Over 150 conservative leaders, groups and grassroots activists have signed an open letter opposing the Senate immigration reform bill.
“We write to express our serious concerns regarding the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill, S. 744. We oppose this bill and urge you to vote against it when it comes to the Senate floor,” the letter to be released Tuesday and obtained by The Daily Caller reads. ”No matter how well intentioned, the Schumer-Rubio bill suffers from fundamental design flaws that make it unsalvageable. Many of us support various parts of the legislation, but the overall package is so unsatisfactory that the Senate would do better to start over from scratch.”
Signed by conservatives leaders and group representatives including radio host Laura Ingraham, Fox News personality Monica Crowley, Red State’s Erick Erickson, radio host Mark Levin, Hoover Institution’s Victor Davis Hanson, and The Daily Caller’s Mickey Kaus, the letter highlights a number of issues the signers have with the legislation including their concerns that the bill:
Is bloated and unwieldy along the lines of Obamacare or Dodd-Frank;
Cedes excessive control over immigration law to an administration that has repeatedly proven itself to be untrustworthy, even duplicitous;
Legalizes millions of illegal immigrants before securing the borders, thus ensuring future illegal immigration;
Rewards law breakers and punishes law enforcement, undermining the rule of law;
Hurts American job-seekers, especially those with less education;
Threatens to bankrupt our already strained entitlement system;
Expands government by creating new bureaucracies, authorizing new spending, and calling for endless regulations;
Contains dangerous loopholes that threaten national security;
Is shot through with earmarks for politically connected interest groups;
The letter also argues that while immigration reform is important, the Senate’s immigration reform bill will only make matters worse.
“Reforming our immigration system is an important priority. But S.744 is such a defective measure that it would do more harm than good. We urge you to vote against it and against any cloture vote to bring up the bill. Only then can a constructive, measured debate take place on how to improve America’s immigration policy,” the letter reads.
“There’s the betrayal factor,” said D.A. King, who helped draft several of Georgia’s anti-illegal immigration laws. “It’s a mystery to us why he’s still considered a conservative.”
A New paper analyzes the deceptions in Marco Rubio’s national ad campaign to push his amnesty bill — His poll numbers already were dropping with the conservatives he hoped would be his 2016 base.
WED May 15
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is the center of both Democratic and Republican open-borders enthusiasts’ hopes for passing the massive S.744 bill for amnesty and a doubling of future legal immigration.Both Parties have put him forward as something of the celebrity pitch man on TV and radio shows and now a huge ad campaign in which he touts his Gang of Eight bill as “conservative” reform.But the ads just aren’t true.John Feere at the Center for Immigration Studies has just put out a backgrounder onRUBIO’S DECEPTIVE AMNESTY AD.Feere examines virtually every phrase in the ad and compares them with reality.On the report’s page, you will see an image of the ad which you can watch for yourself. You can tell that his script includes every phrase that pollsters found resonates with conservatives — and Americans in general. But it is rather comical listening to him string them all together, even though his bill backs up hardly any of them.Rubio has been assigned the task of convincing conservative voters to persuade Republican Senators to vote for the amnesty bill.Doing so makes Rubio extremely popular with the billionaires who tend to run the national Republican Party.But what does it do with his popularity among the grassroots?Indications that Rubio hurting RubioA.J. Delgado of Breitbart.com has done some interesting comparisons of the latest results from the firm, Public Policy Polling, and the results of its survey back in February.Just like with fellow Gang member, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Rubio has been losing voter support since details of the amnesty bill became public.
When asked for their preferred GOP candidate, only 17% of “very conservative” respondents favored Rubio, while only 18% of “somewhat conservative” respondents favored Rubio.
This is a steep decline from the same poll’s findings in April, when Rubio’s support was 26% among the “very conservative” and 22% among the “somewhat conservative.”
The earlier survey was conducted in late March before the Gang of Eight amnesty bill was released and the public finally began to learn what is in it and that the innards didn’t match the platitudes they had been hearing from the Gang.
The latest survey was conducted between May 6th and 9th.
National Republican Party leaders and consultants have claimed that Rubio would help the Party pick up more support from Hispanic voters by championing the amnesty bill. But Delgado writes:
Notably, Rubio’s support among Hispanics also appears to have decreased following the unveiling of the “Gang of 8″ bill. The previous poll demonstrated 39% of Hispanics had a favorable view of Rubio, while the latest poll demonstrates that number has decreased to 34%.
In many ways, the person undermining Rubio’s ad credibility more than anybody is Rubio.
Even as his ads have been running making great claims about border security and tough enforcement, he has written op-eds and made press statements about his concerns that the bill doesn’t really guarantee border security, for example.
The Washington Times today revealed that it has obtained a list that Rubio is circulating among Republican Senators of a couple dozen criticisms of the bill that he thinks may keep the bill from passing.
It doesn’t sound like Rubio the ad pitch man is even believed by Senator Rubio himself.
While the Times indicates that Rubio thinks the criticisms may warrant amendments, the Judiciary Committee has already shot down efforts to respond to many of the criticism during its first few days of markup.
The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.
Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation (.pdf) is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.
Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.
This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet. Think of it as a government version of Foursquare, with Big Brother cataloging every check-in.
“It starts to change the relationship between the citizen and state, you do have to get permission to do things,” said Chris Calabrese, a congressional lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union. “More fundamentally, it could be the start of keeping a record of all things.”
For now, the legislation allows the database to be used solely for employment purposes. But historically such limitations don’t last. The Social Security card, for example, was created to track your government retirement benefits. Now you need it to purchase health insurance.
“The Social Security number itself, it’s pretty ubiquitous in your life,” Calabrese said.
David Bier, an analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, agrees with the ACLU’s fears.
