Congress

A new report from the Texas-based Quorum Report, published by longtime Texas journalist Harvey Kronberg, says that House Speaker John Boehner plans to push amnesty legislation through the House, after the primary filing deadline for candidates. The move would prevent Tea Party from challenging GOP lawmakers who support amnesty in 2014.

Scott Braddock reported on Tuesday that “in recent weeks, various Texas business interests have told Quorum Report that Boehner has been telling them that he will start holding immigration votes not long after the filing deadline has passed.”

Braddock noted that those business community sources spoke with him “on condition of anonymity because their conversations were held behind closed doors and they added it wasn’t made clear to them just how confidential the information was meant to be.”

“Nevertheless, what was made clear was that Boehner felt the need to protect House Republican incumbents who are otherwise seen as conservative but have expressed an openness to immigration reform that includes a robust guest worker program,” Braddock wrote, before citing three specific Texas GOP congressmen: Reps. Ted Poe (R-TX), John Carter (R-TX) and Sam Johnson (R-TX).

Carter and Johnson were, until recently, members of the House version of the “Gang of Eight.” Carter and Johnson left the group in mid-September, stating that President Barack Obama’s selective enforcement of immigration laws concerns them. They felt he would selectively enforce whatever Congress passed in any kind of immigration reform package. “The administration's practice of hand-picking what parts of laws they wish to enforce has irrevocably damaged our efforts of fixing our broken immigration system,” the Texas lawmakers said in a joint statement at the time. “If past actions are the best indicators of future behavior, we know that any measure depending on the president's enforcement will not be faithfully executed. It would be gravely irresponsible to further empower this administration by granting them additional authority or discretion with a new immigration system. The bottom line is - the American people do not trust the president to enforce laws, and we don't either.”...

This news from the Texas donor community comes as Boehner hired amnesty advocate Rebecca Tallent as his new immigration policy adviser...

Tallent previously worked for Senate “Gang of Eight” member Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on immigration policy. She helped him and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) draft their final immigration proposal—one that ultimately failed.

“During her time with McCain, she helped the Arizona Republican draft a handful of immigration overhaul measures, including the last big push McCain made with the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., in 2007,” Roll Call wrote of Tallent on Tuesday. “In 2008, she was a policy adviser on McCain’s presidential campaign. Before working for McCain, she worked for former Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., a longtime advocate of overhauling the immigration system who was involved in immigration efforts before he retired in 2006.” Read more about Boehner: Amnesty After GOP Primary Filing Deadlines

Several members of Oregonians for Immigration Reform have received recently a letter from Sen. Ron Wyden giving his views on S.744 and immigration generally. The letter was sent by email on November 19, 2013.

Many of Sen. Wyden’s statements in the letter are either false or misleading. Below we have reproduced the text of his letter in bold font, and we have followed each paragraph with a correction or other response.

For more information on issues in S.744 and its House version, H.R. 1417, see References on Amnesty Bills on the OFIR website.

Here is the Senator’s letter, with OFIR's response indented under each of the Senator's statements.

Dear [Constituent]:

"Thank you for contacting me about immigration reform. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue."

"For too long, millions of immigrants have been living in America’s shadows, with more coming across our borders illegally every day." -- Sen. Wyden.

Senator Wyden, "Immigrants are living [illegally] in America’s shadows" and "more are coming across … illegally every day" because you and others in Congress and the government have refused to enforce the immigration laws. You have been in Congress continuously since 1981, a total of 32 years. What have you ever done to see that the immigration laws are enforced? Your record on immigration issues is graded F by NumbersUSA based on official records of your votes in Congress. The record is incontrovertible – you have failed to uphold the nation’s immigration laws. You have actually weakened them by repeatedly voting for amnesties and other benefits to illegal aliens, enticing more to come.

"Farmers are constantly telling me about their struggles to find a stable and legal workforce or face the real prospect of unharvested crops rotting in the fields." — Sen. Wyden.

You could tell them about the H-2A visa program which was set up to help agriculture get seasonal farm labor if it’s really needed. The truth is many employers prefer to hire illegal aliens because they profit from the substandard wages they can pay and the substandard working conditions they can use. Cheap labor can never be cheap enough to satisfy some employers. Most citizens would rather pay more for food and other goods and know that it doesn’t come at the expense of exploited workers and non-enforcement of immigration laws. Most citizens understand that good wages and working conditions are necessary for a strong democracy to survive.

