election

OFIR hosted their quarterly meeting Saturday afternoon, May 7th.  If you were unable to attend, you missed a packed house and a great meeting!

Dr. Bud Pierce, GOP candidate for Governor was the featured speaker.  Several other candidates also dropped in to introduce themselves to our members and guests.

Oregon's new representative for the Remembrance Project gave a presentation about the national organization.

Oregon Abigail Adams Voter Education Project was there to explain the questionnaire they send to all candidates.

David Olen Cross explained how important your words are - in print!  He encouraged members to write letters to the editor and guest opinions for publication in newspapers across the state.

There was ample time for questions and candidates stayed well after the meeting to distribute campaign materials and meet with OFIR members.

 

  Read more about Did you miss Saturday's OFIR meeting?

Does it seem like our country is coming completely unraveled with the lack of enforcement of our immigration laws? 

Everyday we hear another story more horrific than the day before - murders, drugs, gangs, ID theft, tax fraud and even American citizens being laid off their jobs only to be replaced by VISA workers - which they are required to train -  and the list goes on and on.

American citizens are continually being thrown under the bus, so that politicians can flood the country with low-skill, cheap labor supposedly with the potential of a big, future voting block.

Businesses that rely on cheap, illegal labor or even the excessive use of VISA workers have apparently bought off our elected officials and convinced them this is the only way to go.  Meanwhile, citizens get to enjoy being displaced from jobs at all skill levels and even get to pay excessive taxes to support overwhelmed entitlement programs and over-crowded classrooms. 

Our need for evermore housing is causing an environmental creep that is sickening to watch as cheap apartment complexes and ticky-tacky housing developments swallow up our beautiful farmland.

Do you have something to say?  Get it off your chest in a Letter to the Editor.  Elected officials do read them - although it wouldn't seem so.  So - we need to write even more letters to the editor like these collected from across the country. 

Read the rules for submitting your letters to each newspaper and don't overlook small, weekly papers which are often read cover to cover!  Get started today with this inspiring collection of letters:

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THE ORANGE COUNTY
REGISTER
 
Follow the law on immigration

April 24, 2016

Re: “Obama actions split high court” [Front page, April 19]: You need to look no further than the two quotes the Register published on the Supreme Court’s recent hearing of Obama’s executive action on illegal immigrants. The Supreme Court’s sole job is to interpret the laws. Justice Kennedy gets it when he identifies the issue as whether Obama has used his executive power to usurp Congress’ constitutional authority to make the laws. On the other hand, liberal activist Justice Sotomayor focuses on the economic impact of illegal immigrants, which has nothing to do with the issue of executive overreach. This is why it is so critical to get a Republican president in November so we can get a new justice who knows their constitutional duty, and will follow it.

Greg Woodard
Mission Viejo

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/laws-713209-people-court.html

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THE ORANGE COUNTY
REGISTER

Follow the law on immigration

April 24, 2016

Once again the president has over-stepped laws and we need the Supreme Court to make a ruling. I can only pray the court has the wisdom to do what is right for our country and not businesses and immigrant rights organizations that are willing to overlook our laws. I cannot see the good in allowing people to break our laws to come here and when they are caught say, “I only want a better life” or “my children were born here.” The parents made the choice to break the law – period.

According to the Register, the court decision will affect 3.5 million people. These are people we must help with food, health care and education, just to name a few freebies. How many of the jobs they do could be done by our returning servicemen and women? Wouldn’t it be better to spend the money we spend on the illegals on our deserving service men and women? We shouldn’t need organizations like Robin Hvidston’s “We the People Rising” to protest the injustice of our broken immigration laws. We do not need more laws for the president to ignore, we need to enforce the laws we have. If you start taking the illegals’ cases one by one, we will never solve this problem and they will just keep coming.

Secure our border and enforce our laws. Problem solved.

Elaine Proko
Anaheim

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/laws-713209-people-court.html

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THE ORANGE COUNTY
REGISTER

Follow the law on immigration

April 24, 2016

I must take some exception to your statement in regard to the applicability of the rules in question and under review with the Supreme Court. You state that these rules could affect about 100,000 people in Orange County. The main article states that this affects close to 4 million people. I disagree with both counts. This issue affects more than 300 million people, all living here in the United States. Immigration, legal or otherwise, impacts all of us. It particularly impacts us all in a negative way when current laws are ignored and the government goes out of its way to provide for those who have chosen to break our laws. People make choices that they must deal with. If I choose to not pay federal income taxes, there will be ramifications as a result of that choice that affect me and my family. I do not expect a pass. But executive orders at a federal level and state drivers licenses and Medi-Cal coverage only undermine our ability to discourage illegal immigration and to adequately manage and balance legal immigration.

Robert Filacchione
Fullerton

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/laws-713209-people-court.htm

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THE ORANGE COUNTY
REGISTER

Follow the law on immigration

April 24, 2016

Months before a presidential election, Obama’s executive order for deferring deportation of approximately 4 million illegal immigrants without criminal records, but with lawfully resident children and allowing them to work, obtain driver’s licenses, gain entrance into Social Security with other welfare benefits, is before the Supreme Court.

The plan was first introduced just after the House of Representatives declined a Senate-passed immigration update in 2014. Congress had (restructured) work permits and benefits as a deterrent to unlawful immigration, whereas the administration appeared to be an enabler inciting further transgressions. This was egregious in that it inferred the parents of citizen children were using their children as illegal pawns to gain lawful admittance for themselves.

President Obama promised to transform America. In addition to packing the courts, he’s packing the nation, not only with illegal immigrant adults, but also unattended Central American children, Middle Eastern refugees and released drug traffickers to circulate in our communities, all under the Constitution’s Preamble mandate “To promote the general welfare.”

