Texas Legislators Unsure on Value of Obama Summit

Members of Congress from Texas who attended last week's immigration summit at the White House said they were unsure about how strong President Obama would push amnesty this year. Sen. John Cornyn said the meeting was more of a 'photo op'. Rep. Lamar Smith said it wasn't apparent that Obama appreciated the need for enforcing immigration laws. Read more here.

Pro-Amnesty Massachusetts Panel Expected to Report Soon

Massachusetts' Governor's Advisory Council for Refugees and Immigrants, stacked by Gov. Deval Patrick with amnesty advocates, is expected to issue a report soon. Among the recommendations will be in-state tuition for illegal aliens and driver's licenses as well. Read more here.

Illegal Immigrants Complain About Lack of Unemployment Ins., May Have to Move Home

MSNBC takes a human-interest angle in reporting on how illegal immigrants facing prolonged unemployment in the U.S. are starting to return home. The man they profiled says he doesn't want to return to Mexico, and now his family is crammed into a house with a dozen other people. Read more here.

Scholarship Providers Fall Victim to Down Economy

The New York Times reports that the recession has led foundations, corporations, state governments and colleges themselves to reduce their support of providers of scholarships, and in recent months programs have been reduced or canceled outright. The cuts come as economic conditions make it harder for families to pay for college and as more unemployed people look for financing for retraining. One big issue not addressed in this article is that our elected officials are considering legislation (the DREAM Act) that will give illegal alien students in-state tuition benefits and a path to amnesty. Is this the right time to even consider such legislation?

Pres. Obama "Willing" to Put Political Muscle Into Passing Amnesty Bill

The President also announced that Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano would convene a group of leaders from the White House and Congress to craft this new legislation. However, key details were left unclear, such as when legislation would be marked up, whether the House or Senate would act first and whether a sweeping overhaul of immigration laws could be added to the crowded congressional calendar, according to lawmakers and aides. Read about it in Congress Daily (Note: may require subscription).

Mississippi Gets It When It Comes to E-Verify

Starting Wednesday, Mississippi companies with at least 100 employees will be required to use the E-Verification system, as part of a major program to curb illegal immigration. Read about it at WLOX.com.

Will the IRS Really Start Cracking Down on H-1B Employers?

The Greenberg-Traurig law firm is warning that companies sponsoring H-1B employees face high scrutiny during audits. Greenberg-Traurig says the IRS has put audits of withholding by these companies at "Tier 1" status - meaning it is high importance for the Large and Mid Size Business Division. Read more here.

Another Houston Officer Killed by (Suspected) Illegal Aliens

Another Houston police officer was killed in the line of duty by men believed to be aliens. Officer Henry Canales was conducting an undercover sting of buyers of stolen merchandise when one of the buyers pulled a gun and shot him. Another officer shot and killed his assailant, and three other men were arrested after fleeing the scene. Read more here.

Gang Members Arrested in NJ Sweep

Police arrested 46 gang members across New Jersey as part of an immigration sweep targeting gangs such as MS-13. The effort is part of the "Community Shield" program begun in 2005, that assists local police with anti-gang enforcement by targeting illegal aliens in gangs. Read more here.

Lawyers, Interpreters Convicted in Massive Asylum Fraud

After a three month trial, jurors in Sacramento convicted 3 lawyers and 2 interpreters of supplying asylum claimants with false documents, doctors' letters, and other materials to support their fake asylum claims. In many cases, the fraud was successful - getting undeserving people asylum in the U.S. The prosecutor says the verdict sends a strong message about the integrity of the asylum process. Read more here.

Obama Couldn't Be Clearer in Amnesty Support Say Supporters

Rep. Luis Gutierrez told reporters that after yesterday's immigration summit at the White House, he's convinced President Obama is solidly behind a mass amnesty for the 12 million illegal aliens in the U.S. The summit was the kick-off for an expected effort at building support for a mass amnesty to make its way through Congress. Read more here.

Recession Leads to Fall In Illegal Immigration

The overall number of new illegal immigrants may be as low as 200,000 - opening a window of opportunity for immigration reformers to put in place effective enforcement measures now. As the Christian Science Monitor says, the recession is forcing cheerleaders for mass immigration to face the fact that American workers are a majority in all but one job category that "Americans won't do." Read more here.

BREAKING NEWS: FAIR Responds to Sen. Schumer's Seven-Point Plan

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees, yesterday issued a seven-point plan for reforming America's immigration policies. FAIR has issued the following response to Sen. Schumer's plan highlighting how it is short on details and even shorter on protections of the vital interests of the American people. Sen. Schumer also conveniently ignores the history of immigration politics and policies since 1986. Read FAIR's entire response here.

Americans Do All Jobs!!