"Bright, capable children, who were brought to the country through no fault of their own, are being denied the opportunity to contribute to and succeed in the only country they know as home." – Sen. Wyden.

The parents of children "brought to the country through no fault of their own" are responsible for their children’s plight, not U.S. citizens. It is not our obligation to give legal status to children because of their parents’ illegal entry. The entire family that is here illegally should return to the country where they are citizens and devote their "contributions" to making that country an acceptable place to live. Being with their families and others of their own country, "bright, capable children" can quickly accommodate themselves to that country.

"America’s story is intertwined with the story of immigration — my own parents emigrated from Nazi Germany, a story familiar to many of the folks who come to our shores seeking asylum. For these and many other reasons, I welcomed the debate on immigration." – Sen. Wyden.

Here again are the tugs at peoples’ heartstrings, the call to sentimentality, the implied idea that immigration is always good and desirable, without any restrictions or limits. In truth, immigration to the U.S. is supposed to serve the interests of citizens of the U.S., not the interests of foreign nationals. It is neither desirable nor feasible to maintain open borders.

"Comprehensive reform is long overdue, and an overwhelming majority of my Senate colleagues agreed. As you know, in June, the U.S. Senate passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744) with a bipartisan vote of 68-32. I voted in support of the measure.

"Only after I was convinced that strong, enforceable border security measures were in place did I start considering the immigration bill on its other merits."— Sen. Wyden.

Senator, if you were convinced that "strong, enforceable border security measures were in place" you either didn’t read the bill or you failed to understand it. It is worthless for improving border security and in some respects it weakens or displaces security processes that are now in place. http://cis.org/kephart/widening-existing-vulnerabilities-national-security-implications-s744-part-1

"S.744 requires DHS to submit a border security plan within 6 months that includes a goal ‘for achieving and maintaining effective control’ along the U.S.-Mexico border. (p.864). The bill defines effective control as: (1) ‘persistent surveillance’ and (2) an ‘effectiveness rate of 90 percent.’ (p.855) …

"… even if a 90 percent effectiveness rate were a reliable indication of border security, S.744 does not actually require that DHS reach a 90 percent effectiveness rate. S.744 requires DHS to submit a border security plan "for achieving and maintaining" a 90 percent effectiveness rate at the U.S.-Mexico border, but there is no requirement that DHS actually achieve this goal. (p.864, 854-855)" Thus, the goal of a 90 percent effectiveness rate is nothing more than a goal, one that will neither accurately depict whether the border is secure or one that must be met. …" – http://immigrationreform.com/2013/06/19/data-shows-border-security-metric-in-s-744-subject-to-political-manipulation/

"Specifically, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act hikes Border Patrol ranks by 20,000 — almost doubling the contingent and spends $4.5 billion on technical innovations intended to provide security personnel with full situational awareness along the southern border." – Sen. Wyden.

The 20,000 increase in Border Patrol ranks does not occur for years, if ever, after illegal aliens are granted what they and their supporters want – legal status in the U.S. which occurs immediately. "The bill grants amnesty (Registered Provisional Status) … before the first new Border Patrol agent is hired and virtually guarantees that the borders will never be secured because once illegal aliens have legal status, they and their supporters know that citizenship will eventually be granted whether the border is secured or not. … Even if 20,000 border agents are hired there is no assurance that they won’t be prevented from effectively controlling the border by elected officials who are beholden to lobbyists and big donors. …"

Regarding the $4.5 billion for technology: "This expenditure will in all likelihood be made since it is what the host to Bloomberg TV’s ‘Capitol Gains’ labeled a ‘pathway to profit for federal contractors’. However, the only requirement is that the strategy be fully implemented and activated. There is no requirement that it work as advertised or that it actually slows the flow of illegal aliens." – http://cis.org/mortensen/hoeven-corker-amendment-long-amnesty-short-everything-else

"It also implements an entry-exit visa program to keep tabs on visitors who overextend their stay and expands the E-Verify program to make employers aware of a potential worker’s immigration status. These are serious, extensive, and effective steps that will curtail much of the illegal immigration that has plagued our country for so long." – Sen. Wyden.