Jack A. Watkins
Corona del Mar

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/laws-713209-people-court.html

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_SN StarNews    

Letters to the Editor, April 23

Published: Sunday, April 24, 2016

Different walls

Contrary to what some people may think, there is a difference between the Berlin Wall at which President Reagan said “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall” and the wall that Mr. Trump wants to build along our southern border.

The Berlin Wall was built by communist East Germany to keep their people from escaping. Trump wants a wall to keep people out that want to come here illegally. I agree with Trump — stringent action must be taken to stop the flow of illegal aliens coming in.

James A. Torrance
Wilmington

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20160424/ARTICLES/160429842/-1/TOPIC0171

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DentonRC.com
Denton  Record - Chronicle

Published: 23 April 2016 10:35 PM

Immigration issue

A study published by the Center for Immigration Studies reports 61 million immigrants and their American-born minor children living in the United States.

Between 1970 and 2015, the proportion of immigrants to population increased by 353 percent — six times faster than the general U.S. population, which grew by 59 percent. Some states watched their numbers of immigrants rise much more steeply: in Georgia, 3,058 percent; in Virginia, 1,150 percent; and in Texas, 1,084 percent.

A survey conducted by the consulting firm A.T. Kearney and previewed by Bloomberg Business Week finds that 61 percent of Americans polled say “continued immigration into the country jeopardizes the United States.”

The immigration issue isn’t simply about numbers. It’s whether the nation will remain moored to its founding values or be transformed into a place unrecognizable. A majority of Americans understands that an American identity cannot survive open borders.

The liberal aim is to eliminate all vestiges of America’s heritage to establish a new nation easily integrated into a global village without borders (Washington Times, March 14).

Thomas Sowell’s column (DRC, March 15) states: “Historians of the future, when they look back on our times, may be completely baffled when trying to understand how Western civilization welcomed vast numbers of people hostile to the fundamental values of Western civilization — meaning people who had been taught that they have the right to kill those who do not share their beliefs.”

Europe is reaping the results of its “open door” immigration policy. Will Americans have the same harvest?

Alice Gore,
 Denton

http://www.dentonrc.com/opinion/letters-headlines/20160423-letters-to-the-editor-april-24.ece

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Lompoc Record

Mailbag

Growers houses
April 23, 2016

Let growers build houses

I have to agree with a recent letter writer. There is a very high level of unemployment in this area.

How about 20-30 percent? Since growers feel a need to import more workers, why doesn't the grower build near his own house? Because he doesn't want to turn his neighborhood into a slum.

If you bring a couple hundred either illegal or legal, unskilled, single guys in, it will become a slum.

Robert Jones
Santa Maria

http://lompocrecord.com/news/opinion/mailbag/porter-experience-growers-houses/article_d330c7ff-1054-58c4-9e9a-4c652889271e.html

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Journal Inquirer.com
NORTH-CENTRAL CONNECTICUT’S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER

April 23-24 letters

Immigration concerns

This concerns the all-important issue on immigration. Yes, there always are two sides but I’ll give the side why illegal immigration is not in American interests — just use some common sense here.

Here is a quote from former Rep. Ron Paul on the subject: “This mass migration from the Middle East and beyond is a direct result of the neocon foreign policy of regime-change, invasion, and pushing ‘Democracy’ at the barrel of a gun.” He also had this to say, “This is a man-made crisis and it is a government-made crisis.”

I believe the United States is admitting some 250,000 Muslim immigrants each year. President Barack Obama is allowing Syrian refugees by the thousands into America, despite the fact that it is impossible to check those with sinister plans of terrorism, for example.

Sen. John McCain should be exposed for being a leading supporter of the policies that brought on the refugee crisis.

Obama and EU leaders are fully aware of what brought on a refugee crisis in the Middle East.

They are playing on the compassion for the refugee civilians (children included), a situation brought on by the “globalists.” The bottom line is, illegal immigration is a threat to Western civilization.

There are those who dislike freedom and America. I say, “Get out.”

Harry Lo Giudice
Rocky Hill

http://www.journalinquirer.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/april---letters/article_9ebbbe82-07ac-11e6-9a85-17f2c64555d8.html

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The Jamestown Sun

Third-party presence is needed in the U.S.

By Mark Schuttenhelm from Jamestown

The corruption that permeates our political parties is on display this primary season. On the Democrat side, it doesn’t matter how many votes Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., amasses; the super delegates will ensure Hillary Clinton gets the nomination. Everyone knows it. Similar shenanigans are happening on the right with Donald Trump. Only difference is Sanders is willing to eat the dirt sandwich being handed to him by party elites. He will take one for the team, but Trump won’t. He continues to expose the Republican Party corruption, and because of that, and his desire to take its cheap labor and free trade deals away, the party apparatchiks despise him. Is our political system salvageable, or is it too far gone?

Many would say it’s too far gone, that short of another American Revolution, we are doomed to deal with these two corrupt entities. I think the presence of a strong third party — a party that would appeal to disaffected Democrats and Republicans — is what’s needed. Not the lunatic fringes of either party, but thoughtful Democrats and Republicans who are sick and tired of holding their noses while voting for the latest pathetic candidate their party has trotted out for them.

The party should feature a simple platform, focusing on the economic health of the middle class and the security of our citizens. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Borders. Open borders are a security and economic nightmare. Our borders must be secured by whatever means necessary — walls, drones, satellites, border patrol, National Guard, etc. Sanctuary cities are unacceptable. Local politicians and law enforcement who refuse to cooperate with the feds will be dealt with harshly, as will businesses that employ illegal aliens.