“The most worrying aspect is that this creates a principle of permission basically to do certain activities and it can be used to restrict activities,” he said. “It’s like a national ID system without the card.”
For the moment, the debate in the Senate Judiciary Committee is focused on the parameters of legalization for unauthorized immigrants, a border fence and legal immigration in the future.
The committee is scheduled to resume debate on the package Tuesday.
Glenn Beck Gives Government Until Monday to Come Clean About Boston Bombing Cover-Up
Glenn Beck says the response to the Boston Marathon bombing will determine whether America survives and says The Blaze will expose the government cover-up on Monday.
Is the Obama Administration fostering another Benghazi Type Cover-up? WE need to keep on top of this. Senator Rand Paul says that he will look into this matter.
“The congressional source, however, said the information sent to Congress showed that a file was created on “Abdul Rahman Ali Al Harby” at 4 p.m. on Tuesday by an official with the National Targeting Center, a counterterrorism sub-agency of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security. T…he file stated that the individual is “linked to the Boston bombing” and was to be processed for revocation of his visa based on national security grounds, the congressional source revealed.
The source confirmed seeing the information sent to members of Congress but could not provide copies of any documents to TheBlaze.” http://www.usdl.info/modules/news_english/item.php?itemid=1054
McCaughey: This Law Was Not Made For America Born Average Joe. It Was Made For The Immigrants & Immigrants Get A Better Deal Than Citizens!!!
McCaughey: Obamacare Setting Stage For Premium Default Crisis – Immigrants Get Better Deal Than U.S. Citizens
Government Hire Tens Of Thousands Of High-Wage Health Care “Navigators” -RPT Cavuto
Chavez taking control of Venezuela’s media, according to report
Stay Connected
Posted on Friday, August 14, 2009
Juan O. Tamayo | The Miami Herald
An unclassified U.S. intelligence report says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is “moving forcefully” to stifle media criticism by closing scores of radio stations, tightening controls on one TV station and maneuvering to seize control of another.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/08/14/73718/chavez-taking-control-of-venezuelas.html#storylink=cpy
So you believe that a Chavez like media take over can’t happen here.
Barack Hussein Obama has his good friend and “Fast and Furious” gun running accomplice, Attorney General Eric Holder seeking to destroy the Rupert Murdoch news empire so that the Fox Networks can be muzzled.
This may turn out to be the greatest threat to our liberty and consequently to our Constitution, since 911. If our “Dear Leader” and his minions are allowed to move forward on their Fascist policies and to continue to deprive us of our 2nd Amendment Rights, adopt United Nations Treaties and implement Amnesty without there being a vehicle or channel available for dissent, not only will Fox be muzzled but so will all ‘Liberty-Loving Citizens”.
WE had better stand up to these bullies while we can. Call your Senators and Congressmen and tell them to demand that Attorney General Holder cease his witch hunt of News Corp and the Fox Networks.
Holder Has Joined the War on Fox With Murdoch In His Sights
The War of Fox continues with attempts being made by our DOJ to dismantle and destroy Rupert Murdoch’s enterprise. Despite ample evidence that almost every news organization in Britain engaged in some type of hacking, the long arm of the Chicago thug, Eric Holder, is attempting to bring Murdoch under U.S. prosecutorial jurisdiction for alleged bribery under the Corrupt Practices Act.
Such a prosecution exposes Murdoch and his executives to fines of tens of millions of dollars and serious jail time.
Holder is attempting to make a connection between the News of the World hacking scandal in Britain and activities at the U.S. based Sun newspaper with the Operation Elevden arrests. Many view it as a witch hunt.
…The latest Operation Elveden arrests sharply increase the danger to News Corporation of potential multimillion dollar fines by US authorities as part of the continuing investigation into alleged bribery of public officials under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
The eight arrests escalate the FCPA crisis for the company by extending the allegations of bribery from the News of the World to the Sun newspaper, and by broadening its scope from police officers to other public officials. An official from the Ministry of Defence and a member of the armed forces were also arrested for alleged corruption and “misconduct in a public office”.
The threat of prosecution under the FCPA constitutes the greatest danger of the phone-hacking scandal for Rupert Murdoch‘s media empire. It could expose the company to tens of millions of dollars in fines and the risk of imprisonment of its executive officers.
It would also bring the scandal to America, which is the financial heart of the global company. News Corporation’s headquarters are on Manhattan’s Sixth Avenue, which is why the company is susceptible to the FCPA, a law introduced in the 1970s to hold US-based companies accountable for acts of bribery and corruption abroad.
Mike Koehler, an expert in FCPA law at Butler university, said Saturday’s arrests marked an escalation in the risk of an FCPA prosecution. “This spreads the alleged bribery to a completely different newspaper, to a different segment of the company and to other public officials,” he said.
While Barack Hussein Obama feigns to the right he rolls out and passes to the left!
The feign to the right is gun control and the attack against our 2nd Amendment. The roll-out pass to the left is Amnesty. You have to keep your eyes on the ball lest QB Barack Hussein Obama once again scores a touchdown and with it the most prolific Democrat Super Bowl win in American political history. An Amnesty Super Bowl championship that would dwarf almost 250 years of 2-party political interaction. A championship that would go down in history as the win that changed the direction of American political discourse from an interactive 2-party political system into a corrupt 1- party political system. As we move closer to the Super Bowl the looming question is whether Republicans are up for the game or whether they will once again capitulate without much of a fight and thereby doom future generations to a Chicago-like corrupt and tyrannical political system.
Obama team crafting overhaul of immigration system
Citizenship path expected as part of massive bill
By Julia Preston
NEW YORK TIMES JANUARY 13, 2013
AFP/GETTY IMAGES/FILE
President Obama is expected to lay out his plan in coming weeks, perhaps in his State of the Union address next month, administration officials said.
WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to push Congress to move quickly in the coming months on an ambitious overhaul of the immigration system that would include a path to citizenship for most of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, senior administration officials and lawmakers said last week.
Obama and Senate Democrats will propose the changes in one comprehensive bill, the officials said, resisting efforts by some Republicans to break the overhaul into smaller pieces — separately addressing young illegal immigrants, migrant farmworkers, or highly skilled foreigners — that might be easier for reluctant members of their party to accept.
Obama and Democrats will also oppose measures that do not allow immigrants who gain legal status to become US citizens one day, the officials said.
Even while Obama has been focused on fiscal negotiations and gun control, overhauling immigration remains a priority for him this year, White House officials said. Top officials have been quietly working on a broad proposal. Obama and lawmakers from both parties think that the early months of his second term offer the best prospects for passing substantial legislation on the issue.
Obama is expected to lay out his plan in coming weeks, perhaps in his State of the Union address next month, administration officials said. The White House will argue that its solution for illegal immigrants is not an amnesty, as many critics insist, because it would include fines, the payment of back taxes, and other hurdles for illegal immigrants who would obtain legal status, the officials said.
‘This is so important now to both parties that neither the fiscal cliff nor guns will get in the way.’
The president’s plan would also impose nationwide verification of legal status for all newly hired workers; add visas to relieve backlogs; allow highly skilled immigrants to stay; and create some form of guest worker program to bring in low-wage immigrants in the future.
A bipartisan group of senators has also been meeting to write a comprehensive bill, with the goal of introducing legislation as early as March and holding a vote in the Senate before August.
As a sign of the keen interest in starting action on immigration, White House officials and Democratic leaders in the Senate have been negotiating on which of them will first introduce a bill, Senate aides said.
‘‘This is so important now to both parties that neither the fiscal cliff nor guns will get in the way,’’ said Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat and a leader of the bipartisan discussions.
A similar attempt at bipartisan legislation early in Obama’s first term collapsed amid political divisions fueled by surging public anger about illegal immigration in many states. But both supporters and opponents say conditions are significantly different now.
In the November presidential election, Hispanics, the nation’s fastest-growing electorate, turned out in record numbers and cast 71 percent of their ballots for Obama. Many Hispanics said they were put off by Republicans’ harsh language against illegal immigrants.
After the election, a host of Republicans, starting with Speaker John Boehner, said it was time for the party to find a more positive, practical approach to immigration. Many party leaders say electoral demographics are compelling them to move beyond policies based on tough enforcement.
Supporters of comprehensive changes say that the elections were nothing less than a mandate, and that they are still optimistic that Obama is prepared to lead the fight.
‘‘Republicans must demonstrate a reasoned approach to start to rebuild their relationship with Latino voters,’’ said Clarissa Martinez de Castro, director of immigration policy at the National Council of La Raza, a Latino organization. ‘‘Democrats must demonstrate they can deliver on a promise.’’
Since the election, Obama has repeatedly pledged to act on immigration this year. In his weekly radio address Saturday, he referred to the urgency of fixing the immigration system, saying it was one of the ‘‘difficult missions’’ the country must take on.
Parallel to the White House effort, Schumer and GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have been meeting with a group of at least four others to write a bill.
Republicans who have participated include John McCain of Arizona, who has supported comprehensive legislation in the past; Jeff Flake of Arizona, newly elected to the Senate; and Mike Lee of Utah. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida participated in a meeting last month.
Democrats in the meetings include Richard Durbin of Illinois, the No.2 Senate Democrat; Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Michael Bennet of Colorado. Basic tenets for the bill, Schumer said, were that it would be comprehensive and offer eventual citizenship.‘
If you were to ask Mary Beth Heffernan who resigned before being fired for malfeasance as Secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety, she would say a bump Up to a Judgeship.
Herffernan fronted Governor Patrick ‘s anti-Secure Communities hearings around the state in an attempt to provide political cover for the hi decision to re-neg on a campaign promise to implement the program. Push back from the Illegal Alien community placed his administration in jeopardy of angering them and losing their votes!
The first hearing was not advertised to the general public and Leftist organizations like the ACLU and the Socialist Party dominated the hearing. By the second hearing, outraged MA citizens testified about their experiences with Illegal Criminal Aliens. The pro-Secure Communities crowd dominated subsequent hearings so well that Heffernan cancelled several hearings. Her appearance at these hearings were marked by readily apparent unskilled, bumbling and incompetence.
In June 2011 Governor Patrick, of course despite the overwhelming and competent testimony by Pro Secure Communities advocates , reneged on his promise of early implementation.
Folks, despite Heffernan’s bubbling incompetence, a single Republican Lawmaker has come to her defense to make the appointment appear bipartisan, namely, Rep. Daniel B. Winslow of the 9th Norfolk.
According tho the Boston Herald, Heffernan has donated the prescribed political contributions to assure her new appointment! ”
Departing Public Safety Secretary Mary Beth Heffernan — given a nod by Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday as someone who’d make a “great judge” — has donated thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns over the years, campaign finance records show.
Heffernan has contributed $875 to Gov. Deval Patrick and $525 to Lt. Gov. Tim Murray. She has also written checks for former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, current House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, Senate President Therese Murray and the Democratic State Committee.”
THIS IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF A 1-PARTY STATE. IT IS A CORRUPT MACHINE THAT AFFECTS ALL OF OUR LIVES AND IT’S UP TO YOU TO CHANGE IT!
Patrick backs former public safety head as district judge
Governor Deval Patrick nominated his outgoing public safety director to become a district court judge Friday, just weeks after she announced her resignation from his administration amid controversy.
In a news conference, Patrick lauded Mary Beth Heffernan’s work as secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety, her longtime record as a prosecutor, and her temperament.
