illegal immigration

Have you ever wished YOU could ask a question of the Presidential candidates?

Alert date: 
September 15, 2015
Alert body: 

The next presidential debate is this Wednesday, September 16 on CNN. Perhaps your question will be chosen Wednesday evening.
 
We are encouraging every OFIR member or friend to send in a question concerning immigration to CNN. All you have to do is submit your question to CNN at: http://www.cnn.com/specials/politics/submit-questions-september-gop-debate
 
You could ask questions like these:

Don’t you think that E-Verify should be mandated for all employers - discouraging illegal immigration and encouraging illegal workers to depart?  E-Verify is a FREE, internet based program to help employers be certain they are hiring workers that are legally authorized to work in the USA.  Results are quick, accurate and E-Verify gets high approval ratings from participating employers.

Should English be the official language of the US government?

Or, questions could address the financial impact on U.S. taxpayers. FAIR estimates illegal aliens cost U.S. taxpayers $100 billion dollars a year even if you subtract any taxes they might pay. The cost to Oregon taxpayers is estimated at $1 billion a year.
 
Illegal alien cheap labor is devastating our young people. Twenty-three percent of white high school graduates are unemployed. Twenty-four percent of Hispanic high school graduates are unemployed. However the greatest impact is on Black American high school graduates. They have an unemployment rate of over 51 percent.
 
American sovereignty is at stake. Shouldn’t we as Americans make the decision as to whom we allow to immigrate into our great country? How can a nation be defined if it doesn’t have borders?
 
Please take a couple of minutes to send in your question to CNN. If you haven't commented before, you'll need to register with CNN to get your question posted; registration is rather simple and quick.
 
Note: If a comment is not a question to the Republican candidates, it will not appear.

Please - let OFIR know if your question is selected!

Here’s the lineup:
 
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
CNN Republican Primary Debate
6pm ET / 3pm PT - First round debate
8pm ET / 5pm PT - Second round primetime debate

Location: Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA
Moderator(s): Jake Tapper, Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt
Candidates First round: Santorum, Jindal, Pataki, Graham
Candidates Second round Primetime: Trump, Bush, Walker, Huckabee, Carson, Cruz, Rubio, Paul, Christie, Kasich, Fiorina

Judge upholds Arizona's 'show your papers' immigration law

A federal judge has upheld part of Arizona's contentious immigration law, rejecting claims that the so-called "show your papers" section of the law discriminated against Hispanics.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton on Friday was on the last of seven challenges to the 2010 law. The section being upheld allows police in Arizona to check the immigration status of anyone they stop...

The judge also upheld a section that let police check to see if a detainee is in the United States illegally...

Karen Tumlin, the legal director of the National Immigration Law Center, one of the parties to the suit, said ...

"We will continue working on behalf of our courageous plaintiffs to show that Arizona can do better than this disgraceful law," she said in a statement.

Bolton's ruling came two days after a federal judge approved a deal between the U.S. Department of Justice and Arizona's Maricopa County to resolve accusations of civil rights abuses and dismissed the department's lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his deputies.


  Read more about Judge upholds Arizona's 'show your papers' immigration law

Lars Larson's open letter to Jeb Bush

The current debate on border security centers around fencing and walls. Other security measures are also being proposed, such as advanced electronic surveillance technology, advocated by Glenn Spencer of American Border Patrol.  In a letter addressed to presidential candidate Jeb Bush, Northwest talk show host Lars Larson makes a great case for strong fences as used successfully in Israel. 

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An open letter to Jeb Bush, from Lars Larson

August 27, 2015

In a country that has seen really great leaders, you bring new meaning to “bush league”.

Let me be specific in my criticism beginning with your latest statement on our border invasion.

“You can’t build a wall and solve this problem…it’s  not practical, and it’s not conservative. I don’t think we should spend hundreds of billions of dollars with an impractical solution.” (Breitbart 26 August, 2015)  Jeb….can I call you Jeb? I understand you’re trying to avoid unfortunate connections to the B word.  