2. Immigration. Ninety-three million Americans are out of the workforce. Many are looking for work, many have given up. Accordingly, there will be a moratorium on new immigration for five years, at which point the issue will be revisited. When the time comes, potential immigrants will need to be free of communicable diseases, be able to make a case that they will be an asset to our nation and be prepared to learn English.

3. Trade. No more trade deals that benefit big business and/or foreign countries at the expense of American workers. Flawed existing trade deals need to be renegotiated.

4. Corruption in government. U.S. senators and representatives will be limited to two terms and barred from becoming lobbyists when they leave office.

5. H1-B and H2-B visas. These programs are regularly abused by U.S. companies willing to throw American workers under the bus in favor of lower-paid foreigners. These programs will be shelved until a time when an actual labor shortage arises.

http://www.jamestownsun.com/letters/4016437-third-party-presence-needed-us

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Portland Press Herald

April 23, 2016

Letter to the editor: Support Trump to keep our families safe from terrorists

Radical Muslim terrorists in Pakistan bombed a park frequented by Christian families on Easter Sunday, killing 72 and injuring more than 300. Many of the dead were women and children. Muslim terrorists celebrated after the attack and promised more to come.

Meanwhile, the president of the U.S. emphasizes his goal of bringing thousands more refugees from primarily Muslim countries into the U.S. As Jim Comey, director of the FBI, has stated, it is often impossible to check on the background of these individuals, since they are not in any database.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you like the daily bombings occurring throughout the world and don’t mind if that activity becomes common here also, then please support the approach to immigration favored by President Obama, Hillary Clinton and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree.

On the other hand, if you believe that our kids and families are precious, then I hope you’ll support Donald Trump, who has promised a temporary ban on allowing questionable individuals into the U.S. until we can do so safely.

Ethan Jones
Bath

http://www.pressherald.com/2016/04/23/letter-to-the-editor-support-trump-to-keep-our-families-safe-from-terrorists/

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MONTEREY
HERALD

Peninsula readers' letters: April 22

By From Daily News Group readers

Cheap labor

Dear Editor: The Democrats are very good at pointing out cases in which a company reaps private profits while dumping on the rest of the society its risks and the damages caused while making these profits. This is exactly what those who employ illegal immigrants are doing: They are reaping the benefits of employing cheap and compliant labor while the costs of having this labor in our country are dumped on all of us. Our builders are making huge profits, while the rest of us pay for the schooling and welfare of children who should not be here. If our companies are to be made to pay the true costs of their profits, then the employers of illegal immigrants should pay the true costs of their cheap labor force.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. The reality is that many illegal immigrants are purposefully imported to work in illegal businesses set up by their families. These businesses pay wages that are way under the legal minimum and pay no taxes. How is any legitimate American business to compete under such unfair conditions? This is why legitimate American businesses in certain fields have been decimated and many more will go bankrupt as minimum wages are increased.

If you want to have a good laugh at comical duplicity, observe how stringent our unions are regarding any intrusion by illegal Latino labor while voting Democrat. Unfortunately, the joke is on all of us.

Virgil Stevens,
San Carlos

http://www.montereyherald.com/general-news/20160422/peninsula-readers-letters-april-22

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Miami Herald

April 20, 2016 10:49 PM

Democracy in peril

I’m an avid reader of the news. I constantly see references to and complaints about the tax code, our dysfunctional immigration system, crumbling infrastructure, healthcare and money spent on political campaigns, in addition to many other problems that the wealthiest country in the world should easily be able to fix.

I’m convinced that the reason these problems persist is because the plutocrats who comprise the top 1 percent of the country in wealth and income and who own half of its assets profit from the status quo. This harms the well-being of the other 99 percent and in the long run is a serious danger to our democracy.

The tax code and lobbying laws that greatly benefit the top 1 percent should be revised.

This could provide a more even distribution of wealth, which would improve the standard of living for the rapidly shrinking middle class.

If the middle class disappears, the United States may end up poor and corrupt like many of its southern neighbors.

Paul Alberts, Miami

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article73001427.html

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JEWISH JOURNAL
Connect. Inform. Inspire.

Posted on Apr. 20, 2016

Immigration Affects Health Care

I wanted to comment on Rob Eshman’s assertion that there is “no illegal immigration crisis” (“Haters, Meet Najia,” April 15). As a primary care physician working with indigent patients including illegal immigrants, I can attest that there is a crisis in L.A. County health care. This is manifested by the long wait times for uninsured residents (legal and illegal) for specialist consultations and by the ability of the consultants to treat only certain problems, as they are overwhelmed by demand. That demand is exacerbated by illegal immigration. California’s generosity toward illegal immigrants keeps drawing them to the state, making planning social services difficult.

Alex Fridman Jr. via email

http://www.jewishjournal.com/letters_to_the_editor/article/letters_to_the_editor_cigars_simone_zimmerman_and_more

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rrstar.com

Letter: Illegal immigration is detrimental to US economy

By Wally Haas
Opinion editor

Posted Apr. 20, 2016

Scott Reeder’s recent article supported the GOP establishment, leftists who despise America, ethnic advocates like La Raza, the Democratic party and selfish businessmen.

Am I a fascist supporting ethnic cleansing because I respect the law? The Balkan disaster resulted from Yugoslavia, a “multicultural,” secular state, falling apart. Ethnic cleansing followed.

Economic benefits? Is he referring to legal immigrants as entrepreneurs or illegal immigrants as criminals? If our economy grew 6 percent it may be due to 52 percent of legal immigrants being on welfare. Add to that 11-20 million current illegal immigrants. Reflect on family reunification policies and add tens of millions more. Go economy!

The U.S. Government Accountability Office, reported that there were 296,000 incarcerated illegal immigrant in state prisons in 2011. I guess our economy grew as we built new prisons and hired more guards, lawyers and judges. Migrants make up 25 percent of federal prisoners. If Americans hired Americans, wages would probably be higher, thus growing our economy.

