sputnik--2019-08-26--We Will Continue Our Fight Taliban Commander Vows No Peace With Kabul Despite US Deal

‘We Will Continue Our Fight’: Taliban Commander Vows No Peace With Kabul Despite US Deal

Nine rounds of negotiations in Doha, Qatar, are close to yielding a peace agreement between US forces and the Taliban, a Sunni Islamist militant group that became Washington’s primary adversary after being thrown out of power by the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. While US diplomats have insisted that their agreement with the Taliban includes a pledge to seek peaceful resolution with the Washington-allied government in Kabul, two unnamed Taliban leaders told Reuters for a Monday story that their struggle with the Afghan government would not end when the US exits the country.  “We will continue our fight against the Afghan government and seize power by force,” a commander in the militant group told Reuters. “The Americans will not come to the assistance of the Afghan government and its forces in their fight against us.”  A second Taliban commander also noted the coming peace deal with Washington, expected to be signed this week, would see the end of US support for Kabul.  Negotiations between the US and the Taliban began late last year and have conspicuously excluded Kabul representatives, since the Taliban regards the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as an illegitimate puppet government of Washington. The US seeks an exit from the Afghan war, which will enter its 19th year this coming October. The US invaded and overthrew the Taliban as retribution for the group having provided shelter for terrorist group al-Qaeda, permitting them to train and organize for a wave of terrorist attacks against US installations around the world, culminating in the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.  Fighting has continued unabated since the talks began, however - and it’s been a deadly year. A bomb in a Kabul wedding hall earlier this month killed 63 partygoers and injured 183 - an attack claimed by Daesh, which has expanded its network in the Central Asian country in recent months.  A report published last month by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan found the US was responsible for more civilian deaths in the country than the Taliban. At least 3,812 civilians were killed or wounded in the first half of 2019, which 52% of those deaths firmly attributable to the US and its allies, according to the report.  However, after the Reuters report was published early Monday morning, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad pushed back, tweeting that the anonymous Taliban fighters had all their information wrong and shouldn’t be listened to.  “A Reuters report quoting two unnamed Talib commanders alleges we will cease support of the Afghan forces as part of any agreement. Not true!” he wrote on Twitter Monday . “No one should be intimidated or fooled by propoganda! Let me be clear: We will defend Afghan forces now and after any agreement w/ the Talibs. All sides agree Afghanistan’s future will be determined in intra-Afghan negotiations.”  The US still has about 14,000 troops in the country, the majority of which are part of the NATO-led Resolute Support in Afghanistan mission to train, advise and assist the Afghan Armed Forces. However, about 5,000 members of that force might be on their way home soon, once the deal is signed, according to a Washington Post report earlier this month who cited anonymous US officials.  The latest report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), published late last month, also noted that Afghan forces are at their lowest levels since 2015. Although the report noted that the intense fighting has been confined mostly to five provinces - Helmand, Badghis, Faryab, Herat and Farah - Resolute Support stopped reporting district control numbers to SIGAR last October, after US President Donald Trump directed them to stop publishing reports the enemy could read.  "They do a report on every single thing that's happening, and they release it to the public," Trump lamented in January, at his first Cabinet meeting of the year. "We're fighting wars, and they're doing reports and releasing it to the public? Now, the public means the enemy. The enemy reads those reports; they study every line of it. Those reports should be private reports … I don’t want it to happen anymore.”


sputnik--2019-08-30--Taliban Spokesman Denies Peace Deal Reports Says Wait Before Talks With US End

Taliban Spokesman Denies Peace Deal Reports, Says Wait Before Talks With US End

"Some social media broadcast some material about a peace agreement of Qatar talks. These materials … are not original. Hopefully no one should broadcast about this before the last discussions," he said.  Another Taliban spokesman said this week that the negotiators were closing in on a peace deal that will ensure an end to the 18-year war in Afghanistan.  This comes as US President Donald Trump reiterated on Thursday that he wanted to downsize the US military force in the country but did not offer a timeline for the withdrawal, which is what the Taliban demands. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned earlier in the week that the US seeks to pull out US troops from the war-raveged country to halt Washington's longest war in history.  The United States and the Taliban have been trying to make a peace deal that would include the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the Taliban's guarantee the country will not be used as a safe haven for terrorists. However, the ongoing peace talks exclude the Afghan government, as the Taliban accuses the authorities in Kabul of being US puppets.  The US-Talban talks come ahead of the presidential election in Afghanistan set for September 28. The Taliban has threatened to disrupt the election, while the Afghan government has vowed to safeguard the democratic process.  The US launched its so-called Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, a month after the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. The initial US operation


sputnik--2019-08-31--US-Taliban Talks in Doha Fail to Yield Final Peace Deal on Afghanistan

The issues discussed during the Qatar talks include pulling out foreign armed forces from Afghanistan, a comprehensive ceasefire, prisoner release and future intra-Afghan negotiations.  While some, like Wahidullah Ghazi Khel, the spokesman for the new National Front have hope that the technical teams working on both sides will reach an agreement shortly, the overall attitude regarding the possibility of a deal is not a positive one, the correspondent reported.  After the peace deal is signed, inter-Afghan talks between the Taliban and other political movements are reportedly expected to begin. The Taliban insist that the Afghan authorities should participate in the talks not as a government but as a political movement.  The peace talks, meanwhile, were overshadowed by overnight clashes between the Taliban and the Afghan government forces in Kunduz.  While the Afghan government has claimed that the attack had been successfully repelled, the Sputnik correspondent has reported that there were fears that the fighting could continue and that the Taliban might have a chance to seize the city.  The US-Taliban talks come ahead of the 28 September presidential election in Afghanistan. The Taliban have threatened to disrupt the election, while the government has vowed to safeguard the democratic process.  Conflict-struck Afghanistan has been long torn by fighting between government troops and the Taliban, who are currently negotiating a peace deal with the United States.  US President Donald Trump reiterated on Thursday that he wanted to downsize the US military force in the country but did not offer a timeline for the withdrawal, which is what the Taliban demands.  *The Taliban is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other states.


abcnews--2019-01-31--Democrat meets with undocumented immigrants who were fired from Trumps golf club

Democrat meets with undocumented immigrants who were fired from Trump's golf club

Undocumented immigrants who were fired from Trump National Golf Clubs after revealing their immigration status say they suffered physical and verbal abuse while employed there, and now fear deportation and retaliation after their employment was terminated.  Four of those undocumented workers were on Capitol Hill Tuesday to meet with Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, where one of President Donald Trump’s golf clubs is based.  The firings highlight the disconnect between Trump’s businesses demonstrably relying on undocumented workers while the president himself relentlessly crusades against allowing undocumented immigrants into the country -- even shutting down the government over his demands for a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.  “I applaud the courage of these hardworking immigrants," Menendez said in a statement. "The hardships they experienced while working for Trump National speaks volumes about President Trump’s hypocrisy, when he rails against immigrants while simultaneously exploiting their status and labor to enrich himself.”  The employees with which Menendez met were fired after publicly revealing their immigration status, and are now “living under constant fear of being subjected to deportation or other retaliation by the Trump administration,” according to a press release from Menendez’s office.  "We are hard workers and all we care about is working," Margarita Cruz, a former housekeeper at the Westchester club told ABC News on Wednesday. "We are hoping that maybe someday we’ll have some sort of work permit.”  Some of the workers allege that they were provided false identification documents by their employers. Others allege that they were encouraged by their employers to provide false identification documents.  They also claim that they suffered verbal and physical assault from Trump property supervisors -- and were repeatedly threatened with deportation while on the job.  An aide to Menendez told ABC News that the workers say that it was common knowledge that they were undocumented.  The fired workers also claimed to Menendez' staff that there are more immigrants without legal status currently working for the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.  Trump Organization officials did not immediately respond to ABC News requests for comment.  About a dozen undocumented workers from Latin America employed by the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y. were fired on January 18 because of their immigration status, The Washington Post reported.  Trump Organization officials have said that they plan to institute E-Verify, a federal program that allows employers to check if new hires are legally allowed to work in the U.S., at every one of its golf clubs, hotels and resorts, according to the Washington Post.  During the 2016 presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump claimed that his businesses already used the system and proposed a federal mandate that all companies do the say.  In an interview with the Washington Post, Eric Trump said that the family business has begun implementing stricter employment standards in the wake of news reports exposing dozens of undocumented workers at the president's properties.  “I must say, for me personally, this whole thing is truly heartbreaking," Eric Trump told the Post.  That comment surprised some of the immigrants who met with Menendez.  "I don’t know why he feels like that, because after so long seeing us, and like -- without notice -- like, go talk to us -- just fired us like garbage, why does he feel like that?” Gabriel Sedano, a 14-year employee of the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y., who was among those fired, told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday.  A lawyer representing Sedano and dozens of other undocumented workers who are former Trump employees told ABC News that his clients are witnesses to a federal crime and should be protected.  "They understand that, indeed, they are material witnesses to a federal crime and any attempt to try to remove them from the United States could be considered obstruction of justice," attorney Anibal Romero said.  "In the United States... even though you are undocumented, the law protects undocumented immigrants when they are victims of a crime," he added.  Menendez said he intends to defend the dismissed former Trump property employees.  “I plan to lend my voice to raise awareness about the plight of these and other immigrants working in such a hostile environment and support oversight efforts and investigations on this matter,” Menendez said.  “I believe that any attempt to try to affect [the workers'] status during this period of time could be considered obstruction of justice at the end of the day.”  Menendez said he plans to follow up with the relevant federal agencies to raise his concerns while those agencies look into the matter, one of the senator's aides told ABC News.  “The workers have material information and we are exploring ways to support them,” the aide said.


