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December 31, 2009
If the Jobs Aren't There, They Won't Come By Ira Mehlman, FAIR Media Director More evidence that illegal immigration can be controlled: According to data from the National Statistics and Geography Institute in Mexico, 142,052 people emigrated during the third quarter of this year. While still an astounding figure, it represents a nearly 40 percent drop from the third quarter of 2007. In the third quarter of 2009, there were also 30 percent more Mexican migrants returning home than there were during the third quarter of 2007. Since the Obama administration is doing very little in the way of enforcement, the declining number of people leaving Mexico and heading to the U.S. in late 2009 is largely attributable to the sorry state of our economy and soaring unemployment. Advocates of a laissez faire immigration policy cite this decline as evidence that migration is a self-regulating phenomenon - and to some degree they are correct. Illegal aliens, being rational people, are less likely to come to the U.S. if they do not believe that there are jobs waiting for them. In fact, as FAIR has consistently argued, recent trends demonstrate that illegal immigration is a controllable phenomenon. It is irrelevant to would-be illegal immigrants why the supply of jobs in the U.S. has dried up. Even during a healthy economy, job prospects for illegal aliens can be dampened by a vigorous enforcement strategy that convinces employers it is not worth the risk to hire illegal aliens. That assertion is not mere conjecture; it is borne out by recent experience. The decline in the number of people coming to the U.S. illegally actually began before the recession really set in. Declining illegal immigration began in late 2007 when the Bush administration began enforcing immigration laws in the workplace. The consequences of decades of non-enforcement cannot be remedied overnight, but as these new data prove, the flow of illegal migration can be reversed. What is needed is a consistent enforcement strategy that makes it clear that illegal immigration will not be rewarded. December 30, 2009
Next Best Thing to "On-Star" for Illegal Aliens Transborder Immigrant Tools By Bob Dane, FAIR Communications Director A group of California "artists" and open-borders faculty at the Universities of California and Michigan are using a taxpayer-subsidized grant to develop GPS-enabled cell phones that will guide illegal aliens to water stations and alert then to Border Patrol lookouts at the U.S. - Mexico border while regaling them with poetry to inspire their journey. Of course, no one wants anyone to die from dehydration but this is no way to do it. While the device obviously encourages illegal alien transit - and may even aid and abet illegal activity in a strict legal sense - more importantly it's luring would-be crossers into a false sense of security and higher peril. Water is not the only hazard out there in the desert. Human smugglers and drug dealers won't hesitate for one second to rob, rape, and murder aliens crossing the border. The only way to be completely safe is to do it legally or not at all. That's the message that should be sent. The designers claim this is about safety. What about the safety and welfare of American citizens? We have no idea who's coming here illegally. The Transborder Immigrant Tool may very well assist violent criminal aliens. Worse yet, the device could help terrorists enter our country through the Mexican border. The airline incidents of the past week should be a reminder of the national security implications of an unsecured border. The designers torture the definition of art, claiming the device is an innovative hybrid of technology and verse and an expression of social activism as if it were some sort of golden divining rod helping guide Ulysses on his epic Odyssey. Illegal aliens trekking north isn't a noble adventure, it's a crime. This isn't poetry, its propaganda and the device is a burglary tool pure and simple. If you sculpt the Venus De Milo, that's art. If you use it to conk someone over the head, that's assault. Likewise using the GPS device to help navigate an illegal crossing is an instrument of that infraction. Using taxpayer dollars on one hand to deter, detain, and deport illegal immigration and then distributing taxpayer dollars on the other hand in the form of "art grants" to create a device, the sole purpose of which is to help illegal crossers avoid detection is obviously contradictory and not in our best interests. Porous borders, lax enforcement, easy access to jobs, and the promise of amnesty all encourage illegal immigration. So does the GPS device. It is ultimately more humane to send the message that there is no point in trying to cross...you'll hit the fence, if you get through you will be caught and punished and there are no jobs and no amnesty waiting for you. That's humane, fair, practical and effective. Perhaps the developers of this GPS device should locate the coordinates of common sense, enter those into their not-so-nifty invention and go for a long visit. To learn more about this read the article at FoxNews.com. December 30, 2009
White House Preparing for Mass Amnesty Push With the health care reform battle not quite over, the Obama administration is already preparing for another big fight that might be even more of a tough sell for the American people - comprehensive immigration reform (which includes mass amnesty for millions of illegal aliens). According to the LA Times, senior White House aides have privately assured Latino activists that the president will back legislation next year to provide a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. Read the whole story here. December 30, 2009