I was “accidentally” born to a janitor father. Does that give me the right to take money from a child born of a more prosperous neighbor?

Abuse of H-1B visas, manipulation of guilt and compassion, deceptive terms like nation of immigrants cannot be discussed here. Sorry.

“E pluribus unum”? More like, “E unum pluribus.”

— Daniel King, Roscoe

http://www.rrstar.com/article/20160420/OPINION/160429993

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THE DAILY
Evergreen

Letter to the editor: College Republicans are not hateful

BY JAMES ALLSUP | (President of WSU College Republicans | Students for Trump Sr Advisor) [April 20, 2016]

In a recent letter to the editor, Hayley Hohman wrote to condemn College Republicans and the decision to host a pro-Trump table in the CUB. Hohman, you are wrong to call those concerned about illegal immigration "fear mongers."

We support legal immigration. We disavow hate. And we support the American Dream – for Americans and those who come here legally.

You are welcome to support moderate policies. I personally believe in the rule of law and strict enforcement of immigration policy, bringing in people who seek to contribute to our economy, and barring those who would break our laws, leech off our system, or do us harm – and the Republican platform agrees with me.

It is not hateful to defend our borders. It is not hateful to want to protect American interests first, nor to refuse to bend over backward for open-borders globalism and allow illegal immigrants to flood our labor market, putting Americans out of work.

I challenge you to demonstrate how defending American sovereignty is "hateful."

I question how you can state that the pro-security "movement" is not Republican. The leading candidates, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, both support building the wall. As WSU College Republicans (WSUCR) president, I work to increase awareness of all Republican candidates. Our board comprises supporters of many former Republican candidates.

Since the event, we have seen an influx of interest. Dozens of students have come out of the shadows, thanking WSUCR for standing up for free speech and voicing support for conservatism on campus.

http://www.dailyevergreen.com/opinion/article_42526fcc-0687-11e6-9973-877ce88dfd81.html

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The World

We've failed to enforce Immigration laws

April 20, 2016

I find the hypocrisy interesting that the media, the federal government and so many others are “outraged” at the recent events in Eastern Oregon involving the “Bundy Bunch” occupation of a wildlife refuge, while there is such limited “outrage” over President Obama’s absolute failure to enforce our immigration laws with equal vigor.

Let’s look at the facts. Did the Bundy Bunch break the letter of the law with their occupation? Yes. Did it result in costs to the public? Yes. Were any public innocents killed? No. What was the size of terror? Limited.

Let’s look at the Obama administration’s neglect to enforce our immigration laws in comparison. Was the letter of the law broken when Obama directed his agencies to not enforce existing immigration law? Yes. Did it result in costs to the public? Billions of dollars when you total up private as well as direct public costs. Were any public innocents killed? Thousands, when all the murders and vehicle accident casualties are counted, caused by the influx of illegal immigrants. This doesn’t even take into account the rapes and other criminal activity, nor does it include the casualties or costs caused by diseases brought into this country wholesale by the uncontrolled mass influx of illegals in recent years. Was terror created? Absolutely.

While I don’t approve of anarchy in any form, whether by citizens revolting against the law, or the government itself failing to enforce the law, I hope whoever sits on the jury trials for the Bundy Bunch will take a page from our pre-Revolutionary history and refuse to find the Bundy Bunch guilty, just as our forefathers refused to convict people charged with crimes against King George’s laws.

When government picks and chooses which laws to enforce, and against whom, we are no longer a free government of the people, but closer to the tyranny of King George.

In my opinion, our Congress and federal attorney general are derelict to their oath of office for not finding our president guilty of not performing his duties as chief law enforcement officer under the Constitution regarding protecting our country’s borders, causing death, facilitating the spread of disease, and costing individual citizens and the public generally billions of dollars.

JohnShank
Coos Bay

http://theworldlink.com/news/opinion/mailbag/we-ve-failed-to-enforce-immigration-laws/article_48f3d96c-b749-512a-a1c8-5494334c65c4.html Read more about Say it in a letter - more than just song lyrics

Across the country citizen's are finding the courage, the time and the resolve to write a letter to the editor.  Please take time to write your own letter expressing your concerns regarding immigration issues, the upcoming election, or anything else that you think is important and worthy of a public discussion. 

Solutions to ongoing problems are often a refreshing change from the usual letters of frustration.  Fact based letters garner more respect than a "rant".  If you are interested, concerned or upset with an issue, it's likely many others are, as well.

Send your letter to your local newspaper or consider sending it to a small, local, weekly bulletin publication in your area.  The important point is to keep the conversation going!

Below are some examples from across the country.  For more idea and a complete selection of letters, visit the OFIR letter section.

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ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Obama, Democrats unwilling to address serious issues of illegal immigration
March 12, 2016

I read the editorial “ ‘ICE regrets the error’ ” (March 10) about the killing spree and how the failure of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to coordinate with the local police department had created this situation. As much of a tragedy as this appears, I am not at all surprised.

ICE along with Homeland Security are failing due to decades of bureaucratic manipulation that has rendered citizens unsafe from illegal immigrants that are repeat offenders and worse. Also, has anyone investigated the ineptitude of the Johnson County Sheriff's Department for not reaching out to Overland Park, their largest municipality?

I did find exception to the reference to Donald Trump and other GOP candidates who will use this as an example of wall-building. Actually, this rhetoric is a direct result of the current administration and the current Democratic candidates' unwillingness to address the serious issues of illegal immigration. This would hurt their voting bloc of liberals who are afraid to understand what is happening in this country.