Not only can we build a wall, we must build a wall. It’s feasible, fair and fiscally responsible. Let me explain it to you in simple terms since you either lack the information or are allowing your establishment GOP inclinations override common sense for those in our party who cash in big time on all that cheap labor. 

Israel has done it. If a tiny country that is our greatest ally can get it done, please explain to me why a man seeking the most powerful office in the world starts off by declaring what we “can’t” do?

I’ve been pushing this idea since my second visit to Israel in 2005 when I got the chance to see most of their wall from a helicopter. Yet today I hear almost no mention of it by American politicians, even though I’ve mentioned it to dozens of them and have talked about it extensively on my show.

Here’s how quickly Israel put up a barrier against real terrorists:

(Wiki) In 2000, Prime Minister Ehud Barak approved financing of a 74 km (46 mi) fence between the Wadi Ara region and Latrun.[34] In 2001, a grass roots organization called “Fence for Life – The Public Movement for The Security Fence” urged the government to build a fence to separate the Palestinian territories from Israeli population centers. By 2003, 180 km (112 mi) had been completed and in 2004, Israel started the southern part of the barrier. By 2006, 362 km (224.9 mi) of the barrier had been completed, 88 km (54.7 mi) was under construction. By 2012, 440 km (273.4 mi) (62%) of the barrier had been completed, 57 km (35.4 mi) (8%) was under construction.

Unfortunately nearly every Democrat Party member, aided and abetted by “you can’t build a wall” establishment Republicans like you, declare that illegal aliens will just “buy taller ladders”. It’s a simplistic, stupid argument not backed up by facts, which I understand coming from Ds, but why from YOU?

Before I get to the costs and benefits, let’s talk about what it did for a country like Israel facing hundreds killed every year by determined terrorists.

(Wiki) “The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israel Security Agency report that in 2002, there were 452 fatalities from terrorist attacks. Before the completion of the first continuous segment (July 2003) from the beginning of the Second Intifada, 73 Palestinian suicide bombings were carried out from the West Bank, killing 293 Israelis and injuring over 1,900. After the completion of the first continuous segment through the end of 2006, there were only 12 attacks based in the West Bank, killing 64 people and wounding 445.[5] Terrorist attacks declined in 2007[5] and 2008[42] to 9 in 2010.[43]

 If a fence is that affective against terrorists, how do you think it will work against low skilled workers (“doing the jobs Americans won’t do” to quote the canard used by RINO politicians)?

You have expressed concern that in some cases, a barrier would leave people separated in some communities and impede economic activity. The same was true in Israel but I’ve seen the security gates that allow law abiding Palestinians to cross (in one specific example I remember from my visit ten years ago, a farmer who lived on the West Bank of the Jordan who would cross regularly to work his olive orchards on his land on the other side of the fence). A fence lets both sides decide who comes in legitimately

Now about the cost: Israel has a barrier 422 miles long (680 Kilometers) that cost about $2M per Kilometer. Call it 1.3 billion dollars. America needs a barrier roughly five times a long. Hundreds of miles of the fence have already been built, but even assuming we had to build 2,000 miles (3,000  km) of brand new barrier, that would cost about $6B. Now assume that because it’s built by our oh-so-efficient government, let’s double the cost (call it $12B) and then because it would be constructed with Davis Bacon union labor, add 50%. Round it up to $20B.

For 2.5% of the great Barack Obama’s 2009 “stimulus” we could have it built. Put it out to bid to be started in five different locations by five different companies and get it done in less than the 8 years it took the Israelis.  Hell, hire both Halliburton and Bechtel to keep the left and right happy here.

What does America get for this expenditure of $20B (one half of one percent of the current federal budget or one tenth of one percent of the federal budget over the five years such a project might take)?  

Let me get to that right after I dispense with the problem no American politician (Congressmen King and Gohmert and the great Sen Jeff Sessions excepted) has been able to tackle.

Frankly, it’s easy (remember that Gov. “Can’t”).

