Immigration MUST Benefit American Citizens First!

 

Despite Weakened Economy, Illegal Immigrants Continue Flocking to the United States

1/30/2021 - Spencer Raley Townhall.com

Over the past 10 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely hampered what was previously a period of record economic growth in the United States. Tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs as businesses were closed to slow the spread of the virus. And, while the economy continues to recover, unemployment is still nearly double what it was this time last year.

Along with the economic impacts, COVID-19 has also slowed the overall pace of immigration into the United States. In January of 2020, the federal government declared the novel coronavirus to be a public health emergency and restricted travel from China. This was a move that many Democrats (including then-candidate Joe Biden) called “xenophobic.” As the pandemic worsened, these restrictions were expanded to cover many other countries, including the entirety of Europe. Finally, certain guest worker programs and other visa categories were either frozen or severely restricted to protect American workers throughout the duration of the pandemic. 

However, despite the lower-than-usual number of lawful migrants entering the country, illegal immigration continues to be a serious problem. According to a new report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the illegal alien population in the United States increased by approximately 200,000 to a total of 14.5 million. The study also indicates that these new illegal aliens impose a net fiscal burden of nearly $2 billion per year on the nation, raising the total cost of illegal immigration to at least $133 billion annually.

While these totals are lower than pre-coronavirus projections, it shows that large numbers of illegal aliens continue to enter the country and compete for jobs that American citizens desperately need right now. Unauthorized migrants typically work in industries such as construction, agriculture, and the service industry. These sectors were especially hard-hit by the pandemic, with all of them experiencing unemployment rate increases higher than the rest of the country.

Several primary factors contribute to the recent growth of the illegal alien population, including:

• A massively backlogged immigration court system.
• A growing number of “sanctuary jurisdictions” in the United States, where law enforcement officers are barred by state and local politicians from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement agencies.
• Unscrupulous businesses that chose to exploit illegal workers as a method to pad their profits during a difficult economic time.
• An increasing number of benefits being offered to illegal aliens, such as in-state tuition, driver’s licenses, taxpayer-funded health care, and even COVID-19 relief funds.

Additionally, candidate and now President Joe Biden’s promise of mass amnesty is spurring additional illegal immigration. Indeed, apprehensions along the southern border are up more than 80 percent compared to this time last year, and there was a noticeable spike soon after he started making campaign promises to freeze deportations and offer mass amnesty. 

During a time when the American worker desperately needs protection, President Biden is intentionally harming those he swore an oath to protect. His administration has opted for policies that deliberately place the interests of illegal aliens above the millions of citizens who are in desperate need of gainful employment.

What the United States needs right now is an “Americans first” initiative that focuses on restoring jobs to U.S. citizens and prioritizing their needs. That starts with cutting off the incentives that attract illegal immigration, not piling on more. And it requires robust enforcement of our immigration laws, not a proclamation that they will intentionally be neglected. Without true immigration reform, illegal aliens will continue to flock into the United States, and it will take even longer for both American citizens and lawful migrants to recover from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spencer Raley is director of research at the Federation for American Immigration Reform(FAIR).

 

 

Draw a Line in the Sand Against Sanctuary Policies

 

Here's How Republicans Are Preparing for the Immigration Wars with the Biden White House

1/29/2021 - Matt Vespa Townhall.com

I know there’s a populist uprising on Wall Street and the liberal media decided to report that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s COVID body bag piles were higher than projected. This coming after Andy said incompetent government was to blame for unnecessary COVID deaths. The man forced nursing homes in the Empire State to accept COVID-positive patients. I’d say that’s incompetent, but so is Democratic city councils and other governing bodies permitting illegal aliens to have sanctuary from federal law enforcement.