I seriously doubt that Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino was here looking for low-paid work. I also take exception to the reference that the driving force behind the immigration problem is employers' lack of a work force to fill low-wage labor. I have not seen a poll or other data supporting this.

Many U.S. citizens are out of work and have to compete in this market. The employers would rather rip off an illegal immigrant than follow the law to hire and pay a U.S. citizen or legal resident. This is where the enforcement needs to step up. Once the punishment is prevalent to these employers who are breaking the law and they start hiring U.S. citizens, then the immigrants will start to return to their countries.

Stop blaming the candidates and look at the failed Obama administration for limiting the law enforcement on the prevention and containment of illegal immigrants.

Dan Maltman • Overland

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/mailbag/obama-democrats-unwilling-to-address-serious-issues-of-illegal-immigration/article_d6660179-d7df-500c-a3d8-edd0021db86e.html

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ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

We shouldn't tolerate a virtually open border
March 12, 2016

Like all good liberal public relations firms, the Post-Dispatch editorial board decided to get out in front of the story with the editorial “ ‘ICE regrets the error’ ” (March 10). I guess when you are going to spin the death of five people at the hand of a person who entered the county illegally twice, you better be proactive.
 
This time, the spin just doesn’t wash. The editorial states “America doesn’t need more hysteria.” It also doesn’t need more lame excuses for tolerating a virtually open border. It doesn’t need to call people who enter this country illegally with no intention of ever leaving “migrants.” And America doesn’t need its workers blamed for the immigration crisis because they won’t work slave hours for Third World wages.

What it does need is secure borders, a friendly and effective system for legal immigration, and punishment for American employers who use illegal workers.

Chris Seibel • Ballwin

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/mailbag/we-shouldn-t-tolerate-a-virtually-open-border/article_78cabc3f-816f-542a-b731-a4825f149500.html

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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL RJ
Friday, March 11, 2016

Posted March 11, 2016

Fixing immigration

How can the United States end massive, nation-wrecking illegal immigration once and for all? How can the federal government secure our borders and protect our national security? How can we defend and preserve U.S. citizenship, sovereignty and the rule of law?

First, force Congress to pass a mandatory E-verify law that gives America a legal workforce. Second, force Congress to pass a biometric entry/exit law that monitors and controls visa overstayers. Third, force Congress to ban sanctuary cities. Fourth, force Congress to end the corrupt earned income tax child credit provision, which has resulted in a windfall for illegal aliens filing federal income tax returns using a taxpayer identification number instead of a Social Security number. Fifth, elect a president who will complete the double-security fence mandated by the Secure Fence Act passed by Congress in 2006

Finally, elect a president who will expeditiously remove unlawful aliens.

The absolute wrong thing to do is elect a president who promotes granting amnesty, legal status and citizenship to millions of foreigners who are violating our labor, tax, identity theft and immigration laws.

Lawrence J. Brown
North Las Vegas

http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/letters/letters-finicum-s-death-oregon-standoff-completely-preventable

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Lompoc Record

Illegals
March 10, 2016

Put blame on illegals

President Obama recently told an audience, “Few things will disrupt our lives as profoundly as climate change.”

To him, the greatest threat to America isn’t national security, ISIS, terrorism, nuclear threat or the economy, it’s global warming.

What’s profoundly disrupting lives is not weather, it’s illegal immigration. The 18 murders in 15 months in this Sanctuary City have put people here in mortal danger. Law enforcement officials finally arrested several of the malefactors, yet one wonders what took them so long, especially since Marilyn Pharis’ brutal murder by two illegal convicts should have triggered that response months ago.

A recent report said, according to the Census Bureau, there were 61 million immigrants in the U.S., a figure that’s grown six times faster than the overall population from 1970-2015, and one that shows only 15.7 million here illegally. Unfortunately, that figure was taken only from those who filled out the survey, which is remarkable since illegals, many illiterate in both English and Spanish, would most probably be reluctant to admit they were here illegally.

There are actually more than 40 million illegals in America today and those numbers are growing by leaps and bounds. The number of Hispanics in state and federal prisons have grown by 219 percent. Here in Santa Maria, school classrooms, hospital emergency rooms, doctors’ offices, roads and highways are being flooded by illegals.

Ironically, those of us who tried to warn this would happen were called haters and racists, and now all we can say is, how do you like your All-American City now that it’s become a national embarrassment?

Larry Bargenquast
Orcutt

http://lompocrecord.com/news/opinion/mailbag/homelessness-illegals/article_8f796d04-a30e-5d50-b393-28b4b0e9fe90.html

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nwfdailynews.com
news & information for the emerald coast

LETTER: Mindboggling gobbledygook

Posted Mar. 10, 2016 at 5:27 AM
Updated Mar 10, 2016 at 5:37 AM

After giving Steve Chapman a full half-page in the Opinion section, I have to wonder if the NWF Daily News is paying this man for his articles, and if so, then why aren’t they in the Comic section where his latest belongs.

In his latest article he suggests that it is Canadians that the USA ought to be fearful of and he opines that Mr. Trump should be concerned over the northern border rather than the southern border.

He attempts to convince the readers that it’s not the illegal Mexican immigrants that you should be concerned about. No, you should worry about all the terrorists coming into the United States from Canada.

I have to wonder what the families of all the victims of violence, rape and murder committed by illegal Mexican immigrants in the USA would say about his article. What about the folks who live along the southern border and the Border Patrol themselves? Who do you think they fear most?

If Mr. Chapman wants to talk about terrorism and whether or not that is on the top of the voters’ list of concerns, fine, but the issue of illegal Mexican immigration is an entirely different ball of wax, especially when we’re talking about upwards of 10 million of them already in the USA.