This just in: In the small farming town of Lafayette, CO, the old canard that "immigrants do the jobs that Americans won't do" has really taken a hit. In today's economy, Americans (and aliens authorized to work) are snapping up farming jobs, whether part-time or seasonal, in record numbers. KUSA News in Denver takes a look at this latest trend in this eye-opening article.

House Democrats Block 18 Reform Amendments

Democrats on the House Rules Committee blocked 18 Republican immigration amendments, House Republicans charged. Ranking Member Lamar Smith called the move 'undemocratic' in the release and said the maneuver was meant to bury the popular amendments without forcing a vote. Among those amendments held up was one based on FAIR's work to get E-Verify mandated for all federal contractors. Read more here (PDF).

Sen. Schumer Insists Amnesty Possible This Year

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says he thinks it is possible to push an amnesty bill through Congress this year. After conducting a series of pro-amnesty hearings, Schumer says that the only way to bring illegal immigrants "out of the shadows" is to give them amnesty (aka "path to citizenship"). Read more here.

End of the Road for Bus Service Helping Illegal Immigrants

Nabor Castaneda-Cortez, 31, and Norma Delia Lopez-Ramirez were charged with operating a bus service for illegal immigrants that transported them once they had crossed the border illegally. According to the indictment, the pair were driving the illegal aliens themselves because "business was so bad." Read more here.

Obama Using Immigration Debate to "Change the Subject"

According to Carl Bentham, writing on his blog, President's Obama sudden interest in starting a dialog about immigration reform (which includes mass amnesty for the more than 12 million illegal aliens in this country) is sheer political genius that will shift attention from the many "touchy" issues that are having a negative effect on his presidency. However, Carl Bentham ignores the fact that the majority of the people in this country (see RasmussenReport.com) want to improve enforcement of the borders and reduce illegal immigration. This move could very well end up being a land mine for the current administration.

Mass Amnesty This Year?

According to news released by Roll Call this afternoon, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) maintained that Congress will tackle comprehensive immigration reform (basically mass amnesty for the over 12 million illegal aliens in the U.S.) this Congress, and perhaps even this year. Read the full breaking story from Roll Call.

Administration Gutting State and Local Enforcement Efforts

As the Obama administration begins to assert control of the immigration issue illegal aliens swept up on minor charges won't face federal detention. Instead, they'll be released on their own recognizance. Read about how the administration is basically forcing state and local governments to let illegal aliens apprehended just go free. Click here for the full story.

Border Patrol Using New Tactics to Fight Smugglers

In the past nine months, the Border Patrol has discovered 16 new tunnels dug by smugglers in Nogales to move drugs, migrants, cash and weapons between Mexico and the United States. In response the Border Patrol has set up four-member teams of agents who monitor these elaborate underground warren of dark and dangerous storm drains that crisscross these twin downtowns along the border. Check out the full story from the Washington Post.

More Employers Use E-Verify

USA Today has a positive story about the E-Verify system today. Numerous employers told the paper that the system works as it should and keeps them from inadvertently hiring illegal workers. More than 1,000 employers a week are signing up for the program, and roughly 5 and a half million employment verifications have been run through the system this year. Read more here.

Interview About Utah's New Immigration Law

The University of Utah PBS affiliate reported on Utah's new immigration enforcement law. In this latest segment, they cover Oklahoma's experience with a similar law, which is very similar to the one enacted in Utah. Read more here.

Harvard Economists Demand More Immigration "to Boost Housing Prices"?

In the 2009 State of the Nation's Housing Report, Harvard economists say that the U.S. must continue to let in ever more immigrants to boost housing demand. The researchers said that immigration would be an important part of future demand even though America already has the largest generation in history in echo boomers who are expected to boost household formation for decades. Of course the researchers never address the long-term desirability of lower cost housing, or the additional social, congestive and infrastructure costs of continuing to add so many people. Read more here.

New Poll Shows Latinos Don't Put Amnesty As Top Priority

A new poll by Crossroads Social Capital in Charlotte, North Carolina found that six in ten Latinos surveyed said immigrants were "too demanding in their push for equal rights." The poll showed that Latinos don't monolithically support mass amnesty. "Sometimes, I get fed up at the double standards I see," said one man. Read more here.

Gov. Schwarzenegger's Answer to Budget Crisis? Free Illegals

With California slipping into a financial sinkhole, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to save more than $180 million by cutting short the sentences of thousands of immigrants in the state's prisons and turning them over to federal authorities for deportation. Click here to find out what hurdles the governor faces under this new proposal. Read more here.