Require every American company e-verify its entire workforce. It’s illegal to employ no green card illegals, but for starters, use Iowa Congressman Steve King’s idea: if you’re not a legal worker, your wages are not deductible at tax time. Raids and criminal charges take forever. The IRS decree would act instantly on every company.

...

Read the rest of the article online at: http://larslarson.com/an-open-letter-to-jeb-bush/ Read more about Lars Larson's open letter to Jeb Bush

A $15,000 matching grant spurs donor contributions - don't miss your opportunity to double your contribution!

Alert date: 
October 13, 2015
Alert body: 

Contributions are rolling in - don't miss your opportunity to DOUBLE your contribution - up to $15,000 total!

A matching grant will help OFIR fight to STOP illegal immigration here in Oregon and across the country.

Our generous donor will match your contributions to OFIR of any size up to $15,000 total!  Imagine that - if you contribute $20 it magically becomes $40 or contribute $100 and it magically becomes a $200 contribution! 

OFIR fought very hard to defeat Ballot Measure 88 and our resources are running low.  Your contribution now will help OFIR stay in the game during the critical, upcoming election cycle.

Please consider a generous contribution today and double your money.  This wonderful opportunity just doesn't happen every day!

OFIR appreciates each and every one of our members.  We understand that some of you may not be able to contribute financially.  There are lots of things you can do to help http://www.oregonir.org/how-you-can-help-ofir

But, we hope that those of you that can, will dig deep and give generously.  We need your help now - and your contribution to OFIR will be doubled - up to $15,000.  It's a WIN - WIN!

You can also go online http://www.oregonir.org/donate-ofir to contribute or mail your contribution to:

OFIR

PO Box 7354

Salem, OR 97303

Thank you!

Don't miss out on this GREAT OPPORTUNITY to double your contribution to OFIR!

Wong does not make a birthright for illegal aliens

Birthright citizenship, the 14th Amendment, anchor babies and illegal immigration are dominating the news.  

Donald Trump has opened the discussion even more when he called for the denial of automatic citizenship for anchor babies.  Even Jeb Bush, an open border and amnesty advocate, has denounced the practice.

The article below by Colin McNickle is an insightful look into the issue.  All OFIR members should read the article and learn what’s true and what’s not true about birthright citizenship.

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Wong does not make a birthright for illegal aliens

By Colin McNickle, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.)

 August 24, 2015
 
The firestorm that has erupted anew over "birthright citizenship" exposes the manifest dangers of constitutional ignorance. Not Donald Trump's but that of his critics who have shown remarkable reading incomprehension regarding the Constitution and the Supreme Court case they so regularly cite in defense of their position.

A diverse chattering class of liberals, "progressives," conservatives and even, remarkably, libertarians pounced on Mr. Trump when he said that the children of illegal aliens born in the United States are not, under the 14th Amendment, automatically citizens of the United States.

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, for one, would have none of that. "If you are born here, you're an American, period," he said, sparring with Trump, one of the gaggle of Republican presidential contenders. Later, Mr. O'Reilly, as have many others, cited United States v. Wong Kim Ark, decided by the Supreme Court in 1898.

As the Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court notes, at issue in Wong was the citizenship status of those of Chinese descent. An 1882 law already had barred Chinese from becoming naturalized citizens; "exclusionists" sought to bar them from birthright citizenship as well (based on the nationality of their parents and not the place of their birth).

Wong Kim Ark was born to Chinese parents in San Francisco in 1873. But, later, following a trip to China, he was denied readmission to the United States. "The government argued that Wong Kim Ark was not a citizen because his Chinese parents made him subject to the emperor of China."

The logic was tortured. Nonetheless, its essence, properly employed, goes to the heart of the 14th Amendment:

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof (emphasis added), are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

The high court, citing not only common law but the 14th Amendment, ruled 6-2 that citizenship was guaranteed to all persons born in the United States, regardless of their heritage.

So, case closed, right? The Supreme Court ruled birthright citizenship is the law of the land for all, right? The Donald Trump argument is populist pap and for naught, right?
Well, not exactly.

