Blogs for Borders

Janet Napolitano's Border Patrol Priorities

2013-05-17T15:36:00.002-05:00

Submitted by Velcro, crossposted at Conservative Observer AZ.

Those of you who have been here before know that I tend to champion Border Patrol agents, who are frequently stuck between political divisions, the law, the cartels, Eric Holder, and their (lack of ) high level leadership.

Asked about morale and Great Moments in her career as Secretary of the DHS, Napolitano's answers aligns with her boss, the President. The characterization of President Obama and his cabinet members as lying cheats who are out to destroy the Constitution, line their pockets, and hose the American people remains.

The Border Patrol, Local 2544, Tucson Sector, reports on a video conference call where the Boss met with the troops. Here it is, presented in it's entirety, with no additional emphasis on my part.

Priorities

Real leadership you cannot depend on.

"It is great to have a “leader” with her priorities in the right place. During a video-conference session yesterday with agents and managers, Secretary Napolitano once again showed how out of touch she is with the rank-and-file employees who make DHS run.

"In response to a question about the low morale problem in CBP, she answered with a laugh “My morale is high.” Her dismissive comment is simply stunning, but unfortunately, it is typical of the way she has run things.

"Asked about her most memorable moment as DHS Secretary, she said something even more stunning. She said her most memorable moment as DHS Secretary was the time she threw out a first pitch at a Yankees game. This pretty much says it all. She revels in her “celebrity” while leading the largest law-enforcement agency in the history of this nation and the most memorable thing she has done is throwing a pitch at a baseball game. Not attending a funeral of a murdered agent, not meeting with the families of murdered agents, not anything to do with her job (outside her “celebrity” status), but throwing a pitch at a baseball game.

"And please don’t think these were just spontaneous comments. All questions had to be submitted days beforehand so she could select the questions she wanted to answer. This was a scripted publicity stunt designed to show she is “connecting” with agents.

"We have begged for real leadership in this Agency for years, and it’s become painfully apparent that nobody cares. It is more important to lie to the American people about how secure the borders are and to push for another amnesty program than it is to be a real leader of a law-enforcement agency.

NBPC representatives have attended musters and meetings with thousands of agents. We engage in the tough questions. We don’t hide behind some sort of imagined “celebrity” status. We don’t believe rank-and-file agents give one hoot about Napolitano throwing out some ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game. We care about border security, being allowed to do our jobs, being able to take care of our families, getting the equipment and support we need. And we continue to dream about having a real leader who we can respect and trust."

How much longer will the American people allow Obama and his band of thugs and mobsters to rape, pillage, and party at our expense?

Tags: Janet Napolitano, DHS, Border Patrol, Local 2544, Obama, Cabinet, NPBC. To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Only 38% Think Immigration Reform Law Even Somewhat Likely to Pass This Year

2013-05-08T21:43:00.000-05:00

In reviewing the following poll results, consider that the issue is that the majority of the voters don't want the overhaul of the Immigration laws. They want the enforcement of the immigration laws, especially with respect to the deportation of all illegals committing crimes and collecting benefits from the taxes paid by legal workers and legal businesses in the USA.

Rasmussen Reports: Voters aren’t overly optimistic that Congress will pass an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws this year. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% of Likely U.S. Voters think it’s at least somewhat likely that the House and Senate will pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation and it will be signed into law by President Obama this year. But 52% consider that unlikely. This includes just eight percent (8%) who say major immigration reform is Very Likely this year and 15% who say it’s Not At All Likely. Ten percent (10%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Tags: poll, Rasmussen Reports, Immigration change, amnesty, illegal aliens To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Net Annual Fiscal Deficit for Unlawful Immigrant Households

2013-05-07T10:22:00.000-05:00

Heritage Foundation Report:: The net fiscal deficit of a household equals the cost of benefits and services received minus taxes paid. As Chart 6 shows, when the costs of direct and means-tested benefits, education, and population-based services are counted, the average unlawful immigrant household had a fiscal deficit of $14,387 (government expenditures of $24,721 minus $10,334 in taxes) in 2010.

For the average unlawful immigrant household to become fiscally solvent, with taxes paid equaling immediate benefits received, it would be necessary to increase the household’s tax payments to 240 percent of current levels. Alternatively, unlawful immigrant households could become solvent only if all means-tested welfare and nearly all public education benefits were eliminated.

Tags: Heritage Foundation, Unlawful Households, illegal aliens, fiscal deficit, data, amnesty, illegal aliens To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Demographics of U.S. Households in 2010 - Unlawful & Legal and Non-Immigrant Households

2013-05-07T09:45:00.000-05:00

Heritage Foundation Report: In 2010, 3.44 million such households appeared in the CPS. These households contained 12.7 million persons including 7.4 million adults and 5.3 million children. Among the children, some 930,000 were unlawful immigrants, and 4.4 million were native-born or lawful immigrants.

Table 2 shows the characteristics of unlawful immigrant households in comparison to non-immigrant and lawful immigrant households. Unlawful immigrant households are larger than other households, with an average of 3.7 persons per household compared to 2.5 persons in non-immigrant households.[8]

Unlawful immigrant households have more wage earners per household: 1.6 compared to 1.2 among non-immigrant households. However, the average earnings per worker are dramatically lower in unlawful immigrant households: $24,791 per worker compared to $43,413 in non-immigrant households. Contrary to conventional wisdom, non-elderly adult unlawful immigrants are not more likely to work than are similar non-immigrants.

The heads of unlawful immigrant households are younger, with a median age of 34 compared to 50 among non-immigrant householders. Partly because they are younger, unlawful immigrant households have more children, with an average of 1.6 children per household compared to 0.6 among non-immigrant households. The higher number of children tends to raise governmental costs among unlawful immigrant households. (Both lawful and unlawful children in unlawful immigrant households are eligible for public education, and the large number of children who were born in the U.S. are also eligible for means-tested welfare benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance Program benefits.)

By contrast, there are very few elderly persons in unlawful immigrant households. Only 1.1 percent of persons in those households are over 65 years of age compared to 13.7 percent of persons in non-immigrant households. The absence of elderly persons in unlawful immigrant households significantly reduces current government costs; however, if unlawful immigrants remain in the U.S. permanently, the number who are elderly will obviously increase significantly.

Unlawful immigrant households are far more likely to be poor. Over one-third of unlawful immigrant households have incomes below the federal poverty level compared to 18.8 percent of lawful immigrant households and 13.6 percent of non-immigrant households.

