Federal Un-Accountability is Lawlessness

Obama's Highhanded Immigration Hypocrisy

2/27/2015 - David Limbaugh

Honestly, are any of my Democratic friends even slightly bothered by President Obama's habitual and brazen lawlessness and what that could mean for our liberties?

Does it bother them that he implemented two new administration programs to halt deportations and allow work permits for up to 5 million immigrants living illegally in the United States after clearly admitting he didn't have the constitutional authority to do so?

Does it bother them that after having done so, despite his insincere promise, he has been openly defiant about the decision U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen made in favor of the states trying to block Obama's unlawful act? Obama said: "This is just one federal judge. We have appealed it very aggressively. ... I'm using all of the legal power vested in me in order to solve this problem." Me, me, me.

Does it bother them that his administration has begun to refer to these immigrants as "Americans-in-waiting" -- as if his iron will controls, irrespective of the Constitution, the law and the prerogative of the coequal legislative branch?

Does it bother them that, like a Third World despot tyrannizing his subjects, he said in a town hall forum in Miami that there will be consequences for any federal agents who ignore his new policies? Obama said, "If somebody's working for (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) ... and they don't follow the policy, there are going to be consequences to it."

Are such threatened consequences, by the way, really the business of a chief executive, even if he is acting lawfully? Isn't his indignation a bit tough to take, given his own propensity not to follow the law? Does anyone ever make him face consequences for not just ignoring but violating laws?

As others have pointed out, Obama's position on this issue, despite being legally wrong, is inconsistent. His entire rationale is that these actions are within his executive power because it is a matter of prioritizing immigration enforcement efforts with limited congressional funding. Yet he will have zero tolerance for immigration officials who attempt to exercise their discretion in not enforcing his "orders."

Also, Obama's characterization of his executive action as a matter of prosecutorial discretion is disingenuous. Judge Hanen clearly held that Obama's program of Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents is "actually affirmative action rather than inaction" because the program grants "legal presence to individuals Congress has deemed deportable or removable, as well as the ability to obtain Social Security numbers, work authorization permits, and the ability to travel."

It is absurd for Obama to claim that his action is within his prosecutorial discretion when it not only involves a decision not to enforce a law or ruling but also grants new rights, as Hanen noted, and is in contravention of existing laws. As Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has argued, "the president, on his own, has issued a separate action in opposition to current law." This action, says Paxton, will cost his state hundreds of millions of dollars for education, health care and public safety.

Do you understand the argument? Obama isn't just turning his back on deportment. He is granting substantive rights to immigrants that are not his to grant, foisting the cost of those new rights onto the states without their consent -- and doing so in violation of existing laws.

The administration's duplicity is readily apparent when you listen to the weasel words of Sarah Saldana, director of ICE, in the emergency motion filed by the Obama administration to stay Hanen's ruling. Saldana said, "Preventing the deferred action policies from going into effect interferes with the Federal Government's comprehensive strategy for enforcing our immigration laws."

Do those words, on their face, make sense? How does preventing Obama's newly granted affirmative privileges to these immigrants from taking effect interfere with the government's strategy for enforcing its immigration laws? Isn't it more accurate and honest to say that it interferes with Obama's attempt not to enforce those laws and to grant affirmative rights to immigrants that Obama decidedly has no authority to grant as president?

An action does not become something it is not just because government officials describe or denominate it as such. Otherwise, the Affordable Care Act would not be raising health care costs for millions of American families, and Obama's scheme to commandeer the Internet wouldn't be called "net neutrality." Obama's illegal immigration actions are not within his executive authority merely because he depicts them as within his prosecutorial discretion.

Obama's arrogance may cost him this time, as he has gone way too far, even for him, by flagrantly violating the separation of powers and exceeding his executive authority in granting new rights to immigrants who are here illegally, providing no notice to the states of his action to allow for public feedback and saddling the states with enormous financial burdens.

Immigration Laws Not Broken - Federal Government Is The Problem

Stop The Immigration Flood

2/26/2015 - Cal Thomas

Washington is such a phony city. Maybe that's why it has such a good relationship with Hollywood.

In the sequel to a "film" we have seen many times before, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may "shut down" Saturday because of a dispute between the Obama administration and the new Republican congressional majority over funding for the president's immigration orders, which writes The Hill.com, would "provide deferred deportations and work visas to illegal immigrants." In essence, the orders would grant them the equivalent of squatter's rights.

