immigration

So many questions arise from reports in the media about immigrants charged with offenses, but follow-up information is often lacking. 

In his new blog, Dan Cadman of the Center for Immigration Studies focuses on a particular case and points out avenues for investigation that have been neglected, which, if pursued, could cast an entirely different light illuminating related issues.

Here’s a road map for enterprising journalists!

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Journalistic Horse Blinders Keep Key Facts from the Public; Isn't finding and reporting facts the reason for the media's existence?  By Dan Cadman on September 9, 2019

On September 6, American Airlines (AA) mechanic Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani was arrested and charged in federal district court in Miami with sabotage of a commercial aircraft. Video footage revealed he was the reason behind a "mechanical" difficulty that forced cancellation of a flight from Miami to the Bahamas back in mid-July. (See here and here.)

He has been charged with, and allegedly confessed to, spraying foam glue into a tube used for navigation instruments. This is no small matter — those instruments are particularly necessary in hazardous or turbulent weather conditions.

Very few of the media articles I've examined spoke to the man's background — a curious, but all too typical horse-blinders approach many journalists take these days whenever a case might depict immigrants in a bad light. (The same thing happened recently in a case involving several illegal alien MS-13 gang members arrested and accused of murder in Baltimore County, Md. There was at first a cone of silence that descended over the arrest of these "Maryland men".)

In this instance, an interesting smattering of facts have come out in the days following Alani's arrest: He originally came to the United States from Iraq as the spouse of a U.S. citizen who petitioned for him; he subsequently naturalized, in 1992; when he was arraigned, his English was so poor that the judge ordered an Arabic interpreter; and at least one news outlet says that he was at one point a mechanic at both American and Alaska Airlines, but Alaska fired him for "mistakes" and irregularities of some kind (not further explained), as well as for submitting fraudulent time sheets. Subsequent to being terminated, he filed a discrimination complaint — one might guess unsuccessfully, given that the firing was not reversed.

There are so many things to chew on in that smorgasbord of factoids.

I can't help but wonder about his marriage. Was it arranged, and/or was there a vast disparity in age? Are they still wed, or was it a marriage of convenience?

What about his naturalization? How is it that he passed the examinations (27 years ago!), which are supposed to require competent English language skills before one can assume the mantle of citizenship? It sure seems like those responsible for immigration and naturalization matters at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have ample reason to go back and do a thorough post-audit of Alani's file. Want to beef up your vetting? Take the time to look at how your mistakes are made, and learn from them.

And if his command of English is so poor that the judge called for an interpreter, how could he possibly be working as a competent mechanic, all of whose manuals, instruction guides, tutorials, and courses would be in English? How could he have interacted with pilots, other mechanics, and the host of others involved in airplane maintenance? What does American Airlines have to say about this? So far, it would appear no one in the media has asked, even though post-arrest, American immediately issued a press release saying in pertinent part:

At American, we have an unwavering commitment to the safety and security of our customers and team members and we are taking this matter very seriously. At the time of the incident, the aircraft was taken out of service, maintenance was performed and after an inspection to ensure it was safe the aircraft was returned to service. American immediately notified federal law enforcement who took over the investigation with our full cooperation.

Then there's that Alaska Airlines firing in 2008: In light of this most recent criminal malfeasance, it sure seems like somebody needs to go back and carefully reexamine those past mechanical mistakes at Alaska, or that an enterprising investigative journalist might want to dig a little further even if officialdom and the corporate world don't.

Also puzzling: American Airlines had to know about Alani being terminated from Alaska Airlines; it became a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation at one point (though why isn't clear). What's more, part of the basis for his firing was that he claimed to be on the clock at both airlines at the same time so that he could double-dip. So why did American Airlines keep him on? The question begs to be asked, especially in light of American's public statement.

