Free Republic

As Washington lawmakers react to the unfolding events in the Boston bombing investigation, a handful of senators involved in immigration reform debated whether the attack should impact the legislative efforts. "Given the events of this week, it's important for us to understand the gaps and loopholes in our immigration system," Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in an immigration hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Grassley is the top Republican on the committee, which is starting to review the comprehensive immigration reform bill drafted by a bipartisan team of eight senators. "While we don't yet know the immigration status of the...

We already knew that opponents of immigration reform had no good arguments in favor of preserving the status quo. Now we know they have no shame. Some of them are deliberately mixing apples and oranges and trying to use the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombing to scuttle efforts in Washington to achieve immigration reform. All last week, my friends in the immigration reform community held their collective breath and hoped that -- when investigators finally zeroed in on a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing -- that person would NOT turn out to be foreign-born. Immigrants are blamed for...

The terror attacks in Boston wrecked plans for a quick Friday hearing on immigration reform and prompted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to withdraw from the high-profile hearing. Her withdrawal denied Republican Sens. Jeff Sessions and Chuck Grassley — both opponents of the pending Senate immigration bill — the chance to chance to speak to public worries about terrorism’s relation to the 844-page bill. “We’re here trying to understand why these events have occurred … so this hearing is an opportunity to focus on the issues at hand,” said Grassley, the lead Republican on the judiciary panel....

The Senate’s Gang of Eight delivered an immigration overhaul bill this week that was far more generous to their constituencies than Democrats and Hispanic activists expected. The pre-bill marketing campaign — driven by leaks that seemed to come from Republican negotiators — focused on stringent new border-control measures and a long, difficult path to citizenship. The goal was to minimize conservative opposition by creating a first impression of the bill as a tough solution to the country’s illegal immigration problem. But when Democrats got a look at the 844-page measure, they discovered that their negotiators extracted more concessions than they...

It is one of the Obama administration’s favorite talking points on immigration: It has been deporting illegal immigrants in record numbers. That bolsters its credentials on enforcement and supports the argument that, now that we’ve gotten tough on the border, it is time to enact comprehensive immigration reform. But figures recently unearthed by a federal lawsuit in Texas cast serious doubt on the administration’s deportation claims. The number of deportations appears to have declined significantly during the president’s term in office. Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, has analyzed a set of largely unpublished...

by John HillStand With ArizonaWebsite | Facebook | Twitter South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham's advocacy of amnesty for 20+ million illegal aliens has one Georgia immigration activist telling illegals to go next door - because Graham welcomes them. SWA's good friend and anti-amnesty hero D.A. King - who authored Georgia's Arizona-style immigration law which passed in 2011 - put up a billboard North of Atlanta telling crimmigrants that Lindsey Graham said that South Carolina has a labor shortage and they should go South to take Graham up on his offer. Here's CBS Atlanta's report on this outstanding billboard... D.A. King is...

Passage of the new bipartisan immigration reform bill could mean a $3,000 per year incentive for employers who choose a newly legal immigrant over a U.S. citizen. The bill unveiled Wednesday says people who are granted provisional legal status will be treated the same as people “not lawfully present” under Obamacare guidelines, Investor's Business Daily reports. This means that provisionally legal immigrants will not be eligible for Obamacare tax credits or required to pay a tax penalty for failing to get health insurance—and employers won’t be fined for not providing them with affordable health coverage. …

If there were any doubts that the oft-used term ‘comprehensive immigration reform' is a stalking-horse for amnesty, a new Senate proposal should dispel them. The measure, touted as a way to fix our ‘broken' immigration system, will do the opposite. Not only will it demean U.S. citizenship and rule of law, it also likely will produce adverse economic effects. The main feature of the 844-page bill is that it would allow millions of illegal immigrants to apply for legal residency and eventual citizenship. Significantly, the bill bears a strong union influence. And labor officials aren't bashful about it. Ana Avendano,...

When Republicans start lying like Democrats, you can guess they are pushing an idea that's bad for America. During his William Ginsburg-like tour of the Sunday talk shows last weekend, Sen. Marco Rubio was the Mount Vesuvius of lies about his immigration bill. Here is how Rubio explained the powerful border-enforcing mechanism in his bill on "Fox News Sunday," which he denied was merely a meaningless goal: "Basically, Homeland Security will have five years to meet that goal. If after five years, Homeland Security has not met that number, it will trigger the Border Commission, who will then take over...

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said today that the Senate immigration bill is even worse than feared, since it legalizes illegals' relatives and even those previously deported: "It's hard to believe, but the Senate immigration bill is worse than we thought. Despite assurances, the border is not secured before almost everyone in the country illegally is given amnesty. The bill guarantees there will be a rush across the border to take advantage of massive amnesty." Rep. Smith says the Senate immigration bill shreds current immigration laws: "And the Senate proposal offers amnesty to far more illegal immigrants than we thought. In...