USCIS to Ramp Up Efforts Against H1-B Visa Fraud Crackdown on H1-B Visa fraud will enter a new phase according to the United States Customs and Immigration Services. The USCIS plans to up its enforcement of the law on H-1B visas and the U.S. companies that take advantage of them by conducting 25,000 on-site inspections in 2010 - more than four times the number of inspections conducted in 2009. However, while the 25,000 inspection effort in 2010 could be a serious boost to quelling fraud it may not be enough for those in the U.S. government who advocate for stronger limits on H-1B visas. Read the whole story at eWeek.com. December 24, 2009
Happy Holidays to All Our Readers As we approach the end of the year we wish to thank all of our readers for making the Stein Report your immigration news portal. We will not be publishing on a regular basis for the rest of 2009, but will return to our usual daily publication schedule on Monday, Jan. 4, 2010. I am certain that in the coming months there will be plenty to report and talk about. Until then, have a safe and wonderful holiday season. December 24, 2009
Groups Warn Illegal Immigrants About Border Patrol Checks Activist groups in California are trying to warn illegal immigrants about Border Patrol checks at bus terminals. The Border Patrol has been checking passengers at Greyhound terminals in California, a popular destination for illegal immigrants seeking to travel once inside the U.S. "Border Patrol spokesman Agent Adrian Corona said agents regularly search for illegal immigrants at sites where they are believed to be, including bus stations. Immigrant-rights groups charge that agents engage in racial profiling by targeting passengers who are Latino, an allegation that Corona denied," the Press Enterprise reported. December 23, 2009
Schwarzenegger Cites Cost of Illegal Immigration in State Budget Talk California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cited the high costs of illegal immigration as one reason for California's budget woes. Schwarzenegger noted that prison costs for illegal immigrants in California top $1 Billion per year. The LA Times editors were sufficiently outraged by Schwarzenegger speaking the truth that they wrote an editorial today in response. See FAIR's California State Cost Study for the details on how illegal immigration costs California billions per year. December 23, 2009
As H-1B Cap Hit, ICE Plans More Enforcement "U.S. immigration officials are taking H-1B enforcement from the desk to the field with a plan to conduct 25,000 on-site inspections of companies hiring foreign workers during the government's current fiscal year," Computerworld reports. "USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas disclosed the upgraded enforcement plan in a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), a co-sponsor with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) of federal legislation aimed at increasing H-1B program enforcement." December 23, 2009
Ohio License Plate Law Enjoys Success Against Illegal Immigration "Some businesses that employ undocumented immigrants are shuttling their employees between homes and workplaces in vans. Other immigrants simply have given up, packing up and moving to states where it's easier to register vehicles. The fallout from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles' cancellation of 42,503 vehicle registrations on Dec. 9 has been life-changing for illegal immigrants, many of whom are Latino," the Columbus Dispatch writes. "It's no longer easy for some families to get to work, school, the doctor or the grocery. The canceled license plates on their cars now serve as a beacon to police and as a potential one-way ticket out of the United States." December 22, 2009
Central American Countries Ready Amnesty Plan Not content with the mass amnesty proposed by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), a group of Central American nations dependant upon remittances sent by their nationals living in the U.S. illegally is preparing an amnesty plan as well. "For the first time Central America will have its own immigration reform instrument, which responds to the needs and aspirations of Central Americans living illegally in the U.S.," said Vice Minister for Salvadorans abroad, Juan Jose Garcia. December 22, 2009
New LA Police Chief Affirms Special Order 40 New LA police chief Charlie Beck said that he would continue to enforce Special Order 40, which keeps police from asking about immigration status. "It is extremely important to build relationships with all the communities of Los Angeles," Beck said. "That cannot be done when people are afraid to have legitimate contact with police because of their status." December 22, 2009
Census Bureau Asks for Help in Counting Illegal Immigrants The Census Bureau is asking community organizations for help in making sure it can count all illegal aliens. "We are talking about an issue of coordination between two federal agencies. We have [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] policies alienating the same immigrants that the Census Bureau wants to engage," said Norman Eng, director of Media Relations at the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC). December 22, 2009
High Number of Federal Prosecutions Over Immigration Violations Immigration prosecutions surged 16 percent last year, as cases started under the Bush administration worked their way through the courts. "The relatively simple cases have become the low-hanging fruit of the federal legal system: Immigration prosecutions, from inception to court disposal, are lightning quick, according to the report. While white-collar prosecutions take an average of 460 days and narcotics cases take 333, the immigration cases are typically disposed of in 2 days," the New York Times writes. December 22, 2009