“She has, I think, really just the right touch for the district court, which is a neighborhood court; it’s very people-oriented,” the governor said, pointing out that her father was also a judge. “It’s something I know she’s had an ambition to do for a long, long time.”
Heffernan, the state’s public safety secretary since 2010, was one of several Cabinet members who stepped down in mid-December as Patrick entered the final two years of his second term. Patrick told reporters that no one was being forced out.
But Heffernan had been embroiled in the controversy surrounding Sheila Burgess, the state’s highway safety director, after the Globe reported in November that she had been hired by Heffernan and others in 2007 despite a lengthy driving record that included six crashes and several speeding violations. Heffernan, who was undersecretary at the time of the hiring, acknowledged that Burgess, a longtime Democratic consultant and fund-raiser, should not have won the post.
The governor, when asked about the hiring controversy Friday, told reporters it was “an embarrassment, no doubt about it.” However, he sought to distance Heffernan from it by adding, “She did a great job in her role.”
Some backers, including a prominent Republican, lauded Heffernan’s longtime public service and work as a lawyer and said her work for the Patrick administration should not exclude her from service.
“Having a role in public life should never be the sole reason that somebody achieves appointment to the bench, but it never should be a bar,” said state Representative Daniel B. Winslow, a Norfolk Republican and former judge who worked with Heffernan on her criminal justice commission and praised her work and good regard in the legal community.
“Certainly the confirmation process is the opportunity for appropriate inquiry to be made of questions anyone has — including the Burgess situation,” Winslow added. “I would fully expect governor’s councilors to embrace their roles as vetting agents.”
A spokesman for the Massachusetts Republican Party, however, immediately issued a derisive statement about the nomination.
“Let’s hope she is a more competent judge than she was at running the Department of Public Safety, where she was responsible for hiring a reckless driver as highway safety chief,” GOP spokesman Tim Buckley said.
State Representative Eugene O’Flaherty, a Charlestown Democrat who until recently chaired the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary, called Heffernan courteous and professional and said she “took her role very seriously.”
O’Flaherty said he did not know enough about the controversy to comment.
“But in terms of what is required to be on the bench and to be a good judge, the qualities I think are important for that position in terms of temperament and judgment, I think that she is overflowing with those qualities,” he said.
As public safety secretary, Heffernan was responsible for policy and budget oversight of agencies, programs, and boards that work in crime prevention and homeland security. She previously worked in the executive office as undersecretary of criminal justice, supervising the Department of Correction, Sex Offender Registry, and Parole Board, and working as a liasion to county sheriffs.
She previously was an assistant district attorney for Middlesex County; executive director of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association; associate general counsel and director of intergovernmental and regulatory affairs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and corporate director of government relations for CareGroup Health Care Systems.
The Governor’s Council, an elected, eight-member panel that reviews judicial appointments, has been increasingly active in recent years in pushing back against the governor’s nominations. Last year, it was deadlocked on the nomination of Michael J. McCarthy, a lawyer, to become a district judge.
But yesterday, Patrick nominated him again. McCarthy, a private practitioner since 1989, had previously served as city solicitor in Pittsfield and as a prosecutor in Berkshire County and Portland, Maine. A resident of Pittsfield, he is a graduate of Assumption College and University of Maine Law School, the governor’s office said.
The governor also tapped an up-and-coming Democrat Friday to become his communications director. Jesse Mermell, a Brookline selectwoman and party activist, previously served as a vice president of external affairs for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and as executive director of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus.
Mermell issued a statement calling it an honor to be part of Patrick’s team and noting that she will resign from her selectwoman’s job this month.
Glen Johnson of the Globe staff ontributed to this report. Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @StephanieEbbert.
Citizens in over 30 states have so far started petitions at the White House “We the People” website seeking permission to secede from the Union. The number is more than double what we reported Monday morning. Two competing petitions seeking deportation and exile of everyone who signed the petitions have also appeared.
The states now include California, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Alaska, Ohio and Delaware. California, Ohio and Delaware voted for Obama in the recent election. The White House web site is not the only place where such petitions are showing up. “A massive number of petitions are currently circulating on Change.org, a website designed to call for action by the federal government or by private institutions on particular causes, calling for particular states to be granted permission to secede,” The Blaze reported Monday. als)
Chilling Letter from Proctor & Gamble to Obama Who would have thought, and yet many are thinking it.
By Lou Pritchett, Procter & Gamble
A LETTER FROM A PROCTER AND GAMBLE EXECUTIVE TO THE PRESIDENT
* THE LAST SENTENCE IS THE MOST CHILLING
Lou Pritchett is one of corporate America ‘s true living legends
- an Acclaimed author, dynamic teacher and one of the world’s highest
Rated speakers. Successful corporate executives everywhere recognize
Him as the foremost leader in change management.. Lou changed the way
America does business by creating an audacious concept that came to
Be known as “partnering.”
Pritchett rose from soap salesman to Vice-President, Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble
and over the course of 36 years; made corporate history.
AN OPENLETTER TOPRESIDENT OBAMA
Dear President Obama:
You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike Any of the others, you truly scare me.
You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.
You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no Visible signs of support.
You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth Growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.
You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.
You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus Don’t understand it at its core.
You scare me because you lack humility and ‘class’, always blaming others.
You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned Yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to Publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail..
You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the ‘blame America ‘ Crowd and deliver this message abroad.
You scare me because you want to change America to a European style Country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.
You scare me because you want to replace our health care system With a government controlled one.
You scare me because you prefer ‘wind mills’ to responsibly Capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.
You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose That lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of Living in the world.
You scare me because you have begun to use ‘extortion’ tactics Against certain banks and corporations.
You scare me because your own political party shrinks from Challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.
You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider Opposing points of view from intelligent people.
You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both Omnipotent and omniscient.