The Wong case involved the child of legal resident aliens. "The Supreme Court has never ruled directly on the question of birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens," wrote Lino A. Graglia, a University of Texas law professor, in a seminal 2010 white paper.

And illegal aliens clearly are subject to the jurisdiction of the country whence they came.

But what about the common law component of the court's Wong decision?

"The court recognized that even a rule based on soil and physical presence could not rationally be applied to grant birthright citizenship to persons whose presence in a country was not only without the government's consent but in violation of the law,"

Professor Graglia wrote.  A number of constitutional scholars -- from Graglia, to Yale law professor Peter Schuck, to Gerald Posner -- say Congress can and should act -- without repealing or amending the 14th Amendment -- to end the absurdity of constitutionally warrantless birthright citizenship for illegal aliens, citizenship that's wholly unsupported in case law.

After all, the Constitution "should not be interpreted to require an absurdity," Graglia concluded. And it need not be. Because it doesn't.

Colin McNickle is Trib Total Media's director of editorial pages. Read more about Wong does not make a birthright for illegal aliens

Last weekend for the 150th Oregon State Fair!

Alert date: 
August 29, 2015
Alert body: 

Don't miss out on the fun!  Plan to attend the Oregon State Fair  running through Labor Day.

Oregonians for Immigration Reform (OFIR) is hosting a booth at the State Fair again this year.  We encourage you to drop by and say hello, we are located in the Jackman Long building.  Learn more about what's happening here in Oregon and across the country and meet a State Rep. and Senator or a talk show host or any of our other wonderful volunteers!  Visit our photo gallery!

If you have not yet joined OFIR, we encourage you to do so.  It has been decades since the immigration issue has attracted such attention.
 

Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again

When politicians talk about “immigration reform” they mean: amnesty, cheap labor and open borders. The Schumer-Rubio immigration bill was nothing more than a giveaway to the corporate patrons who run both parties.

Real immigration reform puts the needs of working people first � nnot wealthy globetrotting donors. We are the only country in the world whose immigration system puts the needs of other nations ahead of our own. That must change. Here are the three core principles of real immigration reform:

1. A nation without borders is not a nation.
There must be a wall across the southern border.

2. A nation without laws is not a nation.
Laws passed in accordance with our Constitutional system of government must be enforced.

3. A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation. Any immigration plan must improve jobs, wages and security for all Americans.

Make Mexico Pay For The Wall
For many years, Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country (as well as in other Latin American countries). They have even published pamphlets on how to illegally immigrate to the United States. The costs for the United States have been extraordinary: U.S. taxpayers have been asked to pick up hundreds of billions in healthcare costs, housing costs, education costs, welfare costs, etc. Indeed, the annual cost of free tax credits alone paid to illegal immigrants quadrupled to $4.2 billion in 2011. The effects on jobseekers have also been disastrous, and black Americans have been particularly harmed.

The impact in terms of crime has been tragic. In recent weeks, the headlines have been covered with cases of criminals who crossed our border illegally only to go on to commit horrific crimes against Americans. Most recently, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, with a long arrest record, is charged with breaking into a 64 year-old women’s home, crushing her skull and eye sockets with a hammer, raping her, and murdering her. The Police Chief in Santa Maria says the “blood trail” leads straight to Washington.

In 2011, the Government Accountability Office found that there were a shocking 3 million arrests attached to the incarcerated alien population, including tens of thousands of violent beatings, rapes and murders.

Meanwhile, Mexico continues to make billions on not only our bad trade deals but also relies heavily on the billions of dollars in remittances sent from illegal immigrants in the United States back to Mexico ($22 billion in 2013 alone).
In short, the Mexican government has taken the United States to the cleaners. They are responsible for this problem, and they must help pay to clean it up.

The cost of building a permanent border wall pales mightily in comparison to what American taxpayers spend every single year on dealing with the fallout of illegal immigration on their communities, schools and unemployment offices.