Arizona Prisons To Turn Over Illegal Alien Inmates Next Year "Desperate to save money, Arizona will transfer illegal immigrants who have been convicted of nonviolent crimes to federal custody for the last three months of their sentences, saving the state the cost of housing them," the New York Times reports. "By federal law, the cost of their incarceration is the responsibility of the federal government. However, the federal government is refusing to adequately fund this program," said Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. December 21, 2009
FAIR Takes a Close Look at Rep. Gutierrez's Mass Amnesty Bill Rep. Luis Gutierrez's (D-IL) Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act creates a broad amnesty program for virtually all illegal aliens currently in the United States. It first grants illegal aliens "conditional nonimmigrant status" which initially lasts six years, but may be renewed in an unlimited number of 5-year increments. Unlike the amnesty bills of 2006 and 2007, there is no employment requirement; an alien may be looking for a job, or declare that he/she is an active community member, and still be eligible for the amnesty. To read our full analysis click here. December 18, 2009
FAIR Reaches New Milestone in Social Media FAIR Facebook Page Passes 3,000 Fans From FAIR's Social Media team You can become a fan of our Facebook Page here. And, if you are already a fan, thank you for your support and please consider suggesting the Page to your friends. December 17, 2009
Feds Revising Asylum Detention Policies The Associated Press reported this morning that the Obama Administration said Wednesday it will stop detaining asylum seekers who have a credible fear of persecution in their home countries and that foreigners who arrive at a port of entry and are found to have a credible fear will automatically be considered for release into the U.S. Jack Martin, Director of Special Projects at FAIR, commented that this new policy appears to be reverting to the status quo. Previously, asylum claims at ports of entry routinely led to release and a work permit and that was the last the immigration authorities saw of the alien. The arriving asylum claimants would routinely flush the ID documents that they were traveling on so that there was no way to check their identity. It is an irresponsible policy because it rewards illegal entry and it is dangerous because there is no check on the identity of the traveler. This reversion to turnstile admission of asylum claimants is basically a green light to Al Qaeda. FAIR President Dan Stein says that "This is PRECISELY the policy that led to (allowed) the 1993 Trade Center bombing!!!" December 17, 2009
Halt Immigration To Help Unemployment "There are 8.3 million illegal immigrants working in the United States, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. With the national unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent, some 15.6 percent of black Americans and 12.7 percent of American Hispanics are unemployed," notes Cheree Calabro in a letter to the Indianapolis Star. December 17, 2009
Our Favorite Juxtaposition this Week From a Tuesday, December 15 From a Wednesday, December 16 article in The Hill . . . "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has privately told her politically vulnerable Democratic members that will they not vote on controversial bill in 2010 unless the Senate acts first." December 16, 2009
Gutierrez Files Mass Amnesty Bill; Pelosi Sends Mixed Signals Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced amnesty legislation yesterday for the 13 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. "Mr. Gutierrez, one of Mr. Obama's earliest Latino supporters in Congress, said in an interview that the bill reflected a growing impatience with the pace of immigration change among a coalition of Democratic lawmakers, immigrant advocates and labor and religious groups," the New York Times reports. Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi is privately telling House lawmakers that they won't have to vote on controversial legislation until the Senate does. "The Speaker recently assured her freshman lawmakers and other vulnerable members of her caucus that a vote on immigration reform is not looming despite a renewed push from the White House and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The House will not move on the issue until the upper chamber passes a bill, Pelosi told the members," according to The Hill newspaper. Take Action Today - Visit FAIR's site to send a fax or call Congress! Read FAIR's press release about the mass amnesty bill. December 16, 2009
Texas Group Challenges In-State Tuition Law A Texas immigration reform group is prepared to challenge Texas' law giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens. "David A. Rogers, a lawyer for the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas, an organization that opposes illegal immigration, said the lawsuit filed on Monday in Harris County District Court marks the first direct court challenge of the Texas law," the Houston Chronicle reported. December 16, 2009
Aguilar Continues to Move Up in DHS Despite Critics Kimberly Dvorak with the San Diego Examiner lays out several of the issues that have dogged David V. Aguilar, who is now Acting Deputy Commissioner of CBP (Customs and Border Protection.) Among Aguilar's faults are concerns raised about Border Patrol readiness and training from his time as Chief of the Border Patrol, as well as his support for President Bush's amnesty legislation. December 16, 2009
