illegal immigration

Just about a week ago, we were given a video exposing a major breach on the U.S./Mexico border near Lukeville, Arizona, located about 100 miles southwest of Tucson.  We checked its authenticity with our sources at the Department of Homeland Security who have confirmed that the video is real and was taken recently.  This was first posted by Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever and see how, despite claims by the Administration, the border is far from secure.

Our DHS sources have been able to determine from the clothes the men are wearing, the straps on their backpacks, and other things they're carrying, that these are indeed drug smugglers bringing hundreds of pounds of illegal drugs into the United States.

The fence shown here was built by the Bush Administration and part of a $1 billion contract with Boeing. Amazingly, the fence was designed to do exactly what the smugglers did. The fence panels slide inside two steel columns, but no one in the Bush Administration nor at Boeing even considered welding the panels to the posts, making it easy for smugglers to get through. What we don't know is if they failed to weld along the entire length of the fence or just in some areas.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano has testified before Congress, saying the border is more secure now than it's ever been. Administration officials boast about fewer border crossings and the effectiveness of thousands of more border patrol agents. But where are the border patrol agents in this video? And if there aren't any border patrol agents to see the illegal crossings, then the crossings can't be recorded.

NumbersUSA is currently pushing for a Congressional investigation into this major breach of border security. The fence needs to be fixed, and Boeing needs to pay for it!

We need all Americans to watch it and consider its ramifications. Whether it be smuggling of illegal drugs, national security, or illegal immigration, every American should be shocked and demand answers!

Video link at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdc-kv7nzaU Read more about Is the Border Secure? Shocking Video Shows Otherwise

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

Offered a stark choice on the illegal immigration issue, Florida Latino Republicans today broke nearly 2-1 for the candidate with the firmest opposition to amnesty and the strongest support for enforcement.

Mitt Romney's margin of victory among Latinos was nearly double his margin of victory among Whites.

For those of you who supported other candidates, you have to at least feel some real satisfaction that on the issue of immigration, Mitt Romney the winner was painted as by-far the strongest opponent of amnesty. You may have preferred another candidate -- including the President -- for other reasons, but most Florida voters went to the polls with the idea that Romney was indeed the toughest on immigration.

Pro-self-deportation Romney won the overall vote by 46% to 32%.

But pro-self-deportaton Romney won the Latino vote by 54% to 29%.

It was a strong rebuke of the majority of media commentators who insist that Latino-Americans can only be won by promising rewards for lawbreaking.  It added a sign of much greater dignity in the rule of law for the Latino population than most in the media are willing to give it.

(Read my full analysis blog and join the discussion at: https://www.numbersusa.com/content/node/13013)

Nobody can say that Floridians -- both Latino and non-Latino -- weren't provided a clear choice on the immigration issue. Immigration may not have been a top issue for most of the voters but it was one of the most publicized parts of the debates and contest.

Newt Gingrich campaigned hard among Latino voters with his continuing call for legalization and work permits for many illegal aliens and his pounding criticism of his opponent as "anti-immigrant" for opposing legalization.  Mitt Romney in two debates continued his campaign-long opposition to long-term work permits and legalization of illegal aliens and created a national media sensation by talking about "self-deportation" as the top goal for the illegal population.

WINNING MARGIN

Whites -- Anti-legalization Romney won by 13 percentage points

Latinos -- Anti-legalization Romney won by 25 percentage points

The results don't prove that Romney's anti-amnesty stance helped him with Latinos. But the results DO prove that a candidate can stand for the rule of law and for preferring unemployed American workers over illegal aliens and still win Latino support.

And that is a wonderful victory of the image of Latino-Americans and for all of us in our battle to say that unemployed Americans should have priority over illegal aliens for U.S. jobs.

Tonight's victor, Romney, put the issue in exactly those terms in the Jacksonville debate last Thursday night. Romney said: "You know, our problem is not 11 million grandmothers. Our problem is (APPLAUSE) ..... Our problem is 11 million people getting jobs that many Americans (and) legal immigrants would like to have."

Although that got one of the most enthusiastic rounds of applause of the debate, nearly all of the news media refused to offer that quote to the public. I believe that is because most reporters and editors in the news media refuse to believe it is possible that Americans and legal immigrants already here would take the construction, service and manufacturing jobs currently held by illegal aliens. Read more about Does pandering pay off?