. Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report last week, critical of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ conduct relating to several EB-5 projects. Though the report was an investigation of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) employees’ complaints over Mayorkas’ involvement in the adjudication of several projects, findings in the report were critical of his overall management of the EB-5 program.
The Center for Immigration Studies obtained DHS statistics that say the Border Patrol and other agencies apprehended over 2,000 illegal alien minors during each of the last several months. The minors came from 27 different countries, although 90 percent came from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. 70 percent were male, 84 percent were between the ages of 13 and 17 when apprehended, and thirty-one percent claimed to be age 17.
Data released by the Obama Administration show that the number of deportations in the first five months of fiscal year 2015 are nearly half of what they were in 2012 before Pres. Obama announced his executive amnesties. According to the data provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the rate of deportations is down 43% compared with three years ago.
The House Committee on the Judiciary yesterday approved a bill that would recognize a state’s inherent authority to enforce federal immigration laws and negate the president’s unconstitutional executive amnesties. The committee also endorsed a bill that would strengthen asylum standards in a manner that prevents the “rubberstamping” of fraudulent claims and effectively ends the process of “catch and release.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced today that it released 30, 558 criminal aliens in fiscal year 2014. About 36,000 had been released in the previous fiscal year. ICE said it had no choice due to overcrowding and the fact that most could not be detained longer under a court decision. In the Zadvydas v. Davis case, a court said aliens could not be held indefinitely if their country of origin refused their repatriation.
As part of an operation targeting dangerous criminal aliens, ICE arrested 15 illegal aliens who had been given a work permit and Social Security card under Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, according to the Associated Press. This revelation undermines the probity of DACA since it was billed as a program to help conscientious young illegal aliens get an education and eventually benefit society.
The House Judiciary Committee approved two bills this week that would increase interior enforcement of immigration laws in the United States. The bills approved include one that would mandate the use of E-Verify by all U.S. businesses within 3 years and another that would ensure that all unaccompanied alien children (UACs) are returned safely to their home countries.
The Daily Caller -- Chuck Ross
A task force appointed by President Barack Obama to reform policing in the U.S. is recommending that the Department of Justice scrap an FBI database that gathers and maintains information on certain “immigration violators.”
The recommendation, handed down by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing in an interim report on Monday, pertains to FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.
Reports from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show that they have not been able to fill the 34,000 detention beds with illegal aliens as the law requires. The department, which serves as the interior enforcement and deportation arm of the Department of Homeland Security, was averaging just 27,000 detainees a day for fiscal 2015 as of Jan. 25. That means that over 20% of ICE's capacity is going unused thus far.
This week, a federal judge temporarily halted President Obama's most recent executive actions on immigration. But what exactly does that mean? Josh Gerstein of Politico explained the decision as well as anyone.
At a press conference yesterday House and Senate Republicans called on Senate Democrats to end their filibuster of the spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Although Senate Democrats want to fund DHS through the end of the fiscal year, as the bill would do, they are blocking debate on the bill to protect the president’s executive amnesties. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said “I believe we’ll prevail. I believe that the American people are not going to allow their Congress to say one thing during campaign season and do another in Congress.”
Three House committees held separate hearings yesterday on the curtailment in interior immigration enforcement, legislation to crack down on asylum fraud, and the potential for amnestied illegal aliens to access the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), even if they never paid income taxes. The hearings took place as Senate Democrats continued to filibuster legislation that would block implementation of the president’s executive amnesties.
Breitbart News -- Caroline May
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials report a criminal immigrant recidivism rate of 50 percent, according to Center for Immigration Studies expert Jessica Vaughan.
“What I’m told by ICE officials — and I’ve been told on a number of occasions — is that they believe, from their internal data, is there is a recidivism rate of about 50 percent of criminal aliens who are released by ICE –,” Vaughan testified before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday.
Boston Globe -- Maria Sacchetti
It took federal immigration officials 37 years to deport Ivan Vaclavik to the former Czechoslovakia.
And it took only a few months for Vaclavik to come floating back. Twice.
The 67-year-old former Boston resident was deported to the Czech Republic in late 2013 after the Globe detailed how he had dodged deportation while racking up more than 100 criminal charges, including felony assault and accosting a child. His victims cheered.