"Congress has mandated a visa entry/exit system for years; however, nothing has been done. What guarantee is there that it will be done this time? Can the federal government be trusted to do what it says? …

"The Hoeven-Corker amendment to S.744 delays the full use of E-Verify for years while allowing illegal aliens to get RPI status almost immediately. During that time, employers will be free to hire a new wave of illegal aliens rather than employing RPIs, legal immigrants, or American citizens who will demand higher wages and benefits." – http://cis.org/mortensen/hoeven-corker-amendment-long-amnesty-short-everything-else

"The bill the Senate voted on also overcomes one of the greatest challenges we have had in the past — that is creating a path to citizenship for the 11 million people who are working here illegally but have broken no other laws. Immigrants are an important and positive influence on the American economy, and while earning citizenship will be far from easy or quick; with the enactment of the Senate bill, it will be possible." – Sen. Wyden.

There have been 7 mass amnesties passed by Congress since 1986, each one resulting in ever increasing illegal immigration. Another amnesty will only trigger additional illegal immigration. S.744 makes it easy and almost automatic for illegal immigrants to get legal status; your statement that "earning citizenship will be far from easy or quick" is a total misrepresentation.

"I had concerns with the Senate bill — from its detrimental environmental provisions to an imperfect path to legalization, but we didn’t have the option to vote between a perfect bill and the status quo; the choice was between the Senate compromise bill and the status quo." – Sen. Wyden.

Did you even read the bill before it was voted on? It was over 1,000 pages and Senators were given only a few hours to peruse it before a vote was called. You voted for a bill full of holes for evasion and fraud, one that in nearly all ways would be extremely harmful to this country.

"And I think the majority of Americans would agree that the status quo cannot stand." – Sen. Wyden.

No, polls show that when the bill’s provisions are truthfully explained to voters they would choose no action rather than the harmful measures in S.744.

From Pulse Opinion poll of August 2013: "60% of likely voters oppose the Senate bill’s proposal to increase the number of green cards for new immigrants to 20 million over the next decade. Only 28% of respondents supported such measures.

"Three-quarters of those surveyed said there are more than enough unemployed Americans with lower levels of education to fill the jobs that would go to millions of new immigrants under the Senate bill. Only 17% said foreign workers are needed to fill labor shortages.

"A solid majority of voters are worried about the impact of immigration reform, which could put millions of illegal aliens on a path to citizenship and create large guest-workers programs, will have on the labor market."

-- https://www.numbersusa.com/content/polls.html

From a Rasmussen poll of likely voters, October 22, 2013:

"Only 25% think it is even somewhat likely that the federal government will secure the border and prevent illegal immigration with new immigration legislation; 65% consider it unlikely.

"Only 18% think illegal aliens should be given immediate amnesty; 62% believe legalization should occur only after the border is secured, and 19% are unsure.

-- http://www.fairus.org/facts/illegal-immigration-and-amnesty-polls

"It is now up to the House to pass a bill. It’s important to remember that it’s not only good policy, but that it’s also in the long term economic interest of America for both houses of Congress to get together and send a good, bipartisan bill to the President to sign into law." – Sen. Wyden.

The House leadership proposes to work on smaller bills addressing particular components of immigration policy. This is the most sensible way to address current problems. Immigration is a serious subject with many different aspects, too many to be covered effectively in one mammoth bill such as S.744.

"Again, thank you for keeping me apprised of the issues that are important to you. If I may be of assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me." — Sen. Wyden.

Sen. Wyden, you make no mention of one of the most damaging features of S.744, the doubling of legal immigration and the huge expansion of visas for foreign workers. These features would make our unemployment problem far worse. Oregon’s U-6 unemployment rate is 16.5%, the 3d highest in the nation. You betray your constituency by working for benefits to illegal aliens and other would-be immigrants and their employers when our nation is overcrowded already, wages are falling, and millions don’t have jobs at all or are stuck in jobs that pay very low wages with no prospect for anything better. Citizens rightfully expect their Congresspersons to put the interests of citizens and this nation first, before the interests of foreign nationals and their employers.

