Democrats Brace For Republican-Planned Immigration Overhaul
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Immigrants Rights Demonstration in Los Angeles, 2010 (Courtesy of Pan-African News Wire).
Three weeks after the Republicans assumed control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats and immigrant rights activists are bracing for the party’s outspoken plans to overhaul the nation’s immigration system.
Included in the Republican’s planned immigration reform is the use of biometric data to better track foreign travelers, the abolishment any form of amnesty for illegal immigrants and the creation of a new immigration system.
The Republican stance on immigration as outlined in the party’s platform:
To better ensure that immigrants enter the United States only through legal means that allow for verification of their identity, reconnaissance cameras, border patrol agents, and unmanned aerial flights have all been increased at the border. In addition, Border Patrol agents now have sweeping new powers to deport illegal aliens without having first to go through the cumbersome process of allowing the illegal alien to have a hearing before an immigration judge. We support these efforts to enforce the law while welcoming immigrants who enter America through legal avenues.
Even before the Republican takeover of the House in 2011, legal action and legislation against illegal immigrants living inside the U.S. was a party focal point.
The Republicans have successfully squashed the DREAM Act, a largely Democrat-supported bill that would have provided residency to immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and have since completed time in college and/or the armed forces.
On the brink of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Republican state lawmakers revealed model legislation that would modify birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants. The legislation will be introduced in at least 14 states.
Also on the docket for the Republican-controlled House is an expansion of mandatory verification of workers’ immigration status, as well as other enforcement tools to curb the hiring of illegal immigrants in the U.S.
In 2005, the party also championed Operation Streamline - a Texas-based initiative that allows for the prosecution and imprisonment of any immigrant who crosses the U.S.-Mexico border unlawfully.
Until recently, policies analogous to Operation Streamline were only seen in the nation’s border areas, such as Arizona and Southern California. However, California’s Eastern District – an area including 34 counties in the Central Valley and the Sierra Mountains, from the Los Angeles County line to the Oregon border – saw a 12 percent increase in the number of felony immigrant related cases in the 2010 fiscal year.
“What you are seeing in the newest California statistics is nothing more than a reflection of the expansion of [Operation] Streamline to non-border areas,” said Dan Kowalski of the Association of Labor Lawyers of America. “This is driven either individually or by administrators in the U.S. Justice Dept. that want more numbers and convictions of entry and re-entry cases.”
However, authorities claim the increase in felony immigration cases stem from greater resources provided to prosecutorial- and investigative-related law enforcement efforts.
"The criminal aliens targeted for prosecution by this office are those who pose a genuine public safety threat to our communities," said U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner in a statement. "No matter where one stands in the larger debate over federal immigration laws, there should be little debate over the prosecution of serious criminals who illegally return to California after prior deportations."
According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, there were 432 felony re-entry cases filed in fiscal year 2010 in the Eastern District, a seven percent increase compared to the previous fiscal year.
“There has definitely been a political decision to file more immigrant felony cases,” Kowalski said. “It’s not necessarily that they are catching more people. It simply reflects a decision by the U.S. attorney’s office to file more of these cases than in the past.”
What remains to be seen is how vigilant Republican lawmakers will be in reforming the nation's immigration system.
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Comments
We could make this so easy and end this discussion if we would all start writing letters to every Republican in congress asking the to stop funding the social programs that attract the illegals. This is WHY them come and if we stop paying taxpayer dollars to support them, they will leave....
Boot the beaners the hell out of America!
My thoughts are that the Supreme Court will not revise the 14th Amendment birthright citizen ruling, but that doesn't give the parent/parents the right to settle here? They are illegally here and must be deported with or without the baby? The main birthright citizen law is the whole issue that has snowballed into an avalanche of the Mother giving birth again, and again. All legal instant citizenship babies can then return at age 18 years, then start the--CHAIN MIGRATION--lucrative money game.
If Mother is allowed to stay she is sure to get pregnant again, then with three or four children under arm and an average of $600.00 dollars federal entitlement for each child, food stamps, the family can then apply for low income housing. Read the cost of the Liberal extremist campaign that has no conscious, about making citizens and legal residents keep paying as they have for thirty years. Let me repeat web-pages at Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Volume 10 Number 1 spring 2005 (the report on Illegal Aliens and American medicine) defines the issue as a monolithic reimbursement concern of hospitals across the United States. This is just a financial ripple in the ocean of state bankruptcies that may be eminent, if our politicians don't find a backbone and speak out.
Type in the Google, Yahoo search space “Snopes-illegal Immigration.” There is report after report here on costs to their jobs, health care, education and keeping the criminal element in prison. Snopes website will tell the avid reader where your taxes are going. Just type in the Snopes search engine and you will locate taxpayer’s expenditure and where the original topic came from? Even hard core Liberal press like the Los Angeles Times has testimonial on the subject matter. Click here for hospitals and investigate the free health care, such as $100.000 dialysis given to illegal immigrants, while an American must wait?
Guess States like Wyoming whose politicians failed to heed the people's warning, to stop aiding the illegal immigration of this sovereign country. Are going to find as more States start to enact their laws against illegal immigration and Wyoming law makers like California--a Sanctuary State--are going to find, hundreds of thousands of low income people packing their possessions and head eagerly from states as anti-illegal Colorado, Alabama and Tennessee and head for states like Wyoming to pilfer the welfare system.
1. Mandatory E-Verify would free up to 7 million plus jobs currently held by illegal aliens. All existing and new hires should be checked without any prior warning.
2. End the Visa Lottery, which gives up to 50,000 US jobs to foreign workers without regard for work skills or educational background. Only extremely highly-skilled need apply.
3. Pass a moratorium on most legal immigration until jobs created can meet the jobs demand of American worker. US labor must come first.
Communicate your major requests to politicians about the Dream Act, illegal Immigration, and Amnesty through the Washington switchboard at 202-224-3121. Learn more in depth information at Numbersusa website
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