Representative Steve King (R-Iowa) marked his first work day of the new year by introducing a bill to end the practice of automatic birthright citizenship.
The bill would amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify those classes of individuals born in the United States who are nationals and citizens of the United States at birth.
Currently, U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants are considered citizens under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The bill would correct the broken Immigration law to prevent such children from earning citizenship based on birth in the U.SBirthright Citizenship Act 2011
While the results of the 2010 mid-term election led to no major change in leadership in the Senate, they brought enormous changes for the immigration related committees in the House.
Assuming Chairmanship of the House Committee on the Judiciary is one of the long-time heroes of the American worker, Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX). The new Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security is Representative Peter King (R-NY). And the new Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations is Representative Harold Rogers (R-KY), who has more than two decades of experience dealing directly with immigration appropriations matters.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
New 2011 Immigration Action Report
Welcome all. Happy New Year!
Today is not about Republicans, today is not about Democrats, today is about the American people. Today starts a new year for the United States government, a new sunrise on this great nation and a new awareness for all American citizens.
This new Congress marks the "112th Congress" in history.
Republicans will have a 242-193 majority in the House and Democrats will have a 53-47 organizational majority in the Senate (includes 2 Independents). Just elected House Speaker John Boehner exclaimed today, "Welcome to the people’s House. Welcome to the 112th Congress."
The U.S. House of Representatives welcomes 96 new members today (87 Republicans and 9 Democrats). The United States Senate welcomes 16 new members.
IMMIGRATION TOP SPOT
(the top Immigration news story of the day)
State lawmakers take aim at Birthright Citizenship in what appears to be the first Immigration battle of the new year with conservative immigration-reduction groups going on the offense.
Pennsylvania State Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler County), founder of State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI), along with state lawmakers and Constitutional scholars from across the nation convened in Washington D.C. today to unveil historic model legislation to correct the monumental misapplication of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This historic press conference was held on the same day as the swearing-in of the 112th Congress; encouraging that one of the first actions should be to uphold their oath and defend the Constitution to protect the states from the illegal alien invasion.
CONGRESS CHECK
(includes United States Senate and U.S. House of Representatives)
Congress will work this week, and over the next several weeks, on the ceremonial and organizational aspects of convening a new Congress. Little-to-no legislative action on specific immigration-related measures is expected to occur this week or next on Capitol Hill.
IMMIGRATION GPS
(what's happening across the country)
Florida. Following through on a campaign promise, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed four executive orders minutes after being sworn in, including one that requires all state agencies to use E-Verify. Florida joins a list of 13 other states that have mandatory E-Verify laws or executive orders in place.
Kentucky. As promised, Kentucky senate republicans filed a bill today they hope will crack down on illegal immigration. It came on the opening day of the legislative session. The bill calls for allowing police to arrest illegal immigrants on trespassing charges, simply for setting foot in Kentucky. The legislation would also make it illegal to harbor or transport illegal immigrants.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/05/2001154/kentucky-immigration-bill-is-stricter.html
Rhode Island. Governor Chafee made his second executive order on his first full day on the job Wednesday. Chaffee is not requiring his state and local businesses to check the immigration backgrounds of workers using the electronic program E-Verify. Chafee said E-Verify has caused anxiety in the Latino community and has not contributed to immigration reform.
http://www.queenscourier.com/articles/2011/01/05/news/top_stories/doc4d248d6b992bb950591049.txt http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/05/2001154/kentucky-immigration-bill-is-stricter.html
Rhode Island. Governor Chafee made his second executive order on his first full day on the job Wednesday. Chaffee is not requiring his state and local businesses to check the immigration backgrounds of workers using the electronic program E-Verify. Chafee said E-Verify has caused anxiety in the Latino community and has not contributed to immigration reform.
New York. Three days before leaving office, Governor David A. Paterson re-signed a new Secure Communities agreement for the state. “This new agreement balances the homeland security and civil liberties issues that have surrounded the Secure Communities initiative,” Paterson said. Secure Communities enables law enforcement agencies to more easily share information about suspected illegal immigrants who have been arrested. When someone is arrested and booked, and their fingerprints are entered into a federal database, the arresting agency should then receive information related to that person’s residency status and also any information with regards to a person’s prior criminal record.
Colorado. Governor Bill Ritter signed an executive order for the state of Colorado to join ICE's Secure Communites program. The program, which operates through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), is now in place in 35 states. Started by President George W. Bush in 2008, the program may be mandatory in all states by 2013. Governor-elect John Hickenlooper says he supports the measure.
http://www.denverpost.com/legislature/ci_17012396
Wyoming. A bill patterned after Arizona's tough immigration law will be introduced in the Wyoming legislative session that opens January 11, 2011.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_f5057dd0-ef7c-5b06-842e-8cd6d4f0b5cd.html
Oklahoma. State Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, joined legislators from at least five other states today in Washington to announce plans to file bills making their states’ immigration laws the same or tougher than Arizona’s.
http://newsok.com/activists-decry-bills-about-immigration/article/3529463
Texas. The Texas legislature convenes next week in what is expected to be one of the toughest sessions ever. Local state representative Debbie Riddle was first in line to file an AZ-style immigration protection bill.