Tags: Heritage Foundation, demographics, Unlawful Households, illegal aliens, Lawful immigrants, non-immigrant, data, amnesty, illegal aliens To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Characteristics of the unlawful immigrant population

2013-05-07T09:16:00.000-05:00

Heritage Foundation Report: The characteristics of the unlawful immigrant population are shown in text Table 1. In 2010, there were 11.5 million unlawful immigrants in the U.S. Some 10.34 million of these appeared in the annual Current Population Survey and were identified by the residual method described above. Following the DHS estimate, an additional 1.15 million unlawful immigrants were assumed to reside in the U.S. but not to appear in Census surveys.

As Table 1 shows, 84 percent of unlawful immigrants came from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central or South America; 11 percent came from Asia; and 5 percent came from the rest of the world. Unlawful immigrants were almost equally split by gender: 54 percent were males, and 46 percent were females.

Characteristics of Unlawful Immigrants and Unlawful Immigrant Households
Any analysis of the fiscal costs of unlawful immigration must deal with the fact that a great many unlawful immigrants are parents of U.S.-born children. For example, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that in 2010, there were 5.5 million children residing in the U.S. who have unlawful immigrant parents. Among these children, some 1 million were born abroad and were brought into the U.S. unlawfully; the remaining 4.5 million were born in the U.S. and are treated under law as U.S. citizens. Overall, some 8 percent of the children born in the U.S. each year have unlawful immigrant parents.

The presence of these 4 million native-born children with unlawful immigrant parents is a direct result of unlawful immigration. These children would not reside in the U.S. if their parents had not chosen to enter and remain in the nation unlawfully. Obviously, any analysis of the fiscal cost of unlawful immigration must therefore include the costs associated with these children, because those costs are a direct and inevitable result of the unlawful immigration of the parents. The costs would not exist in the absence of unlawful immigration.

Tags: Heritage Foundation, characteristics, illegal aliens, data, image To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

$6.3 Trillion - The Fiscal Cost to Taxpayers for Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty

2013-05-07T08:37:00.000-05:00

The Heritage Foundation's new report estimates that an amnesty like the Gang of Eight's immigration bill offers would cost U.S. taxpayers $6.3 trillion. View the report.

Tags: Hertitage Foundation, cost to American taxpayers, amnesty, illegal aliens To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Amnesty Bill is a Massive Multi-Million Dollar Fraud

2013-05-05T13:24:00.000-05:00

By Alan Caruba, Warning Signs: Native-born and naturalized Americans who are currently seeking work are already competing with illegal immigrants—a term that the Associated Press says it will no longer use—or standing in line behind them as they sign up for all manner of welfare benefits. The official estimate of the number of illegal aliens—oops, undocumented aliens—in the nation is estimated to be eleven million, but if the “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill becomes law, it will act as a magnet to attract millions more.

As Roy Beck, the founder and president of NumbersUSA, points out, “If Congress passes the Senate Gang of Eight bill, it would be like re-creating ALL of the Top 20 cities in the United States, filling them entirely with foreign citizens and giving them lifetime work permits to compete with America’s struggling workers—in just ten years’ time.”

NumbersUSA analysts spent two weeks reading the 844-page bill, concluding that 33 million lifetime work permits would be given to foreign citizens in the first decade if the bill passes. A revised bill has 867 pages and, according to a Daily Caller article, “contains 999 references to waivers, exemptions, and political discretion”, more even than Obamacare.

That’s a lot of competition for jobs and it will hit those graduating from high school and college the hardest. Right now, the youth unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds is 11.7% and, among them, the African-American cohort’s rate it 20.1% and Hispanics’ rate is 12.6%. An additional 1.7 million young adults are not counted as “unemployed” because they are not in the labor force, meaning that they have given up looking for work due to lack of jobs. Do we really want to add millions of formerly illegal immigrants to the work force at this time?

The Center for Immigration Studies also analyzed the Gang of Eight amnesty bill and discovered that it is essentially a Get Out of Jail card:

The report, by Ronald Mortensen, a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, shows that the token penalties, when they do exist, are not commensurate with the employment-related felonies committed by the majority of illegal aliens, nor are they commensurate with the benefits received by illegal aliens.

Just as unfortunate is the fact that millions of victims of these crimes are ignored while the amnestied illegals are rewarded and even benefit from the so-called penalties, as the monies actually go into a fund that provides services to the very people who paid the "penalties".

“Illegal aliens will be rewarded for breaking laws for which American citizens are routinely punished," said Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies. "For example, an American citizen would face a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for using a fraudulent Social Security card, but under this bill the illegal alien would face a $1,000 penalty covering all his many offenses, a penalty which in many cases will be waived. Then, they would be issued a new Social Security number without any past bad credit or arrest records.”

View the full report at: http://cis.org/immigration-reform-amnesty-illegal-aliens-and-their-employers

Dr. Mortensen discovered the following amnesties for illegal aliens and their employers:
Amnesty for the estimated 75 percent of illegal aliens committing Social Security fraud.

Amnesty from returning to home countries for 10 years before adjusting status.

Amnesty for illegal aliens committing Identity theft.

Amnesty for illegal aliens by officially authorizing them to continue committing identity theft by using fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers belonging to American citizens.

Amnesty for illegal aliens who have committed perjury on I-9 forms.

De-Facto amnesty from the token $1,000 penalty, since it effectively pre-pays services provided to illegal aliens.

Amnesty from existing exclusion, deportation, and removal orders:

While illegal aliens would be granted amnesty for crimes they have committed, government employees who discover Social Security fraud, identity theft, or perjury on I-9 forms while reviewing applications for provisional status would be prohibited from notifying victims, law enforcement, etc. with a threat of a $10,000 penalty. This is 10 times more than the $1,000 penalty paid by an illegal alien who has committed felony identity theft.

Amnesty for employers found to have employed illegal aliens or who are currently employing illegal aliens. Moreover, employers may continue to employ illegal aliens, accept fraudulent Social Security numbers, and renew falsified I-9 forms for those who apply for provisional status.

Amnesty for employers who did not withhold and/or submit payroll taxes for individuals illegally in the United States.

Amnesty for employers who violated labor laws by paying unfair wages, who failed to pay wages, etc.

Amnesty for employers who facilitated Social Security fraud and identity theft by providing or accepting false Social Security numbers.

While employers would be held harmless, government employees who find that employers violated the law while reviewing applications for temporary status would be prohibited from notifying the appropriate law enforcement authorities. If government employees do report tax or labor violations, they could face a fine of $10,000.