Judge Hears First Immigration Cases in Saipan Immigration Judge J. Daniel Dowell conducted the first federal immigration hearings in Saipan this week; previously Saipan and other U.S. trust territories in the Pacific were able to administer their own immigration policy. The scandal surrounding convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his illegal activities while lobbying for the island, along with numerous human rights abuses of workers there, led Congress to impose U.S. immigration law on Saipan. December 16, 2009
House Democrats Support Latest Amnesty Bill Wonder who is co-sponsoring Rep. Luis Gutierrez's (D-IL) Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security Act (CIR ASAP) of 2009? Below is a list of 90 House Democrats that have signed on to co-sponsor this latest push for amnesty. If you live in any of these representatives' districts we encourage you to click here to read our alert and call to let them know that you oppose this bill. Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1] December 15, 2009
Gutierrez To Introduce Amnesty Bill Today - Take Action Now to Stop Amnesty! "Democrats on Tuesday begin their new push for an immigration bill, hamstrung by the image of legalizing millions of illegal immigrant workers at a time when the unemployment rate stands at 10 percent -- more than twice what it was the last time Congress tried to act," the Washington Times reports. Also see Wall Street Journal coverage. Take Action Today - Visit FAIR's site to send a fax or call Congress! December 15, 2009
The SEIU's Continued Campaign to End All Immigration Enforcement In These Times covers the continued efforts of the SEIU to end all immigration enforcement. That is not how the SEIU views it, of course. "'SEIU is not saying, 'Don't enforce the law,' [Executive Vice-President Eliseo Medina] says. 'We're saying, 'Enforce the law in a way that can work.' He proposes that DHS should work with the Labor Department to target employers who violate wage and hour laws as well as immigration laws." In reality, the whole focus of the SEIU has been in expanding its membership, legal or not. The SEIU has been against worksite raids, and now has come out against workplace audits. There is no concrete enforcement mechanism that the SEIU will commit to supporting. If the SEIU were serious about saying that ICE should focus on "wage and hour" violations they would have supported the Postville raid, which uncovered tens of thousands of child labor and other violations. December 15, 2009
Guest Worker Advocates Won't Talk About Unemployment Elizabeth Chavez writes in favor of expanding the H-2B program in the Houston Examiner. Like most advocates for expanding guest worker programs, Chavez does not mention unemployment in her commentary. "The process of obtaining lawful status for non-professional workers without university degrees is a very cumbersome, if not almost impossible process. Current immigration laws favor giving lawful status only to immigrants, who possess a university education," Chavez says. This is true, but only for employment based immigration. There is no educational qualification for family-based immigration, which takes a large share of legal immigrant visas each year. December 15, 2009
Supreme Court Accepts Immigration Case The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to deportations for immigrants convicted of misdemeanor drug offenses. Some judges have ruled that two such convictions count as an aggravated felony, which means these immigrants can be deported. December 14, 2009
H-1B Numbers Surprise Given High Unemployment The H-1B visa cap appears to have been hit, meaning all 65,000 capped visas are taken for the year. (Due to a change in the law, some employers are able to continue to hire H-1Bs without regard to the cap.) "The numbers are surprising, considering the state of the economy," Ron Hira, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Rochester Institute of Technology, told SiliconIndia. "With 15.4 million people unemployed in the U.S., employers should be able to find qualified workers here." December 14, 2009
Ohio License Debate Centers on Illegal Immigrants "The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a group representing the Hispanic demographic, is suing Democratic Ohio Governor Ted Strickland in an attempt to stop the state from canceling vehicle registrations for thousands of people who cannot provide proof of legal U.S. residency," OneNewsNow reports. "Ohio is doing the right thing," FAIR media director Ira Mehlman said, "and of course the advocates for the illegal aliens want to ensure that we don't do anything that will inconvenience illegal immigrants, even if it winds up endangering the safety of the public." December 14, 2009
Exec Pleads Guilty in Miss. Hiring Case "Jose Humberto Gonzalez, 45, former personnel director at Howard Industries in Laurel, Miss., pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy related to the company's hiring of undocumented immigrants," the Jackson Free Press reported. Howard Industries was the site of a large raid in 2008, where 600 people were arrested. December 14, 2009
300 Criminal Immigrants Taken Into Custody in CA 300 criminal immigrants were arrested in California last week, part of an operation focusing on finding criminal aliens. "Last year, 136,126 illegal immigrants with criminal records were deported, a record number, officials said. While department officials trumpeted the mass arrests this week, they could not say how many serious criminal offenders who are in the country illegally remain on the streets," the New York Times wrote. December 11, 2009