ROBERT SWARBRICK, Beachside Villas

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/opinion/20160310/letter-mindboggling-gobbledygook

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THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

March 9, 2016
By ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Party of Lincoln’ not about breaking the law

Re: “Void of values among GOP candidates” [Opinion, March 6]: I do not see any connection between Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (“[T]hat this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom”) and writer Jim Doti’s attack on Republican candidates who advocate tough policies on illegal immigrants. In particular, Mr. Doti attacks Donald Trump for saying Mexico is “sending people that have lots of problems ... such as drugs, crime, rapists,” although he does quote Trump’s caveat: “And some, I assume, are good people.” From where does Mr. Doti think the violent gangs in Santa Ana, Anaheim and Los Angeles originated?

Despite Mr. Doti’s heartwarming stories from some children of illegal immigrants about how they and their parents found new opportunities in the United States, he needs to take a balanced view of what unrestrained illegal immigration has brought to this country. He gives his own story of how his parents immigrated legally through Ellis Island. They obviously came here through proper procedures and were properly vetted. People who sneak across the southern border are flouting our laws and disrespecting our principles despite wanting better opportunities.

I think Mr. Trump is voicing the frustration of many Americans. Isn’t defending our borders part of protecting our freedoms? How is that not following the “Party of Lincoln?”

Oliver Watson
Orange

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/doti-707339-people-lincoln.html

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azcentral THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK

Letter: Napolitano is no perfect Supreme Court pick

Robert Kuntz 4:45 p.m. MST March 8, 2016

I usually support E.J. Montini’s positions. But suggesting that Janet Napolitano is “A perfect pick for Supreme Court?” goes against my better judgment.

He cites a letter that she, as Arizona governor, sent to the federal government asking for reimbursement of $118 million spent incarcerating undocumented immigrants.

I have wondered many times if that letter was in the in-basket of the desk she inherited as Secretary of the DHS. She could have acted on that letter, and done something about border security.

Yes, Obama probably called the shots here, but I didn’t see her kicking any sand on the subject. For a Supreme Court justice, we need a person that is consistent with his or her convictions.

Robert Kuntz, Fountain Hills

http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/letters/2016/03/08/janet-napolitano-supreme-court/81494138/

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The Tennessean   PART OF THE USA TODAY NEWTWORK

Letters to the editor, March 9: Readers respond

The Tennessean 12 p.m. CST March 8, 2016

Readers sound off on previously published columns and letters on Donald Trump.

Trump’s fear and anger is justified

Re: "Trump's fear rhetoric mastery dominates 2016 election," March 6.

This is a response to the editorial written by Opinion Engagement Editor David Plazas.

Trump’s message of fear and anger is justified as most Americans are angry at our elite politicians.

We should be concerned about terrorist Muslims being allowed into our country without knowing who the heck they might be. We need a temporary ban on them for the next 50 years or so – until we can sort out who they might be. We need to stop illegal aliens from entering our country. And a $10 billion dollar wall is a lot cheaper than $500 billion in welfare benefits for the next 10 years!

And as far as sexual minorities --- I haven’t heard anything from Trump or any politician running for President describe them as a villain.

Yes, we do need to build a wall to stop illegals before they crush the fabric of our country. We do need to stop all refugees until we can afford them! And we need a new leader who will lead us in the right direction.

Paul Knowles, Nashville 37211

http://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/03/08/letters-editor-march-9-readers-respond/81445036/

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delawareonline  The News Journal    PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK

The News Journal 4:08 p.m. EST March 7, 2016

Repeal illegal immigrants' licenses

As of Jan 1, it became legal for Delaware drivers licenses to be issued to undocumented/illegal immigrants.

While it might be possible to argue that Gov. Markell perceives it as an act of kindness, I cannot understand how the state legislature was convinced to support it. No one in the state benefits from this move except for individuals who have entered the country illegally.  It is generally accepted that politicians will sponsor actions which garner voting support for themselves; however, these immigrants can't vote.

This action also leaves Delaware vulnerable to penalties from the federal government if they disapprove of Delaware's licensing changes. For example, when the federal government insisted that states raise the age for purchasing alcohol to 21, they couldn't directly force the states to adhere to this policy, so the federal government threatened to withhold highway funding for states that didn't follow their recommendation, using the logic that the combination of inexperienced, young drivers and alcohol posed a serious threat on the road.

The same can be expected for Delaware's new licensing policy.  Issuing drivers licenses to illegal immigrants provides a superficial appearance of legitimacy to the undocumented immigrants who hold them, making the enforcement of immigration laws even more difficult than before, and might even pose difficulties with insurance claims in case of automobile accidents.

The new Delaware licensing policy defies logic and provides no benefit to the residents of Delaware.
It should be repealed.

Peter Piro
Wilmington

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/03/07/letters-editor-competing-conceding/81445300/

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NJ.com True Jersey

Trump not beholden to special interests | Letter

By Letters To The Editor | The Jersey Journal  
on March 08, 2016 at 2:19 PM, updated March 08, 2016 at 2:21 PM

The current Republicrats and Democans represent the status quo. Nothing changes. They are both from the same mold. Notice how, I changed the wording around. The same old do nothing politicians who sit on their laurels, take huge amounts of money from special interests groups and lobbyists for Quid pro quo. The special interests groups who cannot stand Trump and look at him as a threat, because he doesn't need their money.

Trump is not a politician, especially one who takes millions of dollars in donations from special interests groups. The threat of ISIS is real, and what is wrong with him building a wall 1,000 miles long along the Mexican border? He is looking out for the safety of Americans, unlike the other politicians who think it's fine to have a Swiss cheese like border to let illegal intruders cross the border into our country. If immigrants want to come here legally, more power to them, but if we continue to have weak borders, we will no longer remain a great country because the intruders who cross the border will deplete our healthcare, deplete our medicaid and medicare funds and social security, and most importantly put a strain on our school-system.