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/politics/110104-riddle-espinoza-debate-immigration
BORDER WARS
(news from the southern border states)
Mexican cartel violence prompts calls for bigger National Guard deployment along the border. In Nogalas, AZ on the dusty hilltops west of U.S. Interstate 19, National Guardsmen with M-4 rifles peer down from camouflage tents and surveillance posts, so close to the border fence they can almost watch TV through the windows of Mexican homes on the other side.
READING RIGHT NOW
(hot topics and other news)
Is Birthright Citizenship the Next Immigration Battlefield?
TOMORROW AND BEYOND
(looking forward)
President Obama will make his State of the Union Address within the next few weeks, he will submit his fiscal year 2012 budget to Congress during the second week of February, and the 112th Congress will have to complete consideration of the fiscal year 2011 appropriations bills before March 4.
Did we miss any Immigration related News in your State?
Comment below and let us know!
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
United States Senate 2011 Oath
Do you solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this oath of obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: So help you God.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Senator Sessions speech on DREAM Act
Sessions Delivers Floor Speech on ‘Decisive’ DREAM Act Vote
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered remarks today on the Senate floor prior to a cloture vote on the fifth version of the DREAM ACT recently introduced, following the postponement of two previously scheduled votes on the legislation. The DREAM Act would extend mass amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, including a number with criminal records, and would offer safe harbor to those with pending applications. Those granted amnesty would then be able to sponsor their relatives – including those who may have brought them here illegally – and do not need to attain a high school diploma, a college degree or volunteer for military service. According to CBO estimates, the bill would add at least $5 billion to the federal deficit.
His remarks, as prepared, follow:
“Essential to America’s greatness is our respect for the rule of law. The American people understand this.
For years, they have asked Congress and the President to secure the borders and to enforce our immigration laws. But for years, those pleas have been ignored. Leaders in Washington have not only tolerated the lawlessness, but their policies have encouraged it.
Americans living near our border are the ones who often pay the steepest price. Illegal drugs, guns, and people pour into states like Arizona every single day. Arizona’s capitol, Phoenix, has been turned into one of the kidnapping capitols of the world.
Ranchers living in the southern part of the state are forced to accept this chaos as part of their daily lives. Smugglers and traffickers routinely stream across their properties. Homes are broken into, livestock are killed, families are placed in danger. Our government has failed in its duty to protect these citizens and the peaceful possession of their property.
Consider the fate of Robert Krentz, the son of one of Arizona’s oldest ranching families, working land that had been in that family for a hundred years. In the past, the Krentz home had been robbed and their livestock slaughtered.
On the night of March 27th this year Mr. Krentz went out to mend a fence and check his water lines. He then reached his brother on the radio to say that he was helping someone he believed to be an illegal immigrant. That was the last time anyone would hear from Mr. Krentz. He was found several hours later, shot dead.
The death of Robert Krentz is sadly just one of many tragedies that could have been avoided if our government would do its job. Instead, when Arizona tried to support federal immigration authorities they were sued by Attorney General Holder and the Department of Justice. They were sued for trying to protect themselves because the federal government would not.
And yet here we are, in the final days of a lame-duck Congress, considering a bill that would create a major impediment to effective immigration enforcement. The American people are pleading with Congress to enforce our laws, but this bill – at its core – would reward illegality.
This is the third time Majority Leader Reid has schedule a vote on the DREAM Act during the lame-duck session, and it is the fifth version of the legislation that has been introduced in the last two months. Not one of these bills has received committee review. In fact, the version that we are now considering was introduced in the House the night before it came to a vote. Only one hour of debate was allowed and no amendments could be offered. The Majority Leader has filled the tree here, so once again the legislation cannot be amended.
For two years Democrat leaders have ignored the public and rammed through unpopular legislation. And now they are at it again, trying to force through another unacceptable bill in the last days of a lame-duck congress.
Proponents of the DREAM Act insist it is a limited bill for the young children of illegal immigrants who graduate high school, get a college degree, and join the military. But the facts are otherwise.
The DREAM Act would grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens regardless of whether they go to high school or finish college or serve in the military. And the bill is certainly not limited to children. It would apply to illegal immigrants who are as old as 30 now and—because the bill has no cap or sunset—who will remain eligible at any future age.
The bill’s amnesty provisions are so broad that they are open to those who have multiple criminal convictions – misdemeanors that could include drunk driving and even sexual offenses. But the bill goes yet further, offering safe harbor to illegal aliens with pending applications even if they pose a risk. This is especially dangerous because the safe harbor would also apply to those from terror-prone regions in the Middle East.
In fact, the DREAM Act altogether ignores the lessons of 9/11, going so far as to open eligibility to those who have previously defrauded immigration authorities—as did many of the 9/11 hijackers on their visa applications.
Some have suggested that this should not be a debate about policy but instead a debate about compassion. But good policy, faithfully followed, is compassionate. I would ask my friends who support this bill what is compassionate about ignoring the public’s wishes and forcing people to live with a lawless border. I would ask what is compassionate about putting illegal immigrants in the front of the line, ahead of those who have waited patiently and played by the rules. I would ask what is compassionate about undermining the integrity of our legal system – a system so central to our liberty and our prosperity.