Boston Globe -- Maria Sacchetti
It took federal immigration officials 37 years to deport Ivan Vaclavik to the former Czechoslovakia.
And it took only a few months for Vaclavik to come floating back. Twice.
The 67-year-old former Boston resident was deported to the Czech Republic in late 2013 after the Globe detailed how he had dodged deportation while racking up more than 100 criminal charges, including felony assault and accosting a child. His victims cheered.
The Blaze -- Pete Kasperowicz
The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday will put the Obama administration’s failure to detain and deport criminal aliens under the microscope, just a few days after it was reported that 1,000 criminal aliens that were released by the Obama administration have committed new crimes.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Friday released data showing that of the 36,007 criminal aliens released by the administration in 2013, 1,000 have committed repeat offenses such as rape, child cruelty and assault with a deadly weapon.
The House Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee will hold two hearings in early February to examine bills from the 113th Congress that strengthen interior immigration enforcement, eliminate fraud and abuse from asylum laws, end Administration policies that encourage illegal immigration, and require E-Verify use. The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.
The House today delayed a vote on Rep. Mike McCaul’s Secure Our Borders First Act (H.R. 399), The Hill reports.. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the blizzard about to hit the Northeast caused the cancellation but Republican leaders knew that Democrats and a group of Republicans would not support the bill if it had been brought up on Wednesday as planned.
Immigration-enforcement champion Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is slated to take over the Judiciary Subcommittee that oversees immigration, according to media reports. Sen. Sessions has been a leading critic of President Obama’s executive amnesties and a leading advocate for protecting American workers from the adverse consequences of historically high levels of immigration.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, spoke on the floor today in advance of votes on amendments that would block funding for President Obama’s executive amnesties. He spoke in favor of the amendments and mentioned 22 times in which the president said he could not implement amnesty without congressional approval.
Arlington Now
The Arlington County Sheriff’s Office will ignore requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold people in the county jail unless such a request comes with a warrant, the county announced Friday afternoon.
The new policy, which takes effect immediately, comes four days after Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) issued an opinion that ICE detainers are “merely a request.”
NPR -- Amanda Vinicky
Immigration status alone will no longer be a valid reason for the Illinois State Police to detain someone, under an order issued Mon., Jan. 5 by Gov. Pat Quinn.
In the executive order, Gov. Quinn says that "community policing efforts are hindered" when immigrants who are victims of, or witness to, crimes are wary of cooperating for fear they'll be deported.
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.
Sheriffs from all over the country converged on Capitol Hill today in order to protest President Obama's executive amnesty. During the event, the sheriffs called on Congress to defund the president's amnesty, asked for support to enforce the laws on the books, and discussed the effects of illegal immigration on their communities.
Atlanta Journal Constitution -- Jeremy Redmon
Federal authorities released 183 people from immigration detention centers in Georgia and other states last month after the Obama administration announced it is shielding millions of immigrants from deportation.
Deportations of illegal aliens in the past year have dropped lower than any other time in President Obama's tenure, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The report is another example that refutes the Obama administration's claim for "record deportations".
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.
The Department of Homeland Security released a statement today announcing the increased scrutiny of travelers coming to the U.S. through the Visa Waver Program (VWP). The program covers 38, primarily European and Asian, countries and allows travelers to enter the U.S. without first obtaining a visa.
This summer, thousands of families and unaccompanied minors who entered the country illegally were released to sponsor families with an immigration court hearing date and a promise to appear. However, newly released documents reveal a staggering number of illegal aliens are failing to appear for their hearings.
WOAI
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in south Texas have rounded up 62 illegal immigrants who have committed or been convicted of additional crimes while in the U.S. illegally, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports.
Enrique Lucero, Field Office Director of the Enforcement and Removal Operations branch in San Antonio, says the individuals are facing various charges.
"Drunk driving, aggravated assault, sex offenses, 17 of them have been accepted for prosecution for re-entry after deportation," Lucero said.
National Review Online -- Ryan Lovelace
Because the rapid ascension of the Islamic State caught the federal government off-guard, American intelligence agencies don’t know enough about the group, James Chaparro says. The lack of intelligence has many ramifications, but chief among them, it has made it difficult for officials to effectively update the terrorist watch list to prevent terrorists from exploiting the visa-waiver program or applying for non-immigrant visas.