DHS doesn't have to shut down. Most employees will show up for work, though they might have to go without pay for a while, at least until Congress gets its act together, as it has in previous politically motivated closings. But the appearance of closing the agency will allow Democrats and their media flatterers another opportunity to blame Republicans and gain short-term political advantage.

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson employed a scare tactic to pressure Republicans into caving. Johnson appeared on "ABC News This Week," warning that Minnesota's Mall of America might be a terrorist target. The White House defended Johnson's comments on Monday, but Press Secretary Josh Earnest assured Americans there was no "...specific, credible plot against the Mall of America or any other domestic, commercial shopping center." Better get your Christmas shopping done early just in case.

As usual, we are focusing on the wrong subject, or at least the wrong part of the right subject.

Of greater concern should be the flood of immigrants from Muslim countries among whom terrorists are surely hiding. As reported by Investors.com, "France, Belgium and now even liberal Denmark regret letting in so many immigrants from Muslim countries. Their swelling Islamic communities have become breeding grounds for terrorists. So why is the U.S. opening the floodgates to foreign Muslims?"

Good question.

The time to be concerned about lung cancer is before one starts smoking, not after cancer is detected. The time to be concerned about terrorists infiltrating America is before they arrive and attack shopping malls, not after their growing numbers threaten our national security

As Investors reports, "Between 2010 and 2013, the Obama administration imported almost 300,000 new immigrants from Muslim nations -- more immigrants than the U.S. let in from Central America and Mexico combined over that period." Many of them are arriving from Iraq and now Syria where ISIS has established a caliphate and from which it has announced plans to conquer Rome, meaning Christianity. "The U.S. will admit as many as 2,000 Syrian nationals by the end of fiscal year 2015, up from 525 since fiscal 2011," Investors adds.

President Obama is living up to his 2008 campaign promise to "fundamentally transform the United States of America." But transform it into what?

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports that about half of New York City residents speak a language other than English at home and that one-fourth of city residents are not proficient in English, citing figures from the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Affairs. There are likely similar profiles in other big cities.

While President Obama promised that his executive order allowing illegals to stay in this country would "stem the flow" of people crossing the border and "speed the return of those who do cross over," the opposite has occurred. Internet emails obtained by National Review Online reveal that the administration has ordered Border Patrol agents to "curtail initiation of deportation proceedings and to screen the illegal border crossers they detail for eligibility under the president's deferred-action programs instead."

No nation can maintain its character, strength and purpose if it does not control its borders and assimilate immigrants into the history, values and patriotism necessary for its stability and even survival.

It's long past time to stop this influx, to seal the border and to cease allowing immigrants from nations where terrorism thrives. New arrivals should be transformed into full Americans or invited to move on to a country they love more than this one.

Selective Law Enforcement is Lawlessness

Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Raise Surrender Flag on Illegal Immigration

By Ronald W. Mortensen, (CIS) February 2, 2015

Twenty-seven police chiefs and sheriffs from around the country have raised the surrender flag on illegal immigration and filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting President Obama's executive amnesty for illegal aliens.

Among the most vociferous of these law enforcement officers is Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank.

Burbank has long been an apologist and facilitator for illegal aliens. He was filmed laughing about the sale of fraudulent Social Security numbers in spite of the fact that an estimated 80,000 Utah children are victims of illegal alien-driven Social Security number identity theft. He has turned Salt Lake City into a sanctuary city for illegal aliens and he has failed to control a flourishing cartel-driven drug trade.

According to a recent article on illegal alien drug dealing in Salt Lake City:

"Many drug dealers ... have direct ties to strong-arm Honduran and Mexican drug cartels," said Fred Ross, deputy chief of police. One by one, young, Latino dealers are arrested without making a dent in the Rio Grande area drug traffic. For every arrest made, another dealer has been hustled across the border and is ready to fill in.

"We cannot arrest our way out of this," Ross said.

Thus, in the world of Chief Burbank's police force, there is no way to stop drug cartels from illegally bringing "young, Latino dealers" to Salt Lake City from foreign countries and it is impossible to stop the cartel-driven drug trade by arresting "young, Latino dealers". Therefore, the solution is to grant illegal alien drug dealers and illegal alien identity thieves legal status as long as they haven't been convicted of their crimes. And of course, they haven't been convicted because the chief and his police force won't even arrest them.

