enforcement

Last year Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the U.S., filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona for their passage of SB 1070, the tough but fair, anti-illegal alien bill. A federal appeals court ruled against Arizona. However Arizona filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court and fortunately the Court has agreed to hear their appeal of the lower court ruling. It will be heard on April 25.

A number of government jurisdictions across the U.S. have filed amicus briefs, some supporting Arizona and some in opposition. Unbelievable but true: four Oregon jurisdictions have joined with the pro-illegal alien side in opposition to Arizona’s attempts to protect its citizens against the terrible impact of illegal immigration. These Oregon jurisdictions are: City of Portland, County of Multnomah, City of Beaverton, and the City of Tualatin.

Equally shocking is the action of the Attorney General of Oregon, John R. Kroger, who joined a group of attorneys for Amici Curiae in support of the lawsuit against Arizona.

Oregon is faced with monumental problems, many of which are caused by the flood of illegal aliens into the state. Nonetheless Kroger decided that he knows better than Arizona lawmakers about a law that they passed. The Federation for American Immigration Reform, (FAIR), estimates illegal aliens cost Oregon taxpayers close to $705 million a year. Illegal aliens cost the Oregon Department of Justice $110 million dollars a year. Shouldn’t Kroger be more concerned about that?

The phone number for John Kroger is: (503) 378-4400.

His email is: attorneygeneral@doj.state.or.us

With all of the problems facing Oregon, what in the world would compel Beaverton, Tualatin, Portland and Multnomah County to file a friend of the court brief against another state? Don’t they have enough problems of their own? If you live in one of these jurisdictions, you might call the local officials and ask them what in the world are they doing? What business is it of theirs to fight against a law passed by the Arizona Legislature to protect their citizens facing constant danger from illegal immigration while the federal government fails to help?

Mayor of Beaverton, Dennis Doyle.  mayormail@beavertonoregon.gov; 503-526-2497; Fax: (503) 526-2479  

Beaverton City Council. citymail@beavertonoregon.gov or call 503-526-2222.

Mayor of Tualatin, Lou Ogden. logden@ci.tualatin.or.us

City Council of Tualatin  council@ci.tualatin.or.us

Administration  Phone: 503-692-2000; Fax: 503-692-5421

Mayor of Portland, Sam Adams. mayorsam@portlandoregon.gov; 503- 823-4120.

City Commissioners and their contact information listed at:

http://www.portlandonline.com/index.cfm?c=28533

Multnomah County Commissioners:  All five are listed with email, phone, and fax numbers at:

http://web.multco.us/contact Read more about Oregon Attorney General on Wrong Side

The Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885), sponsored by U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith proposes a national mandatory E-Verify.  NumbersUSA has prepared a chart showing how the bill will impact each state.  You can clearly see that Oregon would benefit greatly if such a bill were to pass.

Go to:  https://www.numbersusa.com/content/oregon-everify.html

Call your Congressmen today, tell them you are a constituent and that you support Lamar Smith's legislation.  Tell them you think Oregon would benefit greatly from the passage of HR 2885 and you are counting on their support of the bill.

  Read more about In Oregon: What Immigration Enforcement Would Look Like With H.R. 2885 Enacted

In an effort to quell accusations by the open borders lobby that the Administration has not gone far enough with its administrative amnesty program, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced last week the creation of a new “public advocate” position for illegal aliens. Senior ICE Advisor Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, who was appointed as the new advocate, will serve as a point of contact for aliens in removal proceedings, community and advocacy groups, and others who have concerns, questions, recommendations or other issues they would like to raise about the Administration’s executive amnesty efforts. (ICEPress Release, Feb. 7, 2012)

The ICE announcement attempted to portray the creation of the Public Advocate position as part of the normal course of business.  “The creation of the Public Advocate position is another milestone in ICE's ongoing work to enact significant policy changes and improvements to focus the agency's immigration enforcement resources on sensible priorities…” ICE stated in its press release. (Id.) 

