illegal immigration

On July 29, 2012, a special kind of bus tour across the American Southwest departed from Phoenix, Arizona. The passengers aren’t going to be relaxing in luxury resort spas or sightseeing majestic landmarks in the desert. There are no rock stars on board, at least, not in the way we’re used to thinking.

The people riding on this bus have embarked on a precarious mission to show Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, along with the United States federal government, that they will no longer live in the shadows. They want to let them know that they are no longer afraid, and that they have begun organizing to take a public stand for the rights of undocumented people in the U.S.

Four days earlier, on July 25, a group of protestors gathered outside the U.S. District Court, where Sheriff Arpaio was testifying in a class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund on behalf of all Arizona residents (documented and undocumented alike) who have been victims of racial profiling. Arpaio’s own words were used against him during the trial, and he spent six hours responding to racist comments he made in media interviews.

The protestors that Tuesday included four undocumented individuals – Miguel Guerra, Natally Cruz, Leticia Ramirez, and Isela Meraz – who were arrested outside the courthouse for blocking an intersection and had immigration holds placed on them in jail. Everyone but Guerra has been released.

Leticia Ramirez came to the United States with her parents when she was nine years old, and she has been living on this side of the border for eighteen years. Her children were born in Arizona. She does what she can to help others, including volunteering at a neighborhood food program where children get the breakfast and lunch they need every day.

“Life in Arizona has gotten complicated since they passed their anti-immigrant laws,” says Ramirez, who worries daily about her husband while he’s at work. “Now we can’t go out of the house or enjoy time with our children. We’re afraid to leave because of the police who harass us. Because they want to arrest us.”

Miguel Guerra, who has been here for fourteen years and has a wife and three children, works in construction and has been a volunteer with the Puente Human Rights Movement since shortly after the passage of SB1070.

Guerra says, “We want President Obama to see that we are no longer afraid and that that we are demanding that he take action to solve our community’s problems.”

Natally Cruz, who has been in the United States for sixteen years, also volunteers for Puente; she has a seven-year-old son. Isela Meraz came here with her parents at the age of eight and has lived in Phoenix for twenty-one years. She has participated in hunger strikes and has organized art shows for 3^rd Space’s Queer Cultura.

These four protestors, along with many other undocumented residents, have made their lives in the United States. For them it’s not a viable option to return to Mexico. They’ve planted solid roots in Phoenix, where they work hard and contribute to the community in any way they can.

Ramirez, Cruz, and Meraz, who were released the day after they were arrested, have been riding on the UndocuBus, along with Carlos Garcia, an organizer with the “Arrest Arpaio Not the People” campaign and with Puente Arizona. So far, they have been through New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas.

UndocuBus will be in Austin on Friday, August 3, at noon at the Travis County Sherriff’s office. The gathering includes the support of Austin Immigrants Rights Coalition, the University Leadership Initiative, Grassroots Leadership, Proyecto Defensa Laboral and other immigrant advocates in Austin. Undocumented riders will come out publicly, support local people to build barrio defense, and perform peaceful civil disobedience.

After leaving Austin, they will continue through Texas to Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. The tour will end in North Carolina at the Democratic National Convention (September 3-6, 2012), where the party that promises reform but has so far produced record deportations, will decide whether to include or exclude the undocumented leaders who have put themselves at great legal risk.

Would you put yourself at risk by riding on UndocuBus if you were undocumented? Do you think these protestors are doing the right thing?

  Read more about UndocuBus Comes to Austin: No Papers, No Fear – Ride for Justice

A report issued today by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) has found that criminal illegal aliens released by the Obama Administration's lax enforcement of immigration laws committed more crimes after their release, including murder, rape, kidnapping and child molestation.

The CRS completed the report using data obtained by the House Judiciary Committee last fall after the Committee learned that the Administration would release certain illegal aliens detected through the Secure Communities program. Secure Communities is a program that checks individuals booked into local jails with immigration data on file with DHS. The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed DHS to release the data.