The police chiefs' and sheriffs' surrender doctrine is a total disavowal of the rule of law. Enforcement of laws is now based on an individual's legal status in the United States. If the person is an American citizen or legal resident and deals drugs or commits identity theft, she will be arrested and prosecuted. However, under the law enforcement surrender doctrine, if the person is an illegal alien and commits the very same crimes, she will not be arrested, but rather given legal status and receive amnesty for her crimes. Steal an American child's identity and ruin her life — get amnesty. Sell drugs for the cartel in Salt Lake City and get amnesty. Molest a child and get amnesty.

And what is the result of this surrender doctrine? Is it a drop in actual criminal activity because millions of illegal aliens now love the police? Hardly. Rather, as Salt Lake City reveals, it is massive illegal alien-driven identity theft and drug dealing because the rule of law no longer exists and illegal aliens have received the message loud and clear that, just like in their home countries, corruption and criminal activities are rewarded.

Taking Burbank and his fellow chiefs' and sheriffs' surrender doctrine to its logical conclusion may well result in lower official crime rates because an entire class of criminals will not be arrested or convicted; however, the actual crime rate will be significantly higher than the reported crime rate.

It's time for these surrender chiefs and sheriffs to put on their big boy pants and start enforcing the law rather than running like scared rabbits from criminal illegal aliens and rewarding those who prey on the American men, women, and children that they are sworn to protect and defend.

We Can Survive Terrorism We Cannot Survive Migration

The Costly Asylum Racket

by Phyllis Schlafly Eagle Forum February 18, 2015

We’ve had a lot of media comment about the bad effects of Obama’s executive orders admitting millions (yes, millions) of illegal immigrants and giving them welfare, Social Security, driver’s licenses, and a path to citizenship. Like many Americans, I realized the importance of this when thousands of unfamiliar people from a foreign country, without any advance notice, appeared in my community.

Then I attended an education conference where the asylum racket to admit millions of foreigners (long ignored by the media) was described by a knowledgeable speaker, Ann Corcoran. She started by asking questions of her audience.

Did you hear about the El Cajon, California Iraqi man who was found guilty of murdering his wife after writing a phony note from supposed Islamophobes telling the family to leave the U.S.? Did you know that the Tsarnaev Boston Bombers came to our country with false claims of persecution and then cashed in to receive $100,000 in U.S. welfare handouts?

Did you hear about the Oregon Somali Christmas tree bomber? Did you hear about the Somali youths who left Minneapolis to join Al-Shabaab and ISIS?

Did you know that a Burmese Muslim, within a month of his arrival in Utah, murdered a little Christian Burmese girl and was sent to prison for life? Did you hear that Alaska has received so many Muslim refugees that they have built a mosque in Anchorage?

If you didn’t hear those facts, put it down to the secrecy of the refugee racket, which does its best to operate under the radar. We heard about these asylum events from Ann Corcoran, who has made it her mission to ferret out the facts and publish them on her blog, Refugee Resettlement Watch.

The asylum immigrants are brought into our country and settled in 180 U.S. cities by nine contractors (pretending to be “religious charities”) and 350 subcontractors. These lucky immigrants are mostly selected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Iraq tops the list of refugee immigrants with 20,000 arriving each year, of whom 76 percent are Muslims. At least 10,000 are Somalis, and our State Department has announced that we will be admitting 10,000 Syrians this year, mostly Muslims.

Ann Corcoran doesn’t criticize the policy of admitting genuine refugees from persecution, but she does criticize the high numbers, the secrecy of the program, the lack of community involvement in the decision-making of where the immigrants will be located, and the large-scale admission of ethnic groups that have no intention of assimilating in America. This process is the result of the Refugee Act of 1980, the brainchild of Ted Kennedy, aggressively supported by Joe Biden, and signed into law by Jimmy Carter.

The contractors who bring in these immigrants are paid by the head with U.S. taxpayers’ money. The contractors have offices and plenty of staff to finance the resettlement of the aliens and are well organized to protect their foothold and their salaries.