You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything You do.
You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaugh’s, Hannitys, O’Reillys and Becks who offer opposing, Conservative points of view.
You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will Probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.
Lou Pritchett
* * This letter was sent to the NY Times but they never acknowledged it.
Big surprise. Since it hit the Internet, however, it has had over
500,000 hits. Keep it going. All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for
good men and women to do nothing.. It’s happening right now.
MEXICO CITY – Mexican federal police announced Friday that they have arrested a suspect in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, the slaying at the center of the scandal over the botched U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious.
Jesus Leonel Sanchez Meza is one of the five men charged with killing Terry in December 2010 during a shootout in Arizona near the Mexico border. One is on trial in Arizona and the other three remain fugitives. Sanchez was arrested Thursday in Sonora state.
Two guns found at the scene were bought by a member of a gun-smuggling ring that was being monitored in the Fast and Furious investigation. Critics have knocked U.S. federal authorities for allowing informants to walk away from Phoenix-area gun shops with weapons, rather than immediately arresting suspects.
In Operation Fast and Furious and at least three earlier probes during the administration of President George W. Bush, agents in Arizona employed a risky tactic called gun-walking — allowing low-level “straw” buyers in gun-trafficking networks to leave with loads of weapons purchased at gun shops. The goal was to track the guns to major weapons traffickers and drug cartels in order to bring cases against kingpins who had long eluded prosecution under the prevailing strategy of arresting low-level purchasers of guns who were suspected of buying them for others.
During Operation Fast and Furious, many of the weapons weren’t tracked and wound up at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S., including the Terry shooting.
In July, U.S. authorities made a rare disclosure linked to the botched gun-smuggling probe, revealing identities and requesting the public’s help in capturing the four fugitives accused in the shooting death of Terry.
The release of the suspects’ identities in an unsealed indictment came with the offer of a $1 million reward for information leading to their capture.
The FBI said it was seeking information related to Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, 31, Ivan Soto-Barraza, 34, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, 34, and a man identified as Lionel Portillo-Meza, which Mexican police said was an alias of the man arrested Thursday in Puerto Penasco, Sonora.
Portillo-Meza’s age and birthplace were unavailable. The other three fugitives were born in Mexico, but their hometowns were not available.
Authorities had previously released the identity of the fifth suspect, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes of El Fuerte in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. He was shot during the gunfight and has been in custody since the night of the shooting. He has pleaded not guilty in the case, telling investigators that he raised his weapon toward the agents during the shootout but didn’t fire, the FBI said in records. His age was not immediately available.
All five men have been charged with murder. They also face charges of assaulting four federal agents.
FBI agents declined to discuss which fugitive is suspected of firing the shot that killed Terry. They also would not comment on whether the weapon was linked to an Operation Fast and Furious purchase.
Tea Party activists may keep low profile at first GOP convention
By Cristina Corbin Published August 25, 2012 FoxNews.com
Next week marks the Tea Party’s first Republican convention.
But despite its role in helping the party win the House majority in 2010, the movement is expected to keep a relatively low profile inside the arena, activists say. Some Tea Party groups are deliberately giving the party space to spotlight its nominee, though others claim they’re being snubbed by GOP leaders.
The Tea Party, of course, is composed of thousands of different groups, each with its own causes. A Tea Party scene could erupt in Tampa at any moment. But unlike some other factions heading into the once-every-four-years affair, the Tea Party does not appear to have a concerted agenda.
Gop Platform Emerging Draws Praise and Criticism
Instead, the movement may just settle for speaking roles for favored politicians and shout-outs in the platform.
The four-day convention in Tampa will kick off Monday with speeches from Tea Party favorites, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senate candidate Ted Cruz of Texas. The party’s draft platform that will be voted on includes many of the conservative policies championed by the movement.
FreedomWorks, a Washington-based Tea Party-aligned think tank started by former House GOP leader Dick Armey, announced Wednesday that nearly all of its “Freedom Platform” has been adopted by the GOP, including a repeal of President Obama’s health care law, an end to tax hikes and an audit of the Federal Reserve.
“They were very open to our ideas and willing to work with us,” FreedomWorks vice president Russ Walker said of the platform-writing committee chaired by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven and Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn.
The Tea Party’s visibility beyond that, though, may be minimal at the convention, activists say. The expectation has drawn mixed reactions from the loosely organized anti-tax movement.
“They like the work we’re doing, but they’re afraid because they don’t want to turn off independents with the Tea Party brand,” said Todd Cefaratti of the group, TheTeaParty.Net. The group has filed a petition called “Let Them Speak,” urging the Republican National Committee to allow Tea Party leaders to speak at the convention.
“You get these moderate Republicans and they say ‘I don’t want to offend Grandma Independent,’” Cefaratti said. TheTeaParty.Net is a chief sponsor of the “Unity Rally 2012” to be held at a Tampa church on the eve of the convention, featuring speeches by Tea Party darlings and former presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain.
“It’s our response to a lot of our leaders being shut out of the convention,” Cefaratti said.
Another group, The Kitchen Table Patriots, also expressed resentment over the Tea Party’s representation at the convention.
“The amount of effort that the GOP went through to make sure that no Tea Party person went to the convention was unbelievable,” said Anastasia Przybylski, one of the group’s co-founders. “I did not see it coming.”
Przybylski’s counterpart, Ana Puig, claims the GOP in Bucks County, Pa., spent $70,000 to derail her run to become a delegate at the convention. Puig is now paying her way to go as an “honorary delegate,” she said, meaning “I can do everything except vote.”
“What is the convention going to accomplish except that Mitt Romney will formally be the candidate? It’s a shoulder-rubbing event,” Puig said.
Puig, however, said she is happy the Tea Party’s platform has been well-received by the RNC, adding that she’s hopeful “we would see a trickle down effect to the GOP on the local level,” she said.