According to the newly filed bill, immigrants who are allowed to enter the United States under a work visa, will be ‘granted’ a cellular phone. Move over “Obama phone,” we present the new ‘Hola, Como Estas?!’ MarcoPhone. Here is the actual mention of the free phones in the bill- SEC. 1107. ACCESS TO EMERGENCY PERSONNEL. (a) SOUTHWEST BORDER REGION EMERGENCY COM-MUNICATIONS GRANTS.— The Secretary, in consultation with the governors of the States in the Southwest Border region, shall establish a 2-year grant program, to be administered by the Secretary, to improve emergency communications in the Southwest ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.—An individual...

Lee Statement on Release of Immigration Bill “As of this afternoon, senators have received only a set of talking points promoting the new immigration proposal. Once it has been released, I strongly encourage my colleagues to read the bill and then decide for themselves whether this reform will accomplish what proponents are promising. It is unfortunate that we have so little time to digest and evaluate such an expansive piece of legislation before we hold our initial committee hearing. As senators, it is our duty to read the bill and fully understand the impact it will have on our immigration...

A little noticed provision of the Obama health law is likely to become a big roadblock to immigration reform. Obamacare makes legal immigrants eligible for subsidized private health plans on the exchanges, regardless of how recently they arrived. The Gang of Eight immigration plan — proposed by four Republican and four Democratic U.S. senators — is expected to double the number of legal immigrants coming into the country over the next decade. That would add at least $100 billion and possibly $200 billion to the cost of Obamacare health plan subsidies, depending on how many new arrivals don't get covered...

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) blasted Democrats on Tuesday for scheduling only two hearings on the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill. Sessions accused Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) of trying to rush the legislation to the Senate floor with “minimum public scrutiny.” “Chairman Leahy’s decision to now hold two hearings in two day — one on Friday, one on Monday — is only further proof of the majority’s desire to rush this bill,” Sessions said in an email to The Hill. “We are talking about legislation that will impact virtually every aspect of our society, reshape our entire immigration...

Boston Tragedy Delays Immigration Bill By ERICA WERNER WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators are set to unveil a sweeping immigration bill this week to secure the border, remake legal immigration, boost workplace enforcement and put 11 million people here illegally on a path to citizenship. A group of eight lawmakers, equally divided between Republicans and Democrats, planned to formally introduce the bill Tuesday, although a press event with activists, business leaders and religious groups was delayed until later in the week after the tragedy at the Boston marathon. Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and John McCain, R-Ariz., planned to meet with President...

Most laws are meant to stop people from doing something, and to penalize those who disregard those laws. More generally, laws are meant to protect the society from the law breakers. But our immigration laws are different. Here the whole focus is on the "plight" of those who have broken the laws, and on what can be done to lift the stigma and ease the pressures they feel, so that they can "come out of the shadows" and "normalize" their lives. Merely using the word "illegal" to describe their breaking the law is considered to be a sign of mean-spiritedness,...

Republican members of the Gang of Eight know they’ll have a tough time selling comprehensive immigration reform to a significant number of conservatives. Of course some in the GOP are still panicked by last November’s election results and will be inclined to sign on to almost any deal. But many of the more conservative Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill will have to be convinced that the Gang’s proposal is an acceptable way to go. It won’t be easy. Starting this week, with the release of the bill, the Gang will launch an extensive public information campaign — lots of press...

Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, said his plan would make illegal immigrants wait years to gain citizenship. Republican leaders are counting on Mr. Rubio to sell the plan to skeptical conservatives. “This is not amnesty. Amnesty is the forgiveness of something,” Mr. Rubio said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We’re going to create an alternative that says, ‘OK, you want to stay here, you’ll have to wait more than 10 years, you’ll have to pay this fine, you’ll have to pay your registration fee, you’ll have to be gainfully employed, you won’t qualify for any federal benefits, and then after all...

It was three years ago, early morning, when Elizabeth Perez returned to her Cleveland home from the doctor’s office with good news to tell her husband, Marcos: She was pregnant with their second child. For several moments, they celebrated with kisses, hugs, and tears of joy. Mr. Perez headed to work. A few minutes later, he was pulled over for a traffic-stop violation. Less than a month later, he was deported to Mexico City. “Noooooo!” Mrs. Perez wailed into the phone receiver when immigration authorities called to inform her that her husband had been apprehended. Mr. Perez would not be...

I just watched the local news here in Tampa. They had a segment stating that we have a shortage of workers to work the farms. They interviewed the owner of a strawberry farm and he mentioned that due to the shortage of immigrants being allowed to enter this country, he doesn't have enough workers. Guess the people on unemployment or that have dropped out of the workforce are too good to pick strawberries? Guess they would rather get the handouts!