They immediately expand the numbers of foreigners they are handling by bringing in the refugees’ family members. The first arrivals are labeled the “seed community.”

The big difference between these asylum refugees and other immigrants is that the refugees are entitled to all forms of government-paid welfare the minute they set foot in America, whereas our laws require ordinary legal immigrants to show that they have the means to support themselves and will not become a “public charge.” The feds even give the asylum immigrants start-up money for 3 to 6 months, which gives their contractor time to sign them up for subsidized housing, healthcare, food stamps, job counseling and training.

One of the biggest problems with this program is that the immigrant kids are quickly enrolled in public schools. We can blame this piece of mischief on supremacist judges, who ruled in 1982 that immigrant kids are entitled to attend U.S. public schools.

We now have U.S. school districts where dozens of different languages are spoken. Many of these kids not only don’t speak English, they don’t even speak Spanish and require translators who can speak languages unknown to most Americans.

It has become a tremendous cost to the U.S. taxpayers to provide interpreters in schools and in the criminal justice system. The top language of refugees now entering our country is Arabic, and Somali is the 4th language most often spoken.

Many cities are now resisting this invasion of their towns and schools. The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement is trying to keep them in line by labeling them “Pockets of Resistance” and hiring a left-wing community organizing group called Welcoming America to shut them up.

The countries sending the largest number of refugees are Iraq, Burma, Bhutan, and Somalia. The Obama Administration is now pushing hard for us to take 50,000 from the Congo and 50,000 to 75,000 from Syria.

Ann Corcoran concluded her speech by warning: “We can survive terrorism. We can’t survive migration.”

Get Educated, Inspired, Involved & Participate!

Don't Let the GOP Surrender to Obama's Amnesty!

Conservative Daily February 16, 2015 Fellow Conservative,

Notice that the title says “Republicans” are going to cave to Obama’s amnesty, not “Conservatives.”

The differentiation is obvious. The Republican party is currently split into two camps: the Conservatives who want to honor their promises to the American people and the centrists who would just as soon tuck their tail between their legs and run.

The House of Representatives passed a bill that completely funds the Department of Homeland Security… except for the bureaucracy that is processing Obama’s illegal alien amnesty.

However, when the bill got to the Senate, the obstructionist Democrats decided to filibuster it. Even though there are enough Democrats who oppose Obama’s amnesty, so far the caucus has remained unified in its opposition to the GOP’s bill.

Right now, John Boehner is standing firm. He is refusing to hold another vote on a Homeland Security funding bill. When asked whether he would hold another vote, Boehner told the interviewer that the House had already acted and that Senate Democrats needed to “get off their ass” and pass the bill. While we have had our differences in the past, it is important to commend John Boehner for standing up against Obama’s amnesty. Then again, the fight isn’t over yet…

But now there is a mutiny brewing. Democrats are courting Republicans in the hope of passing a “clean” DHS funding bill through what is known as a “discharge petition.” A discharge petition is a parliamentary maneuver that allows the minority in the House to circumvent the Speaker’s power and put a piece of legislation up for a vote.

Normally, the Speaker of the House (John Boehner) has complete authority over deciding which bills receive a vote. But if the majority of Congressmen sign a discharge petition, then they can circumvent Boehner.

This cannot be allowed to happen!

Thanks to Obama's executive action, illegal aliens who receive amnesty will be eligible to receive up to $24k of tax credits. If the whole purpose of Obama's amnesty is for these illegals to pay back taxes and become right with the law, why on earth are they getting a tax break???

Additionally, President Obama promised back in 2012 that amnestied illegals will not be put on a pathway to citizenship. Well, a few days ago, the Obama administration finally admitted that its amnesty programs WILL include a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens. 

Everything that Obama told the American people was a lie. Nothing is as it seems. 

This past week, Democrats held press conferences announcing that they believed they had enough RINO (Republican-in-Name-Only) votes to pass a bill without Boehner’s approval.

And now, so-called “centrist” Republicans are going out on the media circuit and proclaiming that Republicans will be blamed if DHS isn’t funded and ends up shutting down.

That couldn’t be farther from the truth! The American people want the GOP Congress to stand firm and hold the line. If Democrats want to be obstructionists, then so be it. They will own this shutdown, not us.