### Read more about Sen. Wyden misrepresents amnesty proposals to constituents

Writing in the November 15 issue of ComputerWorld, Patrick Thibodeau reminds us of the plight of today’s college graduates who have obtained pricey degrees in technical fields, but have become burdened with tuition debt while trying to compete in a tight job market with the estimated 650,000 foreign workers already here under H-1B visas.

Things could get worse under the Senate immigration reform bill, which calls for increasing the current annual H-1B visa cap of 65,000 to about 180,000...

Ironically, with an anemic economy and a stubborn unemployment rate of 7 percent, the nation’s blue chip companies continue to lobby for more H-1B visas at a time when many are shedding headcount to cut costs.

Last quarter, Cisco laid off 4,000 people, bringing its two-year total layoffs to 12,000. HP just completed a plan announced in 2012 to cut 9,000 American jobs. Pharmaceutical giant Merck announced it will cut 8,500 more jobs, bringing the total number to 16,000...

Mass layoffs are typically justified in terms of restructuring to meet changing market needs, retooling for the next phase of innovation, or remaining competitive in an increasingly dynamic industry. But there’s more to it than this. These goals can be achieved in large part by replacing American workers with foreign workers who will do more for less and not complain about it.

In September, IBM agreed to settle a claim with the Justice Department that its job listings for almost four years expressed a preference for foreign workers with temporary visas over U.S. citizens. According to one HR manager at the company, the cost difference is too great for IBM not to look for foreign workers first. Many firms routinely violate the “citizens-first” hiring rule, but because they are hit with paltry fines if caught, it is easy to dismiss them as a cost of doing business.

Tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Cisco are among the many companies awash in cash, yet claim to need more foreign workers to stay on life support. If corporate profits are any measure, this line of reasoning falls squarely into the category of pure blather. The SP500 companies are sitting on a cash pile of $1.3 trillion.

Apple is widely hailed as the world leader in innovation. It has accumulated a cash hoard of $147 billion, which equates to nearly 10% of all corporate cash held by non-financial companies, according to Moody’s. Google pales in comparison with only $56 billion cash on hand and Facebook with $10 billion. All three companies are key players in petitioning Congress to lift the H-1B visa cap, as if they faced imminent extinction without a drip infusion of foreign workers.

The prospect of a big increase in H-1B visas could have serious consequences for American students and society...

Under the H-1B program, companies are allowed to pay foreign workers less than American citizens. When a company sees its competitors doing this, they have little choice but to follow suit to lower their own operating costs. This situation lowers wages across the board, making it difficult for American graduates to compete for jobs, pay down tuition loans, buy homes and raise families. With an uncertain job future in technical fields, high school students have good reason to think twice about pursuing expensive university degrees in preparation for jobs they are not likely to get.

In the ComputerWorld article, Karen Panetta, IEEE-USA Vice President for Communications and Public Awareness, and a professor of electrical engineering at Tufts University, warned that the cost of tuition in the U.S. is so unrealistically prohibitive that a class shift is underway. “The really wealthy are the only ones who can afford to send their kids to school,” she said. With her students owing $50,000 on average, “It’s the house you are not going to be able to buy for another 10 years.”

Also reported in ComputerWorld, Hal Salzman, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University, noted that the U.S. produces enough graduates to satisfy the demands of the labor market. But if the H-1B visa cap increase goes through, he sees a market that will be flooded with workers, with people under age 30 being especially hard hit by the increased job competition.

As the Wall Street Journal noted in its October 23 editorial, “With total employment at 144.3 million, for every three Americans over the age of 16 earning a paycheck there are two who aren’t even looking for a job. That’s an ugly portent for American prosperity.”

It’s hard to fathom how an annual influx of ever greater numbers of foreign workers will improve on this dire situation. It may very well accelerate the decline in workforce participation and increase dependence on the expanding array of government benefits as a substitute for work – both of which may trigger unforeseen consequences, including societal turbulence, followed by remedies we may prefer not to think about.