Mexico must pay for the wall and, until they do, the United States will, among other things: impound all remittance payments derived from illegal wages; increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats (and if necessary cancel them); increase fees on all border crossing cards � of which we issue about 1 million to Mexican nationaals each year (a major source of visa overstays); increase fees on all NAFTA worker visas from Mexico (another major source of overstays); and increase fees at ports of entry to the United States from Mexico [Tariffs and foreign aid cuts are also options]. We will not be taken advantage of anymore.

Defend The Laws And Constitution Of The United States
America will only be great as long as America remains a nation of laws that lives according to the Constitution. No one is above the law. The following steps will return to the American people the safety of their laws, which politicians have stolen from them:

Triple the number of ICE officers. 
As the President of the ICE Officers’ Council explained in Congressional testimony: “Only approximately 5,000 officers and agents within ICE perform the lion’s share of ICE’s immigration mission�Compare that to the Los Angeles Police Department at apprroximately 10,000 officers. Approximately 5,000 officers in ICE cover 50 states, Puerto Rico and Guam, and are attempting to enforce immigration law against 11 million illegal aliens already in the interior of the United States. Since 9-11, the U.S. Border Patrol has tripled in size, while ICE’s immigration enforcement arm, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), has remained at relatively the same size.” This will be funded by accepting the recommendation of the Inspector General for Tax Administration and eliminating tax credit payments to illegal immigrants.

Nationwide e-verify.
This simple measure will protect jobs for unemployed Americans.

Mandatory return of all criminal aliens.
The Obama Administration has released 76,000 aliens from its custody with criminal convictions since 2013 alone. All criminal aliens must be returned to their home countries, a process which can be aided by canceling any visas to foreign countries which will not accept their own criminals, and making it a separate and additional crime to commit an offense while here illegally.

Detention�not catch-and-release.
Illegal aliens apprehended crossing the border must be detained until they are sent home, no more catch-and-release.

Defund sanctuary cities.
Cut-off federal grants to any city which refuses to cooperate with federal law enforcement.

Enhanced penalties for overstaying a visa.
Millions of people come to the United States on temporary visas but refuse to leave, without consequence. This is a threat to national security. Individuals who refuse to leave at the time their visa expires should be subject to criminal penalties; this will also help give local jurisdictions the power to hold visa overstays until federal authorities arrive. Completion of a visa tracking system � required by law but blocked by loobbyists � will be necessary as well.

Cooperate with local gang task forces.
ICE officers should accompany local police departments conducting raids of violent street gangs like MS-13 and the 18th street gang, which have terrorized the country. All illegal aliens in gangs should be apprehended and deported. Again, quoting Chris Crane: “ICE Officers and Agents are forced to apply the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Directive, not to children in schools, but to adult inmates in jails. If an illegal-alien inmate simply claims eligibility, ICE is forced to release the alien back into the community. This includes serious criminals who have committed felonies, who have assaulted officers, and who prey on children�ICE officers should be required to place detainers on everyy illegal alien they encounter in jails and prisons, since these aliens not only violated immigration laws, but then went on to engage in activities that led to their arrest by police; ICE officers should be required to issue Notices to Appear to all illegal aliens with criminal convictions, DUI convictions, or a gang affiliation; ICE should be working with any state or local drug or gang task force that asks for such assistance.”

End birthright citizenship.
This remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration. By a 2:1 margin, voters say it’s the wrong policy, including Harry Reid who said “no sane country” would give automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.

Put American Workers First
Decades of disastrous trade deals and immigration policies have destroyed our middle class. Today, nearly 40% of black teenagers are unemployed. Nearly 30% of Hispanic teenagers are unemployed. For black Americans without high school diplomas, the bottom has fallen out: more than 70% were employed in 1960, compared to less than 40% in 2000. Across the economy, the percentage of adults in the labor force has collapsed to a level not experienced in generations. As CBS news wrote in a piece entitled “America’s incredible shrinking middle class”: “If the middle-class is the economic backbone of America, then the country is developing osteoporosis.”