“I am looking at this trip as a way for us, Tea Party, and GOP to try to mend some fences and move side by side to secure a big win in November.”
But not everyone within the movement believes Tea Party leaders should be on prominent display during the convention.
“This is the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan show and it should be,” said Sal Russo of the Tea Party Express, one of the most visible factions of the movement. “We don’t have an agenda beyond that.”
“I would consider this an extremely successful convention for the Tea Party,” Russo said, noting that Romney was always among his group’s top three picks for a presidential nominee. “We thought we shouldn’t try and intrude on a convention that we’re happy with.”
Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, echoed Russo’s sentiment, characterizing the convention as “more style than substance.”
“The purpose is to legally nominate their candidate,” Martin told FoxNews.com. “Tea Party Patriots are far more concerned about what laws are going to be passed than what they’re doing at a party in Florida and Charlotte.”
“As long as our values are represented, we are making an effect. What we will be happy about is when bills are signed into law that repeal the president’s health care law, and when the budget is balanced and when we’re on the road to recovery,” she said. “The convention is just a very small step along the way.”
Internal documents obtained by the House Judiciary Committee show that the Obama administration has been “cooking the books” in order to reach their “record” number of deported illegal immigrants, chairman Rep. Lamar Smith said Friday.
Based on the internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) documents, the number of removals are actually down, the opposite of what the administration has been claiming.
According to the committee’s review, in 2011 officials at the Department of Homeland Security began including the number of individuals removed through the Alien Transfer Exit Program (ATEP) in its annual removal numbers. ATEP is a program which moves apprehended illegal immigrants to another point along the border.
The committee chair claims that counting those individuals as removals is misleading because there are no repercussions for illegal immigrants who are deported through the program, and they can simply try to re-enter.
“It is dishonest to count illegal immigrants apprehended by the Border Patrol along the border as ICE removals,” Smith explained in a statement. “And these ‘removals’ from the Border Patrol program do not subject the illegal immigrant to any penalties or bars for returning to the U.S. This means a single illegal immigrant can show up at the border and be removed numerous times in a single year — and counted each time as a removal.”
Given the new information, the committee’s Republican majority subtracted the ATEP removals from ICE’s deportation totals.
With the ATEP subtraction, in 2011 the estimated 397,000 deportations become approximately 360,000, and the 2012 removals to date drop from about 334,000 to an estimated 263,000, according to the committee estimates. Projections for number of people to be deported by end of the year drops from 400,000 to 315,000 removals.
Immigration agents file suit against Napolitano over ‘amnesty’ program
By Shannon Bream Published August 23, 2012 FoxNews.com
Ten federal immigration agents have filed suit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano claiming recent directives are forcing them to break the law and ignore their duties when it comes to deporting illegal immigrants. The suit was filed Thursday in Texas federal court by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. It challenges recent directives allowing some illegal immigrants — particularly non-felons and those who came to the U.S. as children — to stay and, in some cases, get work permits.
The suit, obtained by Fox News, says the agents are being forced to “violate federal law.” It says the new directive “unconstitutionally usurps and encroaches upon the legislative powers of Congress.” ICE Director John Morton is also named as a defendant. Kris Kobach, lead attorney on the case, equated the move to give thousands of illegal immigrants a reprieve to the failed Fast and Furious gun-walking operation. “In both instances, the Obama administration ordered federal law enforcement agents to break the law, to ignore the laws that they’re supposed to enforce, and, in the case of the ICE agents, to actually break federal laws that say you’re supposed to deport certain people,” he said. “And in each case, the Obama administration seems to be doing so for political reasons.” Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, is also an adviser to Mitt Romney and a co-author of the Arizona illegal immigration law. Napolitano defended the new rules during testimony last month before the House Judiciary Committee. “These policies promote the efficient use of our resources ensuring that we do not divert them away from the removal of convicted criminals by pursuing the removal of young people who came to this country as children and who have called no other country home,” she said. The Supreme Court has recognized the ability of the federal government to use what’s known as “prosecutorial discretion” in the enforcement of immigration law. In the recent case over the Arizona immigration law, the court defended the government’s ability to make “some discretionary decisions.” In the suit, the agents are asking a federal judge to block the directives in question, saying they amount to an end-run around Congress and violate the separation of powers between the Legislative and Executive branches. Republican lawmakers released a flurry of statements Thursday backing up the suit and challenging the administration policy. “The Obama administration’s amnesty program not only rewards lawbreakers, it also forces ICE agents to violate federal law. ICE agents should enforce our immigration laws and apprehend illegal immigrants. But the Obama administration makes it impossible for ICE agents to do their jobs,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said in a statement.
Illegal immigrants could receive more than $7 billion this year in federal tax credits, according to one estimate, thanks to a loophole in the law that allows people not authorized to work to reap the government payments with no questions asked.
Sen. Jeff Sessions’ office calculated that, based on recent trends, illegal immigrants could receive roughly $7.4 billion through a provision known as the Additional Child Tax Credit. That’s more than quadruple what the payout was four years ago, but the payments have been steadily increasing over the past decade.
Though illegal immigrants are prohibited from receiving similar tax credits, a quirk in the law allows them to qualify for the child tax credit. And it’s a “refundable” credit, meaning recipients can reap the money — with average checks totaling about $1,800 — even if they’ve paid no taxes.
An aide to Sessions, R-Ala., the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said the issue is a “serious matter that deserves attention” and another sign of how “Washington is disconnected from reality.”
Illegal immigrants can qualify because even people not authorized to work in the U.S. are supposed to file returns with the IRS. If they don’t have a Social Security number, they are provided what’s known as an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number in order to file returns.
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Ad those filers are not excluded from claiming the Additional Child Tax Credit, which is offered to some families with children under 17 years old.