Thanks to the passage of Obamacare, the amnesty bill would increase the cost of the nationalized health care system. Betsy McCaughey, the lieutenant governor of New York from 1995 to 1998, in an April 29 letter in The Wall Street Journal, warned that “One looming cost is health care. Under the Obama health law, starting January 1, 2014 legal immigrants will be eligible for subsidized private health plans on the exchanges as soon as they arrive in the U.S.”

“The Senate Gang of Eight’s proposed bill will add $100 billion to the cost of Obamacare’s subsidies over the next decade by doubling the number of legal immigrants entering the country with green cards.” Ms. McCaughey noted that, in 2012, 484,072 immigrants entered that way. “The Gang of Eight plan will push it to about one million. About half of those green card holders will be eligible for the maximum assistance with premiums, subsidies and copays, totaling $9,000 per person, and more than 80% will qualify for at least some taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidy.”

Little known or reported is the fact that the Schumer-Rubio bill includes two “slush funds” amounting to $150 million that would be used to fund groups like La Raza and the American Immigration Lawyers Association with taxpayer money.

The prevailing wisdom is that the amnesty bill will create more Democrat than Republican voters and that is precisely its purpose. Its victims will be every native-born and naturalized citizen paying taxes and trying to cope with a healthcare system that will be on life-support soon enough.

The proposed bill is a massive multi-million fraud. If it passes and is signed into law, the further destruction of America will be accelerated.
------------------
© 2013 Alan Caruba. Alan is a writer by profession; has authored several books, and writes a daily column, "Warning Signs" disseminated on many Internet news and opinion websites and blogs. He is a contributing author at ARRA News Service.

Tags: amnesty, illegal aliens To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Senate Gang of 8 Legislation: AMNESTY NOW, CITIZENSHIP LATER WITHOUT BORDER SECURITY

2013-05-02T12:50:00.000-05:00

by Heritage Action’s Political Director Russ Vought: The Senate will soon consider the so-called “Gang of 8 bill,” a comprehensive package of reforms to the nation’s immigration system. The legislation (S. 744) provides amnesty to roughly 11 million illegal aliens within six months of enactment by granting them temporary legalized status. The Heritage Foundation defines amnesty as follows:

The term “amnesty” is often used loosely with reference to aliens unlawfully in the United States. Sometimes it refers to converting the status of an alien from unlawful to lawful, either without conditions or on a condition such as a payment of a fee to the government. Sometimes it refers to granting lawful authority for an alien unlawfully in the U.S. to remain in the U.S., become a lawful permanent resident, or even acquire citizenship by naturalization, either without conditions or on a condition such as payment of a fee to the government or performance of particular types of work for specified periods. Amnesty comes in many forms, but in all its variations, it discourages respect for the law, treats law-breaking aliens better than law-following aliens, and encourages future unlawful immigration into the United States.Amnesty Now: Within six months, S. 744 affords almost everyone who entered the country illegally prior to 2012, the opportunity to apply for “registered provisional immigrant” (RPI) status. Each individual would be required to loosely demonstrate that they were in the country before 2012 pass a background check, pay a $500 fine and “back taxes” (taxes “assessed” based on submitted tax returns, not all that is owed). They would obtain Social Security numbers, be eligible for drivers’ licenses, and can work freely in the country immediately. The Homeland Security Department (DHS) would only be required to “establish a strategy…to identify where fencing…should be deployed” to achieve operational control over portions of the border (“high-risk sections”). This broad grant of amnesty would include individuals who were previously deported and criminals with up to two misdemeanors (not including the illegal entry).

Citizenship Later: After ten years, these newly legalized aliens will be offered green cards or “legal permanent residency” if they pay a minuscule $1,500 fine. Within three years after receiving a green card, they are eligible for citizenship. The DHS merely has to certify that their strategy to secure the border is substantially deployed in “high-risk areas,” employment-verification is implemented, and a visa exit-entry system is in place at air and seaports (it is not required at land ports). If after five years DHS certifies that the strategy is not achieved, a border commission is formed to set forth “specific recommendations for policies for achieving and maintaining the border security goals, ” but these one-time recommendations have no binding effect. Hence, actual border security is never a precondition to legalization—temporary or permanent.

Tags: immigration reform, Gang of 8, amnesty now, citizenship later, no border security, illegal aliens To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

¡NO RECONQUISTA! - Stop Racial Profiling!

2013-04-10T22:54:00.003-05:00

Submitted by Velcro; crossposted at Conservative Observer AZ.

I got an interesting comment on a previous post where I encourage readers to support the U.S. Border Patrol. It's reprinted below in its entirety with permission from the commenter. But first, let's set the stage.

Back on the eve of last November's election, I posted a plea for "the masses", especially minorities, to break free from the chains of liberal stereotyping. My point at that time was to get the Hispanic population to take a long look at the differences between Gabriela Saucedo Mercer and Raul "Boycott Arizona" Grijalva.

Grijalva, of course, is one of the most progressive liberals in Congress. He loves to play the role of Hero to the Downtrodden Masses, especially Hispanics with whom he identifies. (The same is true for Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, and the other rich, fat cats of the liberal elite.)

But he can only be the Hero for as long as the victims remain victims. When victims are no longer downtrodden, oppressed and poor there is no need for a Hero. So for Mr. Boycott to continue being the Hero, he must keep the downtrodden, oppressed and poor in that same state. That is part of the insidiousness of liberal business as usual.

It is for exactly that reason that the liberal media show parades of Hispanics in monolithic solidarity supporting things like amnesty for illegal aliens (phrase licensed for AP use only), who are constantly being abused by the likes of Joe Arpaio.

All Hispanics must be seen as Democrat, pro-amnesty, and fiercely protective of a culture that has been twisted to portray them as downtrodden, oppressed, and poor.

Enter my commenter.

"Anonymous April 4, 2013 at 8:50 PM

Hi! I don`t know how many people read this, but here is something that has been bothering us.

I am an American of Hispanic descent. And of course my family is too.
Just about all of us are against ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.

Most of us have been personally affected by an illegal immigrant and all in a negative way.
When the media describes hispanic activists calling for reform, most hispanic Americans do not agree.

We also know that these 'activists' are here from other places and are all in support of
RECONQUISTA.

Reconquista is the main reason they are calling for this reform.

This needs to be told to all of our fellow Americans, as Reconquista is as bad as National Socialism.

Thank you for your time.
BCAZ, USAF Vet"

Thank you, Anonymous, for your service to your country, and for your courage to speak truth.