abcnews--2019-03-14--Feds target ex-con attorney imposter for allegedly duping undocumented immigrants

Feds target ex-con ‘attorney imposter’ for allegedly duping undocumented immigrants

Federal authorities in Pennsylvania are investigating an ex-con who they say preyed on undocumented immigrants by posing as a lawyer and offering thousands of dollars' worth of "legal services" she was not licensed to provide.  At times, 55-year-old Ana Molina of Philadelphia would even use the personal information of past clients to fraudulently bolster immigration cases for her newer clients, a Homeland Security Investigations agent alleged in court documents.  "Molina is an attorney imposter," the agent said in the documents. "Molina accepts money for filing applications for legal status adjustments the client may not even qualify for."  The case shows that even as the Trump administration cracks down on undocumented immigrants inside the United States, the Justice Department is still trying to root out criminals who would target vulnerable immigrants, as recently described by the department.  But an attorney representing Molina said the case only shows a "not-so-subtle attempt to bully Ms. Molina into ending the immigration assistance she provides to immigrants who come to this country in search of a better life."  "It should not surprise anyone that in this current political climate, [the federal government] is targeting an immigrant who makes a living helping other immigrants get their affairs in order," the attorney said in a statement to ABC News.  A decade ago, Molina served more than two years in prison after pleading guilty to money-laundering charges connected to a drug trafficking case. After her release, a federal judge allowed her to operate an immigration services business in Philadelphia.  But in court documents filed Tuesday, federal investigators alleged Molina used that business, "Molina Multilegal Services," to dupe undocumented immigrants and their families or friends out of thousands of dollars. She even threatened clients who sought to get their money back, the court documents alleged.  Although Molina has yet to be charged, the court documents said there is "probable cause to believe" Molina committed mail fraud and identity theft, citing several cases of Molina's "fraudulent legal representation" in recent years.  In some cases, Molina stole "identity documents from unwitting individuals and used their information" to "defraud" U.S. agencies into believing applicants for immigration status were financially secure and wouldn't need government assistance, according to the court documents.  Several years ago, a Dominican woman allegedly paid Molina $1,800 to resolve her husband's immigration case. To prove the couple's financial security, the woman provided Molina with her tax returns.  But when the couple grew dissatisfied with Molina's assistance and asked for their money back, Molina allegedly refused, instead telling the husband he was "illegal and couldn’t do anything," the husband later recalled to federal authorities, according to the court records.  Then, after being hired by a man from Jamaica, Molina used the Dominican woman's tax forms to file documents on behalf of the Jamaican client, federal authorities alleged.  Molina previously earned a degree in "paralegal studies," according to an online profile of Molina, which was taken down after Wednesday's raid.  Her company's website, however, describes her as a "renowned lawyer," and — according to court documents — she repeatedly claimed to prospective clients that she is a practicing attorney, including during a recorded phone call two weeks ago.  In his statement to ABC News, the attorney representing Molina, Joseph Lento, said she "will defend herself and the work she does."  "Ms. Molina maintains her innocence and believes that many of the allegations in the [court documents] are either inaccurate or flat-out untrue," Lento said.  Molina's case is one of many such cases around the country. In 2016 alone, federal authorities received more than 1,100 complaints related to immigration services.  But "quantifying the scope of immigration services fraud is difficult because scams are underreported," according to the Washington, D.C.-based organization Ayuda, which provides legal assistance to immigrants and whose name means "help" in Spanish.  Last year, a federal jury in Philadelphia convicted a 65-year-old New Jersey man on several fraud charges for what prosecutors described as his "brazen behavior in posing, for decades, as a licensed attorney."  Leaford Cameron took more than $200,000 from at least 100 victims, many of whom were immigrants and low-income people, according to a Justice Department press release on the case. He was sentenced to 12 years behind bars.  "Far from a guardian of the law, Cameron is a crook whose fraud caused serious harm to his victims and the public's trust in our legal institutions," the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, William McSwain, said at the time.  Cameron has appealed his conviction, and that appeal is still pending.  McSwain's office is now overseeing the investigation targeting Molina, who was born in Peru and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1987.


abcnews--2019-11-20--The Latest: Activist acquitted of harboring immigrants

The Latest on the trial of a border humanitarian charged with immigrant harboring (all times local):  A jury in Arizona has acquitted an activist on charges he illegally helped two migrant men from Central America evade authorities.  Scott Warren was charged with harboring for his role in providing shelter to the men who had crossed the border illegally in January 2018.  The trial was the second for Warren, who maintained he was fulfilling his mission as a humanitarian when he provided basic medical care to the men.  He allowed them to stay at a camp run by volunteers who rescue migrants in desert.  A jury in June deadlocked on charges against him in the first trial.  Prosecutors contended Warren knowingly broke the law by allowing the men to stay at the camp.  They said Warren gave them directions to help them avoid a Border Patrol checkpoint.  A jury is now deliberating charges against an Arizona member of a humanitarian group charged with immigrant harboring.  The case against 37-year-old Scott Warren of Ajo, Arizona, has garnered international attention as he faces his second trial for his role in providing shelter to two Central American men who had sneaked into the U.S. from Mexico.  Warren says he was helping two injured men in need and always followed the law. Prosecutors say he knowingly broke the law by hiding the men from Border Patrol agents, and that they didn’t have serious injuries.  The first trial against Warren ended with a deadlocked jury, resulting in a mistrial. He now faces two counts of harboring.  Warren and his supporters say the work of humanitarians is increasingly under attack. Other members of his group have been arrested on trespassing charges for accessing a restricted road to drop off water jugs in the desert.  Closing statements were held Wednesday morning. The jury began deliberating in the afternoon.  A prosecutor says an activist on trial on charges of harboring immigrants tried to hide two Central American men at a camp in southern Arizona and signaled directions to help them avoid an immigration checkpoint.  Prosecutor Nathaniel Walters says Wednesday during closing arguments that Scott Warren’s claim he was “orienting” the men before they left the camp was bogus.  Warren contends he was fulfilling his mission as a humanitarian when he helped the immigrants.  Warren denied helping hide immigrants or telling them how to avoid authorities.  His attorney was scheduled to make closing statements later Wednesday.  This is his second trial. His first trial ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on charges.  Warren belongs to a group that says it tries to prevent immigrants from dying in the desert.


abcnews--2019-11-26--US judge bars Trump’s health insurance rule for immigrants

A U.S. judge in Oregon has granted a preliminary injunction blocking a Trump administration proclamation that would require immigrants to show proof of health insurance to get a visa.  U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon said in a written opinion Tuesday that the proclamation could not take effect while a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality makes its way through the courts.  Simon issued an emergency restraining order on Nov. 3 to prevent the rule from taking effect after seven U.S. citizens and a nonprofit organization sued, saying the rule would block nearly two-thirds of all prospective legal immigrants.  The proclamation signed by President Donald Trump in October applies to people seeking immigrant visas from abroad — not those in the U.S. already.


abcnews--2019-12-11--US seeks dismissal of New Mexico's immigration lawsuit

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- U.S. lawyers want a judge to dismiss claims by New Mexico that immigration officials shirked their duties earlier this year by quickly releasing thousands of mostly Central American migrants into communities after they crossed into the United States.  New Mexico claimed in a lawsuit filed in June that the practice left Las Cruces, Deming and other communities to pick up the tab for housing and feeding the asylum-seekers until they moved on to find relatives or other hosts elsewhere in the U.S.  In addition to seeking an end to the catch-and-release practice, the state sought reimbursement for humanitarian efforts to temporarily shelter migrants. The state resorted to issuing its own grants to help communities with the costs.  U.S. District Judge James Browning heard arguments Wednesday but he noted that it could take a while before he issues a decision on whether the case will be allowed to move forward. He cited an ongoing backlog of federal cases in New Mexico.  First-year Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and his immigration policies, cited a "derogation of duty" when she announced the lawsuit against then-acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan and top immigration officials. The city of Albuquerque was listed as a co-plaintiff.  The complaint resembled a suit filed by San Diego County in April that challenged the cancellation of a federal program that helped migrants with phone calls and other travel logistics as they sought final destinations across the U.S.  The quick releases in New Mexico came as the border was inundated with migrants seeking asylum. At times, groups of 300 or more people showed up at remote outposts, including the crossings at Antelope Wells and at Sunland Park, closer to El Paso, Texas.  Attorneys for the state and the city told the judge about the hundreds of people who were dropped off in Deming in the middle of summer.  “It's not an option to ignore those people,” said Jonathan Guss, the governor's deputy general counsel.  He pointed to state responsibilities for ensuring public health and safety for all people within its jurisdiction and argued that the federal government's actions forced New Mexico to step up.  Deputy City Attorney Winter Torres said local officials had only 10 to 12 hours of notification before some 300 migrants were released on Easter weekend. She suggested that the federal government was targeting the city because of its immigrant-friendly policies.  Federal officials have denied those claims, and attorneys for the government argued Wednesday that New Mexico and the city had no standing to bring the lawsuit because the previous safe release policy was not something that was ever formally adopted through regulations or statute and thus left to the discretion of immigration officials.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Manuel Lucero told the judge that had Congress intended every discretionary decision an agency makes to be reviewed, government would grind to a halt and the courts would be flooded by complaints every time someone disagreed with a policy change.  While acknowledging that the immigration and asylum system was overwhelmed, Lucero said the federal government never forced the state or city to spend their money on humanitarian efforts.  “It's discretionary spending on their part. It's commendable. It really is,” he said, adding that no existing regulations, codes or statutes require the federal government to provide shelter, food or other humanitarian aid to all asylum-seekers and that it did not do so under the previous policy. Such aid, he said, is provided only on a case-by-case basis — for example if a migrant is ill and needs medical care.  In May, at the height of immigrant apprehensions the El Paso Sector — which includes New Mexico’s stretch of the border — saw nearly 30,000 families come through. The numbers dropped quickly over the summer in the busiest crossing spots, the result of several policies making it nearly impossible to gain asylum in the U.S.  New Mexico's congressional delegation was able to secure $30 million in grants for communities and organizations that aided asylum seekers. The first wave of supplemental funding came in October, but the state said Wednesday that its application for reimbursement from the U.S. government was still pending.  Details on the amount of reimbursement being sought were not immediately available.