New Report From FAIR Says Obama Administration Not Serious on Enforcement The Obama Administration has failed in its efforts to secure the border and enforce immigration laws, an anti-illegal immigration group said in a report released Wednesday. "The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington D.C.-based group, says the administration "has systemically dismantled" immigration enforcement since the beginning of the year," the Redlands Daily Facts reported. "Obama has delayed on three occasions a requirement that federal contractors use the E-Verify employment verification system, according to the report." Read FAIR's New Report. December 11, 2009
Rep. Gutierrez Will Introduce Amnesty Bill Next Week "On Tuesday, December 15, Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) will introduce new legislation, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP), to the U.S. House of Representatives," notes a press release today. "The time for waiting is over. This bill will be presented before Congress recesses for the holidays so that there is no excuse for inaction in the New Year," Gutierrez said in the release. December 11, 2009
High Unemployment Will Frame Amnesty Debate "Several studies suggest that among Americans and legal residents, it's mainly those lacking a high school diploma who are competing directly with undocumented immigrants for jobs (and by most estimates, that's less than one out of every 10 U.S. workers)," says Marcelo Balive with New America Media. "Rep. [Lamar] Smith, a fifth-generation Texan and a known Capitol Hill immigration hardliner, asked: 'How can the administration justify giving millions of jobs to illegal immigrants when the economy is struggling with a 10 percent unemployment rate?'" December 11, 2009
Let's Give the Children of Immigrants a Break and Take a Break from Mass Immigration By Ira Mehlman, FAIR Media Director A December 7, 2009, article in the Washington Post offers a troubling profile of the children of Latino immigrants in the United States. They are falling farther and farther behind educationally and economically. "Second-generation Latinos have the highest high school dropout rate - one in seven - of any U.S.-born racial or ethnic group and the highest teen pregnancy rate. These Latinos also receive far fewer college degrees and make significantly less money than non-Hispanic whites and other second-generation immigrants," reports the Post. The paper goes on to note that given the magnitude of immigration to this country in recent decades, the success or failure of the next generation is of vital importance to all Americans. "Whether they succeed will have consequences far beyond immigrant circles," states the article. These are precisely the concerns that FAIR has expressed ever since the organization was founded in 1979. Making sure that the children and grandchildren of immigrants succeed in our society has been the stated objective of FAIR's calls for a time out from mass immigration. While FAIR and others in the immigration reform movement are repeatedly accused of being "anti-immigrant," the reverse is true. Taking a break from the excessive levels of immigration we've witnessed over the past several decades would be the most pro-immigrant policy this country could implement. We need to reduce the dropout rate among the children of Latino immigrants because doing so is good for everyone. But how do we address the needs of kids who are falling behind at the same time that we are adding millions more through our immigration policies? How do we boost the incomes of second generation Latinos when, as the so-called immigrant advocacy groups insist, we add millions of new workers to compete with them? Assimilating immigrants and their children and grandchildren into the educational and economic mainstream has never been an easy or quick process. As the Post notes, "to be truly guaranteed a middle-class lifestyle, second-generation Latinos need at least a bachelor's degree - a feat that the last major wave of immigrants, from Eastern and Southern Europe, took three or four generations to achieve." What has changed significantly since the experience of the last major wave of immigration is that a bachelor's degree has, in most cases, become a prerequisite to achieving middle class status. Earlier waves of immigrants and their descendants first achieved middle class status. Only once they got a firm foothold in the middle class did their kids and grandkids begin routinely earning college degrees. The jobs that allowed previous waves of immigrants to achieve middle class status without a strong education are quickly disappearing. The age of the highly paid, unionized, assembly line worker in the United States is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Those workers have been replaced by highly sophisticated machines, or low-wage immigrant workers, or the jobs themselves have been outsourced. Having acknowledged that the children of the largest group of immigrants to the United States are not faring well, the question is what do we do next? For the elitist media, the congressional leadership and the Obama administration the choices are limited to:
Or, we could try something not on the above list of options: Reduce our immigration intake and get to work on the critical challenge of making sure that the children and grandchildren of recent immigrants have a chance to succeed in American society, because all of us have a stake in their success. December 10, 2009
Why Amnesty Is A Security Threat Mike Cutler with Family Security Matters explains why amnesty would be a benefit to terrorist organizations seeking to harm the U.S. "The commentary I wrote yesterday related to a United States citizen who exploited his citizenship in our nation by seeking to identify potential terrorist targets overseas. In that case, an individual by the name of Headley, was apparently linked to the horrific terrorist attack that was carried out in Mumbai, India," Cutler says. "Today, the Washington Times published a news report about how Pakistan has arrested five United States citizens who are believed to have been involved in terrorism overseas, once again, this time, purportedly in Pakistan." December 10, 2009