But right now, we have a bigger problem. The Democrats believe that there are enough Republican votes to go against Boehner and completely fund Obama’s amnesty. If that is true, then the discharge petition could be filed as early as tomorrow!

The only way to stop this surrender is for you to get LOUD!

Believe it or not, Congress does listen to us. The only reason that John Boehner has held on this long is because We the People demand it!

Senator Sessions Immigration Handbook Outstanding Read

Immigration Handbook for Congressional Republicans

2/3/2015 - Phyllis Schlafly Townhall.com

Republicans in 2014 won the biggest majority in Congress they've had since the 1930s, so the grassroots expect them to deliver the fruits of victory. The best guide for action is the "Immigration Handbook for the New Republican Majority" by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), issued a couple of weeks ago.

Sessions' report asks the fundamental question: "What sense does it make to continue legally importing millions of low-wage workers to fill jobs while sustaining millions of current residents on welfare?" Republicans can't win in 2016 without tapping into that unrepresented American constituency.

President Obama has issued orders granting work permits to five million illegal aliens, along with Social Security, Medicare and free tax credits, all of which take jobs and benefits from struggling Americans. Obama simply ignored or voided existing immigration laws in order to implement his own policies by measures that Congress has repeatedly and explicitly rejected.

Obama knew very well that he was directly opposing the wishes of the big majority of Americans. Polls were unequivocal; more than 3 in 4 voters cited immigration as an important factor in their 2014 vote; they opposed his plans for amnesty and demanded that U.S. workers be given priority for jobs.

Obama admitted several times that only an emperor could issue such edicts. Nevertheless we are now living under imperial decrees that defy the will of the people, the Constitution that Obama swore an oath to obey, and the laws that Congress passed.

Congressional Republicans seem to have forgotten that they won the last election because they promised to defeat Obama's amnesty. Obama seems to have forgotten that he promised on Feb. 21, 2013, "I'm not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed."

Sen. Sessions' Handbook declares emphatically that Congress has the power to stop Obama's amnesty by denying funds for its implementation. The U.S. House has already passed a bill that would do this and forwarded it to the Senate.

There are many other bills that Congress should pass to checkmate Obama's imperial, unauthorized and illegal actions to give preference to illegal aliens rather than to American citizens regarding jobs and taxpayer-paid benefits.

Here are a few examples of laws Congress should immediately pass: Require all employers to use E-Verify, end catch-and-release, enforce mandatory repatriation for unaccompanied alien minors (instead of loading them into our public schools), end asylum forgeries (remember: the Boston bombers were dishonest asylum seekers, yet were admitted and given welfare handouts), and stop giving generous welfare to illegal aliens. Any immigration "reform" that fails to include these elements will create a slush fund for the Obama administration to resettle illegals throughout the U.S.

Obama's attitude toward immigration was summed up by his former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Sandweg: "If you're a run-of-the-mill immigrant here illegally, your odds of getting deported are close to zero." Sen. Session commented, "anyone in the world who manages to get into the interior of the United States -- by any means, including overstaying a visa -- is free to live, work and claim benefits in the United States at American expense."

Meanwhile, two more states have joined the coalition of states (now totaling 26) that are suing over Obama's executive actions on immigration. This lawsuit was filed by Greg Abbott, then-Texas attorney general and now governor of Texas.

The Sessions Handbook quotes U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services union president Kenneth Palinkas as warning us: "The 9/11 hijackers got into the U.S. on visas and now, 13 years later, we have around 5 million immigrants in the United States who overstayed their visas, many from high-risk regions in the Middle East." Congress should protect Americans from some of these problems by suspending visas to countries with high overstay rates or those that won't accept back their own criminals.

The Sessions Handbook makes another scary point that is not generally known. "Each year, the U.S. admits one million largely lesser-skilled permanent immigrants to the United States, who receive green cards, lifetime work authorization, all federal benefits, access to most federal welfare and the ability to apply for citizenship and vote."

And here's the kicker. "From 2000 to 2014, when 14 million new permanent legal immigrants were admitted to the U.S. in addition to the illegal immigration flow, all net employment gains went to immigrant workers. The total number of working-age U.S.-born Americans without jobs now stands at 58 million."

It All Depends on Senate DHS Funding Votes

The End is Near for Obama’s Amnesty! Join the Fight!