The influx of foreign workers holds down salaries, keeps unemployment high, and makes it difficult for poor and working class Americans – including immigrants themselves and their children � to earn aa middle class wage. Nearly half of all immigrants and their US-born children currently live in or near poverty, including more than 60 percent of Hispanic immigrants.

Every year, we voluntarily admit another 2 million new immigrants, guest workers, refugees, and dependents, growing our existing all-time historic record population of 42 million immigrants. We need to control the admission of new low-earning workers in order to: help wages grow, get teenagers back to work, aid minorities’ rise into the middle class, help schools and communities falling behind, and to ensure our immigrant members of the national family become part of the American dream.

Additionally, we need to stop giving legal immigrant visas to people bent on causing us harm. From the 9/11 hijackers, to the Boston Bombers, and many others, our immigration system is being used to attack us. The President of the immigration caseworkers union declared in a statement on ISIS: “We've become the visa clearinghouse for the world.”
Here are some additional specific policy proposals for long-term reform:

Increase prevailing wage for H-1Bs.
We graduate two times more Americans with STEM degrees each year than find STEM jobs, yet as much as two-thirds of entry-level hiring for IT jobs is accomplished through the H-1B program. More than half of H-1B visas are issued for the program's lowest allowable wage level, and more than eighty percent for its bottom two. Raising the prevailing wage paid to H-1Bs will force companies to give these coveted entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed native and immigrant workers in the U.S., instead of flying in cheaper workers from overseas. This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program. Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities.

Requirement to hire American workers first.
Too many visas, like the H-1B, have no such requirement. In the year 2015, with 92 million Americans outside the workforce and incomes collapsing, we need to companies to hire from the domestic pool of unemployed. Petitions for workers should be mailed to the unemployment office, not USCIS.

End welfare abuse.
Applicants for entry to the United States should be required to certify that they can pay for their own housing, healthcare and other needs before coming to the U.S.

Jobs program for inner city youth.
The J-1 visa jobs program for foreign youth will be terminated and replaced with a resume bank for inner city youth provided to all corporate subscribers to the J-1 visa program.

Refugee program for American children.
Increase standards for the admission of refugees and asylum-seekers to crack down on abuses. Use the monies saved on expensive refugee programs to help place American children without parents in safer homes and communities, and to improve community safety in high crime neighborhoods in the United States.

Immigration moderation.
Before any new green cards are issued to foreign workers abroad, there will be a pause where employers will have to hire from the domestic pool of unemployed immigrant and native workers. This will help reverse women's plummeting workplace participation rate, grow wages, and allow record immigration levels to subside to more moderate historical averages.
  Read more about Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again

Illegal immigration top GOP talking point at New Hampshire presidential forum

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The Republican Party's presidential class called for aggressive steps to curb illegal immigration, seizing on a delicate political issue as more than a dozen White House hopefuls faced off in New Hampshire on Monday night for a pointed preview of the first full-fledged debate of the 2016 primary season...

The candidates focused their criticism at Democrats instead of each other.. They addressed several contentious issues, immigration topping a list that included abortion, climate change and foreign policy.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who may not qualify for the upcoming formal debate, called the flow of immigrants crossing the border illegally "a serious wound."

"You want to stanch the flow," he said as his Republican rivals watched from the front row of the crowded St. Anselm College auditorium. On those immigrants who have overstayed visas, Perry charged, "You go find 'em, you pick 'em up and you send 'em back where they're from."

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum went further, calling for a 25 percent reduction of low-skilled immigrants coming into the country legally.

"Everyone else is dancing around it. I'm going to stand for the American worker," Santorum declared...

Trump, who launched his presidential bid by calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, declined to attend the New Hampshire event. He cited criticism from the local newspaper host, yet he is expected to play a prominent role in Thursday's formal debate, where only the GOP's top 10 candidates — as determined by national polls — will be allowed on stage.

Monday's event was broadcast live on C-SPAN and local television stations in Iowa and South Carolina — states that, along with New Hampshire, will host the first contests in the presidential primary calendar next February...

Just one woman was featured on stage Monday night: former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who is unlikely to qualify for Thursday's higher-profile debate.