abcnews--2019-12-13--Challenge to immigration law is tossed on eve of enactment

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A law that will allow New Yorkers to get driver’s licenses without having to prove they are in the country legally weathered a second court challenge Friday, days before its enactment.  A federal district judge ruled against Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola, saying he lacked the legal capacity to bring the lawsuit. Merola, a Republican, had argued that the state law conflicts with federal immigration law.  Judge Gary Sharpe wrote in his decision that he was not ruling on the legality of the law, but on whether Merola could bring the suit.  A federal judge in western New York ruled against a county clerk in Buffalo on similar grounds last month.  Starting Monday, license applicants without a valid Social Security number will be able to submit alternative forms of ID that include valid passports and driver’s licenses issued in other countries. Applicants must still get a permit and pass a road test to qualify for a “standard driver’s license.”  Merola is one of more than 50 county clerks who run Department of Motor Vehicles offices as agents of the state. Some clerks have said they're frustrated with the rollout of the law and several have sued the state. Merola is among a few clerks who have raised the possibility of not enforcing the law.  “I am disappointed, and hopefully, this is only a setback. We will continue to fight to be heard," Merola said in a prepared statement.  State Attorney General Letitia James noted that two judges have now dismissed claims from county clerks she called meritless.  "We expect all public officials to comply with the law, and, as the state’s attorney and chief law enforcement officer, I will continue to vigorously defend it,” she said in a prepared statement.


abcnews--2019-12-16--Immigrants seeking driver's licenses line up across New York

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Bundled in winter jackets, immigrants lined up at some Department of Motor Vehicle offices throughout New York as the state began issuing driver's licenses Monday that don't require applicants to prove they are in the country legally.  Hundreds of New Yorkers waited outside motor vehicle agencies in New York City, while several upstate clerks said they saw few applicants. License applicants without a valid Social Security number can now submit multiple alternative forms of ID that includes valid passports and driver’s licenses issued in other countries. State DMV officials said they adjusted staffing levels and updated their reservation system in anticipation of such large crowds Monday.  “This is a major step forward for all New Yorkers as we keep building New York to live up to its full potential of equity, opportunity, and justice," said state Sen. Luis Sepúlveda last week. “We also look forward to the significant economic and safety benefits the law will bring to communities across our state."  At least one county clerk in upstate New York opposed to the law said he was turning away applicants. Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola, one of several clerks who has sued to block New York's law said his office had turned away an applicant who wanted a driver's permit but lacked a social security number.  “I was pretty adamant that I was going to have a tough time doing it out of my office," Merola said. “That might have discouraged people coming to my office.”  The Republican clerk said his office directed the applicant across the Hudson River to the state-run Department of Motor Vehicles offices in Albany.  Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration has said any clerks who do not want to follow state law should resign.  “Local officials, including county clerks who run DMV offices, cannot choose which laws they like and which they will disregard,"said Department of Motor Vehicles Spokeswoman Lisa Koumjian. “If a clerk is unwilling to follow State law, he or she should resign their office."  New York now accepts documents such as foreign passports, permanent resident cards, foreign driver's licenses and border crossing cards from driver's license applicants.  Merola and several other clerks have claimed their staff lack the training and equipment to verify foreign documents and properly comply with the law. Merola said only three out of 17 of his employees have had time to watch a one-hour webinar provided by the DMV this month.  Erie County Clerk Michael Kearns, a Democrat who ran on the Republican line, said that his employees took applications from about 10 individuals Monday. He said he directed his employees to refer applications to his office so that he can authenticate and verify them. “We haven't processed any paperwork but we're not turning anyone away,” he said.  Cuomo's administration said they have provided county and state DMV staff with devices to authenticate documents, and provided hands-on-training when they installed devices. A spokeswoman said the state DMV also provided two training sessions, training materials and two online webinars.  “The law applies to only one license transaction and the DMV is not creating a new license or overhauling the current process," Koumjian said.  Immigration advocates have said they're ready to go to court to defend the law.  “We are grateful to the state for providing DMV staff and county clerks the training, equipment and resources they need to ensure the smooth implementation of Greenlight NY," New York Immigration Coalition NYIC Executive Director Steve Choi said.  Lawmakers in June made New York the 13th state to authorize licenses for drivers without legal immigration status. New Jersey lawmakers passed a similar bill Monday.  An estimated 265,000 immigrants without legal documents are expected to get driver’s licenses within three years, more than half of them in New York City, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute.  Applicants must still get a permit and pass a road test to qualify for a “standard driver’s license,” which cannot be used for federal purposes like an enhanced driver’s license or Real ID.  This story has been corrected to show that the new law doesn't require applicants to prove they are in the country legally, not illegally.


abcnews--2019-12-17--Washington state sues over courthouse immigration arrests

SEATTLE -- Washington state sued the Trump administration Tuesday seeking to stop its practice of arresting people at courthouses for immigration violations, saying it interferes with the state's authority to run its judicial system and endangers public safety.  The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle says that when Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection agents patrol courthouse hallways and parking lots it deters crime victims and witnesses from testifying and interferes with criminal prosecutions.  Among the hundreds of people recently arrested at courthouses in Washington were an assault victim, a domestic violence survivor seeking a protection order and a married father of U.S.-citizen children with a pending application for legal permanent residency, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said at a news conference.  “Federal immigration officials are arresting people with no criminal history at all. They are arresting people who are paying traffic tickets. They are arresting people who are crime victims,” Ferguson said. “As a result, and not surprisingly at all, individuals are refusing to participate in our justice system.”  A similar lawsuit in Massachusetts resulted in a preliminary court order blocking immigration agents from making civil arrests — a decision Ferguson described as a “roadmap” for Washington's case. The Trump administration has appealed that order.  Washington's lawsuit escalates tension between state and federal authorities over immigration enforcement. Federal authorities have insisted that state and local “sanctuary” policies limiting cooperation with immigration agents endanger the public by making it harder to deport dangerous criminals.  Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts recently charged a judge there with obstructing justice by letting a defendant avoid an immigration arrest by slipping out a back door of the courthouse. In a statement emailed by spokeswoman Tanya Roman on Tuesday, ICE said it "will continue to carry out its mission to uphold public safety and enforce immigration law, and consider carefully whether to refer those who obstruct our lawful enforcement efforts for criminal prosecution.”  “It is ironic that elected officials want to see policies in place to keep ICE out of courthouses, while caring little for laws enacted by Congress to keep criminal aliens out of our country,” she said.  The Department of Homeland Security for years restricted what types of offenders it would target for immigration arrests, directing agents to focus on those who posed a threat to public safety or national security and to lay off crime victims and witnesses. In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security said only illegal immigrants who pose a threat to public safety or national security, or who were gang members or felons, should be targeted for arrest at courthouses.  But President Donald Trump has ordered that immigration laws be fully executed “against all removable aliens.” In 2018, Homeland Security confirmed that it would make civil arrests in courthouses when necessary, and it noted that it could be safer to arrest people in courthouses because they've already been screened for weapons.  Since then, officials in Washington and other states have described a dramatic increase in such arrests. Ferguson's lawsuit was accompanied by declarations from 40 people, including judges, prosecutors, lawyers, victim advocates and others who have observed the arrests and the chilling effect they have on immigrants who otherwise might agree to show up in court.  The New York and Oregon court systems have adopted rules that attempt to bar ICE from arresting immigrants inside courthouses without a judicial warrant or order. Washington is considering a similar rule.  In a letter to the supreme courts of Washington and Oregon last month, U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said they had no intention of honoring such policies.  “Court rules that would purport to further restrict the lawful operations of federal law enforcement officials only serve to exacerbate sanctuary laws and policies that continue to place our communities at unacceptable risk,” they wrote.  “They think their work is more important than ours, and I’m deeply offended by that,” Satterberg said.


