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WASHINGTON — Working as a Jack in the Box cashier, Marissa Cruz Santos breathed a sigh of relief last year when she qualified for an Obama administration program that defers deportation of young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children.

With high expectations and a freshly minted work permit, Santos, 27, hit the job market, hoping to leverage her new status and a Cal State Fullerton degree into an entry-level office position. But after applying for several jobs near her Riverside home, Santos got only two interviews and no offers...

The (deferred action) program offered a two-year deportation deferral and work permits to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who came to the country illegally before age 16...

Many have been unable to take advantage of new opportunities because they lack a high school diploma or college degree, Gonzales said. He noted that the program did not make participants eligible for financial aid or in-state tuition in every state.

...Some have internalized the stigma of growing up in the country illegally and lack confidence during job interviews.

  Read more about Harsh immigration realities set in for many 'dreamers'

Dancing girls, driver’s licenses, health insurance, free food and information on Common Core were offered exclusively in Spanish at a local Portland school Saturday. The party like event for las familias, signals the return of what we used to call, “Carnivals of Crime” for illegal aliens. With the ‘revelation’ that illegal aliens have been ‘accidentally’ signed up for OrBamaCare, these kind of events once again take on added importance.

Citizen Journalist Daylight Disinfectant attended the Saturday event. See his video below.

The state of Oregon used to regularly offer these party-like events to offer Spanish speaking folks in Oregon (some of whom were legally here and some who were not), free stuff–including food stamps, medicaid and welfare.

Adorable little dancers.

They ended when Oregonians for Immigration Reform outed the practice–embarrassing state officials who were then excoriated for giving out hard earned American tax dollars to law breakers.

While there’s no doubt the Obama recession has caused many illegal aliens to head back to their home countries, it’s also true many illegal aliens have stayed in Oregon. It’s no “accident” that Cover Oregon and other state programs have attempted to sign them up.

  Read more about “Accident”? Oregon’s illegal alien “Carnivals of Crime” are back, offering health insurance and dancing girls

SALEM -- The Oregon Legislature could rewrite the title of a contentious measure on the November ballot asking voters whether to grant driver cards to residents who can’t prove they’re in the state legally.

Legislative leaders will likely decide in the next week or so whether to take that step, said Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson, D-Portland, and other sources....

Three groups have challenged the ballot title and other parts of the measure before the Oregon Supreme Court, but legislators may try to step in before their 35-day session ends. Opponents say the Legislature shouldn’t interfere...

Cynthia Kendoll, president of Oregonians For Immigration Reform, which gathered signatures to send the issue to voters, accused lawmakers of overstepping.

“Just when it looks like we might be successful with this, these legislators are kind of pulling a desperate move to see if they can’t rewrite the rules of the game,” she said. “I don’t think the people who wrote and passed the law should be the people writing the ballot title.”...

  Read more about Driver card referendum: Oregon Legislature could rewrite ballot title

...Fremont officials said that police will start enforcing the measure 30 days after the results of a special city election are certified. Nearly 60 percent of voters decided Tuesday to keep the ordinance, which requires renters to get a $5 permit and swear they have legal permission to live in the U.S.

...Fremont is one of only a handful of cities trying to restrict illegal immigration and, like those other cities, has found itself mired in court fights because of the regulations. City leaders put the ordinance on hold after the 2010 vote while courts reviewed it....                                                                       

...Supporters insist the measure does not target Hispanics, but the topic can make for awkward conversation given Fremont's growing immigrant population. The number of Hispanics jumped from 165 in 1990 to 1,085 in 2000 and 3,149 in 2010, mostly because of jobs at the nearby Hormel and Fremont Beef plants....
  Read more about Neb. city prepares to enforce immigration rules

A new report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) finds that younger American workers, also known as the Millennial Generation, are being disproportionally harmed by mass immigration. Generation Jobless: The Unemployment Crisis of Millennials finds that excessively high levels of immigration have become a significant impediment to younger workers gaining a foothold in the labor market. The phenomenon has adversely affecting both lesser skilled youth as well as those with college educations or higher.

The crisis facing the Millennial Generation may be compounded if the House of Representatives follows the lead of the Senate and enacts immigration reform legislation that makes some 12 million illegal aliens eligible to compete legally for every job in the U.S., and doubles the annual intake of new immigration, warns the report.

"One of the main factors contributing to the bleak employment situation faced by American workers, especially those just starting out in their careers, are high levels of immigration," noted Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "It's a plain fact that the U.S. working-age population is increasing faster than jobs are being created, and many new jobs are not well-paying career opportunities. Anyone who is serious about helping young people get a leg up in this economy cannot support immigration policies that put Millennials at a disadvantage," said Stein.

"Lower skilled youth — those who have a high school degree or less — find themselves competing with illegal aliens and poorly skilled legal immigrants who are arriving in large numbers under family chain migration policies. Better skilled Millennials — those who have invested significant money and time in training for what they were told were the 'careers of the future' — are confronted with the reality that employers can take advantage of guest workers and foreign graduates of U.S. universities to fill jobs. Increasingly, Millennials are finding that the doors to opportunity are closed to them," said Stein.

Among the key findings of Generation Jobless:

• Half of unemployed workers in October 2013 were Millennials between the ages of 18 and 34.
• 39 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds were not in the labor force in 2012.
• There was an increase of 2.6 million Americans aged 16-34 between 2007 and 2012. During that same time span, the number of employed Americans 16-34 decreased by 2.9 million.
• U.S.-born Hispanic Millennials of all education levels are the cohort most adversely affected by competition from foreign workers.
• 32 percent of Millennials, 21.6 million people, were living with their parents in 2012.