Sen. Grassley Pursues Obama Administration Over E-Verify Delays

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has introduced a new amendment to stop the Obama administration from continuing to delay regulations meant to force federal contractors to use E-Verify. "E-Verify is an effective tool to fight illegal immigrants who break the law," Grassley said. The House and Senate have yet to agree on appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security. The Senate has approved a three year extension, but the House version is for two years. Read more here.

SF Scandal: Prosecutor Gave Illegal Immigrant Felons Job Training

Amanda Kiefer was yet another victim of illegal immigrant felons who were protected by San Francisco's sanctuary policy. In her case, her assailant Alexander Izaguirre was in the country illegally and had been caught selling drugs - a felony. But, Izaguirre wasn't deported - instead he was diverted to the Back on Track program run by San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris. Once Harris was forced to admit that illegal immigrants were in the program, she didn't immediately force them out. Instead, she let them complete the program - which wiped their criminal records - and only then stopped admitting more illegal immigrants in. Read more here.

AZ Legislature wants to give police greater authority in enforcing immigration laws

The Arizona state House is debating a measure that would give local police greater authority to check the immigration status of people they suspect are in the country illegally. A previous version of the legislation was vetoed by then Gov. Janet Napolitano, who is now DHS secretary. The measure would expand the state's trespassing law to encompass illegal immigrants. Read more here.

Economy, tighter security help in sharp drop of Border Patrol Apprehensions

Arrests by the Border Patrol dropped to a 35-year low in 2008, to a total of 724,000. The DHS says the drop is due to the economy and tougher enforcement. Arrests peaked in 2000 at 1.6 million. Read more here.

Fifty-eight percent believe immigration-fueled population growth is serious problem

A new poll by the group Progressives for Immigration Reform shows strong support for immigration reform among liberals and progressives. Fifty-eight percent of those polled said that immigration fueled population growth is a serious problem for the environment, and sixty-three percent said that our current level of immigration harms American workers. Read more of the survey results here.

The Politics of Homeland Insecurity

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has decided that the best way to deal with the negative aspects of the sensitive issue of dealing with illegal immigration is to move that responsibility to local officials, city, state and federal. However, George H. Wittman, writing for American Spectator, says that allowing federal responsibility to be diminished in order to avoid political blame is self-serving to the point of obstruction of the intent of homeland security. Read his article here.

Mass Amnesty Summit Set for June 25th

FAIR learned this afternoon that the White House pledged today to convene a bipartisan meeting of lawmakers on June 25 to discuss a possible overhaul of immigration policy. Stay tuned for additional information about this meeting over the next few days.

Senator Sessions Speaks Common Sense on E-Verify

From FAIR's Government Relations team

Earlier today, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a true immigration reformer and the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, gave a speech on the Senate floor about the critical E-Verify program, a voluntary program that allows employers to verify that new hires are legally authorized to work in the United States. Senator Sessions stated his support for making E-Verify permanent. Senator Sessions also reminded his colleagues that a long-term extension of E-Verify passed the House by a vote of 407-2 last year.

Senator Sessions explained how Congressional leaders thwarted efforts to include an E-Verify amendment as part of President Obama's stimulus bill. Congressional leaders defeated an amendment that would have required businesses that get stimulus money to use the program to ensure that Stimulus jobs go to American citizens and not illegal aliens. Senator Sessions also detailed the Obama Administration's record on E-Verify. The Obama Administration has repeatedly delayed implementation of the rule requiring Federal contractors, businesses that get taxpayer money, to use this system.

Senator Sessions said (at 9:50 of the video): "What I am afraid may happen is that we will have, through maneuverings and chicanery, actions taken to block [a vote to extend E-Verify]. If the Democratic leadership here in the Senate blocks a vote on [extending E-Verify] that can only be taken as their position that we should not extend E-Verify and that we should not make it apply to government contractors. It cannot be interpreted any other way.... Everybody knows what the issue is." To watch Senator Sessions' video, click here.

New FAIR Analysis: AgJobs Bill is Two-Step Amnesty Program

From FAIR's Government Relations team

The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security (AgJOBS) Act of 2009, introduced last month in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), creates an amnesty program for illegal aliens who have worked in the agricultural industry. The legislation first gives illegal alien agricultural workers a two-step amnesty to transition from unlawful status to green card holding, legal permanent residence, and then "reforms" the H-2A temporary agricultural guest worker program to allow large agribusinesses easier access to cheap foreign labor. Click here to download FAIR's analysis of this new bill and get the real details.

Immigrant Plaintiff's Past Becomes PR Nightmare for ACLU

What was supposed to be a sympathetic plaintiff chosen by the ACLU in a lawsuit seeking custody hearings for more than 1,000 legal immigrants, turned out to be a PR fiasco for the group when the plaintiff's past rose its ugly head. Read the details about this case from the New York Times.

