Free Republic

The White House Office of Legal Counsel knew and advised Obama from the outset an executive order was impossible. Subsequently the White House and DHS attempted to thread the needle with a claim of Presidential authority to “set priorities regarding enforcement“. However, as we previously outlined the “enforcement priority” did more than “prioritize enforcement”, it actually created an entire new category of immigration personage. A large problem relates to an intent on classifying a new category of illegal alien with eligible work status. Riddled throughout President Obama’s Executive Order speech in November was something more than prosecutorial discretion and/or non-deportation....

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Thursday that thousands of illegal immigrants granted temporary amnesty through President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will also get permanent U.S. citizenship thanks to how DHS is administering the program. When Obama first announced his DACA program back in June 2012, he told the American people, "Now, let's be clear — this is not amnesty, this is not immunity, this is not a path to citizenship." However, as the Center for Immigration Studies pointed out just months after Obama's announcement, a loophole in immigration law created the possibility that DHS could use...

The government expects so many applications for President Obama’s new deportation amnesty that it’s seeking a contractor just to open the new mail and enter the forms into the system, with plans to operate two shifts from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. every workday to keep up with the anticipated workload. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency charged with approving the applications, expects more than 800,000 applications in just the first two and a half months, or a 70 percent surge compared to last year’s total intake for the entire agency. Over the first 18 or so months, the...

  ¡Dios bendito! Mexico’s government is not known for its efficiency.  But they’ve got their act together if you’re a Mexican citizen in the United States, and need your permiso, or your driver’s license in California.  Yesterday (Jan 15), the Mexican government is issuing birth certificates from any consulate in the United States. Not 24 hours after the House of Representatives approved a bill that would end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), the rush has begun to get your paperwork in to DHS, before it’s (potentially) too late. From now on, Mexico's 50 consulates in the U.S. will be able to get access to data maintained...

[Paraphrase]: There are 643,000 illegal residents in New York City, and 238,000 would be eligible for Obama's executive amnestyThe totals by borough:Manhattan: 25,000Brooklyn: 71,000Bronx: 43,000Queens: 91,000Staten Island: 8,000This is 37 percent of the illegals who are here in NYC.Sorry I could not figure out how to post the article from the AM New York website. Maybe someone else can figure it out. There are further interesting facts in the article, but not as dramatic as the numbers.The other papers are reporting the enormous demand for the mayor's ID card, which you could sign up for starting yesterday, but they did...

Rep Justin Amash has some ‘splaining to do. But first, some background. Speaker John Boehner showed some backbone on the House floor yesterday, as that body passed a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, with amendments attached which would roll back DACA—something that’s long overdue—and remove funding for President Obama’s executive edicts (they weren’t executive actions because he simply spoke them into being like Zeus from Olympus) dealing with immigration amnesty. Boehner gave a rare speech on the floor of the House, pushing for Congress to actually do its job and legislate, versus just sit back and watch...

Wednesday morning the House of Representatives voted to pass a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that contains 2 amendments to curtail President Obama’s unconstitutional executive amnesty orders issued in November and in the summer of 2012. That second amendment, offered by Tennessee congresswoman Marsha Blackburn was opposed by 26 RINO Republicans and was nearly defeated. The Blackburn amendment puts an end to President Obama’s Deferred Deportation(DACA) program for illegal immigrants who were brought to the country as children. One of the 26 Republicans to vote against the Blackburn DACA amendment was Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger who told Talking Point...

Once again, local-TV investigative reporters are showing up their national counterparts. Recall that this summer the administration insisted the thousands of Central American illegal immigrants it was waving across the border would be put into deportation proceedings and those who did not qualify for asylum would be removed. You’d think, then, that there’d be bigshot D.C. journalists interested in finding out how many actually bothered to attend their immigration hearings. You’d be wrong. But the investigative unit at Houston’s KPRC, Channel 2, decided to ask. And when they didn’t get an answer, they persisted. And persisted. And finally got some...

President Obama's executive amnesty for an estimated five million illegal aliens is, from the perspective of Republicans, an unconstitutional power grab that threatens the republic. In Obama's telling, over soft piano music in a campaign-style YouTube video, it “just comes down to people.”

Roughly one million undocumented immigrants in California qualify for President Obama’s executive action of deferred deportation that he announced on Thursday. Of those 40% will be eligible for the states free Medi-Cal health services, while the remaining will be ineligible under the program’s income requirements. Medi-Cal is the state’s name for Medicaid, a federal health services program for people who have low income. According to KQED News, the newly protected illegal immigrants do not qualify for other benefits of the Affordable Care Act and are not eligible for subsidies on the Covered California exchange. “They’ll be in the same situation...