Conservative Daily February 9, 2015 Fellow Conservative,

With all of the terrible things Obama has been doing lately, it is easy to forget that his cabinet and bureaucracies are filled with people just as vile.

It seems that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is one of them. Just this past week, Secretary Johnson was caught sending a rather threatening memo to the sheriffs and law enforcement agencies of this country.

The message was clear: either Congress allows Obama’s amnesty to move forward or Homeland Security will no longer fund local law enforcement programs. That’s right. The Department of Homeland Security is holding this funding hostage unless the country’s sheriffs and police departments start lobbying Congress.

First, Homeland Security instructed all law enforcement agencies to stop enforcing our immigration laws. Now, the Obama administration is so terrified of losing this battle that DHS is also threatening to withhold funding from law enforcement agencies that oppose the amnesty!

Just when you think the Obama administration can’t stoop any lower, they actually do. Homeland Security is threatening to defund Fire Departments in Detroit, Denver, and other cities. They are threatening to get rid of security in our nation’s mass transportation hubs. And they are threatening to defund school security programs.

But here’s the good news: they’re scared. The White House is terrified that Congress might actually succeed in turning back Obama’s illegal alien amnesty.

There’s just one problem. We’re a few votes away. Now, more than ever, we need to hold Congress’s feet to the fire and DEMAND that this lawlessness be stopped and that our immigration laws be enforced!

Obama was smart. He made sure to embed his amnesty bureaucracy within the Department of Homeland Security. He assumes that Republicans would never sacrifice Homeland Security to go after his immigration policy.

This is all we keep hearing. Ever since the 2013 government “shutdown,” the Democrats have operated under the assumption that Republicans will blink first.

They think that Conservatives are cowards. They think that we are push-overs. Well, it’s about time that we make Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and the rest of the Democrats eat their words! They’re going to try to spin this off as another Republican shutdown threat. Well, here are the facts:

The vast majority of employees within Homeland Security are considered to be essential employees. This means that even in a shutdown, they will remain at their posts.

And how could this become a Republican shutdown? If a GOP House of Representatives passes a bill, and a Republican Senate passes a bill, then the only person responsible for a shutdown is OBAMA if he vetoes it.

President Obama has gone a term and a half without having to make any unpopular vetoes. Harry Reid has always stopped GOP bills from getting to Obama’s desk, sparing the President from making unpopular decisions.

That ends NOW! Any day now, the Senate will vote on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Even now, with victory in sight, the so-called “RINOs” (Republicans-in-Name-Only) in the GOP are already contemplating surrender.

They are spineless and too afraid to fulfill the promises that they made to us. But you hold the power. You pull the strings. You can put the fear of God into these politicians and force them to put an end to this once and for all!

It’s this simple: Congress has to put a stop to Obama’s amnesty by any means necessary. If that means that Obama vetoes the bill and shuts down Homeland Security, so be it. Then it’ll be his shutdown not ours, and history will judge him accordingly.

If the GOP caves this time, then there will be nothing standing in between Obama and complete amnesty for the country’s illegal aliens. I’m not willing to just sit back and allow that to happen and I hope you aren’t either! Obama's amnesty is hanging on by a thread. It's time to grab the scissors!

We Are Our Own Worse Enemy

Illegal Immigrants Strain Many School Districts

February 3, 2015 Eagle Forum  

While New York launches a review of procedures used to enroll illegal immigrant students, Washington, D.C. is straining under the tremendous burden of educating such students. The influx of over 50,000 children and young adults across the nation’s southern border is taxing school budgets across the nation. These students were unexpected and not included in schools’ fiscal plans. Most need specialized English Language Learner programs and are usually on free or reduced lunch programs, furthering schools’ financial challenges.

N.Y. Enrollment Policy Investigated

The 1982 Plyler v. Doe Supreme Court decision guaranteed a public education for undocumented children. The New York Dept. of Education and attorney general’s office have launched an investigation “to determine whether districts violated federal law when delaying enrollment of students.” But Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester County schools say some illegal alien children haven’t been admitted to schools because the adults attempting to enroll them have been unable to provide the required documents that prove student residency or to show that they have the guardianship necessary to enroll students. (Proof of guardianship is a safety measure to protect children from being enrolled by those who do not have legal custody.) There are more than 3,000 unaccompanied minors who came to the four counties in 2014, either because they had relatives there or because agencies found sponsors for them. (New York Times, 10-22-14)

D.C. Faces $ Burden

Watchdog.org used 2012 data based on 4,065 illegal immigrants in Washington, D.C. to estimate that it would cost $86 million to educate illegal immigrants that year. Their data was provided by the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project and was determined using the per student annual cost of $21,347.