Denver University Group Recommends Immigration System Revamp "The 20-member University of Denver Strategic Issues Panel on Immigration made 25 specific recommendations for the creation of an immigration architecture that could guide comprehensive immigration reform efforts in its report Architecture for Immigration Reform: Fitting the Pieces of Public Policy," Homeland Security Today reports. "Desirable immigration regulations then should support five policy areas: national security, social vitality, economic enhancement, family unification, and refugee concerns." December 10, 2009
Napolitano Reiterates Amnesty Push at Congressional Hearing to Applause from Open Border Groups DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano reiterated the Obama administration's intent to push for an amnesty next year at a Congressional hearing this week. Napolitano repeated her earlier arguments that enforcement alone was not a solution to the problem of illegal immigration. Frank Sharry with America's Voice said, "We are encouraged by the Administration's continued commitment to advancing immigration reform next year, as well as Senator Leahy's remarks and the work of other Congressional champions such as Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) who are gearing up for early action in 2010." December 10, 2009
SF Sanctuary Law Goes Into Effect; Mayor Vows to Ignore Council San Francisco's new sanctuary law, passed over a veto by Mayor Gavin Newsom, went into effect today. But the measure's sponsor, Supervisor David Campos said he had no word from city agencies that they were going to put it into effect. Newsom has said he intends to ignore the law because it conflicts with federal immigration law regarding reporting illegal aliens; last week the local U.S. attorney issued an opinion that local officials who complied with the law risked prosecution. December 10, 2009
Help FAIR Ensure That Illegal Aliens Won't Be Able to Access Taxpayer-Funded Benefits The Senate is currently considering the health care reform bill (H.R. 3590). As FAIR's Legislative Analysis concludes:
December 09, 2009
New Ad from the Coalition for the American Worker With the highest unemployment in 25 years, why is our government still importing 1.5 million foreign workers every year? The Coalition for the American Worker (CFAW), of which FAIR is a leading member, started running this new ad yesterday in Roll Call, Politico, and The Hill. Make sure to pass this ad on to anyone you know, and add it to your blogs and emails as a link.
December 09, 2009
Ohio Marriage Fraud Ring Uncovered Nine people were arrested as part of an investigation into an Ohio marriage fraud ring. Each fraudulent marriage netted the conspirators $17,000, according to the U.S. Attorney. December 09, 2009
Pat Buchanan: Why No Discussion of Immigration at Jobs Summit? Pat Buchanan says the best option for a job stimulus - an immigration moratorium - wasn't discussed at President Obama's job summit. "We have been losing jobs every month for two years. Why, then, are we still bringing immigrants into the United States at a rate of 125,000 a month to take jobs from fellow Americans and compete with our unemployed for the jobs that open up?" December 09, 2009
Census Will Show Impact of Immigration "A steady flow of new immigrants is providing a late-decade population boost to major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Miami, New York and Los Angeles, whose states are seeking to stem declines before the 2010 census," the AP says. "An analysis by the Brookings Institution think tank finds immigration is buoying many of the nation's larger cities. New York and Los Angeles picked up 1.1 million and 815,000 immigrants since 2000, respectively, and together account for one-fourth of the foreign-born arrivals." December 09, 2009
Obama Administration Readies Amnesty Push "The Obama administration has pledged to pursue immigration legislation early in 2010. The administration's renewed commitment to action was teed up in a recent speech by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who declared victory on securing our Southern border," notes James R. Edwards at HumanEvents.com December 09, 2009
Just In - Sec. Napolitano to Testify Before Senate Judiciary Committee this Morning Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will be testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee at 10:00 AM this morning. The hearing will be Webcast and is accessible here. December 08, 2009
The Obama Administration's Phantom Enforcement Policy FAIR media director Ira Mehlman tells Townhall.com readers that the Obama administration is long on talk but short on action when it comes to immigration enforcement. "Speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Nov. 13, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared victory over illegal immigration and announced that the Obama administration is ready to move forward with a mass amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens already living in the United States . . . If Rep. Joe Wilson had been in attendance to hear Secretary Napolitano's CAP speech he might well have had a few choice comments to offer. But since he wasn't, we will have to rely on the Department of Homeland Security's own data to assess the veracity of Napolitano's claims." December 08, 2009
