Tag Archives: Irregular immigration

Showmanship Over Substance

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The Daily Caller reported today that at least five Democrat Senators are bringing illegal aliens to President Obama’s State of the Union speech.

The article reports:

The DC reported Tuesday that five Democrats — First Lady Michelle Obama, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Rep. Marc Veasey and Rep. Kathy Castor — have announced that they are bringing illegal immigrants to the speech as their guests.

Most of those guests are young. Alan Aleman, the 20-year-old guest of Michelle Obama, is a benefit of President Obama’s deferred deportation program for illegal immigrants who were brought into the country when they were under 16 years old. He has since been given a Social Security number.

But Gutierrez is bringing 27-year-old Gabino Sanchez, an illegal immigrant who lives in South Carolina and is fighting deportation, as his guest.

The article points out that all attendees of the speech undergo a government background check which includes providing a Social Security Number, which theoretically an illegal alien would not have. An American citizen would have to provide that information.

It would be interesting to know what inspired these government officials to bring people who were in the country illegally to a major Presidential speech.

Our government seems to have forgotten that protecting our borders is supposed to be one of its highest priorities. The government also seems to have a problem understanding the meaning of the word illegal.

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Illegal Is Now Legal

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Breitbart.com is reporting today that the Obama Administration is already granting amnesty to illegal aliens who were to be deported even if they don’t meet the standards announced last month.

The article reports:

According to ICE documents Smith {Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX)} reviewed, ICE officers are encouraged to search for those who are “apparently eligible” to not be deported, under the directive, and grant them tentative status, according to the report. 

“President Obama is granting amnesty to illegal immigrants behind Americans’ backs,” Smith said, per the Times. “Although administration officials told congressional offices that it would take 60 days to implement the president’s amnesty plan, internal ICE documents show that illegal immigrants have already benefited from it, even though there are no standards in place.”

This administration can’t even follow the policies they put in place!

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A Mixed Blessing

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I am the first one to admit that the American immigration policy does not work. It is too long, expensive and cumbersome for those people trying to come here legally, and it does not successfully deal with those who come here illegally just to find a way to earn a living. However, it is unfortunate that because of the politics of an election year, decisions regarding immigration are being made on a political basis rather than a practical basis.

On Friday the Washington Post posted an article about the impact the changes President Obama has announced to the immigration law will have on the unemployment rate of Americans.

The article reports:

“I see a tidal wave coming,” said Brad Botwin, president of Help Save Maryland, a group that opposes legalization for undocumented immigrants. “Half of our college graduates today can’t find jobs, and the unemployment rate for high-school-aged Americans is extremely high. This is unfair to U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who are out there struggling to get ahead.

He does have a point. One of the reasons for the change is the belief that by putting these workers on the books instead of under the table, new tax revenue will be generated. That may be true, but if the illegals immigrants with work permits are taking jobs from Americans and legal immigrants, what have we actually accomplished?

The article concludes:

But Steven Camarota, a researcher with the nonprofit Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, said that the Obama administration was not taking into account the new measure’s probable impact on competition for jobs at the low end of the economic scale, where chronic unemployment is highest. Among Americans with less than a high school education, he said, the jobless rate is 13 percent.

“It doesn’t seem the administration is considering the cascading consequences,” Camarota said. “What does this mean for unemployed Americans who will be competing for jobs with a million-plus people who can now apply for work authorization? Is this really a good idea?”

This was a political decision–not a practical one. What we need is for Congress to get along long enough to come up with a practical, legal solution to immigration. That solution should include cutting the red tape for those who want to come here legally (and shortening the length of time it takes to come here legally) and finding a fair way to deal with those who are here illegally through no decision of their own.

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Inventing Terms To Circumvent The Law

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On Monday, Judicial Watch reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will grant “unlawful presence waivers” to illegal aliens who can prove they have a relative that’s a U.S. citizen. What the @#$# is an “unlawful presence waiver?”

The new procedure is wrapped up in legal terms, but basically it means that illegals would not be required to return to their home countries and wait in line to enter the country legally.

There are a few things I would like to mention here. What part of illegal does the DHS not understand? The other thing I need to point out is the dirty little secret regarding making illegals legal and putting them into the work force.

In the 1960’s, money from the Social Security Taxes was raided and put in with other tax money and spent in the general fund. There has not been a separate Social Security tax ‘lockbox’ for at least forty-five years–the money was used to pay for President Johnson’s expanding social programs. Until the baby boomers began to retire, that was not a problem as there were so many boomers that the Social Security taxes they paid kept the program solvent. Well, that was then, this is now. Our population is aging and the boomers started retiring a few years ago. Because of the impact abortion has had on the growth of population (since 1973–almost thirty years ago), there are not enough workers in the workforce to pay Social Security for the boomers. If there is a sudden increase of workers paying into Social Security (such as illegals suddenly becoming legal and paying Social Security Taxes), the demise of Social Security could be kicked down the road until the President is out of office and most of the present Congress is no longer in office. That way, no unpopular steps need be taken to fix the program and federal spending in general might not have to be cut.

Illegals are illegal. It’s a rather basic concept. It may not be practical to send all illegals home, but we should begin to deport those who break our laws and we should secure our borders. The porous southern border is a security risk. Having no idea who is in the country because we have no idea who has entered the country is a recipe for disaster. Do we think for one minute that those who wish us harm who have set up terrorist camps in South and Central America are not taking advantage of our porous southern border?

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One Consequence Of Changes In Immigration Law

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Yesterday the Miami Herald reported on the case of Kesler Dufrene, an illegal immigrant from Haiti who was a twice-convicted felon serving a five-year jail term. When Mr. Dufrene’s sentence was up, he was released from prison rather than deported to his native Haiti because the Obama Administration ordered an indefinite halt of deportations to Haiti after the nation’s devastating earthquake. U.S. authorities could not legally detain Dufrene indefinitely. The story does not have a happy ending.

The article reports:

Instead, when Dufrene’s state prison term was up, Miami immigration authorities in October 2010 released him from custody. Two months later, North Miami police say, he slaughtered three people, including a 15-year-old girl in a murder case that remains as baffling today as it did the afternoon the bodies were discovered.
DNA on a rifle found inside the house and cellphone tracking technology later linked Dufrene to the Jan. 2, 2011, slayings.

Eighteen days after the murders, Mr. Dufrene shot and killed himself when he was cornered by Manatee County sheriff’s deputies in Bradenton after an unrelated break-in and shooting there.

It seems to me that a mistake was made somewhere along the line that resulted in the unnecessary death of three people. We need sanity in our immigration policy. If you are here illegally and you commit a crime, you should be sent home–regardless of where home is.

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