abcnews--2019-12-23--US awards immigration detention contracts in California

SAN DIEGO -- The Trump administration awarded billions of dollars in contracts for private companies to operate immigration detention centers in California —- less than two weeks before a new state law takes effect to prohibit them.  Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in October to ban contracts for for-profit prisons starting Jan. 1. Supporters hoped the law would force U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to look elsewhere after current contracts expire.  A federal website posted long-term awards on Friday worth a combined $6.8 billion for detention facilities in San Diego, Calexico, Adelanto and Bakersfield. The sites will house about 4,000 detainees, with capacity to expand in the future.  ICE said the contracts were not subject to the new state law, deflecting criticism that the timing was meant to circumvent it.  Paige Hughes, an agency spokeswoman, said ICE believed the new contracts will limit transfers of detainees outside California, where they would be farther from family, friends and legal representatives.  “State laws aimed at obstructing federal law enforcement are inappropriate and harmful," Hughes said.  Vicky Waters, a spokeswoman for Newsom, said Monday that ICE was trying to get around the law, which she called a historic step to address excessive incarceration, including detention of immigrants and asylum-seekers.  “For-profit prisons, including ICE-contracted facilities, run contrary to our values and have no place in California," Waters wrote in an email. “”This effort to circumvent California’s authority and federal procurement rules that safeguard the American taxpayers must be addressed by congressional oversight.”  A state Senate analysis of Assembly Bill 32 said the Trump administration would likely sue to block the law, partly by arguing that is is preempted by federal immigration law. The analysis predicted the state would prevail in court.  The GEO Group Inc. won two five-year extensions — one to operate the detention center in Adelanto, with capacity for 2,690 beds, and another to run the facility in Bakersfield, with capacity for 1,800 beds. The two contracts are worth more than $3.7 billion,  GEO said Monday the contracts would provide more than $200 million in annual revenue and 1,200 jobs.  CoreCivic Inc. won an extension worth $2.1 billion to operate an immigration detention center in San Diego, with capacity for 1,994 beds. Management & Training Corp. won a contract for $679 million to operate a facility in Calexico with capacity for 704 beds.  California, with its large immigrant populations and border with Mexico, is a major priority for ICE, which has found itself increasingly unwelcome under state laws. As the number of ICE detainees nationwide topped 56,000 earlier this year, the agency held more people in central Louisiana.


abcnews--2019-12-30--Pastor pledges safety for immigrants at Miami Trump event

MIAMI -- The pastor of a Miami megachurch that will host President Donald Trump at a rally this week is guaranteeing that parishioners who entered the U.S. illegally won't risk deportation by attending.  During a Sunday Spanish language service, Pastor Guillermo Maldonado told the audience of hundreds that he's heard people asking how he could bring Trump to the church if those attending include people who lack immigration papers, given the president's hard-line immigration policy.  “I ask you: Do you think I would do something where I would endanger my people? I’m not that dumb,” Maldonado told parishioners.  The Miami Herald reported Maldonado also made an appeal to some of his congregation who feel apprehensive about attending Trump’s Friday visit to the King Jesus International Ministry church because of his administration's increased immigration raids.  “I don’t think the president would do such a thing,” Maldonado said. “Don’t put your race or your nationality over being a Christian. Be mature ... If you want to come, do it for your pastor. That’s a way of supporting me.”  The church in West Kendall south of Miami was chosen by Trump to host about 70 Christian pastors during an event billed as an “‘Evangelicals for Trump’ Coalition Launch.”  Maldonado asked churchgoers from Venezuela and Cuba to raise their hands, and emphasized his own opposition to communist dictatorships, something Trump has also done at public rallies in South Florida as an appeal to Hispanic voters.  The pastor said the church isn't organizing or financing the event, and that anyone seeking to attend the campaign rally had to pre-register at DonaldJTrump.com.  On Sunday, Secret Service agents were examining bags before the services, to prepare for the event. Every other church service during the week, except for a New Year’s Eve mass, is being canceled, Maldonado said.


activistpost--2019-01-14--Underage Child Marriages Featured In A US Senate Report How US Immigration System Encourages Child

Underage Child Marriages Featured In A US Senate Report How U.S. Immigration System Encourages Child Marriages

Probably one of the more ‘rabid’ topics in the USA, if not in the world today, is immigration and the apparent ‘infusion’ by immigrants who have a need to establish their former mores, cultures, lifestyles, and even archaic laws anathema to the U.S. legal system, as part of the United States milieu.  That ‘debate’ has many U.S. citizens concerned, as in other Western culture countries, especially when it comes to how several of those foreign customs involve children, especially the marriage of extremely young girls—some pre-pubescent—to men, often against their will.   However, such practice is not the normal custom of courtship and marriage in the USA, nor in European countries.  The above being said, makes me wonder why the U.S. Senate published the 40-page report “How the U.S. Immigration System Encourages Child Marriages” Majority Staff Report of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs United States Senate Senator Ron Johnson, Chairman dated January 11, 2019.  Over the last eleven years (FY2007 to FY2017), USCIS approved 3,595,447 petitions3 for spousal or fiancé entry in to the United States.4 Of those, 8,686 involved a minor.5 Two minors whose petitions were approved were 13 years old6 ; 38 were 14 years old; 269 were 15 years old; 1,768 were 16 years old; and the remaining 6,609 were 17 years old.7 Girls were the younger party in 95 percent of the petitions approved by USCIS.8 The Committee found that USCIS awarded some petitions to people with significant age differences. For example, in 2013, USCIS approved a 71-year-old U.S. citizen’s petition for a 17-year-old spouse in Guatemala;10 in 2011, USCIS approved a 14-year-old U.S. citizen’s petition for a 48-year-old spouse in Jamaica;11 and USCIS approved 149 petitions involving a minor with an adult spouse or fiancé who was more than 40 years old.12 As part of its oversight work, Committee staff spoke with a U.S. citizen and child marriage victim who was forced to marry her first cousin during a family vacation to Pakistan .13 USCIS approved her petition for a spousal immigration benefit for her cousin when she was 13 years old after she returned to the United States. She is just one of the thousands of U.S. women and girls forced into a child marriage involving the U.S. immigration system .  Committee Chairman Ron Johnson and former Ranking Member Claire McCaskill sought information from USCIS about child marriages and immigration benefits in September 2017.14 It took USCIS over one year to provide the data in this report. This report explains current U.S. law and presents the data and information the Committee obtained. It also details the weaknesses the Committee found in USCIS’s management and administration of spousal and fiancé immigration petitions that leave minors vulnerable to fraud, child exploitation, trafficking, and forced marriages. The Appendix includes the letter Chairman Johnson and former Ranking Member McCaskill sent to USCIS and the documents USCIS provided to the Committee in response. [CJF emphasis]  In I. BACKGROUND ON CHILD MARRIAGES AND THE U.S. IMMIGRATION SYSTEM  In 2016, the State Department, in concert with other agencies, published the United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls, which established a goal to “reduce the risk of child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM).”17 It declared that child, early, and forced marriages “have devastating repercussions for a girl’s life,” and foster “conditions that enable or exacerbate violence and insecurity, including domestic violence.”18 The policy defined a forced marriage as “. . . a marriage that takes place without the consent of one or both people in the marriage.” 19 The strategy reported that “[t]here are nearly 700 million women alive today who were married as children, and 15 million more are married each year.” 20 The State Department argued that “forced marriage [is] a human rights abuse and, in the case of minors, a form of child abuse.” [CJF emphasis]  The chart on page 17 lists Table 7: Top Birth Country for Spousal and Fiancé Petition Beneficiaries Involving Minors as a Percentage of Total, FY2007-FY2017.72  Section IV. WEAKNESSES IN USCIS’S MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF SPOUSAL AND FIANCÉ IMMIGRATION PETITIONS discusses the problems within SPOUSAL AND FIANCÉ IMMIGRATION PETITIONS.  Here are the Report’s V. Conclusions:  The United States advocates for preventing and reducing the risks of child marriages occurring around the world, but data provided to the Committee reveal that the U.S. government approved thousands of petitions and visas for spousal or fiancé immigration benefits for marriages involving minors from FY2007 to FY2017. During this period, 4,749 minors who entered the country using spousal or fiancé visas obtained green cards . If we are truly serious about upholding stated U.S. policy to prevent child marriages and protect children from potential abuse and harm, Congress must reform the INA to prevent individuals from obtaining immigration benefits that facilitate child marriages. [CJF emphasis]  The balance of the Report contains information in the form of letters and charts used in producing the Report.


activistpost--2019-01-31--Whats The Illegal Immigration Problem All About Anyways

What’s The Illegal Immigration Problem All About, Anyways?