Health Bill Loophole Benefits Illegal Immigrants Onenewsnow interviews FAIR spokesman Ira Mehlman about a loophole in proposed health care legislation that would let illegal immigrants get government subsidized health insurance. "The problem is that the verification procedures for proving eligibility are very lax," says Mehlman. "And in fact, all somebody has to do is make a claim to citizenship and that pretty much gets them into the system. It doesn't require the more stringent verification procedures that are already in place and being used successfully in many other government programs." December 08, 2009
Illegal Immigrants Caught in Postville Raid May Finally Get Deported With dismissal of immigration charges against Sholom Rubashkin, illegal immigrants who expected to stay in the U.S. to testify at the trial are now facing deportation. "Federal agents returned Tepaz and other former workers to Postville in November 2008 so they could testify against Rubashkin in his 72-count Immigration trial," the Chicago Tribune reports. "When the Immigration charges were dropped, prosecutors no longer needed the immigrant witnesses, who now face deportation. The immigrants were given temporary work visas while they waited to testify in the trial, and eventually returned to Agriprocessors." December 08, 2009
Border Patrol Drones Added to California Border The Border Patrol is adding a unit of Predator unmanned drones to patrol the California border for illegal entry. Drones are used on the Texas and Arizona border currently. December 07, 2009
Tancredo Files for Colorado E-Verify Proposition Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo has begun campaigning for a ballot proposition in Colorado that would require businesses to use E-Verify. "The Tancredo proposal faces a number of hurdles before the measure can be placed on the 2010 Colorado Initiative Ballot, the most important of which will be fundraising. Clearly, Tancredo will not be able to look to the corporate community for support. Instead he might well consider quietly reaching out to organized labor and their supporters using the same very persuasive arguments that they put forward when the idea was theirs alone," says Richard Blake of the Examiner. December 07, 2009
Second Generation Immigrants Doing Poorly "Not since the last great wave of immigration to the United States around 1900 has the country's economic future been so closely entwined with the generational progress of an immigrant group. And so far, on nearly every measure, the news is troubling," says the Washington Post in a story on second generation immigrants from Latin America. "Second-generation Latinos have the highest high school dropout rate -- one in seven -- of any U.S.-born racial or ethnic group and the highest teen pregnancy rate. These Latinos also receive far fewer college degrees and make significantly less money than non-Hispanic whites and other second-generation immigrants." December 07, 2009
ICE Detention Numbers Released "The number of individuals held in custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the just-ended FY 2009 is now estimated to have reached 369,483 detainees, more than twice what the total was in FY 1999," says the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). December 07, 2009
Migration Talks With Cuba Postponed "A U.S. State Department official told The Associated Press on Friday that both sides intend to continue holding periodic negotiations on immigration issues twice a year, but that bureaucratic concerns derailed talks that had been scheduled for early December in Havana," the AP reported. "Cuban officials say they have made concrete proposals to the United States to hold talks on counternarcotics, disaster preparedness and other issues -- but have not heard back. Washington, in turn, says Cuba has done little to inspire confidence that it will allow social, political or economic changes -- something the U.S. said is a prerequisite to moving forward." December 03, 2009
Is SEIU Funneling Cash from Illegal Immigrants Into U.S. Elections? Breitbart.tv has a story today on the political activity by SEIU (Service Employees International Union) which has many illegal immigrant members. December 03, 2009
AZ Company Pays Close to $1 Million Over H-2A Guest Worker Violations Eurofresh, Inc. agreed to pay $937,000 in back wages to 587 U.S. workers after a Department of Labor investigation found violations of hiring practices under the H-2A agricultural guest worker program. "The violations cited include illegally terminating 527 U.S. workers and failing to notify the local employment office of the action; failing to provide pay or work for three-quarters of the required time period to 45 U.S. workers; failing to offer housing to 80 U.S. workers; and making illegal paycheck deductions from 82 U.S. workers. The employer also failed to provide more than 800 U.S. workers with copies of the H-2A work contract or job order which provides workers with the terms and conditions of their employment," a press release from DOL said. December 03, 2009
Denver May Make Random Contractor Checks After Illegal Workers Found The City of Denver will make random checks of city contractors after illegal workers were found on several city job sites. Colorado has an E-verify requirement, but the contractor found hiring illegal aliens had escaped through several loopholes in the law. December 03, 2009
9th Circuit Rules Against Mass Immigration Hearings The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against mass hearings for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border illegally. "In a 19-page ruling, U.S. Circuit Judge John T. Noonan, said the mass hearings were understandable, given the number of immigration cases," the AP reported. "Abstractly considered, the shortcut is not only understandable but reasonable," Noonan's ruling said. "The shortcut, however, does not comply with Rule 11. We cannot permit this rule to be disregarded in the name of efficiency nor to be violated because it is too demanding for a district court to observe." December 03, 2009