Tags: Reconquista, Hispanics, liberal politics, minorities, Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, Raul Grijalva, illegal immigration, border patrol, Joe Arpaio racial stereotyping, racial profiling. To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Border Agents: Illegal Aliens Doubling – Tripling Since Amnesty Talks

2013-04-02T16:57:00.000-05:00

Maggie's Notebook: Since the Gang of 8 began their exploration of how to dupe the American people into accepting “comprehensive immigration reform” by saying first the border must be secure, with no way of proving it has been done, border patrol agents are saying the “number of illegal aliens double, maybe even triple since amnesty talk started happening.”

Click Photo for More Information

Data obtained by Townhall and reported within CBP from February 5 through March 1, 2013 shows 504 illegal aliens were spotted exploiting the Tucson/Nogales area, 189 were caught on CBP intelligence cameras. Of those 504, only 174 were apprehended and 32 of the 189 on camera were carrying large drug load packs for Mexican cartels. Some were armed with AK-47 style weapons.

Last week, Fox News reported sections of the border will soon become unpatrolled as hours for on-the-ground agents are cut. Townhall has learned Border Patrol agents working the border have been fully funded, yet internal political battles within CBP may be causing funds to be funneled to managers, rather than those getting their boots dirty on patrols.

“Customs and Border Protection has been given enough money to fully staff the border but has chosen to use the money elsewhere, we believe it is to fund the salaries of Supervisory CBP Officers. [Read More]

Tags: borders, illegal aliens, increasing, amnesty talks To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Local 2544: Furlough and AUO Decertification on Hold

2013-04-02T02:26:00.002-05:00

Submitted by Velcro, crossposted at Conservative Observer AZ.
This from Local 2544 today:

"A memo is coming out today notifying everyone that the furlough days and AUO decert is being placed on hold until the agency can figure out how to fix their budget mess with the new funding that was recently approved by Congress... On the same day that David Aguilar is no longer with us we get some good news on border security and the delay in pay cuts."

A small victory in a skirmish - perhaps temporary - but the war continues. Conservative Observer AZ is firmly convinced that public pressure that focuses on the U.S. Border Patrol can accomplish good things.

Public support for the Border Patrol can help boost the morale of those whose dedication to protect their country in spite of the Federal government keeps them driving hours to their station day after day, for a job for which they receive little thanks.
It holds the Federal government accountable for upholding the rule of law.
Keeping the Border Patrol in the center of attention helps keep the realities of the invasion from the south side-by-side in stark contrast to the ivory tower dreamers in Washington. This occurs two ways:
One is by highlighting the high level of danger along the border that occasionally leads to loss of life - on all sides.
The second is drawing attention to the large quantity of drugs that cross the border, paving the way for increasing drug cartel influence in the United States.
Finally, public support for the U.S. Border Patrol can help put them in the proper light: They save lives by rescuing abandoned men, women, and children in the searing desert. The Border Patrol is not the tool of racist policy.

Tags: Furlough, Border Patrol, AUO decertification, public support, Local 2544 To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Immigration (Virtual Town Hall meeting - Redlands, CA)

2013-04-01T18:14:00.000-05:00

by Bill Whittle: Virtual President Bill Whittle takes a question on immigration at a Virtual Town Hall meeting located not far from the Mexican border.

Tags: immigration, illegals, Bill Whittle, town hall, virtual president To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Stop the ObamaCare Approach to Immigration!

2013-03-28T21:35:00.000-05:00

By Eagle Forum: Just as Nancy Pelosi declared that House of Representatives had to pass ObamaCare in order to find out what is in it, the amnesty advocates are urging passage of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” before Americans have a chance to find out what is in it.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham told a reporter with the Associated Press that he wanted an amnesty bill fast-tracked through the Senate, because he knows the American people oppose it. Graham told the reporter, “You don’t want to leave it hanging out for two weeks to get shot up.”

Yesterday, we learned that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy declared that he absolutely intends to rush through an amnesty bill. Leahy’s letter came in response to Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions’ letter, urging Leahy to conduct open and transparent reform proceedings and to allow proper time for hearings and debate.

Leahy responded to Sessions’ letter with a long, rambling tantrum declaring his support for comprehensive immigration reform, stating that any effort to slow the process would be labeled “obstructionism,” and indicating that the Senate has held enough hearings on the issue and if any of the more junior Senators are having difficulty getting up to speed on the issue, they should talk to him.

Leahy also cited the recent “GOP autopsy,” which is the subject of Phyllis’ column this week, in his intemperate response to Sessions, declaring his encouragement that the RNC has stated in the recent “autopsy” that Republicans must embrace Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

The grassroots are hearing one insult after another from both sides of the aisle. Now more than ever, we must make our voices heard!

Please, tell your friends and neighbors and be sure your Senators are hearing from their colleagues that we will not accept a rushed-through amnesty bill!

Take Action

Please take a moment to call or visit your Senators at their local offices while they are home for Easter recess. If they are having town hall meetings or similar forums, we need you to attend and to tell them to take a stand against amnesty. It was the grassroots that rose up and stopped a similar attempt at amnesty in 2006, and we can do it again! Click here to find your Senators’ closest local offices.

Tags: obamacare approach, to illegals, amnesty, illegal aliens To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Show Your Support For the U.S. Border Patrol!!!

2013-03-27T01:17:00.002-05:00

Download and spread far and wide!

If you've been paying attention, you know that the sequester cuts have been the excuse the Department of Homeland Security has been looking for to cut allocations to the U.S. Border Patrol. Yes, those folks, the ones who have the thankless (and now seemingly payless) job of stopping the flood of ~~Democratic voters~~ illegal aliens into southern Arizona.

Local 2544, the Border Patrol union for the Tucson sector, has announced that the union has authorized the patch shown below to be worn on agents' uniforms as a way to protest the nearly 40% pay cut from discontinued AUO, cut uniform allowances (in the face of TSA getting a $50 million windfall for new unis), and reductions in salary.

The original Border Patrol uniform patch.

The massive team that works day in and day out to bring you the pearls of wisdom found here at Conservative Observer AZ decided to show their support for our agents by taking the liberty of adding a few touches to the original patch. The gang felt that this was a case where it is better to ask forgiveness than permission, and we hope that the union sees it in the spirit it which it was intended! [read: Neither the U.S. Border Patrol nor its agent unions are responsible for the atrocious artistic talent on display in the modified version of their patch.]

You too can show solidarity with the plight of the Border Patrol by downloading and proudly displaying the first logo above! Encourage others to steal it, and let David Aguilar, Janet Napolitano, and Barack Hussein Obama know that funding needs to be restored to protect our country!

Submitted by Velcro and crossposted at Conservative Observer AZ.