But due to the recent influx of children, it will now cost closer to $186 million each year to educate illegal immigrants in D.C, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). There are now many more undocumented students in the district and using the simple multiplication method doesn’t account for the additional expense incurred through English Language Learner programs and the use of programs that feed impoverished students at school.

Who is Crossing?

As of the end of June, Customs and Border Patrol had already apprehended 57,525 unaccompanied children in the first nine months of the fiscal year. “That includes 49,933 from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.” (FactCheck.org, 7-18-14) Some children from Mexico may be immediately deported but those from Central America are often offered permanent refuge.

Those who would illegally cross borders have been encouraged to attempt it because talk of amnesty measures has increased at a time when economic conditions have worsened and crime has increased in Central America and Mexico.

In June, CNS News reported, “Instead of discouraging the wave of illegal child immigrants headed toward the U.S. border, major media outlets in Central America are encouraging the phenomenon in recent news coverage.” CNS listed specific news outlets in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras that promoted crossing the border illegally.

Although the American media has indicated it is young children coming across the border, among the initial 1,000 Central American minors housed at Lackland Air Force base in Texas, “about 80% of the minors housed at the base are male and 83% are over age 14.” (CSNnews.com, 6-18-14) There are also reports that some crossers have a gang affiliation and have committed crimes.

Mainstream media outlets say that mostly “children” are crossing the border. But a review of actual figures show that the greatest number of crossers, by far, are teens, although the percentage of younger children crossing has increased at a higher rate in the past year. According to figures obtained using a Freedom of Information Act request:

In fiscal year 2013, nine-in-ten minors apprehended at the border were teens.

This share has dropped as the number of younger children making the dangerous trip has risen dramatically: [Yet] in the first eight months of fiscal year 2014, 84% were teens. (PewResearch.org, 7-22-14)

National Implications

It has been determined that the Obama administration expected the influx and government officials have admitted this. In January of 2014, Homeland Security and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office issued a solicitation at FedBizOpps.gov, a website that advertises government contract openings, for private contractors to provide transportation and escorts for an estimated 65,000 immigrant children from the U.S.-Mexico border to relocation facilities throughout the United States. Part of the advertisement read:

Escort services include, but are not limited to, assisting with: transferring physical custody of UAC  [Unaccompanied Alien Children] from Dept. of Homeland Security to Health and Human Services (HHS) care via ground or air methods of transportation (charter or commercial carrier), property inventory, providing juveniles with meals, drafting reports, generating transport documents, maintaining/stocking daily supplies, providing and issuing clothing as needed, coordinating with DHS and HHS staff. . . .(TheBlaze.com, 6-20-14; FactCheck.org, 7-18-14)

There has been an unprecedented attempt to spread the illegal immigrants throughout the U.S. Even small, rural towns have received UACs. The influx of school-aged teens and children impacts schools in unexpected places. “Nationally, FAIR estimates that it costs about $52 billion to educate children who are in the U.S. illegally.” (HumanEvents.com, 12-3-14)

The expense of this influx is not limited to schools. Additional costs include transporting the UACs from the border to communities and social services provided to those who eventually sponsor them.

Why Not a Fence Instead?

In July, President Obama requested that Congress provide an emergency fund of $3.7 billion dollars to resettle the newest illegal aliens in the U.S. Dividing $3.7 billion by the estimated 50,000 border crossers who will be allowed to stay equals almost $74,000 per individual illegal alien. None of this money is destined for schools.

Progressives consider $74,000 per crosser in one year a reasonable expenditure but balk at increased border control and building a fence that would permanently take care of the problem. Illegal border crossings cost American taxpayers by lowering the quality of the education children receive; by taking American jobs; and by diminishing the security of the nation. Yet, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Rep. Steve King (R-IA), and others who support building a fence are maligned by those who fail to understand the cost of illegal immigration and the potential for terrorists to infiltrate along with unaccompanied juveniles.