Another Legal Victory in Arizona, Notification Law Upheld Arizona's Supreme Court refused an appeal of a law requiring public employers to report all illegal immigrants they come in contact with. The law makes non-compliance or willful ignorance a misdemeanor. December 02, 2009
Immigration and Employment Report Fails the Acid Test With the economy in the state it is, the Migration Policy Institute has issued a report arguing that amnesty would be economically beneficial. "Illegal immigration's overall impact on the U.S. economy is negligible, despite clear benefits for employers and unauthorized immigrants and slightly depressed wages for low-skilled native workers, according to a report by a University of California, San Diego economist released today by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI)," says MPI in a press release. (Read the full entry for video) What is most interesting is that even this study, which claims that there is an overall economic benefit to illegal immigration, finds that U.S. workers lose when immigrant workers take jobs here. "Small losses are felt, however, by native-born low-skilled workers who compete with unauthorized immigrants," MPI admits. There is one word missing from MPI's release - unemployment. Take a look at this Youtube video showing unemployment from June 2007 (when the last amnesty bill was debated) to this year. The amnesty lobby has gone dangerously around the bend when they think that - in the face of 10 percent unemployment, and almost 20 percent underemployment - they can put out a study that basically says all the gains from illegal immigrant labor go to those illegal workers and their employers and expect to have a policy impact. Will all of the legal workers now trying to get day labor jobs be as accepting of MPI's reasoning that their unemployment is a net benefit for the economy? December 02, 2009
Why Health Reform Must Include Verification Homeland Security Today covers the debate about verifying eligibility for health care benefits under legislation being debated in Congress. HST notes the debate centers around not just direct benefits, but access to the health care exchange, which would allow people to buy insurance policies at the best price possible. "The bill has matured to a point now where allowing the illegal aliens access is not an administrative oversight. It is clearly a deliberate attempt to include them," FAIR communications director Bob Dan told HST. December 02, 2009
Hispanic Voters Want Illegal Aliens to Get Free Health Care? A new poll released this week shows growing support among registered Hispanic voters for expanded public health care coverage, including free health care for illegal aliens. December 01, 2009
Reapportionment Looms As Census Gears Up Congressional Quarterly Politics blog has a post about the possible direction reapportionment will take given what they project as the likely outcome of the 2010 Census. "The seat shifts next year will continue those [demographic] trends. Under any scenario envisioned by EDS, Texas will be the biggest winner, with four more House seats -- a consequence of the state's burgeoning Hispanic population; the government estimates that 63 percent of the 3.4 million new residents in the state this decade are Latino. Hispanic population growth is the reason the only other state in line for more than one new House seat is Arizona; if its delegation grows to 10, from the current eight, that will be a doubling just since the 1980s." December 01, 2009
Bonnie Erbe: Thinking About Warming and Population Growth Bonnie Erbe writes at Politics Daily that while President Obama is talking about reducing C02 emissions, he won't address the main driver of increases in greenhouse gas emissions - population growth. Erbe says that a coalition of groups invested in mass immigration has curtailed public discussion on the merits of unlimited population growth in the U.S. December 01, 2009
H-1B Debate Flares After Obama Meeting With Indian Leader Last week's meeting between President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh provided the opportunity for both sides of the H-1B debate to make their case. Eweek has a roundup of the arguments pro and con at their site. December 01, 2009
Health Legislation Won't Block Employer Coverage for Illegal Immigrants House and Senate legislation dealing with health care provided by employers currently does not have provisions for screening for employees who are illegally working. The Washington Times details the latest findings about how health care proposals in Congress could benefit illegal workers. December 01, 2009
New from FAIR: The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Marylanders In 2008, the foreign-born population in Maryland represented nearly one in every eight residents (12.4%), and illegal aliens constituted more than one-third of that immigrant population. This illegal immigrant population costs the state's taxpayers more than $1.4 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. The annual fiscal burden amounts to about $790 per Maryland household headed by a native-born resident. Click here to download this new cost study from FAIR's research department. |
Roll Call article referring to Rep. Gutierrez's comments during the unveiling of his massive amnesty bill. . . "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is "a wonderful, consistent ally" who walks with "a new step when she talks about immigration, a new energy, a new vigor. ... She seems awfully optimistic ... in all of her body language to us." 
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