"American immigration policies are betraying our young people," Stein charged. "There isn't much we as a nation can do to mitigate the impact of globalization or mechanization on kids entering the labor force. But there are things we can do to make sure that they get a fair shot at the jobs that are available, like limiting the number of foreign workers who have access to our labor market and enforcing laws against illegal immigration.

"Instead, our leaders are doing precisely the opposite. Congress, at the urging of corporate interests, is considering granting amnesty to illegal aliens and vastly expanding the number of foreign workers who would be admitted to our country. Doing so would turn 'Generation Jobless' into 'Generation Hopeless,'" concluded Stein. Read more about "Generation Jobless" Could Become "Generation Hopeless" Under Pending Immigration Legislation

Rather than twisting the political knife in the gaping wound that is Obamacare, House Republicans are off on a “comprehensive immigration reform” toot. The latest news has the Speaker putting off any action for now, and waiting until after the midterm elections in order not to anger the anti-amnesty base, and “to goose Latino turnout or to swing purple districts” in 2016, as political blogger Allahpundit put it. In other words, electoral timing rather than principle is determining what happens.

But principle, not to mention common sense, is what’s at stake here. Anyone proposing “comprehensive” anything after the debacle of Obamacare is delusional...

And please, let’s stop all the delusional dreams of Hispanic “natural conservatives” flocking to the GOP after the boon of amnesty is bestowed upon them. John McCain partnered with Teddy Kennedy in 2005 and 2007 to craft legislation to create a “path to citizenship,” and still got half as many Hispanic votes (31%) as Barack Obama did in 2008. By the way, McCain beat Mitt “self-deport” Romney by a whole 4 points with Hispanic voters...

Also ridiculous is the fear that not doing something will allow Democrats to tar Republicans with the racism or xenophobia brush. Here’s a news flash: they are going to do that no matter what Republicans do. The “preemptive cringe” as Margaret Thatcher called it is the worst form of defense...

...If we are going to debate this issue honestly, then let’s talk about the whole reality rather than ignoring the side that doesn’t advance our political interest, whether this be more Democrat voters and welfare clients, or more cheap labor. Then explain how amnesty is going to change that behavior and lower those costs.

Moreover, let’s demand that the amnesty crowd explain exactly how they plan to sort out those two sets of illegal immigrants, the ones we should keep and the ones we need to kick out...

...Don’t tell me the country that between 1940 and 1944 increased military aircraft annual production from 3660 to 96,300, that in 1942 was producing 4,000 Sherman tanks a month, 70 years later can’t fence off the 1933 miles of border between Mexico and the U.S.

Do that first, and when the border is secure, then start talking about what to do with the 11 million illegal aliens. Meanwhile, reform our immigration policies by getting rid of family reunification programs, and making admission to this country conditional on what the immigrant has to offer Americans, not what Americans have to offer immigrants. Start enforcing labor laws and putting teeth into sanctions against violating them. And most important, start returning to the old model of immigration that made it work for most of American history: assimilation to American political principles and virtues, facility in speaking English, and a rejection of self-loathing multicultural nonsense about American guilt and the superiority of the countries immigrants risk their lives to leave. Read more about Republicans Go On an Immigration Reform Bender

On Tuesday, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell told reporters immigration is just not in the cards in 2014. Last Thursday, rank-and-file House members sent a loud message that President Obama is not the partner for legislation, spooking even top proponent Paul Ryan...

However, since the GOP retreat last week, Boehner has just kept marching along...

“I wouldn't be surprised” if immigration legislation came to the House floor as early as this spring, one well-connected GOP member said....

"What has surprised me is how few people in House Republican caucus have stood up and opposed the policy," said Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of America's Voice and one of the nation's leading proponents for immigration reform. "Now maybe the concern about timing, and Obama's trustworthiness are excuses, ways to get to 'no' without seeming to be in league with the hard-liners. For us, watching it from our somewhat distant perspective, it's the dog that didn't bark," he continued...

For example, the push back from conservatives has caused significant tremors of doubt within Boehner's leadership team...

After raising serious doubts about whether immigration could come to the floor this year in a Sunday television interview, Ryan was more optimistic in remarks to reporters Tuesday.

“It wasn't really bad,” Ryan said about the immigration showdown in Cambridge, MD. “The substance of our document people really appreciated. It's just, like I said, the lawlessness of the White House makes us lose confidence that the President will enforce the laws,” Ryan said...

The issue is complicated because some of the lawmakers who spoke in favor of the substance of the principles were not in favor of moving forward on legislation. In many cases, members only implied their stance on the underlying question rather than explicitly stating it. They also mostly only had one minute to speak each.

Still, conservative heavyweights like Reps. Tom Price and Jeb Hensarling came out strongly against moving forward, and the result of the meeting seemed to change Ryan's tone in the days afterward....

Senator Marco Rubio, another Gang of Eight member, was more pessimistic. Asked if the House should move forward in 2014, Rubio said, “That's not my role to give them advice on. They're working on what is a very difficult issue. The resistance they're running into is a lack of confidence that this president and the federal government will enforce the security measures no matter what they're written as.” Read more about Boehner, Undeterred, Moves Forward on Immigration