Democrats are also eager to debate Republicans on immigration.

GOP leaders have acknowledged the need to improve the party's standing among the surging group of Hispanic voters. Yet while many Democrats favor a more forgiving policy that would allow immigrants in the country illegally a pathway to citizenship in many cases, many Republicans focus on border security.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, once a lead salesman for a comprehensive immigration overhaul, said Americans want the border fence completed and more border security agents before there's any discussion of what to do with those 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.

Others offered a softer tone on the divisive issue Monday night.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said "law-abiding, God-fearing" immigrants in the country illegally should be allowed to stay. Those who break the law, he said, "have to be deported or put in prison."

Bush said fixing the nation's immigration system is a key part of his plan to help the economy grow 4 percent each year. He also called for reducing legal immigration, particularly the number of people allowed to enter the country on family petitions...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called the move "a buzz saw to the nation's economy."

"I want to balance a sustainable environment with a sustainable economy," Walker said.

Several candidates involved Monday night won't make the cut for Thursday's debate...

Fiorina charged that Clinton has repeatedly lied during investigations into her use of a private email server and an attack on an American embassy in Libya while she was secretary of state.

"These go to the core of her character," Fiorina said.

"We have to have a nominee on our side who's going to throw every punch," she continued. "This is a fight.".. Read more about Illegal immigration top GOP talking point at New Hampshire presidential forum

Sanctuary Cities: No Peace And No Justice

by Michael Cutler - former INS Special Agent                                                                                                           Published in the Daily Caller July 10, 2015

The mere idea of providing illegal aliens with “protection” from federal law enforcement agents flies in the face of reason and commonsense.

Immigration enforcement personnel are charged with enforcing our immigration laws that were enacted to prevent the entry and continued presence of aliens whose presence in our country would be harmful or dangerous to America and Americans.  Shielding such aliens from detection by law enforcement officers turns logic on its head and makes it crystal clear that for all too many politicians on the local, state and federal level, that Americans who are injured or killed are simply to be written off as “collateral damage!”
 
This is the issue that I have focused on for my commentary today.
 
That the horrific death of Kathryn Steinle could have been prevented if a number of "public servants” had taken their oaths of office and their responsibilities seriously and worked to make certain that a convicted felon who not only had no lawful right to be in the United States, but whose presence in the United States represented a felony, is unfathomable.
 
Additionally, while this specific crime has captured the attention of the media- largely because one presidential candidate, Donald Trump, had the chutzpah to dare speak openly and unequivocally about the impact of the failure of our nation’s leaders to enforce our immigration laws, this sort of crime occurs virtually each and every day and, indeed, often many times each day.
 
While Trump’s use of language was not nuanced and was not artful, it certainly grabbed everyone’s attention.
 
Now that the topic has landed on the front page of just about every newspaper in the United States and has become the lead story in the mainstream media, we must not allow this issue to fade into the background as, undoubtedly new issues percolate in the realm of journalism.  We must seize the opportunities this provides to have an honest and candid conversation and not allow our politicians to attempt to offer the usual solutions that are not really solutions to simply create illusions that this issue is being dealt with so that the true dangers inherent in the failures of the immigration system will be put aside and quickly forgotten. 
 
What is now needed, more than new laws is more agents, more resources and a mandate that our federal government actually enforce the laws that are on the books right now!
 
Within the past few days, Hillary Clinton stated that there are those who don’t want to provide a "pathway to citizenship for immigrants.”  
 
That pathway to U.S. citizenship is already a part and parcel of our already existing Immigration and Nationality Act and, each year, well over one-half million lawful immigrants are granted United States citizenship via the naturalization process.  What Clinton is really advocating through her deceptive and intentionally misleading claim is that illegal aliens should be provided with United States citizenship.  These are foreign national who have no inherent right to be present in the United States.  They either evaded the vital inspections process conducted by Customs and Border Protection Inspectors at ports of entry or violated the terms of their admission after they were admitted into the United States.  Yet Clinton and other politicians are adamant that these aliens should be granted the highest honor and, indeed, the “Keys to the Kingdom” to such foreign nationals.
 