Tags: Local 2544, Border Patrol, AUO, sequester cuts, Border Patrol patch, Department of Homeland Security, David Aguilar, Janet Napolitano, Barack Hussein Obama. To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

An Illegal Poem

2013-03-25T21:13:00.000-05:00

Join us for Discussions on
the Blogs For Borders group

by Illegal Immigrants:

I cross river, poor and broke,
Take bus, see employment folk.

Nice man treat me good in there,
Say I need go see Welfare.

Welfare say, 'You come no more,
We send cash right to your door.'

Welfare checks, they make you wealthy,
Medicaid it keep you healthy!

By and by, Got plenty money,
Thanks to you, TAXPAYER dummy.

Write to friends in motherland,
Tell them 'come, fast as you can'

They come in buses and Ford trucks,
I buy big house with welfare bucks.

They come here, we live together,
More welfare checks, it gets better!

Fourteen families, they moving in,
But neighbor's patience wearing thin.

Finally, white guy moves away,
I buy his house, and then I say,

'Find more aliens for house to rent.'
In my yard I put a tent.

Send for family they just trash,
But they, too, draw welfare cash!

Everything is very good,
Soon we own whole neighborhood..

We have hobby, it called breeding,
Welfare pay for baby feeding.

Kids need dentist? Wife need pills?
We get free! We got no bills!

TAXPAYER crazy! He pay all year,
To keep welfare running here.

We think America darn good place!
Too darn good for white man race.

If they no like us, they can go,
Got lots of room in Mexico.
-----------------
Submitted by a concerned citizen!

Tags: illegal poem, poem, illegals, illegal aliens, amnesty To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Rules for Addressing Amnesty

2013-03-20T14:59:00.000-05:00

by Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum Republicans are getting a lot of unsolicited advice about how to recover from last year’s defeat, and most of it is either ignorant or coming from people who don’t have Republican Party victories in their game plan. One of the worst of these bits of advice is that Republicans should join a bipartisan push for immigration amnesty.

Amnesty advocates shrink from using the word amnesty and try hard to shroud their message in deceptive words. So let’s understand their vocabulary: reform, comprehensive, earned legal status, and path to citizenship are all code words for amnesty.

At the recent conservative jamboree called CPAC, several panels and even star banquet speaker former Florida Governor Jeb Bush tried hard to soften or disguise the fact that their proposals are really amnesty. But conservatives agree with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) that the essence of amnesty is to “reward them with the objective of their crime,” and agree with Ann Coulter who told CPAC that amnesty is “suicidal” for Republicans.

Promises by the amnesty advocates to secure the border after the illegals are granted residency, or even simultaneously, are unacceptable and unbelievable. In the famous words of Yogi Berra, an oral agreement is not worth the paper it is written on.

The American people want the U.S. Government to obey and enforce existing laws. That starts with building a fence on our southern border, which was required by a 2006 federal law, and signed by President George W. Bush in a well-publicized photo op. Instead of building the fence that Congress ordered, the government spent nearly $2 billion building what was called a virtual fence. It didn’t work, and now is being dismantled at additional expense.

Here are the requirements that must be met before we start talking:

First, we want and expect a border fence to be built like the efficient, successful fence that protects the border near San Diego. That means a 12-foot-high double fence with a road in between.

Second, we want enforcement of the entry-exit system, whereby people admitted on visas are tracked to make sure they leave the U.S. when their temporary visit expires. That’s another federal law that has never been enforced.

Third, we want a law that requires employers to use E-Verify for new and current employees. This is as simple as having retailers check your credit card when you make a purchase; just put your credit card or your Social Security number in a machine and you get an immediate answer as to whether it’s valid.

Americans must provide their Social Security number when they apply for a job, and immigrants should not be exempt from laws the rest of us must obey. This simple procedure would identify the illegals and thereby make many jobs available to unemployed Americans.

Fourth, eliminate all schemes for the admittance of guest workers, both the uneducated who take entry-level jobs away from our own high-school dropouts, and the H-1B and other special-purpose visas (a system rife with fraud) who take jobs away from our own college graduates because the big companies prefer to hire lower-paid foreigners.

Fifth, enforce cooperation between federal and state immigration authorities, so when a state picks up an illegal he can be immediately turned over to the feds. This cooperation should also eliminate the so-called Sanctuary Cities, where federal immigration law is ignored.

Sixth, reinstate the rule that was in effect for the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came through Ellis Island. If they had a major disease or failed to provide proof that they would NOT become a public charge, they were sent back to their home country.

Seventh, develop a constructive plan to assimilate the legal immigrants who have come to our country over the last 25 years. This includes using the major way earlier immigrants were assimilated: having their children in public schools taught only in English, and abolishing the unpopular, expensive hiring of teachers of dozens of foreign languages to supervise immigrant kids speaking their native language year after year, never learning English.

Eighth, stop lying to Republicans, falsely telling them that amnesty is the key to increasing their Hispanic vote. There isn’t a shred of evidence to support that notion, and there’s plenty of evidence that amnesty delivers votes to Obama Democrats because, as reported by the Washington Post-Kaiser survey, 67 percent of Hispanics favor a “larger federal government with many services.”

Ninth, stop peddling the false notion that amnesty is the “Christian” thing to do. Amnesty will betray Hispanics because it will open our borders to a flood of new illegals, increase the millions below the poverty line, and make it impossible for legal or assimilated immigrants to achieve the American dream.

Tags: Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum, rules, amnesty, illegal aliens To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Immigration Plan Brings Bad News

2013-03-18T15:23:00.000-05:00

Editor's comment: The following guest column appeared on South Carolina's Greenville Online. Not everyone is S.C. is drinking the Sen. Lindsey Graham Kool-aid. As a former graduate professor, I also noted universities recruiting foreign faculty who possessed or would soon possess a terminal degree verses an American with even better credentials. The university / colleges made it clear by their actions that they preferred to pay lower salaries, to avoid issues like tenure and to meet certain ethnic criteria while avoiding resident citizens of color. Recruited foreign professors either cooperated or were shipped back to their home countries — sort of modern day academic slavery.

by Mark Thies: Radio and TV ads have recently been playing across South Carolina, targeting Sen. Lindsey Graham and the “Gang of Eight” immigration proposal. In those ads, the question is asked “Who does Lindsey Graham represent?” The responders reply, “Not me!”

It appears Lindsey Graham has forgotten that his job is to represent all Americans — not just Big Business and ethnic-advocacy groups like La Raza. The Gang of Eight’s five-page proposal for immigration reform is full of unpleasant news for tens of millions of Americans, including the jobless, students and taxpayers.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the Graham proposal is its impact on America’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) workers and students. It’s hard to believe, but in this fragile economy of 8.4 percent state unemployment, where 15.8 percent of South Carolinians and 20 million Americans are looking for a full-time job, Graham claims that we now have a labor shortage.