First and foremost, I salute all legal immigrants who come to the United States to better their lives and to enrich our beloved country by sharing their rich cultures.  My grandparents came from Eastern European countries on steamships arriving at, and processing through, Ellis Island.  That was the then-legal process of the time where all arrivals were subject to health exams, as Ellis Island had large healthcare facilities for those who had arrived either with chronic illnesses or contracted an infectious illness on the stressful sea voyage to the USA.  Back then, in the early 20th century, things were very much different regarding the immigration situation.  Notably, there were no organized socialist groups promoting recent “color revolutions” by inciting and financing immigrants to enter countries illegally anywhere: Foreign countries or the USA.  The “original” and early color revolutions are described in Wikipedia.  However, the more recent color revolutions seem to have the hallmarks of being financed by members of the New World Order agenda, e.g., George Soros and his Open Society Foundations.  Leaving aside the unconvincing statement by Popović ’s CANVAS that half their funds come from Dinovic’s selfless generosity from his fabulous success as telecom CEO in Serbia, that leaves the other roughly 50% of CANVAS funds unaccounted for, as Popović declines to reveal the sources beyond claiming they are all private and non-government. Of course the Washington NGO is legally private though its funds mainly come from USAID. Of course the Soros Open Society Foundations are private. Could these be some of the private patrons of his CANVAS? We don’t know as he refuses to disclose in any legally auditable way. Popović’s CANVAS claims to have trained “pro-democracy activists” from more than 50 countries, including Ukraine, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Burma (actually the legal name since independence from the British is Myanmar but Washington insists on the colonial name), Ukraine, Georgia, Eritrea, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Tunisia, Egypt and Syria. Popović ’s CANVAS was involved as well in unsuccessful attempts to start Color Revolution regime change against Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and the opposition in the failed 2009 Iran Green Revolution. Every one of those countries happen to also be targets for Washington regime-change of governments who refuse to toe the Washington line on key foreign policy issues, or which contain vital raw materials such as oil, natural gas or strategic minerals.  The above positions the groundwork for understanding the current immigration problems occurring in most regions of the globe, especially in the European Union where rape cultures are overwhelming nationalists, and in the United States where all types of social issues result, e.g., from immigrant caravans traveling thousands of miles to the southern U.S. border they cross illegally with no vetting as to health status, drug dealing, or possible national security vetting, and/or threats to the actual illegal voting by illegal immigrants in several states:  California DMV admits that non-citizens are registered to vote   https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/8/non-citizens-illegally-registered-vote-california-/  Texas Secretary of State’s possible voter fraud statistics that Trump touted still being confirmed   https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-news-texas-voter-fraud-trump-20190129-story.html  [Jan. 29, 2019: as many as 95,000 voters!]  There are questions about voter fraud in Arizona   https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2018/11/15/az-gop-to-conduct-audit-of-2018-general-election/  Illegal voting definitely is not within the rights of non-citizens in the USA; it’s breaking the law.  “Undocumented Immigrant” Is a Made-Up Term That Ignores the Law”   https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/undocumented-immigrant-made-term-ignores-the-law  “Alien”—rather than “immigrant”—is the correct legal term, since “alien” is defined in 8 U.S.C. §1101 (a)(3) as “any person not a citizen or national of the United States.” [1]  If all the above is considered “breaking the law,” then how come many Leftists, Liberals and NeoDemocrats are extremely comfortable about, and encourage, breaking the law?  Isn’t the USA supposed to be a “country of laws”?  Now, here’s something to add to all the above in trying to present a cogent discussion about why the USA needs to enforce legal immigration.  An interesting article appeared in the Washington Examiner dated December 3, 2018, titled “Census confirms: 63 percent of ‘non-citizens’ on welfare, 4.6 million households”  wherein the economics of non-citizens, or “illegal aliens” as the Supreme Court legally identifies them, has definite impact upon U.S. fiscal matters.  Here are some examples, i.e., the Welfare Programs set up to help U.S. citizens that now are being tapped into in greater numbers by “non-citizens” or those legally-identified as “illegal aliens.”  According to 2014 census statistical analyses, this chart was produced.  Please take the time to study the numbers, which are given in percentages, rather than actual U.S. dollar values.  Key statistics to consider:  Non-Citizen Households dominate all categories – Any Welfare, Cash, Food and Medicaid – except Housing!  The Center for Immigration Studies wrote this in their report:


activistpost--2019-03-30--Is There An Overwhelming But Understated Fiscal Burden For States Caused By Illegal Immigration

Is There An Overwhelming, But Understated, “Fiscal Burden” For States  Caused By Illegal Immigration?

Most citizens really don’t know how much illegal immigration actually costs.  What’s free for one person obviously has to be paid for by someone else, i.e., taxpayers!  However, FAIRUS.org www.FAIRUS.org did its homework regarding what illegal immigration costs each state; what you learn from their reports probably will shock you.  Here’s one report: The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers [September 2017].  Here’s the pdf for that report   https://fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-09/Fiscal-Burden-of-Illegal-Immigration-2017.pdf  The fiscal reality of illegal immigration hits home for every U.S. state.  Talk about ‘fiat money’!  Some states eventually may go broke trying to subsidize those who seek greener pastures in the USA while running up billions of dollars [deficits?] trying to subsidize political correctness!  How cost effective is that?  Below are full webpage reports of how much illegal immigration costs each U.S. state.  After you check out the state where you live, take a look at the billion-dollar-burden states; there are 14 such states!  These states have billion dollar burdens: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.  The question readers should be asking when reading the information below is, “How come on the first round of checking the links below Catherine got the prompt “Protected by Outlook; can’t open,” while “You’ve reached this page in error” pops up for states on her second go-round of checking: Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, and Oklahoma so their webpages can’t be opened?”  My guestimate is Internet censorship may be working overtime?  Algorithms united!  Alabama http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Alabama2015.pdf   Alaska http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Alaska2014.pdf   Arizona You’ve reached this page in error.   Arkansas http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Arkansas2014.pdf   California http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/California2014.pdf   Colorado http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Colorado2013.pdf   Connecticut http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Connecticut2014.pdf   Delaware http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Delaware2015.pdf   District of Columbia http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/DC2015.pdf   Florida http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Florida2014.pdf   Georgia http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Georgia2014-FAIRCostStudy.pdf   Hawaii Nothing appears.   Idaho http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Idaho2015.pdf   Illinois http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Illinois2014.pdf   Indiana http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Indiana2015.pdf   Iowa http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Iowa2014.pdf   Kansas http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Kansas2013.pdf   Kentucky http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Kentucky2014.pdf   Louisiana http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Louisiana2014.pdf   Maine You’ve reached this page in error.   Maryland http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Maryland2014.pdf   Massachusetts http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Massachusetts2014.pdf   Michigan http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Michigan2014.pdf   Minnesota http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Minnesota2015.pdf   Mississippi http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Mississippi2014.pdf   Missouri http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Missouri2015.pdf   Montana http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Montana2015.pdf   Nebraska You’ve reached this page in error.   Nevada Nothing appears    New Hampshire http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/NewHampshire2014.pdf   New Jersey http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/NewJersey2014.pdf   New Mexico http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/NewMexico2013.pdf   New York You’ve reached this page in error.     North Carolina http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/NorthCarolina2014.pdf   North Dakota http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/NorthDakota2013.pdf   Ohio http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Ohio2014.pdf   Oklahoma You’ve reached this page in error.   Oregon http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Oregon2014.pdf   Pennsylvania http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Pennsylvania2014.pdf   Rhode Island http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/RhodeIsland2015.pdf   South Carolina http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/SouthCarolina2015.pdf   South Dakota http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/SouthDakota2015.pdf   Tennessee http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Tennessee2015.pdf   Texas http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Texas2014.pdf   Utah http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Utah2015.pdf   Vermont http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Vermont2015.pdf   Virginia http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Virginia2014.pdf   Washington http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Washington2015.pdf   West Virginia http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/WestVirginia2015.pdf   Wisconsin http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Wisconsin2013.pdf   Wyoming http://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2017-08/Wyoming2014.pdf  Questions: How much more fiscal responsibility could a $5 billion border wall provide each state and its taxpayers?  Heck!  Illegal immigration costs California state taxpayers $25.3 billion in state and local expenses!  How about Texas’s $12.1 billion? How about Maryland’s and Virginia’s each $1.9 billion?  What is it we’re not getting about Socialism and the taxes to pay for it, something the NeoDemocrats seemingly seek to increase with their New Green Deal?


adobochronicles--2019-06-24--Hong Kong Immigration Says Del Rosario Was Holding Fake Chinese Passport

HONG KONG, China (The Adobo Chronicles, Hong Kong Bureau) – Now it can be told.  Hong Kong’s Immigration just revealed the real reason ex-Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Del Rosario was denied entry and deported back to the Philippines. He presented a fake Chinese passport, not a Philippine diplomatic passport as he earlier claimed.  ”It was apparent Del Rosario wanted to evade scrutiny by Immigration authorities after he and ex-Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales filed a complaint before the International Criminal Court against Chinese President Xi Jinping for alleged crimes against humanity,” a Chinese official told The Adobo Chronicles.


adobochronicles--2019-12-08--Tens Of Thousands Of Undocumented Filipino Immigrants In U.S. Apply For Politcal Asylum

SAN FRANCISCO, California (The Adobo Chronicles, San Francisco Bureau) – Encouraged by a recent Immigration Court decision granting political asylum to a Filipino couple who arrived in the U.S. in 2000 to go sight-seeing, tens of thousands of Filipino TNTs (Tago Ng Tago — hiding from Immigrantion authorities), have filed asylum petitions with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrtion Services (USCIS),  The couple claimed that returning to the Phlippines will subject them to political persecution by the Duterte Administration which they are critical of.  The Adobo Chronicles visited the USCIS offices on Samsome Street in San Francsco to verify the reports. Immigration officials confirmed that today alone, they have receivecd 66,666 applicants for political asylum by Filipinos who have pending deportation orders.  We wish the Filipinos the best of luck in their petitions. After all, there has been a precedent. The odds of success are great!