Denver Democrats Using Immigration Debate for Political Gain

The Democratic Party of Denver this week called on Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform (mass amnesty if you may) that offers a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. But former Congressman Tom Tancredo, an outspoken critic of illegal immigration, says the Democratic Party of Denver is using the resolution as a form of political posturing, and besides there already exists a path to citizenship for immigrants - coming in through legal channels. Read today's story in the Denver Daily News.

AZ County "Refuses" to Enforce Illegal Immigration Laws

In its on-going feud with the County Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Office the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday refused acceptance of $1.4 million in state funds to help enforce illegal immigration laws. Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox flat out admitted that she disagrees with how the County Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Office are enforcing immigrations laws. This leaves many people scratching their heads given Phoenix's reputation as the kidnapping capitol of the nation and Sheriff Arpaio enjoying high approval rates. Read the article in today's AZCentral.com.

Amnesty Bill is Top Priority According to President

Despite a full legislative agenda for the rest of the year and a bad economy, President Obama and the open borders lobby want to push through an amnesty bill at some point this year. However, according to a majority of voters "immigration reform" is low on their priority list (see poll results here). Even FAIR's Bob Dane commented that "with a 9.4 percent unemployment rate, it will be tough to convince the American people now to jam the work force with cheap labor." Check out today's article in the Politics section of the Miami Herald.

San Antonio Aerospace Firing U.S. Mechanics, Hiring Mexican Nationals

San Antonio Aerospace (SAA) has recruited more than 100,000 mechanics from Mexico at a time the company is laying off higher wage American workers. WFAA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth discovered that the foreign workers are being brought in as "scientific technicians." How is this even possible when there are more than 100,000 American aircraft mechanics who are out of work or who have left the business? Click here to find out the answer to this alarming story.

ACLU Opposes Proposed Detention Center in AZ

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona has written U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano opposing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center near the Arizona border with Mexico. It is clear that the ACLU, which favors more lenient immigration policies, is using this issue in its ongoing effort to stop Sheriff Joe Arpaio from performing his law enforcement duties. Read the article from the Phoenix Business Journal here.

Enforcing Our Laws Is the Answer

Paul Westrom clearly gets it! In his letter to the Worthington (MN) Daily Globe he writes that the solution to illegal immigration is firm and steady enforcement of our immigration laws. Faced with this prospect, many illegal aliens would go home on their own. Read this letter to find out why offering yet another legalization (amnesty) for illegal aliens and pathway for them to become citizens is lunacy.

Administration Seeks to Gut Real ID

As governor of Arizona, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano called Real ID, a federal law passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that was designed to tighten security requirements for driver's licenses, "feel-good" legislation not worth the cost, and she signed a state law last year opting out of the plan. The Obama administration is now seeking to repeal and replace Real ID, with a new proposal called Pass ID, which, according to the administration, would be cheaper, less rigorous and partly funded by federal grants. Critics of this move said that changes to Real ID, which was a recommendation from the 9/11 Commission, would weaken tools to fight fraud and learn whether bad drivers, drug runners or counterfeiters have licenses in more than one state. Read the full story from the Washington Post.

La Raza: Using Taxpayers' Money to Push Amnesty

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) has received more than $30 million from the federal government to fund projects such as charter schools and get-out-the-vote campaigns for Latinos. The NCLR, with nearly $100 million in assets, also arranged to have its voice included in congressional hearings by House and Senate leaders and garnered an extra $4 million in federal tax funds earmarked by an anonymous senator in 2007 while continuing to lobby for open borders, driver's licenses for illegals, and amnesty leading to citizenship for all illegal immigrants in the country. Read Robert Engstrom's eye-opening expose' about this group in today's issue of Human Events.

Amnesty Summit Delayed....Again

CQ Today reported late on Friday that the Amnesty policy summit that was supposed to take place at the White House today has been postponed a second time. The meeting is now tentatively scheduled for the week of June 22. Stay tuned to the Stein Report as more details about this story become available.

Sanctuary Policy Puts San Francisco in Hot Spot

On the heels of several high-profile crimes by illegal immigrants and revelations of mismanagement of the city's sanctuary policy, San Francisco has become less like its self-image and more like many other cities in the United States. A new law enforcement policy focused on under-age offenders who are in this country illegally is putting San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom into a precaurious position. Read this weekend's story from the New York Times.

Only a Third of Southern Border Under Effective Control

According to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) only about 700 miles of the 2,000-mile long southern border are under effective control, including 627 miles where the agency has installed fencing. Acting CBP Commissioner Jayson Ahern made the announcement during a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism Thursday. Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), ranking member of the subcommittee, expressed concern that progress would not satisfy Congress when it came time to debate an immigration reform package in the next year or two. Get the whole story from HSToday.com.