With 53 percent of recent college graduates under/unemployed, Graham and the gang brazenly propose that every foreign student who earns a U.S. master’s or doctorate degree in a STEM field be automatically given a permanent work permit. But data, both nationally and at Clemson, refute Graham’s labor-shortage claims.

For example, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which tracks STEM salaries of new graduates, reports that overall engineering starting salaries have been flat since 2010, with a tiny 0.3 percent increase. Similar trends exist for more experienced workers. In fact, according to Professor Norman Matloff (EPI Briefing Paper No. 356, Feb. 28), no study other than those sponsored by industry has ever confirmed a shortage! Industry’s continual claims that there are too few Americans in STEM fields — and that U.S. citizens are less talented than their foreign counterparts — have been refuted by several recent studies.

Graham also says that we have a “brain drain,” because engineers educated here are returning to their home countries. Yet according to Ross Eisenbrey in The New York Times, almost 90 percent of Chinese and Indian students who earn STEM PhDs stay here. Ross comments (and based on my 28 years at Clemson University I concur) that if a student is talented enough to be wanted by industry, they are essentially guaranteed to get a work visa.

As far as the brain drain is concerned, Matloff’s study reached a somewhat startling conclusion: There indeed is a brain drain — but it’s an internal brain drain, as the best and brightest U.S. students move out of the STEM field after graduation into areas where salaries are more lucrative because of less worker competition. Already, only a third of those with STEM degrees are working in STEM fields. Graham’s proposal to grant permanent work permits to all foreign STEM M.S./PhD graduates, regardless of need or ability, would make the problem even worse.

Ironically, the number of Science and Engineering students at Clemson has reached all-time highs; it’s up almost 60 percent in the past 5 years. For example, I have the most students in my Thermodynamics class in 28 years of teaching. If Graham would just leave the current system alone so that just the truly best and brightest students can stay, market forces will respond, and the number of U.S. citizens graduating with advanced STEM degrees will significantly increase.

There is plenty of bad news in Graham’s proposal for non-STEM workers too. The Democrats in the gang have agreed to give Graham a free pass on foreign workers; in exchange they get a free pass on amnesty from the Republicans. And no, the illegals won’t be at the back of that proverbial line — with their permanent work permits and their jobs, they’ll be at the front.

And finally we come to the poor taxpayer who will have to pay for everything. Remember, the minute that the 11 million illegal aliens become legal, they become eligible for Obamacare, Social Security, Medicare and Earned Income and Child Tax Credits. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation says that Graham’s proposal could cost at least as much as the $2.6 trillion estimated cost of the defeated 2007 McCain/Kennedy amnesty bill. That should take our national debt over the 20 trillion mark that has been heralded as the tipping point.

If Congress can’t do any better than this with immigration reform, then perhaps it needs to implement an unlimited work visa program — not for STEM workers, but for lawyers. Replacing Congress with foreign workers could be our smartest move yet.
----------------
Mark Thies is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

Tags: academic professors, teachers, STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, academic, university, immigration To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Border Patrol Local 2544: Throats Being Slashed at "Secure" Border

2013-03-15T02:54:00.000-05:00

Submitted by Velcro, crossposted at Conservative Observer AZ.
I know, I keep repeating what the good folks over at Local 2544 are saying, but I do it because it's information from firsthand sources that isn't compromised by spin (or censorship) from DHS. Most of us cannot really visualize what the job of a Border Patrol agent is like, and I can't say that I do either. But it's critical to our nation's security that we get it. That's why I look to sources like Local2544.org. All of the quotes below are from posts on their site.

THE BORDER IS SECURE!

Last week, they confirmed what thinking people easily predicted: Namely, that sequestration cuts disproportionately applied to the Border Patrol, coupled with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano's humming-fingers-in-ears declaration that THE BORDER IS SECURE would lead to a new tidal wave of illegal aliens crossing the border from Mexico to the U.S.

Anyone with half a brain (myself included) would see how this would escalate the danger, and Local 2544 confirms that it has.

"People are getting their throats slashed at Janet Napolitano’s “secure” border in the Tucson sector. Two dead and one severely wounded just this week. The wounded man was able to flag down some Border Patrol agents after crawling for help." [Emphasis mine].

And there is this.

"Another Tucson sector station has seen large groups of up to 111 illegal aliens staging at the border and then deftly avoiding all sensors and other surveillance devices. As we warned, it will keep getting worse. Of course, once they all get past us we have ICE to arrest them. No, wait, Janet won’t let ICE do their jobs either. But not to worry, the area where these large groups are congregating is slated to have patrol agents removed next month. That should help the situation."

And posted just today,

"As of yesterday, groups of illegal aliens as large as three-hundred (300) have been spotted by Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector. These huge groups are being drawn here by promises of amnesty from the Obama Administration and they know that border security is getting real lax, real fast... Congratulations President Obama, Secretary Napolitano and Deputy Commissioner Aguilar. You have done more to dismantle the morale and effectiveness of the Border Patrol than anyone else in the history of this Agency...And with agents soon scrambling to scrape up enough money to pay their bills and keep from losing their homes we are going to see an increase in corruption and a lot of agents who are preoccupied with personal problems when they are on duty. Secretary Napolitano will not lose one dime of her inflated paycheck, and her underlings like Bianca Warner will still be knocking down over $170,000 a year while sitting in her nice office complaining about how Border Patrol agents are overpaid."

For some interesting visual and audio information, take a look at

From Americanpatrol.com (see links above)

Tags: amnesty, illegal aliens, Local 2544, Janet Napolitano, Border Patrol, sequestration cuts, Bianca Warner, AmericanPatrol.com. To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Jobless Americans in SC. They Come To America II

2013-03-09T09:11:00.000-06:00

Filmmaker Dennis Michael Lynch, who released a documentary on illegal immigration last year and is working on a sequel, confirmed this when he went down to South Carolina last week to learn more about how Graham's constituents feel about an amnesty. Please take a few minutes to watch this clip from the upcoming documentary by Dennis Michael Lynch, They Come to America II. Release date April 1.