bigleaguepolitics--2019-12-19--Joe Biden Wants Amnesty for All Illegal Aliens and Wants to Keep Immigrants on Welfare in America

John Binder of Breitbart News reported that former Vice President Joe Biden wants to amnesty all 11 to 22 million illegal aliens residing in America, letting borders crossers run loose into the American interior, and relaunching welfare-dependent legal immigration that would cost American taxpayers billions of dollars.  In it, Biden promises to provide amnesty to all illegal aliens living in the U.S. On top of that, Biden wants reverse of President Trump’s public charge reforms, by allowing legal immigrants to permanently resettle in the country despite being a public burden on taxpayers.  Trending: MUST WATCH: Woman Loses Her Mind, Violently Attacks Reporter Over Impeachment  “Biden will immediately begin working with Congress to modernize our system, with a priority on keeping families together by providing a roadmap to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants,” the plan’s outline detailed.  take our poll - story continues below  In addition to mass amnesty, the Binder notes that the plan pledges to do the following: • Releasing all border crossers into the U.S. interior • Restarting welfare-dependent legal immigration to the U.S. • Ending the National Emergency Declaration at the southern border • Cracking down on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents  Biden’s immigration plan would be a burden for American taxpayers.  Take for example, Biden’s DACA amnesty plan.  It would leave U.S. taxpayers on the hook for $26 billion given that one in five DACA illegal aliens would end up on food stamps, and at least one in seven would turn to Medicaid, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).  This cost would be tacked on to the billions that Americans would have to shoulder thanks to Biden’s restoration of welfare-dependent legal immigration. A few months ago, Trump announced that he would phase out the resettlement of millions of legal immigrants who were determined to be public charges.  Biden, however, has other plans in mind, stating:  Allowing immigration officials to make an individual’s ability to receive a visa or gain permanent residency contingent on their use of government services such as SNAP benefits or Medicaid, their household income, and other discriminatory criteria undermines America’s character as land of opportunity that is open and welcoming to all, not just the wealthy.  Although not as radically open borders as some of his 2020 presidential aspirants in the Democrat Party, Biden represents the Democrat’s gradual radicalization on the issue of open borders.  For anyone who wants to see rational policies on immigration, the Democrat Party is not an option in the 2020 elections.


birminghammail--2019-01-04--Indian restaurant which fed the Home Secretary employed illegal immigrants

A 'popular' Indian restaurant which counts the Home Secretary Sajid Javid among its high profile customers employed illegal immigrants, it has been revealed.  Jilabi, in Sheldon, this week (Thursday, January 3) had its alcohol licence stripped permanently by Birmingham City Council in a landmark immigration case for the authority.  A licensing sub-committee heard that police, alongside Home Office and immigration officials, swooped on the premises on Coventry Road around 8pm on November 23 following a tip-off.  Five men tried to run out of the back door where awaiting police officers ushered them back inside the restaurant.  The restaurant was nominated as one of best Indian restaurants in Birmingham according to the English Curry Awards 2017.  Three men, all from Bangladesh, were ultimately arrested, the longest offender having been an illegal immigrant since 2010.  Inspectors were later told up to ten further men had removed their staff clothing and blended in with customers to avoid detection, although investigators could not confirm the allegations.  Police also found that CCTV was not installed, in breach of the restaurant's licence, and that staff training was not up to standard.  All three immigrants have since been returned or are due to be returned to their home country.  Addressing the committee PC Abdool Rohomon, West Midlands Police licensing officer, said: "This is not about how well they are run, how good the curry is and how popular they are.  "It is a very popular place there are pictures of the Home Secretary having been there, I'm sure he'd love that now."  He added: "You instil upon them trust and they have to comply. The trust has totally been eroded by their actions."  The council took an interim step to suspend the licence on December 7 prior to today's expedited review.  Around a dozen customers had wrote to the authority in support of the restaurant calling for the sanction to be lifted.  One claimed that Home Secretary Sajid Javid was a regular.  The MP for Bromsgrove was photographed at Jilabi in August and the venue even subsequently renamed its Railway Lamb Curry to Sajid's Railway Lamb in honour of the visit according to a post on its Facebook page.  Other high profile customers have also frequented the venue in recent months.  A Facebook post in October pictured Midsomer Murders actor Jason Hughes saying he had joined the 'Jilabi Club of fame' while another stated Watford FC captain - and Birmingham City fan - Troy Deeney was a weekly regular.  Jilabi opened in 2002 and expanded into the former Chinese restaurant next door in 2014.  The fact that they had two licences, one for Jilabi and another for Delicious Buffet, was another thorny issue with police who argued they had been effectively operating as one business.  Abdul Rouf, one of the joint licence holders at the premises, claimed two of the immigrants had started a trial period the day before the police raid and that he had delegated responsibility for checking their paperwork because he had taken a day off at short notice.  He admitted that the third man had been there around two weeks and they had only seen his driving licence.  Mr Rouf pointed out that since the inspection he had hired an administrator to help with checks and paperwork, installed CCTV and updated staff training.  He said: "I apologise profusely. I am sorry for having to bring everybody here.  "I'm responsible for everything that went on and going forward I have taken on board our mistakes. They happened inadvertently and I want to reassure that nothing of this nature or any other mishap will occur under my watch."  Mr Rouf confirmed he would have to lay off a number of staff due to the licence revocation - the strongest sanction available to the council.  He added: "I have let myself down, my customers down and the environment around me down."


birminghammail--2019-02-01--Immigrant project in Walsall earns seal of approval from minister

A Walsall project to help immigrants integrate into society and bring communities together has earned Government praise.  Faith Minister Nick Bourne visited the town for the launch of the Integration Strategy and to see first hand how Walsall projects had transformed the lives of people who have now settled in the area.  Lord Bourne visited Green Lane Baptist Church and learned about education and training initiatives that have promoted cohesion and increased personal development.  He met members of a variety of courses including the Mend It sewing group and learners on the church's English as a second language (ESOL) course who have gone on to set up their own businesses or are going into higher education.  Walsall was one of five places in England - along with Bradford,  Blackburn, Peterborough and Waltham Forest - selected in 2018 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to run long-term projects as part of a national integration strategy.  And Lord Bourne told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he was impressed with the work being carried out so far.  He said: "It has been a fantastic visit to Walsall. There is lots of enthusiasm and clearly people are making great strides in learning the English language under great supervision through the ESOL scheme which we are keen to support.  "If you don't speak the language in England today then it is a great barrier. You are isolated, you don't get a job, you are not able to go to the local clinic or schools.  "I think Walsall is doing really well and we are proud to partner. Walsall For All is a great integration project and while there are challenges, Walsall has been very impressive in bringing communities and faiths together and harnessing employment opportunities.  "There are things to learn from what Walsall is doing that we can take around the country and that is very much the aim of the whole scheme. I'm very heartened by the work being done here."  He was introduced to the groups at the church by project manager Kayon Blake, who moved to England from Jamaica in 2007 with her husband who is in the Royal Navy.  She said she encountered language barriers when she first moved to the area and that left her feeling isolated.  The mother-of-two was told about Green Lane Baptist Church and got involved before progressing into her current role, in which she supports learners who attend.  She said: "The people who come here are wonderful and I'm very proud of them. One of the English students read a poem out to Lord Bourne and all the visitors which is incredible.  "I like to encourage them and get them doing things that they thought they could not do and it helps break all the stereotypes of immigrants."  Councillor Garry Perry, portfolio holder for communities said: “The launch of ‘Walsall for All’ offers an opportunity for the people of Walsall to come   together, to be bold and to make a step change in the integration agenda.  "We were chosen because of our history of positive work in this field and our desire to try new things to bring people and communities together.”


birminghammail--2019-02-22--Suspected illegal immigrant family with 18-month-old toddler arrested at M6 services

A suspected family of illegal immigrants, including a toddler, have been arrested at a service station on the M6.  Motorway police detained three people on suspicion of entering the country illegally on Thursday night (Feb 21).  The family, including an 18-month-old, were spotted at Hilton Park Services at junction 10a in Wolverhampton.  Officers said they were transporting the 'exhausted' family and their child to a safe place following the arrest.  CMPG shared an image of their marked police cars at the services just off the M6.  Alongside it, they tweeted: "Three persons suspected of illegal entry to the U.K. have been arrested at Hilton Park Services.  "With the assistance of local @StaffsSpecials our #CMPGspecials are transporting this exhausted family, including 18month old child, to a place of safety. SafeGuarding SC."


birminghammail--2019-06-20--Five men arrested following illegal immigration raid in Sparkhill