In fact, why did the FAA or Transportation Security Administration continue to credential him to work in an environment as sensitive as an airport in this post-9/11 world after his 2008 firing? Were one and all more afraid of a discrimination complaint than they were the safety of passengers?

https://cis.org/Cadman/Journalistic-Horse-Blinders-Keep-Key-Facts-Public Read more about Clues looking for detectives – where are you?

Enormous levels of immigration over recent decades have caused wages for all U.S. workers to fall behind. Large numbers of citizens’ wages are now so low that they live from payday to payday and cannot save anything for emergencies or for a comfortable retirement. We see widespread homelessness due partly to rents beyond the reach of many low-paid workers.

Who’s responsible for these developments?  Congress sets the immigration laws, including numbers of immigrants.  Oregon’s Congressional delegation has consistently voted for increases in immigration, lax-to-no enforcement of immigration law, and expensive benefits to illegal aliens, enticing further illegal immigration.

To see the Oregon delegations’ grades over their entire careers, click here.
Here are their grades based on their recent voting records in Congress, as documented by NumbersUSA:

F- :  Senator Jeff Merkley, Senator Ron Wyden, Representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader

B  :  Representative Greg Walden

Senator Merkley is up for reelection next year, as are all of Oregon’s 5 Representatives.

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Labor Day: Four Decades of Dramatic CEO Income Growth; Peanuts for Workers

By Joe Guzzardi, Progressives for Immigration Reform,  August 29, 2019

Excerpts:

A recent Economic Policy Institute Study titled “CEO Compensation Has Grown 940% since 1978” is a Labor Day lament for American workers whose wages during the same period have only increased a meager 12%. EPI’s analysis found that this exorbitant, unconscionable earnings differential is the major income inequality contributor, and has persisted through equally indifferent Democrat and Republican administrations. …

CEOs have unquestionably taken full advantage of their power to enrich themselves, and suppress lower-echelon employee wages. But another variable that contributes to 40 years of flat wages for hourly workers is the executive suite’s addiction to cheap, foreign labor. With what has been an unbroken inflow of illegal immigrant and legal guest workers, between 750,000 and 1 million annually, corporations have no incentive to increase domestic workers’ salaries – and they haven’t. …

That immigration grows the economy is the age-old, half-truth argument. Sure, more people and more workers create a bigger economy. But immigration does not help the per capita income. Immigration’s benefits accrue to the immigrants and to their employers, and not the general public. The traditional solution to filling job openings is to offer higher wages, not import more cheap labor. With more than 6.1 million people unemployed, that pool should be tapped first.

Congress will soon reconvene, but as it has been for too many legislative sessions, creating a fairer immigration system that protects instead of harms American workers isn’t on the agenda.

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Read the complete article here. Read more about Labor Day, Sept. 2, 2019: Four decades of peanuts for workers, courtesy of Congress

Governor Brown and Attorney General Rosenbaum show their true colors again, and they’re not red, white, and blue. 

Both Brown and Rosenbaum exalt the interests of migrants over the interests of U.S. citizens, and have done so repeatedly during their time in office.  See here and here.  Their actions in advancing unlimited immigration have harmed this state. 

Rosenbaum will be up for reelection in 2020. She already has a campaign website requesting donations and listing her recent edicts.  Gov. Brown’s term of office extends through 2022.

Here’s the latest evidence that their first loyalties are with international migrants, not U.S. citizens:  Oregon Challenges Trump Administration’s “Public Charge Rule.”

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Oregon Governor Kate Brown today joined four other states in filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “Public Charge Rule”.

Rosenbaum has also sued previously, usually with Brown’s enthusiastic approval, to stop several other actions by Pres. Trump that would control immigration.

The necessity of a public charge rule is obvious if we are to avoid inundation by all the poor of the world and the collapse of our nation.  Such a policy existed here even in colonial days before the U.S. became an independent nation, and was enacted into law long ago. 

In his article in The National Review, Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies gives a concise history of the policy and explains why it’s important.