Tags: South Carolina, jobs, unemployment, Sen. Lindsey Graham, more foreign workers, video clip, documentary, They Come To America To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

60,000 Border and Customs Agents Furloughed

2013-03-08T10:01:00.000-06:00

As many as 11 million illegal immigrants are in the United States, about seven million of whom are working — primarily in low-skill jobs. However, roughly 20 million Americans are without jobs, including several million Americans with few job skills, according to news reports.

by Todd Beamon, NewsMax: Sixty-thousand federal employees responsible for securing the nation’s borders and facilitating trade will be furloughed for as many as 14 days starting next month because of $85 billion in cross-government spending cuts.

The federal government notified the workers on Thursday, CNN reports. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said the furloughs and other austerity measures would cause delays at ports of entry, including international arrivals at airports, and would reduce the number of border patrol officers on duty at any one time, CNN reports.

David Aguilar, the agency's deputy commissioner, said it must cut about $754 million by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. The agency plans to institute furloughs throughout its departments, a hiring freeze — and to reduce or eliminate overtime, compensatory time, travel and training. Other federal agencies are following similar steps because of the spending cuts that took effect on March 1 through sequestration.

Customs “continues to evaluate further impacts of sequestration” on its operations, an agency spokeswoman, Jenny Burke, said in a statement reported by CNN. “Even with these cuts, though, individuals apprehended illegally crossing the southwest border will still be processed as usual,” Burke said.

The Customs furloughs will begin in mid-April, with reductions in border patrol overtime starting on April 7, Burke said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Monday that she expects customs wait times to increase to 150 to 200 percent of normal, CNN said. "I don't mean to scare, I mean to inform,” Napolitano said. “If you're traveling, get to the airport earlier than you otherwise would. There's only so much we can do with personnel.” . . .

Late last month, Napolitano and other Obama administration officials came under fire — particularly from officials in Arizona — for the release of hundreds of illegal immigrants held in local jails to save money as the sequester neared. . . . [Read Full Story]

Tags: Border Patrol, Customs Agents, furloughed, sequester, To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Sate Dept. Memo Reveals Only .0033 Percent Of Visa Applications Denied Due To Dependency Risk In 2011

2013-03-07T16:07:00.000-06:00

“The data just provided by the State Department, like that recently provided by the Department of Homeland Security, dramatically confirms that federal public charge law is not being enforced,” [Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)] said in a statement. “This helps explain a study showing that 36 percent of immigrant-headed households receive at least one major welfare program, adding billions to their cost.”

“[T]he data provided leaves no doubt: this principle is no longer being applied—despite a firm and unambiguous legal requirement… For those concerned about the size of government and the cost to taxpayers, this will be a major concern when addressing any immigration reform effort... When basic principles and laws like this are ignored, it is no wonder the American people doubt any promises of future enforcement.”

State Department memo reveals only .0033 percent of visa applications denied due to dependency risk in 2011

by Caroline May, The Daily Caller: A February State Department memo reveals that from 2001 to 2011, only 0.02 percent of all immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applications were denied because the potential entrants risked becoming “public charges,” or individuals who are primarily reliant on welfare for subsistence.

For 2011 alone, that figure stood at just 0.0033 percent.

The information came in a letter obtained by The Daily Caller and penned by Thomas B. Gibbons, the State Department’s acting assistant secretary for legislative affairs, in response to a Sept. 25 oversight request from Republican Sens. Jeff Sessions, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch and Pat Roberts about the enforcement of Section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The law bars individuals who “at the time of application for admission or adjustment of status … [are] likely at any time to become a public charge” from entry into the United States.

According to the data, contained in the letter, the total number of immigrant visas processed from 2001-2011 was 85,193,456. Of those, just 13,115 were denied on public charge grounds, or 0.015 percent. The number of nonimmigrant (or those requesting temporary entry) visa applications processed from 2001-2011 was 5,831,603. Of those, 125,019 were denied due to the public charge statute, or 2.14 percent.

In total, 0.15 percent of all immigrant and nonimmigrant visas were denied on the basis of becoming a public charge from 2001 to 2011. Despite the initial refusals, however, thousands were able to later overcome their public charge findings — meaning that over those 10 years, just 0.02 percent of all applications were denied on public charge grounds.

In 2011, the most recent year for which data were provided, the percentage was even smaller. In 2011, the percentage of all visa applications (both immigrant and nonimmigrant), minus those that were able to overcome their initial public charge findings, was 0.0033 percent.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking member on the Senate budget committee and an advocate for enforcement of current immigration law, slammed the State Department for the letter’s revelations.

“The data just provided by the State Department, like that recently provided by the Department of Homeland Security, dramatically confirms that federal public charge law is not being enforced,” he said in a statement. “This helps explain a study showing that 36 percent of immigrant-headed households receive at least one major welfare program, adding billions to their cost.”

When making public charge determinations, the government only looks at whether new entrants are likely to become dependent on two of the 80 federal welfare programs available to those in need — Supplemental Social Security Income and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Four senators have pressed the federal government for an explanation of that policy, as well.

Earlier this month, DHS revealed it did not have data on immigrants who become public charges after entering the country.

In a response letter to the same four aforementioned Republicans, DHS explained that while it does not keep track of immigrants on public charge grounds, a case-by-case review of fiscal year 2012 data by showed that the department brought up just one case of an immigrant allegedly becoming a public charge after gaining entry to the country. That charge was later withdrawn.

According to Sessions, a central tenet of American immigration policy is that those who desire to come into the country must be able to become financially independent.

“[T]he data provided leaves no doubt: this principle is no longer being applied—despite a firm and unambiguous legal requirement,” he added. “For those concerned about the size of government and the cost to taxpayers, this will be a major concern when addressing any immigration reform effort. … When basic principles and laws like this are ignored, it is no wonder the American people doubt any promises of future enforcement.”

The State Department noted that applications that were refused during one fiscal year could overcome the finding in a subsequent year.

Tags: immigration, Jeff Sessions, public charge, dependency risk To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

"The Tidal Wave Has Begun" -- Border Patrol Local 2544

2013-03-06T00:09:00.000-06:00

Submitted by Velcro, crossposted at Conservative Observer AZ.

Border Patrol union local 2544 in the Tucson sector reports that the influx of large groups of illegal aliens has begun crossing the Arizona border. This in itself increases the danger in those areas, but the union is also reporting a new phenomenon (actually an old one repeating itself from the past).

"We will continue to have large groups of illegal aliens chasing Border Patrol agents down so they can be “arrested”, knowing they will be set free and given temporary permission to remain here in the United States (no jail space to keep them locked up until their cases are adjudicated). Once they are set free with a “promise to appear” (wink, wink) 99% of them will disappear and never be heard from again unless they commit some heinous crime. Then, years down the road we will have a new group of politicians and activists screaming about how we need to “bring these people out of the shadows” by giving them amnesty. This is how the merry-go-round works. Proven time and time again over the span of many decades."