The reasoning behind these sanctuary laws is ridiculous. The Left pitched that this could help fight crime, as illegals would be more willing to provide witness testimony to felonies without fear of deportation. Of course, it’s been abused because Democrats want it to be abused. Criminal aliens roam free, committing murder and mayhem as they please — and Democrats endorse it. It doesn’t matter that American citizens commit crime at more frequent rates or whatever pivot liberals hurl into the media cycle to distract us from the horrid rapes and murders these illegals commit. The fact is these heinous crimes wouldn’t have happened if people who shouldn’t have been here remained thanks to liberal immigration policies.

As the Biden administration plans to unsurprisingly make a 180-degree turn on immigration, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), with other congressional Republicans, have decided to draw a line in the sand on where they stand by re-introducing the Stop Sanctuary Cities and Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities bills.

The victims' bill contains three key provisions:

Defining a “Sanctuary Jurisdiction”:

The legislation defines a sanctuary jurisdiction as any state or political subdivision (including a county or city) that has a statute, ordinance, policy, or practice that restricts a government official or entity from receiving or maintaining information about the immigration status of an individual, including refusing to comply with lawful detainer requests made by DHS or the notification of the release of an illegal immigrant. A jurisdiction would not be deemed a “sanctuary jurisdiction” based solely on policies where officials do not share information or comply with detainers for illegal immigrants who come forward as a victim or a witness to a criminal offense. 

Establishing civil action for the victims or family members of crimes committed by illegal immigrants benefitting from a sanctuary policy:

The legislation establishes a private right of action for any individual, spouse, or child who is a victim of a violent crime or felony that was a result of a sanctuary jurisdiction failing to comply with a lawful request made by the Department of Homeland Security and refused to comply with a detainer or notify DHS about the release of an illegal immigrant. 

Withholding grant funding for jurisdictions that refuse to comply with lawful requests:

The legislation requires any state or political subdivision of a state to waive immunity as it relates to sanctuary-related civil action as a condition of receiving Community Development Block Grant funds (CDBG) and certain Economic Development Administration grants. The failure to waive immunity on sanctuary-related civil action will result in the withholding of grants for public works, grants related to planning administrative expenses, and grants for training, research, and technical assistance.

“This is a matter of public safety and the rule of law. At a time when the Biden administration refuses to crack down on sanctuary cities, Congress has the responsibility to act. It’s long past time that cities who refuse to enforce our immigration laws face legal consequences,” said Rep. Budd in a statement on the legislation.  “When laws are not enforced, completely preventable tragedies strike. That has to stop. Our bill will put lawless cities on notice and will hopefully persuade them to enforce our laws and keep our streets safe.”

As for cracking down on the cities who adopt these pro-illegal alien tendencies, well, they haven’t been forgotten either. And this is a position Republicans should dig deep on and hold the line. For starters, the bill to stop sanctuary cities gives federal law enforcement the power to scoop up these bad folks:

Gives explicit authority to the arresting Federal, State, tribal, or local law enforcement agency to maintain custody of an illegal immigrant for a period not to exceed 48 hours to permit assumption of custody by the DHS, upon the issuance of a detainer.

Allows the federal government to enter into agreements with the arresting law enforcement agency to indemnify these agencies against wrongful detention claims by third parties which resulted from a detainer issued without reason to believe the individual is a removable illegal immigrant. Indemnification will not extend to claims relating to negligence or willful misconduct.

Makes jurisdictions ineligible for reimbursement of detention costs if they are certified by the DHS Secretary as being noncompliant with ICE.

Jurisdictions that are deemed noncompliant by the DHS Secretary will not receive priority when being considered for funding from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program and when benefitting from the 1033 and 1122 programs.

“Reckless sanctuary policies have allowed dangerous criminals back into communities in North Carolina, and that number will continue to increase as President Biden pushes for sanctuary city legislation that puts politics ahead of the safety and security of the American people,” said Senator Tillis.

“The Immigration Detainer Enforcement Act is a critical step in keeping rogue sheriffs in check so that North Carolinians are safe from violent criminals. This legislation clarifies sheriffs’ authority, incentivizes cooperation, and eliminates any excuse sheriffs use to justify why they ignore detainer requests.”