A report last year by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found the claims added up to $4.2 billion in 2010. Sessions’ office calculated the $7.4 billion figure based on the IG report numbers and White House budget numbers.
The IG report last year recommended that Congress pass legislation to “clarify” whether the tax credits should actually be paid to those not authorized to work in the U.S.
Sessions co-sponsored a bill earlier this year to bar illegal immigrants from receiving the credit, but the bill was blocked from reaching the floor by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Reid at the time said the bill targeted the children of low-income Hispanic families.
Recent expansions to the credit under the stimulus law are set to expire at the end of the year.
PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Wednesday ordered state agencies to deny driver’s licenses and other public benefits to young illegal immigrants who obtain work authorizations under a new Obama administration policy.
In an executive order, Brewer said she was reaffirming the intent of current Arizona law denying taxpayer-funded public benefits and state identification to illegal immigrants.
Young illegal immigrants around the nation on Wednesday began the process of applying for federal work permits under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
The federal policy defers deportations for that group if they meet certain criteria, including arrival in the United States before they turned 16 and no convictions for certain crimes.
After President Barack Obama announced the policy change in June, Brewer labeled it “backdoor amnesty” and political pandering by the Democratic president.
Arizona has been in the vanguard of states enacting laws against illegal immigration.
The U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned parts of the Arizona enforcement law known as SB1070 but ruled that a key provision on requiring police to ask people about their immigration status under certain circumstances can be implemented.
The Obama administration challenged that law in 2010 after Brewer signed it into law.
In the past decade, Arizona voters twice approved laws denying publicly funded services, such as in-state resident university tuition rates, to illegal immigrants unless mandated by the federal government.
Brewer’s order said the policy’s federal paperwork doesn’t confer lawful status on illegal immigrants and won’t entitle them to Arizona public benefits.
However, it said the policy change “could result in some unlawfully present aliens inappropriately gaining access to public benefits contrary to the intent of Arizona voters and lawmakers who enacted laws expressly restricting access to taxpayer funded benefits and state identification.”
Brewer directed state agencies to start any necessary emergency rulemaking processes to implement her order.
State Rep. Catherine Miranda, who supports the federal program, called Brewer’s action mean-spirited.
“She just continues to put obstacles in front of young people in Arizona,” the Phoenix Democrat said.
We Are Now A banana republic!
We are suposed to be a Nation Of Laws. Amnesty Legislation has to go through Congress!
Barack Husein Obama, our Dictator In Charge, has turned The Greatest Constitutional Republic on Earth, into a “Banana Republic”!
Amnesty for illegal aliens begins today and Congress couldn’t care less
Published August 15, 2012 FoxNews.com
This lazy August morning while many Americans are on vacation blissfully detached from current events, one of President’s Obama’s most radical transformations of the American landscape takes hold. A lawless, unlegislated illegal alien amnesty becomes reality today as the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) begins to officially accept applications (no personal interview required) from almost 2 million illegal aliens seeking “deferred action.”
Americans won’t like the amnesty and they won’t like how it was done, but they’re not to blame. Only Congress has the power to act against a president who throws the constitutional system into chaos by nullifying the laws Congress has enacted and governs by imperial edicts. Congress is out of town now, but frankly, even when they were in town they were out of touch and unwilling to challenge President Obama’s usurpation of their exclusive plenary authority over immigration policy.
Today’s amnesty is the dénouement of the backdoor tactics this president has been peddling since taking office and should have been no surprise to Congress.�
They should have stopped it long before it reached this point. After all, for the past 3 and a half years, the administration has bypassed Congress while it systematically dismantled most interior immigration enforcement by gutting programs Congress enacted, rewritten guidelines, and claimed limitless prosecutorial discretion in an effort to allow all but the most violent criminal aliens to remain. “Merely” violating immigration laws is now inconsequential in the eyes of this administration. Yet, with a few exceptions in the House and Senate, Congress has said nothing, done nothing.
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In June, the Obama administration further usurped congressional authority by announcing it was unilaterally amending federal immigration policy to grant amnesty to illegal aliens who met criteria similar to that of the failed DREAM Act. This circumvention of congressional power came not in the form of an executive order or regulation, but by a mere policy memorandum authored by the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. Shortly afterwards, President Obama publicly declared the new law of the land. Again, Congress sat idly by, surrendering the authority it is granted to regulate immigration to a White House eager to use it for political purposes.
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Inaction has consequences. Starting today, illegal aliens up to the age of 30 who meet certain requirements will begin submitting their applications for “deferred action,” which allows them to remain in the country for a period of two years, with indefinite renewals. They may also apply for work authorization, adding an estimated 2 million job-seekers to the workforce at a time of record unemployment.
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Congress needs to wake up, show up, stand up and remind itself that they rejected the DREAM Act as recently as December 2010. Why and how is the president now doing administratively that which Congress said no to legislatively? Even President Obama himself admitted it is Congress’ job to pass the law and the Executive Branch’s job to enforce the law.
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As duly elected custodians of the U.S. Constitution, Congress has a sacred responsibility to reassert its authority to write and regulate immigration laws. They must demand that the president abide by the Constitutional Separation of Powers doctrine, and reign in the abuse of executive power President Obama is using to ignore the law.�
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Short of that, we’ll all begin to wonder if T.S. Elliot had the U.S. Congress in mind when he wrote, “We are the hollow men, shape without form, shade without color, paralyzed force, gesture without motion.”