President Barack Obama took a major gamble when he punted executive action on immigration earlier this fall to try and save red-state Senate Democrats – and it didn’t pay off. Vulnerable Senate Democrats who publicly opposed executive action, from Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina to Mark Pryor in Arkansas, weren’t spared from defeat by the delay. Instead, it may have well have hurt Democratic Sen. Mark Udall in purple Colorado, a state with a significant Latino electorate who voted the incumbent out. With steep Democratic losses, Obama is left with a Republican-controlled Senate, whose leaders are already warning Obama...

By Rebecca Kaplan/CBS News/November 2, 2014, 5:01 PM Obama heckled at Connecticut rally A rally in Connecticut on Sunday proved that dragging down Democrats with his unpopularity isn't the only danger the campaign trail holds for President Obama: there are plenty of hecklers awaiting him too. The president repeatedly lost control of the rally as "Dreamers" -- young Hispanic activists -- interrupted his speech protesting lack of immigration reform legislation and the administration's high rate of deportations. His response: You're at the wrong rally.

Hispanics, US Citizens And Otherwise, Join Campaigns For Close Midterm Fights This year’s midterms are taking place against a backdrop of Latino frustration at dithering candidates over immigration issues Paul Lewis 24 October 2014 Abel Perez, who was brought to the US from Mexico illegally as a child, canvassing for Democratic candidates in Longmont, Colorado. Photograph: Paul Lewis/Guardian An estimated 11 million people in America are barred from voting in the midterm elections because of their immigration status. Abel Perez is one of them. The 24-year-old was recently knocking on doors in the Colorado town of Longmont with a list...

On Monday, Vice President Joe Biden promised that President Barack Obama would "do an awful lot" for illegal immigrants with executive actions toward amnesty. He said if Republicans don't "see the lord" on immigration after the midterm elections, then they will feel some "lightning." According to pool reports, Biden spoke at a Hispanic Heritage Month reception at his residence and reportedly called up a student who had received temporary amnesty due to Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Biden then said that Obama is going to enact executive amnesty before the end of the year if Congress does...

On my ride home from a hill country family vacation the internet finally came back around San Antonio. It was then that I learned that a protest was planned against Senator Ted Cruz by the beneficiaries of Obama's DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) Executive Order. These "chicos de suenos" enjoying a waiver from deportation for themselves, cared little that the "surge" of aliens of all ages and unknown histories were invading the USA relentlessly as a result of the DACA decree.

Nevada is among the states with the highest sign-up rate for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, according to a new study of the federal initiative that gives temporary protection from deportation to some youths who are in the country illegally. In Nevada, 10,564 people have applied and 9,243 have been approved since the program began in August 2012, according to March data from from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the most recent available. Among those that are immediately eligible by meeting all requirements, Nevada has an application rate of 61 percent vs. the national average of 52 percent, according to...

Iowa Congressman Steve King hosted a town hall meeting Tuesday in north Ames’ Somerset Clubhouse, speaking at length about such issues as immigration and foreign policy but mentioning his 4th Congressional District challenger, 28-year-old Boone Democrat Jim Mowrer, only in passing. (SNIP) He explained his efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an Obama administration directive granting temporary work permits to immigrants who entered the country unlawfully as children; and to amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, a law that has made it more difficult to deport children crossing the Mexico border...

Government records show discrepancy in apprehensions and court receipts. The Department of Justice does not have receipts for more than half of the unaccompanied alien children apprehended at the southwest border by Border Patrol since the start of Fiscal Year 2013, government records show. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data show more than 85,000 total apprehensions of unaccompanied alien children during fiscal year 2013 and fiscal year 2014 through June. Information from the same time period provided to National Review Online by the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review shows 41,592 total receipts marked as juvenile in immigration courts. Kathryn...

For those puzzled by the recent thrusts and feints on our border crisis, here is a helpful primer: Related Stories Democrats blame the “urgent humanitarian crisis” at our border on an obscure 2008 sex trafficking bill. But, they refuse to change the bill. President Obama’s DACA order in 2012, protecting young people here illegally against deportation, summoned tens of thousands of migrant children from Central America. To solve the problem, the White House wants to open the door even wider by offering asylum to people from that region. House Republicans passed a bill giving President Obama funds to manage the...

President Obama's executive actions on immigration did not begin with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in mid-2012. It began in 2011 with his announcement of "prosecutorial discretion" on deportations. A few months later the border patrol noted the first uptick in unaccompanied children at the border. There has been an ongoing argument in the public sphere over whether or not President Obama's executive action known as DACA is responsible for the current surge of unaccompanied children at the border. GOP members have claimed it is a contributing factor and some note that the June 15, 2012 announcement seems to...