Five men have been arrested following an immigration raid in Sparkhill.  West Midlands Police and other agencies swooped on an address in Pentos Drive just after 8am on Thursday (June 20).  Four Pakistani nationals and one Afghan national were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences and were handed over to the Home Office.  The Home Office said three are being detained prior to removal, one male's age is being assessed and a fifth has been released on bail while his case is progressing.  A Home Office spokeswoman said: “Immigration Enforcement officers supported an intelligence-led West Midlands police operation this morning (Thursday, 20 June) at Pentos Drive, Sparkhill.  “Following checks, five males were arrested for immigration offences. These included four Pakistan nationals and one Afghan national.  “Three of the men were detained pending removal from the UK and a fourth was released on immigration bail whilst his case is progressed.  “A fifth male was passed into the care of Social Services to be fully age assessed.”  A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said: “Police conducted a planned visit to Pentos Drive in the Sparkhill area of Birmingham just after 8am this morning (Thursday 20 June) following information received relating to suspected illegal immigrants.  “Five people have been arrested on suspicion of immigration offences and will be dealt with by the Home Office.”  Springfield Neighbourhood Police Team tweeted: “@SpringfieldWMP team in company of @MoseleyHeathWMP and partner agencies arrested five males for miscellaneous offences in Pentos Drive, Sparkhill this morning.  “If you know anything then contact us or report via @CrimestoppersWM.”


bonginoreport--2019-12-22--Pete Buttigieg Releases Immigration Plan Which Reduces Deportations, Promises Path to Citizenship

Democratic presidential hopeful Mayor of South Bend, Indiana Pete Buttigieg participates of the sixth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by PBS NewsHour & Politico at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California on December 19, 2019.  Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg unveiled his immigration plan on Sunday, including a path to citizenship for the country's 11 million undocumented immigrants.  "Our policies should acknowledge that immigrants are not outsiders," Buttigieg wrote in the plan.  The mayor of South Bend, Ind., released the plan as the Democratic presidential primary heats up. On Thursday, Buttigieg came under fire from all sides during the sixth debate of the race, hosted in Los Angeles.  Buttigieg is in fourth place in national surveys, but recently surged in the early caucus and primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, where polls put him in first place and second place, respectively. His support to date has been weakest among voters of color.  Buttigieg said at the debate that families separated by the Trump administration's immigration policies should have a "fast track to citizenship because what the United States did under this president to them was wrong."  Similarly, the plan released on Sunday focuses on "family unity." It also notes the potential benefits to the economy that could come from revamping the immigration system.  It calls for a reversal of a number of Trump administration policies — including a halt in border wall construction — and puts an emphasis on foreign affairs, specifically addressing "root causes" for why some immigrants flee their homes and countries.  The agenda builds on Buttigieg's previously released plans, including his "Douglass Plan" for black America and a Latino-focused proposal released earlier this month.  On his first day in office, Buttigieg wrote, "we will reverse this administration's cruel and counterproductive immigration actions that take infants out of their mothers' arms, argue against children having toothpaste or soap, deport veterans, break up families, and sweep up workers in raids while leaving exploitative employers unpunished."  "But we will do more than simply end these outrages," he wrote.  In addition to the path to citizenship, which Buttigieg pledged to pursue in his first 100 days in office, the agenda includes the following proposals, among others: • A National Office of New Americans to coordinate federal, state and local efforts promoting immigrant and refugee "integration and inclusion." • A new review system for employment-based visas, to set allotment every other year based on "labor market needs, engagement with immigrant and other stakeholders, and analysis of domestic and global trends." • Acceleration of family reunification by increasing the number of family visas that are issued and ending certain three-year and 10-year bars on reentering the U.S. that are sometimes triggered via the application process for family green cards, which can require leaving the country. • Stop construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, and invest in "technology-driven border solutions." • Offering 'deferred action' from immigration enforcement to those who have lived in the U.S. for years and to vulnerable populations and those with strong ties to the community • Pursuing civil rights reforms, such as supporting the right to counsel for those facing deportation, making the immigration court system independent and reviewing the Trump administration's deportation decisions. • Reinstating aid to Central America that the Trump administration suspended  "Most Americans welcome refugees, and they abhor family separation," the plan reads. "Yet Congress has failed to act. Since the last comprehensive reform, decades ago, the population of undocumented immigrants has stabilized at nearly 11 million people."  Buttigieg wrote that the plan will "foster belonging for all Americans" and is "also good for our economy."  "In his first 100 days, Pete will push for legislation that provides a mechanism to gain legal status and ultimately citizenship, including for people with temporary protections — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), and withholding of removal," the plan reads.  Congress has struggled for years to tackle immigration, frustrating successive presidents.  Former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, released their immigration plans earlier this year.


breitbart--2019-01-05--Pelosi Comprehensive Immigration Reform is the Best Way Forward Wall an Immorality

Pelosi: Comprehensive Immigration Reform is the Best Way Forward, Wall 'an Immorality'

During a town hall with MSNBC on Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed support for comprehensive immigration reform that would “secure our borders, legalize the people who are here so that they can participate fully,” and stated that a border wall “is an immorality.”  Pelosi stated that the best approach for the House “is comprehensive immigration reform, where we address the whole package of reforms.”  She later added, “[W]e’ve been through this, secure our borders, legalize the people who are here so that they can participate fully, do so in a way that energizes America, which has always been the case with newcomers coming. And I emphasize that secure our borders. Because that’s a responsibility, to protect and defend our country. The president would not — the inference that you draw from the wall is that’s the only way to do that. That actually is an immorality.”


breitbart--2019-01-11--Exclusive Angel Mom Mendoza Slap in Our Face to Call Illegal Immigration Manufactured Crisis

Exclusive– Angel Mom Mendoza: 'Slap in Our Face' to Call Illegal Immigration 'Manufactured Crisis'

Angel Mom Mendoza’s son, 32-year-old police officer Brandon Mendoza, was killed by a drunk illegal alien who was driving the wrong way down a highway in Mesa, Arizona.  During an exclusive interview with SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Daily, Mendoza said the claim that illegal immigration and the southern border is a “manufactured crisis” — first used by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — is a “slap” in the face to Angel Families, those who have lost loved ones to illegal immigration.  You cannot deport an illegal alien criminal across the border and not think that they’re going to come back when all they’ve been given is a slap on the hand and they’ve been given everything for free while they live here … and politicians that they know, back them up and are fighting for them. They’re not fighting for Americans. They’re fighting for the illegal criminals and for people to come here without following our immigration laws. That’s why I really feel that this is such a treasonous act that politicians are committing against our fellow Americans. [Emphasis added] To listen to Morning Joe yesterday … say “How stupid are these Americans who believe [Trump]?” How stupid are you, Joe, and how stupid is everyone on CNN who actually has any of their guests or anybody who actually has the audacity to say this is a manufactured crisis. You will never know how hurtful that is to every one of us Angel Families who have been fighting this. It’s basically a slap in our face and a kick to our loved ones’ graves. A manufactured crisis — it’s unbelievable they can even come up with these words. [Emphasis added]  Mendoza said she is concerned that Americans who support national sovereignty and controlled immigration are being outfought by open borders advocates.  “I feel like the one world government, open borders people are pushing much harder than Americans who want to keep our country sovereign because the people who want to keep our country sovereign don’t feel what I’m feeling … that’s very sad to me,” Mendoza said.  Currently, the federal government has remained partially shut down as House Democrats block any funding for physical barriers at the U.S.-Mexico border. A handful of Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have crafted a plan to give amnesty to illegal aliens.  President Donald Trump has said he is reviewing a plan to deem the border and illegal immigration a national emergency in order to fund a wall along the southern border.  John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.


breitbart--2019-02-14--Trumps Hint to Increase Legal Immigration Automation Dooms American Workers

Trump's Hint to Increase Legal Immigration, Automation Dooms American Workers

This week, Trump reiterated for the third time in a few weeks that he believes the U.S. should be increasing already historic levels of legal immigration — where more than 1.2 million legal immigrants are admitted every year at the expense of American taxpayers who are forced to subsidize the scheme through depressed wages and fewer job prospects.  Trump has suggested that the country does not have enough Americans to fill high-paying jobs in sectors like the automotive industry. Nonetheless, Bureau of Labor Statistics data tell a different story, one that is nowhere near a so-called “labor shortage,” as the business lobby has continued to falsely claim.  There are at least 13 million working-age Americans who are either unemployed, not in the labor force but want a job, or who are working part-time jobs but want a good-paying full-time job.  Immigration Reform Law Insititute (IRLI) Executive Director Dale Wilcox told Breitbart News that increasing legal immigration levels would subject those 13 million Americans to more foreign competition against mostly low-skilled workers. Wilcox said:  An increase of already booming legal immigration levels would come along with impending doom for American workers in the form of job automation.  Research conducted by the Brookings think tank reveals that about a third of the U.S. workforce could be replaced by automation by 2030. Those most impacted by automation would be America’s working class in food service jobs, production jobs, transportation, and the construction industry.  Americans without a high school degree, with only a high school degree, and with some college education are the most likely to suffer if automation is not limited in the U.S. economy.  Across the country, unregulated automation threatens mostly American communities that are working and middle class, especially those in states like Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Nevada, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Kentucky.  For example, a detailed interactive map by Recode reveals that in Alabama, more than half of the state’s counties could have major automation replacement of American workers. In counties like Clarke County, Jackson County, and Barbour County, automation could replace more than 50 percent of the area’s U.S. workers or some of the job tasks that they currently do.  In the northwest region of Ohio, automation threatens to eliminate more than half of all U.S. jobs or job tasks in every county.  Americans are vastly opposed to being replaced by job automation. Economic libertarians have routinely touted their support for job automation, though such a replacement of American workers is extremely unpopular.  About 85 percent of Americans said they support the federal government putting restrictions on the types of jobs that employers can automate, like dirty and dangerous jobs, supporting an economic nationalist agenda when it comes to the issue, Pew Research polling has found.  Nearly 60 percent of Americans said the federal government should place limits on the number of jobs in which a business can replace a U.S. worker with a machine. About 70 percent of the country’s working class, those with or without a high school degree, agree that the mass displacement of American workers through automation should be stopped with regulation by the federal government.  Those benefitting from increased legal immigration levels and massive job automation are corporate executives, Wall Street, real estate investors, big business, and multinational conglomerates that would enjoy a flooded labor market with reduced wages, more workers, fewer labor costs, added residents who need housing, and additional consumers to buy their products.  The mass importation of legal immigrants — mostly due to President George H.W. Bush’s Immigration Act of 1990, which expanded legal immigration levels — diminishes job opportunities for the roughly four million young American graduates who enter the workforce every year wanting good-paying jobs.  In the last decade alone, the U.S. admitted ten million legal immigrants, forcing American workers to compete against a growing population of low-wage foreign workers. Meanwhile, if legal immigration continues, there will be 69 million foreign-born residents living in the U.S. by 2060. This would represent an unprecedented electoral gain for the Left, as Democrats win about 90 percent of congressional districts where the foreign-born population exceeds the national average.  John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.