Read the full article. Read more about Today’s Grads Face Mounting Pressure From Foreign Tech Workers

Barely a week after he said the House will not go to conference with the 1,300 page Senate amnesty bill, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) renewed his commitment to passing “immigration reform,” a term commonly used to mean amnesty for the country’s 11-12 million illegal aliens.

“The only way to make sure immigration reform works this time is to address these complicated issues one step at a time,” said the Speaker at a press conference Thursday. (See Bloomberg Government Transcript, Nov. 21, 2013) “I think doing so will give the American people confidence that we're dealing with these issues in a thoughtful way and a deliberative way. So I’m hopeful we can make progress on this very important issue,” he continued. (Id.)

In fact, when asked whether immigration reform was dead, the Speaker replied, “Absolutely not. I have made clear, going back to the day after the last election in 2012 that it was time for Congress to deal with this issue. I believe that Congress needs to deal with this issue.” (See Bloomberg Government Transcript, Nov. 21, 2013)

Speaker Boehner also signaled that several House Republicans are continuing to work behind the scenes on a plan to pass immigration reform. “There are a lot of private conversations that are underway to try to figure out, how do we best move on a common-sense, step-by-step basis to address this very important issue…because it is a very important issue.” (Id.) Similarly, during his press conference the previous week, Boehner told reporters that House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) — whose committee has jurisdiction over the immigration issue — was working on “principles” for the chamber to follow in pursuing immigration reform in the coming year. (Roll Call, Nov. 13, 2013)

The Speaker’s recent comments make clear that amnesty and mass immigration proposals are far from “dead” in the House this coming year. To be sure, passing immigration bills piecemeal—rather than in one comprehensive bill such as in the Senate—still gives GOP leaders room to push for amnesty legislation or massive increases in foreign workers. In reality, depending on the path Leadership takes, the House approach, even if it is more transparent, could still have the same result as the Senate’s 1,000+ page bill.

Indeed, even House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has acknowledged that the House’s piecemeal bills are intended to fit together in a comprehensive manner. Last week in a heated exchange with Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on the chamber floor Cantor said, “These [immigration bills] all fit into a larger puzzle,” he said. (See Congressional Record, Nov. 15, 2013, p.H7147)

Increasing the cause for concern, President Obama has given the GOP leaders his stamp of approval in taking this approach to achieving “comprehensive” immigration reform. “[House Republicans are] suspicious of comprehensive bills,” Obama said at a Wall Street Journal CEO summit. “But you know what? If they want to chop that thing up into five pieces, as long as all five pieces get done, I don't care what it looks like.” (AFP, Nov. 19, 2013) Read more about Speaker Boehner: Immigration Reform Not Dead

MEXICO CITY — Even amid an unprecedented rash of kidnappings in Mexico, the snatching of John Jairo Guzman stood out.

Assailants shoved the 41-year-old Colombian into a waiting vehicle in broad daylight on a recent Friday. Luckily, a passer-by used a cellphone to make a video and posted it on YouTube. Within days, three of the assailants were identified as Mexico City policemen.

The officers are now fugitives. Their boss, a supervisor in the internal affairs unit tasked with cleaning up police corruption, denied knowledge of the crime.
But investigators tracked the GPS trail from his radio and his vehicle, putting him at the scene as well. Another video taken by a passer-by later surfaced in which the chief's vehicle is visible at the Sept. 20 crime scene. The supervisor is now jailed. Guzman, the victim, is still missing.

Related: Police linked to mass killing

Guzman's abduction is one of 1,205 kidnappings that had been reported this year in Mexico through the end of September, marking a sharp rise in such crimes. But since the vast majority of Mexican families refuse to report abductions to authorities, in part due to fear of police involvement or dread that criminals will exact revenge for reporting the crime, experts believe the reality is far worse than the official tally.

"The problem is, I would say, almost out of control," said Juan Francisco Torres Landa, a Harvard-trained lawyer who is secretary general of Mexico United Against Crime, a pressure group.

Not only are kidnappings becoming much more common, abduction rings slay more of their victims after they receive a ransom payment than ever before.
"The only thing they want is to get their money," said Jose Antonio Ortega Sanchez, president of the Citizens Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, another advocacy group. Once payment is made, Ortega Sanchez said, "they just murder them."