Worth mentioning we also will be letting violent terrorists sneak in and cause great harm to innocent people, if we do not build that wall. The illegals also will take away jobs from legal minority workers here in the U.S., because they wouldn't be able to compete against the lower wages paid to illegals. Obamacare mandates to companies, if your employee works over 30 hours a week, you have to pay benefits. Companies, will therefore reduce the hours of their workers, and even lay people off. Ford, Nabisco, Carrier are or have moved to Mexico.

Trump will build that wall, he will create competition among health care companies, he will add tariffs also on imports. He acknowledges the huge trade deficits with Mexico, and he will do as he says to discourage companies from going into Mexico or abroad. If Trump is president, he mentions, that we will now, say "Merry Christmas," instead of that Happy Holiday Crap, we are encouraged to say.

It's all about the money with these Republican Establishment swine who want to spend millions of dollars in negative untrue campaign ads across the county to derail and take down Trump.

If he gets the nomination, the gig is over for these status quo do nothing politicians, because they will not receive millions of dollars from special interest groups. Trump figuratively threatens their job security. Rubio is fighting for his political life as a candidate for president, his lobbyists probably said to him in private, "Look, you have to say whatever, throw tantrums, say anything to discredit Trump, because we can't have him as President." Rubio, dutifully obeys, and knows where his bread and butter is, and thus says horrible vicious lies about Trump.

It's all about the money. It's almost criminal how the Republican Establishment is pooling together its financial resources to smear Trump so he won't get the nomination. The American people, want and deserve a change. They so far have spoken, because Trump has a commanding lead in the primaries. People want an outsider to be the next president of the U.S. to represent their needs, not the same old do nothing insiders who are working for and are in bed with special interest groups.

KEVIN STANLEY
JERSEY CITY

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/03/trump_not_beholden_to_special_interests_letter.html

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citizensvoice.com
Luzerne County’s Largest & Fastest-Growing Newspaper Audience

Republicans need to get behind candidate with best chance to win

Published: March 7, 2016

Editor:
I am outraged at the Republican establishment. They seem intent on destroying the only chance the party has to win the White House.

I support Donald Trump for president primarily for two reasons. I believe our flawed immigration policy is the number one national security issue facing our country. It affects all other issues and I believe Trump is the only candidate who will take timely action to address the problem. I also believe Trump is the only candidate that has the will and ability to confront Hillary and call her what she is, an ineffective corrupt political leader.

Trump is not as conservative on many issues as I would like, but ABC (Anybody But Clinton). The Republican establishment has had ample opportunity to take control of the projection of our country. Mitt Romney, while an ethical man, did not possess the charisma needed to excite the base nor was he willing to square off against Barack Obama. Congress also has had ample opportunity to take control of the Washington agenda, but has allowed Obama to walk right around them.

Unfortunately, the Republican establishment is not listening to the will of the people. A split Republican party is the best news the Democrats could get. The party must take a page from the Democrats’ play book and get behind the candidate with the best chance to win.

Barbara Hickman
Clarks Summit

http://citizensvoice.com/opinion/republicans-need-to-get-behind-candidate-with-best-chance-to-win-1.2015659

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G ^{BILLINGS GAZETTE}

Concerns of real Americans ignored by journalists
March 6, 2016

The Republican debate this past week was disgusting. It started with agitators, known as journalists, asking questions hardly anyone cares about: “Mr. Trump, what do you have to say about what Senator Rubio said about you yesterday?” Mr. Rubio answers with left jab insult, “He’s a liar” at Donald Trump and then he throws a right hook “He’s a liar,” to Ted Cruz. Sen. Ted Cruz points out that he was mentioned and he wants to respond. This goes on and on and digresses into a sandbox squabble.

I wonder when I am going to hear a question about my concerns. Why, for example, are Americans treated like felons being booked into prison at airports while at the same time our federal government refuses to enforce our immigration laws? Laws don’t work if they are unenforced. The flood of people entering this country illegally is an invasion, not migration. Refusing to enforce our laws is dangerous.

When governments act lawlessly, it is demoralizing and destabilizing to a society. A majority of citizens hate Obamacare and want parts or all of it repealed. The federal government is bloated and wasteful. It is now big enough to compromise our freedom, and security. Many Americans are fed up with the selfishness of the political class.

It seems to me that the professional politicians are either too arrogant to care about the country, or they are too fat, happy and insulated in privileged lives to even hear the rest of us.

Earlene Meyer
Billings

http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/mailbag/concerns-of-real-americans-ignored-by-journalists/article_2aea32b3-56e8-5e1a-be07-1b4614d3c3bc.html

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USA TODAY

Rep. Hunter: Enforce immigration laws

March 6, 2016

That’s something Americans are right to demand.

Border security and illegal immigration are a central theme of voter agitation on the side of Republicans and many independents, largely because leaders in government have been all talk and no action for too long.

Voters are now expressing their frustration on these and other issues, and it’s showcased in the form of the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump.

There’s much appeal around rhetoric that promotes not just the enforcement of America’s borders, but also the enforcement of immigration laws. And while the idea of deporting 11 million people is not within the scope of possibility, it’s what such a pronouncement signals that’s the true magnet.

What voters have been desperate to hear and believe is a commitment from a national leading candidate that every effort will be made to enforce America’s immigration laws evenly and consistently. Further, a majority of Americans despise the idea that sanctuary cities exist, and states so openly defy and circumvent federal immigration laws, yet nothing has been done to stop them.

