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Immigration Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 13, 2015 10 Comments
At this point, the Obama administration silence on the murder of Kate Steinle by an illegal immigrant with a long criminal record who had been deported five times is even more deafening. They just don't care. Kate Steinle isn't important to Obama. Because there's no political gain in Obama's base on this issue, or the issue of sanctuary cities. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/kate-steinle-killed-felon-san-francisco-laid-rest-article-1.2287802 Sad. Pathetic, actually. Kate's brother spoke out on The Kelly File tonight:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 13, 2015 64 Comments
I have a column posted at National Review, Trump’s Lesson: Voters Are Furious about Illegal Immigration As I've told readers before, I write elsewhere from time to time in order to gain exposure to new audiences. For this post, I particularly wanted it at National Review because it would speak to an audience for whom the Republican primaries and illegal immigration matter. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421077/trumps-lesson-illegal%20immigration-makes-voters-furious Here is an excerpt:
But something happened on the way to the denunciations and purges [of Trump]. Kate Steinle was murdered in San Francisco, a sanctuary city. Steinle was killed in broad daylight on a popular pedestrian pier in a business and tourist district, by an illegal immigrant with a long criminal record who had been deported five times and recently was released from custody....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 11, 2015 14 Comments
Kate Steinle was killed by an illegal immigrant who had been deported at least 5 times and had a lengthy criminal record. That's an inconvenient fact for the Obama administration, apparently, because unlike in numerous other cases of interracial violence, for Kate Steinle the President had no words of comfort. Megyn Kelly made that point, and it is devastating: Here was White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest two days ago when asked about sanctuary cities. Can you find an actual answer in his answers?

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 11, 2015 1 Comment
Ann Coulter's new book Adios, America! is currently number two on the New York Times bestsellers list. It is her eleventh book to reach such a distinction. She recently sat down for an interview with John Phillips of PJTV, and if you watch the video below, you'll hear Ann explain the book's success despite a blackout from many mainstream media outlets. Coulter speaks at length about immigration, legal and illegal, as a political issue and claims that American media has largely decided that the debate is settled and doesn't want people to even think about it. She points out how bad amnesty would be for the country and doesn't limit her criticism to Democrats. Fans of Marco Rubio should consider themselves warned.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 09, 2015 38 Comments
The presiding federal Judge in Texas vs. United States Andrew Hanen is not playing around. Wednesday, Judge Hanen threatened to hold Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in contempt of court. Under Johnson's watch, and after Judge Hanen blocked President Obama's immigration overreach, approximately 2,000 individuals "erroneously" received work permits. To date, Johnson has yet to correct the mistake to Judge Hanen's satisfaction. The Associated Press reports:
A federal judge in Texas has threatened to hold Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and other top immigration enforcement officials in contempt of court for not fixing problems that led to work permits being mistakenly awarded under President Barack Obama's executive immigration action after the judge had put the plan on hold. The Justice Department had said about 2,000 individuals had been sent three-year work authorizations after U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas, temporarily blocked the immigration action on Feb. 16. In a court order Tuesday, Hanen said government officials have yet to fix the problem. The judge also requested Johnson and four other officials attend an Aug. 19 hearing to explain why the issue hasn't been fixed and to "be prepared to show why he or she should not be held in contempt of court."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 09, 2015 54 Comments
Donald Trump thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with former Texas Governor Rick Perry, apparently. "Failed at the border" is a pretty serious charge, and one that the good Gov decided to address. "Hey Donald, I saw your tweet the other day but I think you might need to borrow my glasses to get a good look at the steps I took to secure the border while I was the Governor of Texas. I cant support what you said, but no one knows the concern Americans have about our porous border than I do."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 03, 2015 11 Comments
The Obama administration has received sharp rebukes from federal trial and appeals courts for his post-election plan to grant DREAM Act-like status through administrative rules.   That plan, which would have granted de facto amnesty to approximately 5 million people, now is on hold until further argument this month in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. But under the radar, Obama has been accomplishing a more sweeping de facto amnesty through deliberate non-enforcement of the deportation laws.   This has not receive a lot of attention, as the nation went from one social crisis to another over the past few months. Baltimore - Charleston - Confederate Flag - Gay Marriage - Obamacare. All those and more have dominated the media and political attention for months. The Washington Post just published a report on the major policy shift deliberately, Obama administration scales back deportations in policy shift:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 29, 2015 19 Comments
The Supreme Court today refused to accept a case which sought to allow states to supplement a federal voter registration form so as to require proof of citizenship to vote. Such proof is particularly important given how freely many states are handing out drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, and the Obama administration's unilateral implementation of quasi-amnesty deferrals (some of which were stopped in court). It's just not enough anymore that someone is here legally (or at least, is not being deported). The Petition for Certiorari and other filings in Kobach v. United States Election Assistance Commission are here. The 10th Circuit decision is here. ScotusBlog summarized the issues:
Issue: (1) Whether Article I, Section 2 and the Seventeenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution require the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to defer to the states’ determination that provision of documentary evidence of citizenship is necessary to enforce the states’ voter qualifications; and (2) whether Article I, Section 2 and the Seventeenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution permit a dual voter rolls system in which some voters who are qualified to vote for federal office holders are not also qualified to vote for those “in the most numerous branch of the state legislature.”
Bloomberg Politics reports on the development:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 20, 2015 12 Comments
As with most Ann Coulter books, her new volume Adios, America! has liberals in a twist. Here's the book's self-description:
Ann Coulter is back, more fearless than ever. In Adios, America she touches the third rail in American politics, attacking the immigration issue head-on and flying in the face of La Raza, the Democrats, a media determined to cover up immigrants' crimes, churches that get paid by the government for their "charity," and greedy Republican businessmen and campaign consultants—all of whom are profiting handsomely from mass immigration that's tearing the country apart. Applying her trademark biting humor to the disaster that is U.S. immigration policy, Coulter proves that immigration is the most important issue facing America today.
Adios America Cover Media Matters quickly developed the meme for attacking the book:

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 31, 2015 19 Comments
According to a recent poll from Rasmussen, a shockingly high number of Democrats think that non-citizens should be allowed to vote in America's elections:
Most Democrats Think Illegal Immigrants Should Vote Are voters ready to let illegal immigrants vote? A sizable number, including most Democrats, are. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that one-out-of-three Likely U.S. Voters (35%) now believes that illegal immigrants should be allowed to vote if they can prove they live in this country and pay taxes. Sixty percent (60%) disagree, while five percent (5%) are undecided. Fifty-three percent (53%) of Democrats think tax-paying illegal immigrants should have the right to vote. Twenty-one percent (21%) of Republicans and 30% of voters not affiliated with either major political party agree.
The reason so many Democrats support this idea is obvious. It would increase their voter ranks immensely. It's stunning that any Republican would agree with such an idea.

Posted by Amy Miller on May 26, 2015 17 Comments
Today the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request filed by DOJ attorneys to lift an order banning the implementation of President Obama's "executive amnesty" plan. In their ruling, the court held that a previous injunction put in place by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen would remain in place---because the federal government was "unlikely to succeed on the merits of its appeal for the injunction." Translation? They've got nothing. This isn't a final ruling, but the 42 pages of the decision contain a thorough takedown of the challenge to the injunction, as well as a discussion on the merits of the states' case against the federal government. When addressing the matter of the "public interest," the Court sides decisively with the states (and teases out a major inconsistency in the government's reasoning):
The last factor, “where the public interest lies,” id. (quoting Nken, 556 U.S. at 426), leans in favor of the states. The government identifies several important interests: It claims a stay would improve public safety and national security, provide humanitarian relief to the family members of citizens and lawful permanent residents, and increase tax revenue for state and local gov- ernments. To the contrary, however, and only by way of example, on March 16, 2015, the Attorney General, in opposing a motion to stay removal in an unre- lated action, argued to this very panel that “granting a stay of removal . . . would impede the government’s interest in expeditiously . . . controlling immi- gration into the United States.” Presumably, by referring to “the government’s interest,” the United States is referring to “the public interest.”

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 21, 2015 10 Comments
Obama's executive amnesty fiasco seems to get messier by the week. In early May, the DOJ filed a document disclosing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, (USCIS) had "erroneously" issued 2,000 work permits were issued despite the temporary injunction prohibiting their dispersal. "The government sincerely regrets these circumstances and is taking prompt corrective steps, while gathering additional information about these issues, including how these errors occurred," wrote the DOJ. Yesterday, Texas accused the Justice Department of running interference for the Department of Homeland Security who flubbed Obama's executive amnesty edict. Lead by Texas' Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas requested proof that executive amnesty has in fact, halted. "In today’s filing with the federal district court, the states argued for increased oversight of the administration's compliance with the court's injunction, and for the opportunity to look into whether the defendants should be sanctioned for their misrepresentations to the court," said a statement from Paxton's office. According to Paxton, “the newly-revealed admission that even more expanded work permits were granted to 2,000 illegal immigrants raises serious questions about the Obama Administration’s reliability moving forward. Increased oversight is needed to hold the federal government accountable for its apparent inability to report accurate information to the court.”

Posted by Pat Austin on April 23, 2015 48 Comments
SHREVEPORT --About six years ago, in May 2009, I received an outraged email from Stacy McCain. He had just learned that the NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) had endorsed Charlie Crist in the 2010 Florida Senate race fifteen months before the primary. As you may recall, Mel Martinez was retiring and so this was an open seat which as it happens had an up-and-coming, very promising conservative Marco Rubio vying for the seat against Crist.  Rubio was just out of his former position as Speaker of the House in Florida. A host of other conservatives, such as Michelle Malkin, Erick Erickson and John Hawkins, also were furious that the NRSC would attempt to trump the voters in a state race and endorse Crist who had by that time already shown some allegiance to Barack Obama by supporting the stimulus plan. The NRSC endorsement ignited a grassroots campaign for the charismatic and conservative Rubio, and the Not One Red Cent blog was born.  Within two weeks the blog had already hit thousands of readers. I was one of the writers on that blog in those early days. I’d like to believe that our writing helped propel Rubio’s campaign as he gained momentum and eventually dominated Crist in that election.  The blog was born on May 15, 2009 with Stacy McCain doing the first thirteen posts.  My first post was number 14 on May 16, 2009. Within the week, Carol’s Closet was on board, as was No Sheeples Here and Doug Hagin.  We picked up a few others along the way.  In May 2009, we put up fifty-seven posts on Not One Red Cent; by the end of 2009 we had posted 146 times, but by the end of the year Rubio had picked up significant steam and was crushing Crist in the polls.