The spokesman for President Enrique Pena Nieto on crime issues, Eduardo Sanchez Hernandez, wasn't available Thursday for comment, but he's said previously that authorities have broken up 70 kidnapping rings this year, and that a TV and radio campaign of public service ads urging citizens to tip police to abductions was reaping results.

"At the end of the day, they have substantially increased reports of kidnapping and extortion in comparison to other administrations," Sanchez said.
Sanchez noted, however, that many victims still fail to report kidnappings, and that the real level of abductions is a "black number," or unknown.

A glimpse at the magnitude of the kidnapping surge came Sept. 30, when Mexico's national statistics institute issued an annual report based on extensive house-to-house polling about how often citizens suffer from crime.

The survey found that just over 1 percent of those who'd suffered an abduction reported it to authorities. It estimated the number of kidnappings in the previous year to be 105,682. This includes not only lengthy abductions for ransom, but also what Mexicans term "express kidnappings," in which victims are taken at knife- or gunpoint to ATMs and forced to withdraw cash and turn it over, usually going free after a few hours or a day.

The number also includes migrants taken hostage by organized crime as they travel toward the U.S. border and victims of "virtual kidnappings," in which callers telephone residences, often at random. As screams erupt in the background, callers tell those answering that a child or loved one has just been snatched off the street and demand an immediate bank deposit or payoff.

"The methodology that (the statistics institute) follows is flawless," said Torres Landa. "That number, 105,682, means that there are 12 kidnappings per hour. Twelve kidnappings per hour is credible. ... I frankly believe it."

Even going by official reports of those who file complaints to state and federal authorities, kidnappings are up more than 60 percent this year, Torres Landa said.

Victims range from tycoons to owners of corner businesses.

"Anybody can be kidnapped. In Guerrero (state), you're seeing ranchers being kidnapped who only have six or eight head of cattle," said Eduardo Gallo y Tello, who has been active on the issue since his daughter was abducted and slain 13 years ago.

Anti-crime activists lament both a sharp rise in reported kidnappings and what they say is a lack of government response to the crime wave.
"I've not heard a single authority raise their hand and say, 'I'll be responsible for this problem,' " said Francisco Rivas, head of the National Citizens Observatory, an umbrella group of civil society organizations.

Kidnappings, which arose around 1970 in Mexico, spiked in the latter part of the 1990s but then fell at the turn of the century. They began to rise again around 2007, when organized crime groups took to kidnapping as an alternative revenue source to drug trafficking, and some activists say the groups may be behind roughly half of all abductions.
Pena Nieto came to office 11 months ago promising to reduce soaring homicides, kidnapping and extortion that coincided with his predecessor's all-out war on organized crime. In his state of the union address Sept. 2, Pena Nieto said the murder rate had dropped 13.8 percent. But the figure has been questioned, and his aides have urged Mexican media to downplay coverage of crime.

Ortega Sanchez, of the Citizens Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, accuses Pena Nieto of engaging in a cover-up.
"The policy of President Pena Nieto is not to talk about (kidnappings) because this frightens investors and frightens Mexicans as well," said Ortega Sanchez. "Mexican media believe this and have stopped talking about it."

Even as officials trumpet new arrests of alleged kidnappers, scattered signs of involvement by corrupt police in kidnapping gangs continue.
In early October, the government announced the arrest of 13 federal police officers in Acapulco, saying they were among an 18-member criminal gang behind four kidnappings and seven murders.

"Almost always in kidnappings, there is a police officer or former police officer involved. This is indisputable," said Isabel Miranda de Wallace, head of a group, Stop the Kidnappings, that she formed after the 2005 abduction of her 25-year-old son. A former state policeman was among those convicted in that case.

She said one of the reasons citizens are reluctant to file reports about kidnappings is the fear that some police are in cahoots with criminals.
"The victims feel vulnerable because they know that whatever they tell police goes straight to the criminals," Miranda de Wallace said.

Another reason is that investigations rarely unfold with rigor, and prosecutions are commonly bungled, experts and activists said. Police have been known to urge victims to lie to help convict presumed kidnappers in other cases by saying they were involved in their own case.