The key findings of the report include:

- The data provided to the House Judiciary Committee by DHS includes 276,412 records of charges against illegal and criminal immigrants identified by Secure Communities between October 27, 2008 and July 31, 2011. There are 159,286 unique individuals in the database and 205,101 unique arrest incidents.

- Of those released, CRS found that about 17% of illegal and criminal immigrants, or 26,412, were rearrested on criminal charges. These 26,412 recidivists accounted for a total of 42,827 arrests and 57,763 alleged violations.

- The categories of crimes charged include nearly 8,500 DUI (14.6%), over 6,000 Drug Violations (10.9%), more than 4,000 Major Criminal Offenses (7.1%), which includes murder, assault, battery, rape, and kidnapping, nearly 3,000 Theft (4.9%), and over 1,000 Other Violent Crimes (2.1%), which includes carjacking, child cruelty, child molestation, domestic abuse, lynching, stalking, and torture.

- These crimes committed by both illegal and legal immigrants include 59 murders, 21 attempted murders, and 542 sex crimes.

- Of those rearrested, nearly 30%, or 7,283, were illegal immigrants. Since 46,734 illegal immigrants were released, this means they have a recidivism rate of 16%. These illegal immigrants should have been deported but the Obama administration’s lax immigration policies released them back into our communities.

- The crimes charged against these illegal immigrants include nearly 2,000 DUI (11.9%), over 1,400 drug violations (8.8%), and more than 1,000 major criminal offenses and violent crimes (6.9%), including murder, assault, battery, rape, kidnapping, child molestation, domestic abuse, lynching, stalking, and torture.

- These crimes committed by illegal immigrants include 19 murders, 3 attempted murders, and 142 sex crimes.

"President Obama’s reckless amnesty agenda is dangerous and deadly for Americans," House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith said. "Rather than protect the American people he was elected to serve, President Obama has imposed a policy that allows thousands of illegal immigrants to be released into our communities. They have committed thousands of more crimes, including 19 murders, 3 attempted murders, and 142 sex crimes, which could have been avoided.

"For example, after an illegal immigrant was released, he and another illegal immigrant were arrested on suspicion of killing a man. And this is just one case. Illegal immigrants released from jail have committed other crimes, including nearly 2,000 DUI, over 1,400 drug violations, and more than 1,000 major criminal offenses and violent crimes, which consist of murder, assault, battery, rape, kidnapping, child molestation, domestic abuse, lynching, stalking, and torture.

"The Obama administration could have prevented these senseless crimes by enforcing our immigration laws. But President Obama continues to further his anti-enforcement agenda while innocent Americans suffer the consequences. His unwillingness to enforce immigration laws puts our communities at risk and costs American lives. We elect leaders to protect us – not put us in danger."

  Read more about Attrition through Enforcement

According to recently released U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) figures, 15,590 unaccompanied illegal alien minors have crossed the border so far this fiscal year. (MSNBC, July 3, 2012) The CBP defines unaccompanied illegal alien minors as those under the age of 18 who are traveling without their parents or guardians. (Id.) This figure marks a significant increase over the past two years. Over the same time period in 2011, the number of unaccompanied illegal alien minors was 10,776; and in 2010, it was 13,267. (Id.) In fact, during 2011 alone, the total number of unaccompanied minors apprehended was 16,607. (CNS News, June 12, 2012)

The significant growth in the number of unaccompanied illegal alien minors comes at the same time as the Obama Administration has significantly relaxed immigration enforcement. Most recently, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano issued a memo last month that offered to grant "deferred action" status and work authorization to illegal aliens between the ages of sixteen and thirty who are already in the country. (See FAIR Legislative Update, June 19, 2012)

This new policy of granting deferred action has the potential to encourage even more illegal border crossings by minors. This is mainly because one of the prerequisites to receiving deferred action is presence in the U.S. as of June 15, 2012 (although Administration officials suggested during a stakeholder phone call the exact cut-off date was still being determined). While future border crossers will not meet that deadline, once in the U.S., they will likely forge documents to establish eligibility.