The Hill -- Christina Marcos
Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) on Thursday blasted the Obama administration in light of a report that illegal immigrants with serious criminal histories had been released from custody.
USA Today reports the Obama administration had assured Congress that only some people in the country illegally who had minor criminal histories were released, but records indicate otherwise.
In 2013, the Obama administration freed 2,200 illegal aliens from custody in an attempt to save money. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the people could "be characterized as non-criminals and other low risk offenders who do not have serious criminal histories."
Colorado Springs Gazette -- Lisa Walton
More than 60 percent of the misprinted IDs, permits and driver's licenses issued to non-citizens under a new program in Colorado last month have been returned, according to state officials.
The cards were printed without the black label that indicates they are "Not Valid For Federal Identification, Voting or Public Benefit Purposes." They will be exchanged for new, valid ones, officials said.
Contrary to the rhetoric coming out the White House, a new study out of The Center for Immigration Studies has found that immigration enforcement activity by ICE has declined significantly in 2014. According to the report, total deportations by Border Patrol and CBP officers have declined 15 percent from 2013 to 2014. The report also found that deportations from the interior dropped 34 percent from last year, and are 58 percent lower than the peak
in 2009.
The Arizona Republic -- Michael Kiefer
Another of Arizona's immigration laws was struck down Wednesday when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unconstitutional a law denying bond to undocumented immigrants charged with "serious" crimes.
The law, known as Proposition 100, was passed by voters in November 2006, during the height of anti-immigrant sentiment in the state.
National Review -- A.J. Delgado
A judge in Oregon has dismissed the deportation case against Cinthya Garcia-Cisneros, a 19-year-old illegal immigrant who killed two young girls in a hit-and-run car accident last year. Though Garcia-Cisneros was in the midst of removal proceedings, she is now released and will not face deportation. Garcia-Cisneros, who came from Mexico as a child, had permission to be in the country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program instituted by President Obama in 2012.
Fox News Latino -- Associated Press
An appeals court on Wednesday struck down a voter-approved law in Arizona that denies bail to immigrants who are in the country illegally and have been charged with a range of felonies that include shoplifting, aggravated identity theft, sexual assault and murder.
An 11-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law violates due-process rights by imposing punishment before trial.
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.
New data from the Department of Homeland Security show that the Obama Administration is deporting a significantly lower number of illegal aliens in fiscal year 2013 as compared to past years. In the current fiscal year, which started on October 1, 2012, through the end of July, the Administration has deported only 258,608 illegal aliens compared to 320,167 over the same time period the previous year and compared to 344,264 two years ago.
Immigration officials have begun efforts in southern Mexico to prevent Central Americans from boarding north-bound trains. Officials are also raiding certain towns in the south and rounding up aliens, especially those with gang tattoos.
A poll from The Polling Company shows overwhelming support among likely voters for significantly lower immigration levels, increased enforcement and an opposition to Pres. Obama's plan to move forward with an executive action that could grant amnesty and work permits to millions of illegal aliens. 74% of likely voters chose Pres. Obama working with Congress on the immigration issue rather than acting alone, and 75% of likely voters want to see more enforcement of immigration laws.
A new poll from The Polling Company shows overwhelming support among likely voters for significantly lower immigration levels, increased enforcement and an opposition to Pres. Obama's plan to move forward with an executive action that could grant amnesty and work permits to millions of illegal aliens. 74% of likely voters chose Pres. Obama working with Congress on the immigration issue rather than acting alone, and 75% of likely voters want to see more enforcement of immigration laws.
Brian Buetler of The New Republic has written tirelessly in defense of Obama's executive actions on immigration. His latest contribution is an attempt to compare Obama's pending previous executive amnesties to a Republican effort in the 1990s to urge then Secretary Janet Reno to apply prosecutorial discretion to legal immigrants who were adopted as children (but had yet to become naturalized citizens) and had committed crimes considered deportable offenses under the 1996 immigration law.
A new report from the Inspector General has found that the Obama Administration released 600 convicted criminal illegal aliens in 2013, including several who had been convicted of violent crimes and others that had fallen into the mandatory detention category. The administration blamed the releases as a consequence of the budget sequester.