Posted by Amy Miller on April 08, 2015 5 Comments
Late last month, immigration lawyers from the DoJ had the uncomfortable task of standing before a federal judge in Texas and explaining to the court why important information about the Administration's deferred action program was kept out of sight. They had good reason to---at least from their perspective. After President Obama announced his Executive Amnesty program on November 20 of last year, federal officials granted more than 100,000 applications for deferred action. However, in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, DoJ lawyers assured the court that the Administration had done nothing to begin implementation of the President's deferred action plan. Oops. Hanan, not at all inclined to grant the administration any favors, blocked the program from moving forward last February, and has now denied requests made by the DoJ to allow the President's immigration plan to proceed even as it is still being challenged in court.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 27, 2015 13 Comments
Earlier today, MSNBC published a story suggesting Senator Cruz supports legalization of undocumented individuals currently in the United States. Derived from the fact that Senator Cruz hasn't specifically stated he does not support legalization of undocumented individuals, the inference is that Cruz must therefore support legalization of undocumented individuals. It's a nice little semantic game, really. MSNBC referenced a Texas Tribune article from 2013 which they claim indicates, "that he [Cruz] supported giving some undocumented immigrants permission to stay in the country with more limited legal status." This summation is not accurate. The Texas Tribune article, written around the time of the Gang of Eight immigration fight, makes the same incorrect assumption as MSNBC. The first statement is correct while the latter is only partially so:
When it comes to immigration reform, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has made it abundantly clear what he opposes: giving citizenship to people who broke the law to come here. What has not been as evident is what he supports: legal status for millions of people here already, while making it easier for immigrants to come here through the front door.

Posted by Casey Breznick on March 27, 2015 14 Comments
President Barack Obama’s administration has been one rife with scandals. Some pertain directly to the President himself and his own actions–like the recent immigration executive order that some say unconstitutionally side-stepped Congress–and some to members of his administration, like the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS and the Secret Service’s series of embarrassments. So in the spirit of March Madness and NCAA bracketology, I crafted an Obama Administration Scandal Bracket, originally published at The Cornell Review. Obama Scandal Brackets

Posted by Amy Miller on March 21, 2015 27 Comments
Back in February, a federal judge in Texas enjoined the Obama Administration from rolling out its immigration overhaul via executive action. In the injunction, the court said that the Administration could not claim prosecutorial discretion (as it applies to illegal aliens covered under the proposed amnesty) because their plan confers benefits on those aliens not currently available under law. Instead, the court said that the Administration was effectively changing the law. Earlier this month, the same court that issued the injunction demanded that DoJ attorneys respond to allegations that the Administration was going ahead with its plans by granting expanded DACA benefits to more than 100,000 illegal aliens. Administration lawyers had asked the court to reconsider its decision to enjoin the executive amnesty, but the court refused to do so pending a hearing on the DACA issue. That hearing happened this past week, and by all accounts, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen---the same judge who handled the injunction---was not amused by what he heard (emphasis mine):
U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen, visibly annoyed, confronted a U.S. deputy assistant attorney general over previous government assurances on the timing of the program. He asked why he shouldn’t grant a discovery request for internal federal immigration documents — a request filed Thursday by 26 states that are suing over Obama’s executive actions on immigration. At a one-hour hearing in Brownsville, Hanen gave the Justice Department 48 hours to file a motion in response. He said he would then rule promptly on whether to require the government to produce documents concerning applications under Obama’s deferred action program. The judge said that if he decided to impose sanctions, “the taxpayers of the [26] states would end up paying their own damages.” Hanen’s barbed comments left little doubt that he sympathized with lawyers for the 26 states, who said they suffered “irreparable harm” when federal officials granted more than 100,000 applications for deferred action after Obama announced the program Nov. 20. He said government lawyers had assured him that “nothing was happening” regarding the applications.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 14, 2015 19 Comments
The failure of congressional Republicans to take action to stop President Obama's arguably unconstitutional and illegitimate executive actions, on immigration in particular, has created a growing unrest among those who put John Boehner in charge of the House and Mitch McConnell the Senate. While there have been failed revolts in the House against Boehner's leadership, by and large the anger has been kept out of the official GOP organizational structure. Until now. In what may be the first such action since the so-called "Cromnibus" and DHS funding passed, on Thursday night, March 12, 2015,the Tompkins County (NY) Republican Party Executive Committee voted "No Confidence" in the Congressional leadership. Tompkins County is in the Southern Tier of upstate NY, a mostly rural county that includes the liberal City of Ithaca. It is in the NY-23 District that overwhelmingly voted for Republican incumbent Tom Reed in the 2014 election. A source at the Tomkins Co. GOP told me:
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