Health Coverage for Illegals is Dealbreaker for Majority of Voters

Eighty percent (80%) of U.S. voters oppose providing government health care coverage for illegal immigrants as part of the health care reform package that is working its way through Congress. But, as is often the case, there's a wide division between Mainstream America and the Political Class on this question. The Political Class is evenly divided on the question of a universal health care plan that includes coverage for illegal immigrants. Those with populist or Mainstream views are overwhelmingly opposed. See the results of this poll at RasmussenReports.com.

Illegal Immigration Cost VA Taxpayers $1.7 Billion

Numbering nearly 300,000, a number that has tripled since 2000, Virginia's illegal alien population represents a major burden on the state's taxpayers and on the state budget. FAIR's research team's latest cost study estimates that Virginia's illegal immigrant population costs the state's taxpayers nearly $1.7 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. The annual fiscal burden amounts to about $625 per Virginia household headed by a native-born resident. Click here to get all the details about our latest cost study. Why is this important? The numbers tell the story, and illegal immigration has been a growing problem for the state of Virginia. In 2009 Virginians will head to the polls to choose a new governor and it is time that candidates for this office address this issue.

Obama Set to Gut E-Verify Final Rule, SSA No-Match Letter Regulations

From FAIR's Government Relations team,

FAIR has learned from its sources on Capitol Hill that the Obama Administration is set to take steps to gut two important federal provisions that seek to protect American Workers.

New Rule Will Allow Illegal Aliens to Work on Federal Contracts

On June 9, 2008, former President George W. Bush issued an executive order requiring federal contractors "to verify the employment eligibility of...all persons assigned by the contractor to perform work within the United States on the Federal contract." The Federal government proposed a rule to require "contractors and subcontractors to use E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all existing employees who are directly engaged in the performance of work under the covered contract." [Emphasis Added.] The proposed rule required contractors to use E-Verify on existing hires - rather than only on new hires, as is the policy for employers enrolled in E-Verify who are not federal contractors - because it would be the most effective way to "ensure that the Federal Government does not indirectly exploit an illegal labor force." After allowing for several months of public comment, the government issued the final rule stating the E-Verify requirement would apply to most federal contracts issued on or after January 15, 2009.

In late December 2008, a coalition of special interest groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the federal government to prevent the rule from taking effect as scheduled. One of the many complaints lodged against the final rule by the coalition was that the requirement to verify existing employees was a violation of federal law. The Bush Administration caved to the special interests and delayed the rule's implementation. The Obama Administration has since delayed the implementation of the final rule three more times, and appears to be preparing to gut the rule all together.

According to FAIR's sources, the new Obama rule will GUT the requirement that federal contractors verify existing employees who are assigned to work on federal contracts. If this is the case, the Obama Administration will be giving job security to illegal aliens who work for federal contractors instead of freeing those jobs up for American workers, which is exactly what would have happened under the rule proposed by the Bush Administration. The new rule reflects a willingness of the Obama Administration to put the interests of special interest groups seeking to exploit cheap illegal alien labor over the interests of unemployed American citizens.

New Rule Will Turn Blind Eye to Illegal Aliens Who Commit Identity Theft

On August 15, 2007, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule to provide a method for DHS to notify employers when there are "mismatches between names and social security numbers provided by their employees" and to instruct employers how to deal with these so-called "no-match" letters. Two weeks later, Big Labor, including the AFL-CIO, filed a lawsuit challenging this rule. On October 28, 2008, DHS issued a new rule addressing the subject of the litigation. This new rule went into effect that same day.

In the final rule, DHS stated that "while social security no-match letters do not, by themselves, conclusively establish that an employee is unauthorized, DHS's... interactions with employers that receive no-match letters have consistently shown that employers are also aware that an employee's appearance on a no-match letter may indicate the employee lacks work authorization." (Final Rule, Page 63845). Nevertheless, DHS also noted that one private study found that "most workers with unmatched SSNs are undocumented immigrants." (Id.).

The final rule established steps for employers and employees to follow to correct any legitimate discrepancies associated with no-matches (i.e., typographical errors) but did not address whether illegal aliens would eventually be fired after an employer followed this rule. Nevertheless, opponents of this rule argued that this rule would lead to employers terminating the employment of illegal aliens who are unable to correct a no-match discrepancy.

By gutting this rule, the Obama Administration would ensure that illegal aliens are allowed to continue in their jobs and would also be turning a blind eye to those illegal aliens who are committing felony identity theft by using the Social Security number of an American citizen or legal immigrant in order to work in that job!