breitbart--2019-02-17--Limbaugh Immigration Is an Emergency

Limbaugh: Immigration Is an Emergency --- Our 'Culture' at Risk from 'Parade of Illegal People Who Are Uneducated'

On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” nationally syndicated conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said President Donald Trump was right to declare a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border to build a wall.  Limbaugh, “We have an emergency. This is an invasion. The very existence and definition of American culture, American society, the rule of law. Why does nobody talk about the fact that millions and millions and millions of people are breaking the law coming here illegally and that the Democrat Party wants that to happen?”  He added, “It is undeniable that we have a major immigration problem and a political party that needs a permanent underclass of voters that wants that parade of illegal people who are uneducated, don’t even speak the language, they want them here. It is a crisis.”


breitbart--2019-02-17--Stephen Miller George W Bushs Immigration Record Astonishing Betrayal of American People

Stephen Miller: George W. Bush's Immigration Record 'Astonishing Betrayal' of American People

On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” White House senior adviser Stephen Miller described former President George W. Bush’s record on immigration as an “astonishing betrayal.”  Miller said, “As you know, when George Bush came into office, illegal immigration total doubled from 6 million to 12 million by the time he left office.”  He added, “That represented an astonishing betrayal of the American people. I’m not gonna sit here today and tell you that George Bush defended this country on the southern border because he did not.”


breitbart--2019-02-25--Study Immigrant College Graduates Score Far Below US Graduates

Study: Immigrant College Graduates Score Far Below U.S. Graduates

The test data is important because business groups have displaced hundreds of thousands of American college graduates while hiring more than one million foreign graduates via the H-1B and other visa worker programs intended for high-skilled temporary foreign workers.  Business advocates say the migrants are highly skilled. But the test shows that foreign graduates of foreign colleges score just 34 out of 100, while Americans score 67 on the 100 point scale. Foreign graduates of American colleges score at 56, or 16 percent lower than the American score.  “Foreign-educated immigrants with a college or advanced degree perform so poorly that they score at the level of natives who have only a high school diploma,” says the report, which analyzed results from the Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies test.  However, the test of 8,000 people in the United States only includes 210 immigrants who received college degrees abroad, said Jason Richwine, the study’s author. But the fuzziness caused by that small number is countered by the huge disparity between the foreigners’ scores and the Americans’ score, he said. “The results are robust,” he said.  The study could be expanded to include more people if the government-funded census and the American Community Survey asked immigrants where they earned their college degrees, he said.  For now, the surveys only ask immigrants how many years of education they have earned, and those answers are unreliable, Richwine said. For example, immigrants may have earned credentials by spending several years in low-quality universities or high-quality universities, he said. There also may be some complicating factors, such as cheating, partly because many migrants come from cultures where academic credentials “make a difference between what they see as failure and success in life,” he added.  Another complication is the distribution of scores, he said. For example, a national survey may hide a successful group of high scorers underneath a larger number of very low scores.  Each problem may be more prevalent in some countries than in others, he said, so “an education credential [claimed by an immigrant] does not mean much because of how unreliable it turns into skills across countries.”  Advocates for greater immigration say current immigrants have more credentials than immigrants from several years ago. But “we just don’t know that is true,” said Richwine. “Certainly, the census data shows that recent immigrants say they have more years of education. But to argue that the immigration pool is becoming substantially more skilled is way too premature.”  The English language media in India has repeatedly discussed the skills issue, partly because many college graduate Indians wish to migrate to the United States, either as a visa worker or as legal immigrants. There are at least 500,000 Indian visa workers in U.S college jobs.  The skill issue is also visible on websites created for Indian visa workers in the United States. Some of the sites include advertisements for “job support” services which allow unskilled Indian visa workers in American to do their U.S. jobs with the aid of online advice and work by skilled Indians in India.  In 2016, India’s minister for “Human Resource Development” was transferred to a different job amid evidence that she inflated her educational qualifications.  The difficulty of measuring the skills of “high skilled” immigrants is part of the growing fight over the H-1B outsourcing program, and the bipartisan push to remove “country caps” on the government’s annual allotment of valuable green cards to lower-wage visa workers.  A bill would provide a fast track to green cards for at least 200,000 Indian H-1B workers — plus their spouses and children — and would make it more difficult for young Americans graduates to win starter jobs in the information technology sector.  The authors of the Senate bill — S. 386 — are GOP Sen. Mike Lee and Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris. Their February 7 statement says “the bill has also been endorsed by Immigration Voice, Compete America Coalition, the Information Technology Industry Council, Google, Microsoft, The Heritage Foundation, La Raza, and many others.”  The Senate co-sponsors of the outsourcing bill include Republicans and Democrats:  The matching House bill is numbered H.R. 1044. It is being pushed by Colorado Republican Rep. Ken Busk and California Democratic Rep. Susan Lofgren.  Business groups also say they need to import visa workers because there is a shortage of American professionals.  However, data produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that there are 1.3 million Americans employed in telecommunications, data processing, Internet hosting services, and “other information services.” There are also 20 million Americans working in professional and technical services including two million people working in computer systems design, 1.4 million in consulting.


breitbart--2019-03-11--Exclusive President Donald Trump on Immigration I Dont Want to Have Anyone Coming in Thats on

Exclusive — President Donald Trump on Immigration: ‘I Don’t Want to Have Anyone Coming in That’s on Welfare’

“I don’t want to have anyone coming in that’s on welfare,” Trump told Breitbart News in the more-than-40-minute interview in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon. “We have a problem, because we have politicians that are not strong, or they have bad intentions, or they want to get votes, because they think if they come in they’re going to vote Democrat, you know, for the most part.”  Trump’s answer came in response to Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alexander Marlow citing a statistic from a report the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) published in December that over 60 percent of non-citizen families entering the United States end up on welfare. The report found that 63 percent of non-citizen households end up on welfare, whereas just 35 percent of native-born American households end up on welfare—a major disparity.  The report also shows that in non-citizen households with children, welfare usage skyrockets to 79.6 percent.  Trump added that while it is his belief that some industries need more workers brought in in various capacities, the Democrats and the left are pushing to bring anyone and everyone into the country regardless of the consequences.  “They’ll take anybody into this country and we’re not allowing it, but because of the success of the country economically, some people say—I blame myself, but that’s a good blame not a bad blame—but because of the country’s success and you need workers here,” Trump said. “You do need workers. You have homes in Houston, and they can’t get people to build the homes—and lots of other places. But because of what’s happened, and because of the people coming up, they want them to come in and they don’t care how they come in.”  From there, Trump added that he does not want people coming into the United States who are going to be dependent on welfare programs.  “I don’t want people that need welfare,” Trump said. “We owe a lot of money. We’re taking care of everybody in the world’s military. But now as you know I got over $100 billion from NATO countries. But that’s not enough, that’s not enough, we’re paying for massive portions of NATO. We shouldn’t be paying for this. They should be paying their own way, and we can help them, but we shouldn’t be paying for—and by the way, here’s a beauty. We pay for their military defense and then they take advantage of us on trade in addition. It used to be in order to have the trade we take care of them—but they get us both ways.”  He completed his thought in this portion of the interview by adding that it’s “no good” that the Democrats want to bring in people from other parts of the world who are dependent on welfare for decades.  “But I don’t like the idea of people coming in and going on welfare for 50 years, and that’s what they want to be able to do—and it’s no good,” Trump said.  This is the first of several stories to follow from this exclusive Breitbart News interview with President Trump in the Oval Office.  Alexander Marlow is the Editor-in-Chief of Breitbart News, Matthew Boyle is the Washington Political Editor of Breitbart News, Amanda House is the Deputy Political Editor of Breitbart News, and Charlie Spiering is the Senior White House Correspondent for Breitbart News.

Alexander Marlow, Matthew Boyle, Amanda House, & Charlie Spiering