Some 12,000 people are now in prison on charges of taking part in kidnappings, but most are lower-level members of gangs, like guards or food couriers, said Ortega Sanchez.
"They don't catch the leaders, and they form new gangs and keep on kidnapping," he said.

The surge in kidnappings has prompted calls for the government to designate an "anti-kidnapping czar" to force coordination among city, state and federal law enforcement agencies and increase convictions.

"With the creation of an anti-kidnapping czar, we will not see results immediately," Alejandro Marti, father of a kidnapping victim and founder of an activist group, Mexico SOS, wrote in a column in mid-October. But over the longer term, he said, it may help "reduce this crime by a significant amount." Read more about Mexico kidnappings for ransom surge to unprecedented levels with estimates of victims in the tens of thousands per year.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) National Council president Chris Crane, who represents about 7,000 ICE agents and support staff, wrote to a group of lobbyists, special interests, and political figures on Tuesday to question why they support granting amnesty to America’s at least 11 million illegal aliens.

“Each of you receiving this letter today has played a major role in pushing so-called ‘comprehensive immigration reform,’ the Rubio-Schumer immigration bill or is pressing the House to advance similar legislation,” Crane wrote to the group of special interests. “During recent years, ICE officers have documented extraordinary political abuses at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE that have threatened public safety and undermined the ability of ICE agents and officers to enforce the laws enacted by Congress."

"I cannot recall any of you speaking out publicly against these abuses or requesting a meeting with ICE Officers to address our concerns,” Crane stated bluntly.

Recipients of the letter included Karl Rove; Chamber of Commerce president Tom Donohue; National Council of La Raza president Janet Murguia; Casa de Maryland executive director Gustavo Torres; National Council of Chain Restaurants executive director Rob Green; American Action Forum president Doug Holtz-Eakin; casino mogul and major GOP donor Sheldon Adelson; Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg; and corporate executives from companies like:

• General Electric
• Disney
• McDonald’s
• Marriott Hotels
• Coca-Cola
• The Cheesecake Factory
• Hilton Hotels
• Hyatt Hotels
• General Mills
• Wendy’s
• Johnson & Johnson
• Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Longhorn Steakhouse, Seasons 52, the Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s, and Yard House)
• Hewlett Packard
• Verizon

Also included on the letter were executive of lobbyist associations like the National Association of Home Builders and the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

“ICE officers arguably know more about our nation’s broken immigration system than any group in the United States,” Crane wrote. “Yet President Barack Obama and the Gang of Eight actively prohibited them from having input. Only influential and affluent groups and wealthy individuals like you were given an opportunity to provide real input on our nation’s new immigration laws."

"As ICE officers fought a very public battle seeking to add measures that would provide for public safety and national security, you did nothing to assist or support us, but in fact—through your advocacy – put officers and the public at risk,” he claimed.

“As a result, the Senate passed an immigration bill that will fail America,” Crane wrote. “While this legislation may satisfy your personal financial or political objectives, it undermines immigration enforcement and worsens the immigration problems currently experienced in the United States.”

Crane added that the letter recipients are using their lobbyist influence to “fight for special protections and legalization for violent criminal offenders and gang members illegally in the United States” but they “must realize that in doing so you sacrifice the safety of every man, woman and child residing in the United States, regardless of citizenship.”

“Certainly you must know that when you fight for legislation that protects criminal aliens who assault law enforcement officers, you increase the risk to every police officer, sheriff’s deputy, and federal agent across our nation; officers whose lives and welfare should hold some value to you and the organizations you represent,” Crane wrote.

Crane said it is up the House of Representatives to protect the safety of Americans from lobbyists.

“Only the U.S. House of Representatives now stands between the American people and the potential destruction of federal immigration enforcement,” Crane wrote. “Yet the groups represented on this letter are spending enormous sums of money or wielding enormous amounts of influence in an attempt to intimidate the House into passing a plan similar to that adopted by the Senate – a bill that not one member of the Senate had the time to read before voting on.”

Crane said that America’s future depends on these lobbyists being stopped.

“It is a sad day in America when the political class in Washington, and groups that can deliver votes and money, have more influence in writing our immigration laws than everyday American citizens and the law enforcement officers sworn to protect them,” Crane wrote. “I hope you stand with law enforcement and stand for the rule of law -- if for no other reason than out of compassion for the lives that we can protect if we finally begin to enforce our nation’s immigration laws.”