Minnesota is E-Verify Challenged

Eighteen months after Gov. Tim Pawlenty ordered state agencies and contractors to more aggressively verify workers' immigration status, a state audit has found that the governor's own office has yet to implement the program. In fact, none of Minnesota's state agencies, which hired about 7,000 workers last year, has used the federal electronic identity-check system known as E-Verify, according to the office of the Legislative Auditor. So what is the holdup in the Land of 10,000 Lakes? Read today's story in the Star Tribune.

SC Implementing New Immigration Law

Effective July 1, 2009, the State of South Carolina will start enforcing the South Carolina Immigration Reform Act. The new act will require companies with at least 100 employees to verify that each employee is in the country legally and eligible for employment. Read about this new law at CarolinaLive.com.

CA to Consider Licenses for Illegal Aliens

California State Assemblyman Curt Hagman writes that the current push to give illegal aliens drivers licenses in California rewards people who have blatantly broken our laws and entered our state illegally. It also sends a message to those individuals who are patiently waiting to enter our country legally that our laws are made to be broken. Read his informative editorial and see how this would also negatively affect California taxpayers.

State Legislature May Have Solution to Phoenix Kidnapping Problem

In an effort to fight the growing drug and immigration related violence engulfing Phoenix, a new bill making its way through the Arizona State Legislature is a step closer to giving local police agencies the authority to enforce federal immigration laws. If the new bill passes, local law enforcement would be able to arrest people for being in the country illegally. Also under the bill, people could sue city officials who limit the full enforcement of federal immigration laws. Read all the details of this breaking story here.

Failure to Communicate

In the state of Oregon, some English speaking fire crew chiefs are being fired because they don't speak Spanish. The government has been hiring Hispanic firefighters who only speak Spanish and requiring supervisors to speak Spanish. Check out this astonishing report from FoxNews. This raises an interesting question....Why not make English the required language?

WA State Group Using Creative Marketing Approach to Garner Support

The Respect for Law committee is paying for their petitions to be inserted into two newspaper covering the Yakima valley and Skagit County areas. The petition would enable a new initiative to appear in the November election ballot. The initiative -- sponsored by Yakama tribal member Wendell Hannigan, whom we've written about on the Stein Report in the past -- would require employers to use the federal E-Verify system. It would also require law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws, and prevent illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses and public benefits. Through this approach the group hopes to reach over 50,000 subscribers throughout Washington. The petition will require 241,000 signatures in order to appear on the ballot. Read about it here in today's Yakima Herald.

When it Comes to Immigration, Our National Interest Should Come First

There are more than 4 billion impoverished people living on the earth that could benefit by moving to the United States. Unfortunately, flooding the United States with illegal immigrants has unintended consequences and does nothing to empower nations to improve the welfare of their own citizens. Annette Cameron, writing for the Nashua Telegraph, thinks that it's time for our neighboring countries to start improving health care, education and job creation for their own citizens, and for the United States to consider the long-term impact of illegal immigration and start reversing the flood.

Sen. Reid and Illegal Immigration - Right in 1993, Wrong Today

Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) introduced the Immigration Stabilization Act in the United States Senate in 1993. The bill was meant to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, and called for a massive scale-down of immigrants allowed into the country. The senator said the U.S. open door policy was being abused at the expense of honest, working citizens. So what changed since then? Why does Reid oppose programs he once sponsored now that the problem is seven times greater after 9/11? John Lillpop, in this interesting article, wonders how is it that Harry Reid was exactly right 16 years ago, but is so completely wrong now.

House Panel Approves E-Verify Extension

The House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee announced late last night that they had unanimously approved an FY10 spending bill for the Homeland Security Department, which included a two-year extension of the successful E-Verify program. What is most interesting about this extension is that Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Price, D-N.C., said the two-year extension was meant to "dovetail" with the "likely timing" for Congress to take up comprehensive legislation overhauling the nation's immigration laws. You can read this breaking story from Congress Daily here, however, access to it will require a subscription.

Dan Stein on FoxNews About New Obama Administration Ruling

FAIR's President Dan Stein appeared on Fox News yesterday to debate Glen Wasserstein of the Immigration Law Group about the recent change by the Obama administration making it easier for illegal aliens to endlessly appeal deportation. Watch this YouTube captivating segment about a ruling that is sure to cause a much wider discussion in the coming months.

Valley Park Ruling Could Have Nationwide Consequences

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday unanimously affirmed a lower court's ruling in favor of the city of Valley Park (MO) upholding a law that bars the hiring of illegal immigrants. Senior counsel Kris Kobach of the Immigration Reform Law Institute, FAIR's legal body, represented the city in this case and said that regardless of whether the city is enforcing the law, publicity about it appears to be deterring businesses from hiring illegal immigrants in Valley Park. Read the whole story at KansasCity.com.