While criticizing any American who would oppose such lunacy she is attempting to vilify anyone who would express opposition to her plan to violate commonsense and the 9/11 Commission.  
 
In her parallel universe, those of us who want our immigration laws enforced don’t want to provide illegal aliens with a pathway to United States citizenship are unfair and xenophobic.  I would love her to find any country on this planet that would provide citizenship to illegal aliens.  This is the equivalent of providing a burglar with the key to the front door of the house he had broken into!
 
Politicians from both sides of the political aisle- “Demoncrats” and “Repugnantcans” alike, who want to provide illegal aliens with lawful status which is only one notch lower than citizenship.  For them, it would certainly seem that our immigration laws, which were enacted to protect American lives and the livelihoods of American are an impediment to their political goals.


  Read more about Sanctuary Cities: No Peace And No Justice

Help citizens or illegal aliens?

 
All students should have an opportunity to attend college, says Pamela Prosise in her op-ed in the Statesman Journal, June 30. She advocates extending to illegal aliens the benefit of publicly-funded tuition assistance  (Oregon Opportunity Grants), as called for in Senate Bill 932 now pending in the Legislature.
 
Note that Ms. Prosise is a retired teacher of English to students who come into the school system not speaking English. Teachers of English language learners, along with many other persons in the educational system, have a vested interest in a large supply of foreign students who need English-language instruction.  Teachers’ unions and associated unions made large contributions to Yes on Oregon Safe Roads, the political action group (SOS Orestar i.d. no.16889) supporting Measure 88 which would have extended the benefit of official driver cards to illegal aliens. See these amounts given in 2014 to the YES on Oregon Safe Roads campaign:
 
American Federation of Teachers – Oregon Issue PAC (5486) - $5,000 
Oregon AFL-CIO - $703
Oregon AFSCME Council (75) - $12,500
School Employees Exercising Democracy (249) - $20,000 
SEIU Local 503 - $100,000
SEIU Local 49 Committee on Political Education (4213) -  $20,000
 
To see all contribution and expense records for the Yes on Oregon Safe Roads campaign, click here. The day-by-day reports of financial transactions (receipts and expenditures) of YOSR show names of contributors and amounts they have contributed.  A summary record is available here; to see 2014 summary, click on the “Prev” link.
 
You can view here the 2014 summary records for the Protect Oregon Driver Licenses campaign. Detail of contributions is here.
 
Ms. Prosise disdains use of the term illegal alien, which is the correct legal term defining persons who are present in this country in violation of U.S. immigration laws, usually by sneaking across borders via clandestine means, or knowingly overstaying the allotted time of their visas. 
 
In her arguments for extending tax-paid tuition assistance to illegal alien students, Ms. Prosise is so narrowly focused that she does not see the consequences of open borders.  She apparently believes national boundaries are unnecessary, undesirable, and we should not attempt to maintain them.
 
She acknowledges no difference between citizens and non-citizens, nor between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants.
 
She is blind to the history of this country which was built by mostly law-abiding, patriotic citizens, many of whom gave their lives in wars to establish and maintain the country.  For over two  centuries, honesty and fair play characterized the lives of most citizens, resulting in a prosperous country with political freedom and a good quality of life -- until recent decades when massive waves of illegal and legal immigration began to destabilize society here. We now see large multinational business corporations increasing their political power, thriving on the cheap labor provided by high levels of immigration. Also, many smaller businesses cheat Americans by encouraging illegal immigration and profiting from the depressed wages that follow.
 
The path Ms. Prosise advocates would be disastrous for Oregon and this country.  Most citizens understand this instinctively.  They were not “misled” by the Referendum on driver licenses for illegal aliens.  They voted for their own interests, and for the preservation of our country.  The purpose of immigration laws is to protect the interests of citizens. All advanced countries have immigration laws, and those that don’t enforce their immigration laws face ever-increasing chaos.
 

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