Adding insult to injury, Border Patrol agents have had their uniform allowance cut off while TSA, also under the Department of Homeland Security, bought $50 million worth of uniforms, coming to around $1,000 per agent.

Thanks for nothing, Janet. You, OF ALL PEOPLE, as a former governor of Arizona, should know the impact of your foolish decisions on those who are charged to protect us along the border, and on those of us who live in southern Arizona!

Tags: amnesty, illegal aliens, Border Patrol, Local 2544, Janet Napolitano, uniform allowance, TSA, Department of Homeland Security. To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Jeb Bush Reverses Immigration Stance: No ‘Pathway’ for Illegals

2013-03-05T19:47:00.001-06:00

"I’m not going to spread this silliness any further by detailing the stories appearing online about this latest flip-flopper. Just click on the links if you’re interested, otherwise move on to the real news." ~ Opinion by One Old Veteran

By Todd Beamon, NewsMax: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday reversed his position on illegal immigrants — now saying that he opposed a pathway to citizenship, a crucial issue in comprehensive immigration reform.

In his new book, “Immigration Wars,” Bush presented a plan that specifically rules out the possibility of illegal immigrants obtaining full citizenship if they remain in the United States.

The former governor, however, makes an exception for young undocumented immigrants, known as DREAMers, who were brought to the U.S. as minors.

“Permanent residency in this context, however, should not lead to citizenship,” Bush said in the book, written with attorney Clint Bolick. “It is absolutely vital to the integrity of our immigration system that actions have consequences — in this case, that those who have violated the laws can remain but cannot obtain the cherished fruits of citizenship.

“To do otherwise would signal once again that people who circumvent the system can still obtain the full benefits of American citizenship,” Bush continued. “It must be a basic prerequisite for citizenship to respect the rule of law.”

Bush then calls for full citizenship for undocumented immigrants an “undeserving reward for conduct we cannot afford to encourage.”

According to Bush, immigrants who came to the United States without documentation as adults could apply for permanent legal residency by:

Pleading guilty to having committed illegal entry, which is a crime.
Paying fines, performing community service, or otherwise adhering to another form of punishment prescribed by the law. Those who do not come forward during this process are subject to automatic deportation if they remain in the U.S., Bush said.
Paying back taxes, learning English, and refraining from committing “substantial crimes” to earn permanent legal residency. This is for those immigrants who follow step two.

The only means through which illegals can earn U.S. citizenship under the Bush plan would be to return to their home nations and apply legally, ABC reports. These immigrants, however, would be barred for either three years or 10 years if they returned to their home countries and applied for U.S. citizenship from there.

“We need to address this problem in a fair, firm, and comprehensive way, while at the same time fixing our immigration process so that in the future, millions of people do not feel the need to enter our country illegally because there are no viable means for them to do so lawfully,” Bush said in the book.

But for DREAMers, the Bush plan would provide a “clear and definite path to citizenship” for young immigrants who earn a high school diploma or GED, or serve in the military. . . . [Read More]

Tags: Jeb Bush, Immigration Wars, no amnesty, no pathway, illegal aliens To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Border Panel's Clout May Be Deal-Breaker

2013-03-05T12:18:00.000-06:00

Democrats envision an advisory role; GOP seeks some power for group

[Hat Tip: the Clarion Ledger]
By Dan Nowicki, Arizona Republic: A bipartisan group of senators collaborating on immigration reform is divided on a proposed commission to scrutinize border security.

It’s a sticking point between Democrats inclined to limit the panel to an advisory role and Republicans who want it to have authority.

SW Border Fence

The group, which would be composed of governors, attorneys general and other “community leaders living along the Southwest border,” would gauge border-security progress and make a recommendation when it was satisfied that the legislation’s security provisions were in effect.

Only then, according to a framework of the bill by the socalled Gang of Eight senators, would undocumented immigrants already in the United States be able to start down a path to citizenship.

But activists on both sides of the debate have reacted coolly to the idea.

‘STILL WORKING AWAY ON IT’

While Republicans want to make sure the panel has muscle, Democrats want to make sure that commissioners can’t politicize the process by using subjective criteria to perpetually claim that the border improvements are not good enough. They envision a commission more advisory in nature, with the secretary of Homeland Security making the final decision.

“We have not resolved anything on that issue yet,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “One of the things that you do in these negotiations is that you try to get some of the easier issues resolved before you get into the real tough ones. Kind of a momentum thing. So, we’re still working away on it.”

McCain said he and his seven Senate colleagues have been making progress on the bill, which is expected to be released this month.

The other members of the group are Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado; and Republicans Jeff Flake of Arizona, Marco Rubio of Florida and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

McCain said the bordercommission provision has proved tricky because the Constitution gives Congress authority over immigration and border issues. The authority of the proposed panel can’t trump that.

The lawmakers want the panel, which “has to have significant border representation,” to be objective and not politically motivated, McCain said, and senators are asking the Government Accountability Office for input. The GAO is Congress’ investigative arm.

“You’ve got to be careful about that, which is why I think it’s important to have some metrics as to what they could look at from a statistical standpoint that would ensure that we have effective control of the border,” McCain said.

POTENTIAL ‘DEAL-BREAKER’?

Flake said the border commission is one of several issues that the Senate negotiators continue to work on, and the question about how much influence it will have on the final conclusion about the level of security remains unresolved.

Border Patrol So. Arizona

Immigration advocates would prefer legislation that does not make a pathway to citizenship contingent on border security, which they say has improved in recent years with the addition of Border Patrol personnel, technology and fencing.

The Senate group’s framework calls for a “tough but fair” path for prospective permanent residents and citizens that would include passing a background check, paying taxes, learning English and U.S. civics, and going to “the back of the line” of legal immigrants. However, they would be allowed to immediately secure probationary legal status, which would let them live and work in the country by registering with the government, passing a background check and paying a penalty.

Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-reform organization America’s Voice, called the proposed commission “worrisome” because of the potential for political mischief by conservatives.

“I’m not prepared to say it’s a deal-breaker for us, but I am prepared to say it’s excessive, it’s expensive and it’s mostly unnecessary,” Sharry said.

Tags: border panel, clout, deal breaker, amnesty, illegal aliens To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!

Sequestration | Forget Government Waste, Free Illegals

2013-03-04T20:12:00.000-06:00

Tags: Sequestration, President Obama, free illegals, illegal aliens, editorial cartoon, G. Summers To share the post, click on "Post Link." Please mention / link to Blogs for Borders. Thanks!