Meanwhile both Republicans and Democrats in Congress continue to voice support for the DREAM Act, which would grant permanent amnesty to virtually all illegal alien minors. Rep. David Rivera (R-FL), and Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), have all touted competing versions of the DREAM Act. (See H.R. 5869, May 30, 2012; see also FAIR Legislative Update, April 2, 2012) Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who appears to have been working with Sens. Hutchison and Kyl, has been touting his own version of the DREAM Act for months, but announced he is now withholding introducing it until after the November elections, on account of the Administration rolling out its June amnesty memo. Read more about Number of Illegal Alien Minors Crossing Border Alone Continues to Grow

  Read more about California Considers Illegal Alien Sanctuary Law for Entire State!

Last night, the House of Representatives passed the Homeland Security spending bill for the 2013 fiscal year, which included 8 immigration amendments supported by NumbersUSA.

Throughout the day on Thursday, our activists flooded the Capitol switchboard with calls to help get the amendments passed. And with roll call votes on three of the amendments, we'll be able to update our grade cards over the next few days!

The first amendment to receive a roll call actually came on Wednesday night and was featured on our home page on Thursday. Reps. Ted Poe of Texas and Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania offered a bipartisan amendment to reallocate funds to pay for the construction of cell phone towers along the Southwest border. The wife of murdered rancher Robert Krentz believes that if there was a cell phone signal along the border in 2011, her husband might still be alive today. The amendment passed 302-to-113 with strong support coming from both sides of the aisle.

The two other roll call votes were split mostly by party line, but both were still approved with large margins. Rep. Steve King of Iowa offered an amendment that would prohibit funds from being used to implement and execute the directives from ICE Director John Morton's memos of 2011. These memos instruct agents to use prosecutorial discretion thereby offering an administrative amnesty to illegal aliens that have not committed a violent crime. It passed 238-to-175. The other amendment was offered by Rep. John Sullivan of Oklahoma, and his amendment prohibited funds from being used to terminate 287(g) contracts. It passed 250-to-164.

The amendments approved by voice vote include:

• Rep. Chip Cravaack's amendment to keep criminal aliens behind bars before they're deported;
• Rep. Price's amendment to prevent funds from being used to circumvent the enforcement of immigration laws;
• Rep. Black's amendment to prohibit the funding of a Public Advocate position within ICE;
• Rep. Graves' amendment to prevent the implementation

  Read more about Eight Amendments to Increase Immigration Enforcement Approved by the House

NOTE:  While OFIR generally focuses on the impact of illegal immigration here in the U.S. and particularly in Oregon, it is important to see how other countries are dealing with the issue.  In the article below from the London Telegraph, Home Secretary Theresa May, is questioned about how Britain is dealing with illegal immigration.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Poker players say everyone has a tell, a little tic that gives away their feelings about the hand they are playing. For Theresa May, it’s the eyes. Ask her a question she finds tricky — or just impertinent — and her eyes narrow briefly: catlike and wary.

The Home Secretary chooses her words with feline delicacy too, painfully aware that in her position a few stray words or a rash promise could be suicidal.

The safety-first approach has served her well so far. Despite a few scrapes, after two years in the job her position is secure — or at least, as secure as anyone can be in Whitehall’s most dangerous department. Most of the incidents that have put her on the front pages have sprung from Britain’s endlessly newsworthy immigration system.

Official figures this week showed that net immigration was still running at about 250,000 a year, well above the “tens of thousands” that the Conservatives — but not the Lib Dems — promised the Coalition would deliver.

Why aren’t the numbers coming down as her party promised? Blaming Labour for the scale of the problem, she admits that all the Coalition has managed to do is “stabilise” the migration numbers.

But soon, she insists, those figures will fall, as restrictions on student and working visas are reflected in the statistics. “We are seeing the number of visas issued going down, but there is a lag between those and feeding through into the net migration figures.”

So will she promise that the “tens of thousands” promise will be met by the next election? Here, the eyes narrow noticeably. “Well, that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Today though, her focus is on those who are in Britain illegally, and her language becomes uncharacteristically vivid. “The aim is to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration,” she declares.