Crane then turned his attention to directly questioning the intent of these lobbyists’ and special interests’ push for amnesty.

“Are you really willing to support an immigration plan that will put officers and the public in danger simply because it includes special items that advance the financial or political interests of your group or company?” Crane asked. “Are we in law enforcement not worthy of your respect? Do you believe that our experience and advice is without value in creating new immigration legislation?"

"I am requesting a meeting with each of you to discuss the answers to these questions, as well as to speak to you about the field experience of immigration officers and agents who daily witness a side of our nation’s immigration crisis that many in the media and indeed our government actively work to conceal from the American public,” he said.

Many of these special interests actually met with President Barack Obama on Tuesday at the White House to plot out an immigration push on Capitol Hill. Obama met with McDonald’s, Marriott, and other CEOs and executives on Tuesday at the White House to plan an amnesty strategy.

“What's been encouraging is, is that there are a number of House Republicans who have said, we think this is the right thing to do, as well,” Obama said about the meeting, according to USA Today. “And it's my estimation that we actually have votes to get comprehensive immigration reform done in the House right now.” Read more about ICE's Chris Crane Blasts Lobbyists Pushing Amnesty

Chris Crane, president of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council, which represents immigration enforcement officers, recently called on Congress to resist immigration reforms that harm his officers’ ability to do their jobs:

ICE officers are being ordered by [Administration] political appointees to ignore the law. Violent criminal aliens are released every day from jails back into American communities. ICE Officers face disciplinary action for engaging in routine law enforcement actions. We are barred from enforcing large sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act, even when public safety is at risk. Officer morale is devastated.

If this were the U.S. Capitol Police, the Secret Service, or the military, Congress would be outraged, the President would react firmly and swiftly, and pundits and groups from across the country would be demanding this problem be fixed. Sadly, though, nothing is being done to fix this broken and dangerous state of affairs.

In fact, the situation is even scarier. As the ICE letter points out, President Obama continues to order ICE officers to ignore ever-growing sections of immigration law and undertake actions that create a risk to public safety. The Senate has passed a gargantuan immigration bill that includes mass amnesty, tons of handouts to special interests, and enough waivers and exemptions to make Obamacare officials jealous.

Notably, the Senate bill does little to actually support the hard-working men and women of ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies. Even worse, amnesty would make the work of ICE even more difficult by encouraging more illegal immigration and adding new classes of provisional immigrants who have special rules that apply to them.

It is sad that it has come to this: “ICE officers are pleading with [Congress] to…stand with American citizens and the immigration officers who put their own personal safety at risk each day to provide for public safety.” U.S. law enforcement officers should not have to beg Congress just to enforce existing laws.

Congress should reject amnesty, which would only further harm our immigration officers’ effort, and instead use the budget process to give ICE and other immigration agencies the resources they need to do their jobs effectively. Then Congress should demand that President Obama uphold immigration law, not selectively enforce it. Read more about U.S. Immigration Officers Give Frightening Warning

The third House Republican to support the comprehensive immigration bill introduced by House Democrats is circulating a petition to House Republicans to pressure House Republican leaders to bring up comprehensive immigration reform legislation this year.

On Friday, Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) said he was "hoping to get a decent number" of signatures, according to the Washington Post.

Reps. Jeff Denham (R-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) are the other two Republicans who have come out in support of the Senate's immigration bill that provides a pathway to citizenship for the country's illegal immigrants with less stringent border security provisions.

Valadao said he is not calling on House Republican leadership to hold a vote on the Democrat bill but on immigration reform in general before the end of the year.

House Republicans are reportedly working on various piecemeal bills in order to go conference with the Senate, where a pathway to citizenship provision will most likely prevail. The Congressional Budget Office determined that the Senate bill would lower the wages of working class Americans.

If House Republicans do not bring up immigration reform this year, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) recently said Republicans may try to pass comprehensive immigration reform next year--after the primaries--when Republicans do not have to fear challenges from the conservative wing of the party. Read more about House Republican Circulating Petition to Push Immigration Reform