The new advocate will report directly to the Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), Gary Mead. According to the agency’s website, the public advocate’s role will entail:

• Assisting individuals and community stakeholders in resolving complaints and concerns with agency policies and operations;
• Proposing changes and recommendations to fix community-identified problems and concerns;
• Alerting agency leadership to potential community stakeholder concerns with current or proposed agency policies and/or operations; and
• Maintaining a collaborative and transparent dialogue with community stakeholders on the agency's mission and core values.  (See ICE Website, Feb. 11, 2012)

Ironically called a “public” advocate, ICE created the new role solely to placate amnesty advocates in an election year. Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), called the Administration’s creation of the new position outrageous. “This is just further proof that the Obama administration puts illegal immigrants ahead of the interests of Americans,” he further added in a press release. “The Obama administration’s lack of immigration enforcement allows illegal immigrants to steal jobs away from American workers and now their in-house lobbyist for illegal immigrants costs U.S. taxpayers more money.” (Rep. Smith Press Release, Feb. 7, 2012) Read more about Administration Appoints New Lobbyist for Illegal Aliens

In a recent interview, President Barack Obama said he can’t just “wave away the laws that Congress put in place” and that “the president doesn’t have the authority to simply ignore Congress and say, ‘We’re not going to enforce the laws that you’ve passed.’”

But that is exactly what the president has done — ignored our immigration laws. Throughout the three years of his administration, Obama has waived applying several of our immigration rules and has refused to enforce other immigration laws.

Last month, Obama administration officials at the Department of Homeland Security outlined their plan to ignore a rule that requires illegal immigrants to leave the United States before they can ask the federal government to waive a law that bans them from legally returning here for several years.

While the waiver of this rule is sometimes allowed under current law, it is only applied on a case-by-case basis, not to entire categories of illegal immigrants. But Obama and his administration are bending these long-established rules by applying them to potentially millions of illegal immigrants.

And this proposal comes on the heels of an even larger plan to reward illegal immigrants. Last year, political appointees at DHS issued new deportation guidelines that amount to back-door amnesty for illegal immigrants and strike another blow at the 13 million unemployed American workers.

Under Obama’s deportation policy, DHS officials review all incoming and most pending cases before an immigration court to determine whether the illegal immigrant can remain in the United States. Because DHS political appointees have made it clear that many illegal immigrants are not considered “priorities” for removal, this means that potentially millions of illegal immigrants can remain here without a vote of Congress.

These changes made to our deportation policy could also allow illegal immigrants to receive a work permit and could put even more U.S. citizens on the unemployment rolls. In fact, when illegal immigrants are allowed to stay and apply for work authorization, the Obama administration grants it 90 percent of the time.

The president also routinely neglects to enforce our immigration laws. His administration has all but abandoned work-site enforcement efforts. During the past three years, work-site enforcement efforts fell 70 percent.

Under the Obama administration, there have been fewer arrests of illegal workers, fewer criminal arrests, fewer indictments and fewer convictions. As a result, 7 million illegal immigrants continue to work in the United States, forcing unemployed American workers to compete with them for scarce jobs.

In addition, the Obama administration sues states that try to help enforce federal immigration laws. The administration has filed suit against Arizona, Alabama and South Carolina for their laws designed to reduce illegal immigration and protect American workers.

At the same time, the Obama administration looks the other way when states and localities undermine federal immigration laws. The administration has ignored efforts by Illinois, Massachusetts and New York to stop participating in Secure Communities, a program that keeps our neighborhoods safe by identifying illegal and criminal immigrants in police custody who have been arrested and fingerprinted.

The administration has also refused to penalize “sanctuary” cities that blatantly defy federal immigration laws and release criminal immigrants onto our streets and into our communities.
Talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words. The president’s actions speak volumes about his intent to reward those who have broken our immigration laws.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Read more about President is ignoring immigration laws

Upon deplaning Air Force One for his fifth official visit to Arizona, President Barack Obama was greeted by Governor Jan Brewer.

According to KFYI, Brewer handed the president a handwritten letter, they spoke and at one point she pointed her finger at him. It seemed they were talking over each other, then Obama appeared to walk away from the governor while she was still talking.

“He was a little disturbed about my book, Scorpions for Breakfast,” Brewer told one reporter. ”I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president.”

“The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt.”

Asked what it was about the book that disturbed him, Brewer said, “That he didn’t feel that I had treated him cordially.” She added, “I said I was sorry he felt that way but I didn’t get my sentence finished. Anyway, we‘re glad he’s here. I’ll regroup.”

Brewer said that the letter she presented to Obama was asking him to sit down with her to discuss an economic comeback in Arizona and to extend an invitation to lunch along with a visit to the border.

“I thought we probably would’ve talked about the things that were important to him and important to me, helping one another. Our country is upside down. Arizona was upside down. But we have turned it around. I know again that he loves this country and I love this country.”

NOTE: Included on the Blaze is a radio interview with Jan Brewer.