Immigration to Weigh Heavily in TX Race for Governor

Illegal immigration is a huge issue in Texas and will have a deep effect on the primary race between Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX). One issue that is sure to come up is Bailey Hutchison's support for a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and subsequent vote to limit funding for that project. As FAIR's Bob Dane put it "I don't know why she wants to gut the fence, because she likes to play both sides of it." Read the article in today's Dallas Morning News.

Sen. Reid: Immigration Reform This Year "If at All Possible"

Sen. Harry Reid wants a mass amnesty bill passed this year, but Ben Pershing of the Washington Post says that the congressional schedule for the rest of the year may make this a nearly impossible task. Read his assessment in this interesting article.

Who's On the List?

While White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said that no official invitation has been sent out for the June 17th immigration reform meeting called by President Obama, sources say those attending include Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif), the vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, and John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), the House Judiciary Chair. Thus far no members of the GOP have scored an invitation, yet, a move that a senior Democratic aide called "not smart politics for the administration." Read about this breaking story in Politico.com.

Healthcare Before Immigration Reform

In a nutshell, that was the message relayed by a White House staffer to local Latino leaders in Phoenix. White House staffer Carlos Odio said that the administration and elected officials are not going to start talking about immigration reform until this fall. Most attendees came away disappointed. You can get the details about this meeting in today's Phoenix New Times.

E-Verify: The Magic Faucet

John Kass of the Chicago Tribune thinks that with billions of your federal tax dollars gushing forth from Washington as part of the Stimulus Bill, it would be nice to have a magic faucet to compel those federal contractors doing all the hiring with all that federal money to make certain the jobs go to people who are legally entitled to work in the United States. Well, that faucet already exists and it's called E-Verify. So, why hasn't it been made mandatory yet? Read Mr. Kass' insightful and at times entertaining editorial here.

Policy Contradiction Could Add Confusion to Immigration Issue

The Texas prison system is now capturing the digital fingerprints of the approximately 1,500 new inmates entering its jail system each week. The program is intended to identify and then deport criminal aliens who have "committed serious crimes." California has said that it may soon follow Texas' process, but on the other hand the city of Oakland earlier this week announced plans to issue photo-ID cards to illegals to enable them to ease their "access to services, improve their civic participation and encourage them to report crimes." FAIR's Ira Mehlman says that this is nothing short of aiding and abetting people who are violating federal immigration laws, and sending a message that what they are doing is OK. Read his comments and get further details at ThreatsWatch.org.

Southern Border Still Unsecured

General Peter Pace, the former US Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently gave hair raising testimony to the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee about the increased criminal activity by islamic terrorist groups (including Al-Qaeda) in South America. Jim Kouri writing for the Lincoln Tribune talks about how our still pourus southern border continues to be violated by mexican drug gangs and could be easily exploited by terrorists bent on destroying us.

Obama Tosses Out Bush Immigration Lawyer Rule

President Obama reversed a rule limiting access to lawyers for immigrants facing deportation which was issued in the waning days of the Bush administration. The mass amnesty lobby, angered by the move, had pressured the new administration to change course, and on Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder did just that. The New York Times has the details of this breaking story.

June 8 Immigration Meeting is Delayed

President Barack Obama is postponing a key meeting on immigration reform that was originally set for June 8. The meeting was rescheduled for June 17 to accomodate the president's travel schedule, according to a White House spokesman. It is still unclear who will be invited to this meeting or what the key details will be. You can read more about this breaking story here.

Rasmussen: Immigration Issue of Low Importance to Voters

According to the results of a Rasmussen poll released yesterday, the issue of immigration ranks ninth among the ten big issues currently affecting voters. The issue of immigration actually dropped in importance to only 42%, representing an 11-point drop from early May. You can check out all the details of this latest poll at RasmussenReports.com.

America's Voice Struggles to Find a Voice

By Dan Stein, President of FAIR
America's Voice, one of Washington's newest "instant" organizations created by a handful of big foundations virtually overnight, is helmed by the legendary Frank Sharry - widely regarded as one of the most unsuccessful legislative prognosticators in the nation's Capitol. Judging from its website traffic report, America's Voice must be pretty soft. No one is listening.

Sharry created America's Voice after he again miscalculated in a failed strategy to pass the mass amnesty bill in 2007. Now, Sharry and his allies have decided it is time to jettison their corporate allies who'd proven impossible to work with because of on-going disagreements over guest worker programs.

Under Sharry's leadership, America's Voice is basically a well-funded far-left smear blog designed to look like a clever "hit machine." Working closely with the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center, Sharry's group has been trying to smear America's true immigration reformers on a daily basis.

Problem is, no one seems to be listening. Internet traffic surveys suggest America's Voice isn't generating much interest from the general public. It struggles to attract less than 10,000 unique users a month, and most of those are probably professional people on the same big foundation dole that Sharry rides. Just proves that all the money in the world won't help if your ideas are bankrupt.