Excerpt:

The newly finalized rule about immigrant welfare use is 837 pages long, but it boils down to two things: Foreigners who can’t pay their bills shouldn’t be allowed to move here, and “welfare” doesn’t just mean cash benefits.

As to the first: The first comprehensive immigration law at the federal level was the 1882 Immigration Act, which, among other things, excluded anyone who was “unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge.” That principle — the “public-charge doctrine,” as it’s called — has been included in all subsequent immigration legislation, including the 1996 immigration and welfare-reform laws.

But the exclusion of “public charges” didn’t start in the 19th century, but well before that, when immigration law was handled by the states. In fact, preventing the immigration of people who couldn’t support themselves was the subject of the very first immigration law ever passed in the colonies, in Massachusetts Bay in 1645. It’s not too much to say that the public-charge doctrine is the founding principle of American immigration policy. …

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli, in an interview with Fox News, gives many interesting details about the new rule and why it’s needed.  He said that the rule “is entirely in line with the president keeping his promises to make the immigration system work better for America.”  Read Cuccinelli’s comments here. Read more about Governor Brown and AG Rosenbaum push for open borders

Fortunately, some people and institutions dig around, find, and publish, solid information to measure the full scope of the crisis at U.S. borders now, where thousands of people are pouring in from all over the world, with no end in sight. 

Statistics are hard going to read and think about, but they do exist.  The Center for Immigration Studies deals with them routinely.  Here’s one of their reports, with information you’re not likely to see in the general media, nor hear from your Congressperson: 

Revealing Numbers from DOJ and DHS; Quantifying the scope of the border disaster, and its effects, by Andrew R. Arthur, July 21, 2019.

In his article, Arthur describes how figures in official releases “quantify the scope of the disaster that has been unfolding over the last few months on the border, the reasons for that disaster, and its effects on our immigration system.” He highlights the most important figures, for example:  "Recent initiatives to track family unit [FMU] cases revealed that close to 82 percent of completed cases have resulted in an in absentia order of removal." This means that 82% of the refugee or asylum claims among this group of migrants are bogus.

He quotes from a DHS report:  “The many cases that lack merit occupy a large portion of limited docket time and absorb scarce government resources, exacerbating the immigration-court backlog and diverting attention from other meritorious cases. Indeed, despite DOJ deploying the largest number of immigration judges in history and completing historic numbers of cases, a significant backlog remains. There are more than 900,000 pending cases in immigration courts, at least 436,000 of which include an asylum application [Emphasis added].”

Arthur concludes:

The situation at the Southwest border is bad and getting worse, as the figures in the IFR demonstrate. It is not only an issue for our overburdened immigration courts, and DHS employees and resources, but it also imposes a tragic toll on the migrants themselves, who are subject to abuse and exploitation on the way to the United States (as I noted in my last post).

Notwithstanding these facts, Congress has failed to act to plug the loopholes that are being exploited by smugglers and migrants alike. Instead, it simply holds hearings purporting to examine how the administration has acted "inhumanely" with respect to the flood of migrants with which it must contend, or its members send out sanctimonious tweets exploiting the human tragedy that is occurring on its watch and largely because of its inaction. As a former staffer, I can assure you that legislating is hard. The figures in the IFR demonstrate, however, that it is necessary, now more than ever.   [END]

And what do we hear from Oregon’s Congressional delegation?  Mostly wailing about the poor migrants and no concern for the effects of massive immigration on U.S. citizens.  Check out Oregon delegates’ voting records, tracked by NumbersUSA at: https://www.numbersusa.com/content/my/tools/grades/list/0/CONGRESS/or/A/Grade/Active.  For the current Congress, 6 of the 7 get F-. Senator Merkley and all 5 Representatives are up for reelection in 2020, Senator Wyden in 2022. Read more about What you're not supposed to know

Looking at our immigration policies compared to the rest of the world, you’d think America lost a bet.

http://www.oregonir.org/blog/ann-coulter-how-we-became-worlds-suckers-im... Read more about Ann Coulter: How we became the world's suckers on immigration