Before we consider regular status for anyone living here illegally we must first secure the border. If we do not—if we pass this amnesty—we will signal to the world that we are not serious about our borders or our laws. We will say you can enter illegally and that a future Congress will have no reason not to grant another amnesty, another DREAM Act.
It is time to end the lawlessness. Not surrender to it. With determined leadership from Congress and the President we could solve the problem at our border in just a few short years.
This is a decisive vote. I urge my colleagues to oppose this reckless bill and to commit ourselves to creating an immigration system that is just and lawful and that befits a nation as great as ours.”
DREAM Act update from Obama
December 22, 2010
NEWS CONFERENCE BY THE PRESIDENT
South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building
4:16 P.M. EST
South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building
4:16 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: "I am very disappointed Congress wasn’t able to pass the DREAM Act so we can stop punishing kids for the actions of their parents, and allow them to serve in the military or earn an education and contribute their talents to the country where they grew up."
QUESTIONS
from CNN Juan Carlos López.
Q: Gracias, Presidente. Feliz Navidad.
THE PRESIDENT: Feliz Navidad
Q: Mr. President, you’ve been able to fulfill many of your promises. Immigration reform isn’t one of them. Just this last weekend, the DREAM Act failed cloture by five votes, and five Democrats didn’t support it; three Republicans did. How are you going to be able to keep your promise when the Republicans control the House when you haven’t been able to do so with Democrats controlling both the Senate and the House, and when Republicans say they want to focus on border security before they do anything on immigration?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me say, there are a number of things that I wanted to get accomplished that we did not get accomplished. For example, collective bargaining for firefighters and public safety workers -- that was something that I thought was important. We didn’t get it done. I’m disappointed in that. I think we’re still going to have to figure out how we work on energy, and that’s an area that I want to immediately engage with Republicans to figure out.
But I will tell you, maybe my biggest disappointment was this DREAM Act vote. You know, I get letters from kids all across the country -- came here when they were five, came here when they were eight; their parents were undocumented. The kids didn’t know -- kids are going to school like any other American kid, they’re growing up, they’re playing football, they’re going to class, they’re dreaming about college. And suddenly they come to 18, 19 years old and they realize even though I feel American, I am an American, the law doesn’t recognize me as an American. I’m willing to serve my country, I’m willing to fight for this country, I want to go to college and better myself -- and I’m at risk of deportation.
And it is heartbreaking. That can’t be who we are, to have kids -- our kids, classmates of our children -- who are suddenly under this shadow of fear through no fault of their own. They didn’t break a law -- they were kids.
So my hope and expectation is that, first of all, everybody understands I am determined and this administration is determined to get immigration reform done. It is the right thing to do. I think it involves securing our borders, and my administration has done more on border security than any administration in recent years. We have more of everything -- ICE, Border Patrol, surveillance, you name it.
So we take border security seriously. And we take going after employers who are exploiting and using undocumented workers, we take that seriously. But we need to reform this immigration system so we are a nation of laws and we are a nation of immigrants. And at minimum, we should be able to get the DREAM Act done.
And so I’m going to go back at it and I’m going to engage in Republicans who, I think, some of them, in their heart of hearts, know it’s the right thing to do, but they think the politics is tough for them.
Well, that may mean that we’ve got to change the politics. And I’ve got to spend some time talking to the American people, and others have to spend time talking to the American people, because I think that if the American people knew any of these kids -- they probably do, they just may not know their status -- they’d say, of course we want you. That's who we are. That's the better angels of our nature.
And so one thing I hope people have seen during this lame duck -- I am persistent. I am persistent. If I believe in something strongly, I stay on it. And I believe strongly in this.
And I am happy to engage with the Republicans about -- if they’ve got ideas about more on border security, I’m happy to have that conversation. And I think that it is absolutely appropriate for the American people to expect that we don't have porous borders and anybody can come in here any time. That is entirely legitimate.
But I also think about those kids. And I want to do right by them, and I think the country is going to want to do right by them, as well.
And so one thing I hope people have seen during this lame duck -- I am persistent. I am persistent. If I believe in something strongly, I stay on it. And I believe strongly in this.
And I am happy to engage with the Republicans about -- if they’ve got ideas about more on border security, I’m happy to have that conversation. And I think that it is absolutely appropriate for the American people to expect that we don't have porous borders and anybody can come in here any time. That is entirely legitimate.
But I also think about those kids. And I want to do right by them, and I think the country is going to want to do right by them, as well.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Fatal blow DREAM Act fails in Senate
BREAKING NEWS
Republicans voting YES: Lugar, Murkowski, Bennett. Democrats voting NO: Hagan, Pryor, Tester, Nelson (NE), Baucus. Those missing the vote were: Bunning (KY), Gregg (NH), Hatch (UT) and Manchin (WV). All four would have voted NO, including Manchin who did not like that the DREAM Act did not require completion of a college degree.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)