Oakland OKs ID Cards for Illegal Aliens

The city of Oakland, CA, will go the way of New Haven, CT, and its sister city San Francisco in issuing municipal identification cards to undocumented immigrants and others who may have trouble obtaining state identification. Couldn't this new program be interpreted as giving "localized" amnesty to illegal immigrants? Read this breaking story at MercuryNews.com.

Sheriff Arpaio Wants Probe of Federal Officials

Maricopa County (AZ) Sheriff Joe Arpaio wants the tables turned on Dept. of Justice officials whom he says improperly shared documents with the Department of Homeland Security. DHS is currently auditing Arpaio's use of federal immigration powers. Read the full story from the Associated Press.

UNC Protesters Behave Badly, Then Want Charges Dropped

Students at the University of North Carolina who were arrested for disorderly conduct during recent attacks on freedom of speech at the university, want those charges dropped and have asked the university to institute a "hate speech" policy for future guest speakers (read the article here). How disappointing that after these students' bully tactics failed in silencing one of the invited speakers, they would "demand" that their rude conduct be excused and throw around terms such as "hate speech." We would be doing a great disservice to our democratic liberties and freedom of speech if every time we can't successfully discuss or debate a point in a civilized manner we charge someone with hate speech. Standing up for securing our borders and enforcing our current immigration laws is our patriotic duty in maintaining the sovereignty of this nation.

Securing Yuma Sector - Border Patrol Video

The U.S. Border Patrol put together this interesting video highlighting the positive results that ensue when we actually get serious about securing our borders.

E-Verify for Contractors Postponed Again

The Homeland Security Department is expected to delay the deadline again, from June 30, for mandatory contractor use of the E-Verify employment verification system, making it the fourth time that it has been postponed. Under former President George W. Bush's executive order, about 168,000 federal contractors were to begin using E-Verify in January. Contractors will now remain exempt from the E-Verify rule until at least Sept. 8. Read the whole story in Washington Technology.

Wisconsin Prepares to Give Illegals "Driver Cards"

A proposal in the Wisconsin state legislature would give illegal immigrants a license to drive while still preventing them from using the state cards as official IDs. Additionally, the proposal would prevent law enforcement from using the "driver cards" as a reason to ask whether their holder is in the country legally. U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who authored federal legislation to restrict illegal immigrants' access to driver's licenses, said this proposal would encourage people to be in the state illegally, and we think he is right. Read about this proposal in today's Wisconsin State Journal.

E-Verify Continues to Grow in Popularity

"Why not do it?" replied Gerry Boren, the city manager of Gun Barrel City, when asked about the use of the E-Verify program to check if employees are authorized to work in the U.S. legally. According to this article in the Houston Chronicle, enrollment in the program has grown exponentially in recent years, with about 1,000 employers signing up each week for the free Web-based program. The 118,000 public, private and government employers enrolled in E-Verify includes companies such as Continental Airlines and the city of Dallas. Critics say there are good reasons not to use the program, arguing it can be burdensome, particularly for small employers. However, we seem to have found out differently during our recent interview with Larry Morrison of Morrison Insulation.

State of Nevada Key to Amnesty Battle

Nevada, tops in the nation in the percentage of illegal immigrants in the workforce, is home to two powerful senators on opposite sides of the immigration reform debate. Current Majority Leader Harry Reid supported the failed 2007 immigration bill that would have given amnesty to the more than 12 million immigrants in this country illegaly, and Republican Sen. John Ensign, fourth in his party's leadership as chairman of the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, opposed that 2007 bill. The Las Vegas Sun provides insight into how the state of Nevada has stood out in this crucial debate.

2010 Census Creates Controversy in California

According to a study in 2003, California's sizable illegal immigrant population allowed it to gain three House seats it might otherwise not have received. The state's illegal immigrant population also caused Indiana, Michigan and Mississippi to each lose one of their seats and prevented Montana from gaining a seat. The impact of counting illegal aliens during the upcoming Census could have sizable ramifications for the electoral future of the United States. Read today's Los Angeles Times for more information about this developing story.

CO Prosecutor Finds New Way to Identify Illegals

Two judges have agreed with an ACLU complaint and ruled that Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck had no probable cause to seize thousands of records from an income tax preparer popular with Hispanics. The October seizures had led to identity-theft and criminal-impersonation charges against more than 70 people, and prosecutors allege that as many as 1,300 suspected illegal immigrants were working using false or stolen Social Security numbers. Mr. Buck is appealing the judges ruling, and should it be overturned it could open up a new avenue for prosecuting illegal immigrants. Read the full story from today's Washington Times.