Work is under way to deny illegal immigrants access to work, housing and services, even bank accounts. “What we don’t want is a situation where people think that they can come here and overstay because they’re able to access everything they need,” she says.

HM Revenue and Customs is coming down hard on companies that employ illegal immigrants, the Department of Work and Pensions is taking a “zero tolerance” approach to benefits claims, and local councils are closing impromptu shelters offering “beds in sheds”, she says.

And now the UK Border Authority has joined CIFAS, a not-for-profit financial fraud prevention service, with a view to closing individual bank accounts. “We will talk to the CIFAS members, financial institutions, about the possibility of closing accounts of people who have no right to be here,” she says. “If you’re going to create a hostile environment for illegal migrants … access to financial services is part of that.”

Some critics blame Britain’s immigration troubles on the EU and the freedom of movement it grants to those within its borders. Mrs May says her recent conversations with EU counterparts suggest that the European mood is changing.

“Discussions within the EU are much more looking at the immigration issue, the migration issue, as something that needs to be considered and addressed,” she says. “Within the EU, in a wider context, people are increasingly recognising the need to prevent the abuse of free movement.”

And what if a eurozone collapse sent thousands of economic migrants heading north from Greece or Spain? Could she legally restrict their right to come to Britain?

This is another eyes-narrow moment. “As in every part of government, it is right that we do some contingency planning on this,” she says. “That is work that is ongoing.” But could you restrict entry in an economic emergency? “We will be doing contingency planning.”

The other side of the immigration coin is the trouble some Britons have getting back into their own country.

Mrs May admits that some of the queues recently experienced at Heathrow and elsewhere have been “unacceptable”, but insists things are getting better.

More staff and better co-ordination of shift patterns with flight arrivals should end the maddening ordeal of standing in line while staring at empty immigration desks.

Those improvements should “make sure that we have all the desks manned at peak times, so that we can provide people with the service they want.”

So can she guarantee no infuriatingly empty desks during the summer holiday season? Here, she comes close to making a promise.

“What we are doing is working with the airports and the operators … so we can manage the people on the desks to ensure that they are all manned when those peaks come.” Read more about Theresa May interview: 'We’re going to give illegal migrants a really hostile reception’

OFIRP encourages members to attend Townhall meetings and ask questions. See below for suggested questions, if you don't have your own ideas.  Invite a friend or neighbor to join you.  Remember, Senator Merkley works for Oregon's citizens, but his Immigration-Reduction Report Card shows a D- grade.   

Ask Senator Merkley to explain why he isn't working for unemployed Oregonians.

Sherman County Town Hall
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
12:00 pm
Rufus Community Center
304 West 2nd
Rufus, OR 97050

Gilliam County Town Hall
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
2:30 pm
Arlington High School Gymnasium
1200 Main Street
Arlington, 97812

Morrow County Town Hall
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
5:30 pm
Ione School District
Cafeteria
445 Spring Street
Ione, OR 97843

Wallowa County Town Hall
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
2:00 pm
South Fork Grange
Hwy 82 (Center of Lostine)
Lostine, OR 97857

Wheeler County Town Hall
Thursday, May 31, 2012
12:00 pm
Wheeler County Family Services Building
401 Fourth Street
Fossil, OR 97830

Below are a few examples of questions you could ask Senator Merkley:

Senator Merkley, mandatory E-Verify could get millions of Americans back to work and has support from people in every party. Why have you not worked with fellow Oregonian Representative DeFazio to get this mandate passed?

Senator Merkley, only illegal aliens and the big businesses that hire them are against E-Verify. 81% of Democrats support E-Verify. So why are you refusing to support this program? Who are you trying to protect?

Senator Merkley, there are 20 million Americans who are unemployed, jobless, or underemployed. If you were on the side of the American worker, you would support E-Verify. It could open up 7 million jobs, more than any bill being discussed in Congress right now! Will you please support mandatory E-Verify? Read more about Senator Merkely holding 5 town halls in Eastern Oregon