Voters are also aware that the most effective way to deal with the large population of illegal immigrants in the U.S. is through the jobs they seek. Enforce the law, deny the jobs enticement, and the number of illegal immigrants residing in the country will decline.

The frustration also applies to what happens to violent criminal aliens. States and cities shouldn’t decide whether to report arrests or selectively determine which arrests warrant a phone call to the federal government. This played out last summer, when San Francisco released a violent criminal who killed a young woman with a bright future.

So when a candidate like Donald Trump raises the prospect of building a wall on the border, or deporting 11 million people, millions of Americans are not necessarily voting for those things specifically. Rather, they’re voting for a commitment to do what the past two administrations have failed to do. They’re voting for the idea that finally somebody is willing to enforce the law to the extent that the law requires.

That’s something Americans are right to demand.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., supports Donald Trump for president.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/03/06/deportation-illegal-immigration-border-wall-donald-trump-editorials-debates/81408274/

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fayobserver.com

Letter: Immigration rules should protect us
March 6, 2016

Multitudes of Muslims worldwide hold beliefs contrary to our concepts of freedom, including hateful anti-Jewish/anti-Christian attitudes. We have radical Islam in this country; Minneapolis is a hotbed of jihadi recruitment. Yet thousands of Muslims pour into our country due to our immigration/refugee policies.

U.S. census data say roughly 100,000 Muslim immigrants are admitted annually. President Obama says Syrian Muslim refugees will be "vetted." The "vetting" failed with the Boston Marathon bombers and the San Bernardino female (all Muslims). Who trusts the "vetting" process, especially since Obama's administration decided the "vetters" couldn't look at a person's email or Facebook, because it "violates privacy"?

I support temporarily halting Muslim immigration. Protecting American citizens has priority. The directors of the FBI and DHS say there's no system to "vet" persons from Syria.

Congress called for limiting Syrian immigration to Christians, but Obama ridiculed that as "un-American." However, during the Cold War, there were times wherein we allowed only Jews special immigration status from the Soviet Union.

Sen. Ted Cruz supported Sen. Rand Paul's bill to temporarily cease immigration from 32 Muslim-majority countries. It didn't pass the Senate; those against it included Sen. Marco Rubio.

Obama stopped all Iraqi immigration in 2013, for six months, because of al-Qaida infiltrators.

Hillary Clinton claims Donald Trump's suggestion to temporarily halt Muslim immigration is "an ISIS recruitment tool." She's also said, "Muslims are tolerant, peaceful people." So, explain how Muslims are ISIS-recruited simply due to a suggestion to temporarily halt Muslim immigration?

Dan Barton
Fayetteville

http://www.fayobserver.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-immigration-rules-should-protect-us/article_7f25c3c5-b5b8-515c-9187-108471207938.html

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The Press Democrat

March 4, 2016

Sideshow battle

EDITOR: The spat between Apple and the FBI is a distraction and a sideshow. While they quibble about whether Apple is going to teach the FBI how to do basic software engineering, the federal government is inviting thousands of immigrants from all manner of jihad hotspots to come live here.

Not to worry, say our feckless politicians, the FBI will spend billions to “validate” them.

So, the FBI doesn’t have the chops to hack an iPhone but would have us believe that they can read minds of completely alien people who want to come in? How did that work out with Mohammed Atta (the 9/11 chief box-cutter slasher), the Tsarnaevs (Boston Marathon bombers), Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik (San Bernardino shooters)?

Federal agencies got it deadly wrong in all these cases, and it was entirely predictable.

PAUL HODGES
Santa Rosa

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/opinion/5327984-181/saturdays-letters-to-the-editor
  Read more about Speak up, speak out! Your silence speaks volumes!

While NumbersUSA gives Sen. Merkley a grade of F for recent years 2013-2016 other Oregon Congressional delegates are not much better.  Please take every opportunity to ask the questions that need answers!

OFIR recommends that you view and print out a copy of your Congressman's voting report to give to them at any upcoming event they may be attending.  Below is Merkley's report card - it's shameful!

https://www.numbersusa.com/content/print/my/congress/1341/printreportcard//

If you’re able to attend a meeting and speak or ask a question of a candidate or member of Congress, please share the information with OFIR at ofir@oregonir.org.

For example:

In 2015 Sen. Merkley voted to continue funding President Obama’s unlawful Executive amnesties to illegal aliens. See details here. Ask him why he supports illegal immigration and illegal immigrants when they are taking jobs from Americans, causing widespread wage depression, and using tax-paid social benefits that should be reserved for U.S. citizens.

Other possible questions:

What are you doing to protect citizens from further harm by radical Jihadists? Persons claiming to be refugees from the Middle East cannot be adequately screened according to the Director of the FBI. A better way to help refugees is to cooperate with the United Nations in maintaining safe areas in countries near to the places of conflict.

An entry-exit system for checking visa holders was authorized for by Congress years ago and is urgently needed. Please make this a priority and work for its implementation immediately. The lack of a system enables open-ended illegal immigration.

Fraud and abuse of work visas is a scandal now, with employers importing foreign workers at lower wages by the thousands, forcing Americans to train them and then dismissing the citizen workers. What have you done to stop this?

Please work for mandatory use of the E-Verify program for all employers, for both new hires and current work forces. The system is accurate. Workers can verify their own Social Security records in the E-Verify program and thus protect their information.

Our country is overpopulated already resulting in severe environmental and social stresses. An annual overall limit on numbers of immigrants is urgently needed. It would be reasonable to set a moratorium on immigration for a temporary period of years and then limit the annual number of immigrants to about 200,000. Read more about So many opportunities to ask questions!

BRADENTON HERALD
February 27, 2016 12:00 AM

Pope hypocritical in decrying Mexico wall

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  Read more about Silence is consent! Speak up in a letter to the editor