Immigration is bound to be another fight. Both sides are taking to their corners.

 

 

Biden 'Brave New World' -- Rule by Executive Order

 

The 'After Trump' Era Begins

1/28/2021 - Victor Davis Hanson Townhall.com

The new AT age -- "After Trump" -- began on either Election Day, Nov. 3, or on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20. But either way, reality as we had known it for four years has been abruptly reinvented.

Pfizer had hinted that a vaccine could be ready in late October. Then, mysteriously, it wasn't. Then, stranger still, it appeared -- a few days after Election Day.

Suddenly, after Joe Biden's inauguration, Illinois, Michigan and other blue states eased some of their lockdown restrictions to get their economies back on track despite little change in COVID-19 rates.

During the Trump Age, the president was supposedly responsible for every death from COVID-19. Now, the media reports that career scientists and health administrators in the federal government, especially at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were largely to blame for past slow testing, and were tardy and lax in apprising the nation of the infectious threat.

The Biden campaign's widely reported promises of a new, superior COVID-19 plan turned out to be more of the same old, same old from the Trump Age.

Biden did mandate the wearing of masks on all federal property. But he then immediately undermined his own order during the first few hours on the job by going mask-less during a photo op at the Lincoln Memorial.

Stranger still, President Biden announced during his first few hours in office: "There's nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months."

For the first time, we now learn that there is "nothing" Biden can do about COVID-19?

Despite millions of vaccine doses being produced when he entered office, Biden went on to warn that many more Americans will die in the next few months -- more than 600,000 COVID-19 fatalities in total. The watchdog media just shrugged.

Coincidentally, after weeks of disastrous state incompetence in getting residents vaccinated, Amazon has told the new administration that it will lend its infrastructure and organization to speed up vaccinations. If Amazon could announce that in late January, why not weeks earlier?

Speaking of Amazon, it is opposing mail-in ballots for its own employees voting on whether to unionize a warehouse in Alabama. Amazon says it's worried about fraud. Yet Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also owns the Washington Post, which ridiculed those who were concerned about massive mail-in voting in the 2020 election.

Coincidently, with the inauguration of a new president, "nonpartisan" COVID-19 czar Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, now suddenly accuses his former boss, Donald Trump, of ignoring his wise counsel.

But for all of 2020, Fauci had been a master of the "noble lie" -- the Platonic idea that government elites should deliberately misinform the supposedly less intelligent people for their own good.

Fauci gave conflicting assessments on mask-wearing, on the percentages needed to achieve herd immunity, and on the impossibility of the virus having originated in a Wuhan laboratory. He claimed that he offered false or unproven narratives to avoid panic, or to encourage Americans to follow his correct policies.

In the new age, expect the media and government to suddenly resent any mention of pushback against a sitting president. Questions about the Biden family's past multimillion-dollar influence peddling overseas or Biden's cognitive ability can no longer be asked.

If the Republicans win the House of Representatives in 2022 and follow the new Democratic model of impeaching a first-term president without a special counsel report, it will be called a national disgrace.

Even worse, we will be told, would be the reckless mention of the 25th Amendment. The very suggestion of removing an elected president due to supposed cognitive challenges will become abhorrent.

For that matter, so too would be the appointment of any special counsel. Why waste two years, $35 million and dozens of lawyers to harass a sitting president with unfounded charges of Ukrainian or Chinese "collusion"?

In our brave new world, we will hear no more retired military officers weighing in on the "fascism" of the commander in chief.

None will compare the recurring violence of antifa or Black Lives Matter to that of Islamic terrorists. None will compare Biden, who dismissed antifa as a mere "idea," to Mussolini or the Nazis. Any retired officer who smears the president, we will be reminded, would violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The media, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, Hollywood, top retired military brass, corporate America, universities and professional sports are all recalibrating the truth for our Year One.

In about a month, they will have it down. And soon, we won't even be able to tell the old reality from the new.