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Bob Dane is Communications Director for Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Kristen Williams is Press Secretary for FAIR.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/15/amnesty-for-illegal-aliens-begins-today-and-congress-couldnt-care-less/#ixzz23cqPdh7C
Irs Is Helping Illegal Alliens Defraud the Govt - $6.8 Billion Was filed 2011 with an IRS Tax ID Intead of Social Security
IRS discouraged fraud detection in ID program
Published August 08, 2012 Associated Press
WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service has been looking the other way instead of rooting out fraud when people apply for taxpayer identification numbers, Treasury Department investigators said Wednesday, exposing a shortfall with both financial and national security implications.
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A member of Congress who sits on the House’s tax-writing committee responded to the report by calling on IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman to resign, claiming the IRS is helping illegal immigrants defraud the government.
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Non-citizens without Social Security numbers have to get ID numbers from the IRS to claim tax refunds. Their applications for ID numbers are processed at an IRS center in Austin, Texas.
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J. Russell George, the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration, said investigators looking into the application process found “an environment which discourages employees from detecting fraudulent applications.”
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Instead, IRS employees were encouraged to process as many ID applications as possible, George said in his report. In addition, investigators learned that the IRS had quit using successful fraud-detection measures in processing the applications.
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“There is a potential that erroneous tax refunds are going to non-qualifying individuals, allowing them to defraud the federal government of billions of dollars,” investigators wrote in the report.
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Once ID numbers are obtained fraudulently, they can be used for other deceptions. When first introduced in 1996, the ID numbers were supposed to be used only for taxes. But investigators found they’re now being used in several states to get driver’s licenses.
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Almost 3 million tax returns seeking $6.8 billion were filed last year using IRS ID numbers rather than Social Security numbers. Investigators said they couldn’t put a number on how many of those returns may have been fraudulent.
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At issue are the documentation requirements for verifying the identity of those who apply for an ID number. Unlike applications for a passport or a Social Security number, applicants for the ID number weren’t required to submit certified copies of their birth certificate or other identification.
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IRS managers had been aware of the problem since at least 2002, but failed to take sufficient action, investigators said. Tax examiners at the agency also complained to investigators they had little to no training in how to root out fraudulent applications.
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IRS officials responding to the report said they already had taken action to address the problem. In June, the agency started requiring original or certified documents until new rules can be developed for 2013.
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“Our leadership moved quickly and aggressively to address issues that were identified,” IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said.
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Treasury investigators said the IRS has agreed to adopt seven of their nine recommendations for correcting the problem and is still considering the other two.
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In a letter to Shulman calling for his resignation, Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, cited investigators’ findings that people sought $4.2 billion in refundable child tax credits last year using IRS ID numbers.
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“The commissioner and certain IRS officials are essentially aiding and abetting illegal immigrants and others in fraudulently receiving tax refunds courtesy of the American taxpayer,” Johnson said in a statement.
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IRS officials declined to comment on Johnson’s letter.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/08/irs-discouraged-fraud-detection-in-id-program/#ixzz23BA7SvcV
The President’s immigration plan will cost taxpayers over $350 million the first year
American citizens and legal immigrants get your wallets out. Effective next week the Obama amnesty will take effect.
The Obama administration will now allow aliens with criminal records to enter the country and will stop deportation of illegal aliens even if they violated state immigration laws.
A message from fellow Massachusetts resident.
We fought so hard to get secure communities in place and had some raids in the past few days. We hate to sayit but probably starting next week everything that ICE has accompolished will be undone .
We are A banana republic with a self-proclaimed dictator that does not uphold the document that he swore to defend. Oh, I forgot to mention that he messed up the oath that he took in private.
Can Not Afford College? Renounce your US Citizenship and sneak back in!
Illegal Aliens Pay 1/3 Of what citizens & legal Aliens Pay
College Credits for illegal Aliens at a cheaper rate than US Citizens
California Rules that Illegal Aliens Deserve Cheaper College Tuition than Out of State Students
Do you wake up in the morning and worry about how you are going to send your kids to college?
We’ve got the solution. Have him Renounce his citizenship and sneak back in to the United States of America where as an Illegal, you can get a discount on college tuition.
Ice Agent facing suspension for refusing to release an illegal alien.
A police spokesman said that an American citizen who is arrested with the same charges would have to stay in jail until a judge order the release.
America apparently being a citizen of the United States is a handicap.
Sen. Sessions wants answers as ICE agent faces suspension for illegal immigrant arrest
By Todd Starnes Published August 03, 2012 Fox News Radio
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is demanding answers after a report surfaced that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is facing punishment for arresting an illegal immigrant.
The unidentified agent could face a three-day suspension after he arrested a 35-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico who had as many as 10 traffic violations.
The agent was ordered by supervisors to release the individual because he was not a “priority target.” When the officer balked, he was threatened with a three-day suspension and the illegal alien was let go.
Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert, Mass Tea Party’s Keynote Speaker at our April 15th Patriot Courage Rally, minced no words with Fox Business’s Liz MacDonald. He charged that the Obama “Administration’s Immigration Policy [is] Adding to [our national] Crime Rate.” As we all understand by now, the Obama Administration is more concerned with garnering votes than they are with keeping illegal immigrant Level I, II and III felonious murderers, rapist and kidnappers in prison. After all, they need another term to complete their disintegration of America and our institutions.
W observed the same behavior in our state during Obama- lite, Deval Patrick’s scheme to delay and sabotage the ability of cities and town’s to implement the Federal Secure Communities program. A program, that at virtually no cost to the state, cities or towns would have identified the same felonious criminals and would have subjected them to deportation after serving time for their crimes. We must hold this administration morally and criminally responsible for every inhabitant of our country that is brutalized by these felons.
Union heads representing thousands of America’s immigration agents slammed the Obama administration Thursday over a policy they claim is forcing officials to ignore the law and allowing illegal immigrants to exploit the system.
In a startling allegation, the president of the union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers claimed illegal immigrants are “taking advantage” of a new directive allowing some undocumented residents who came to the U.S. as children to stay in the country. Union boss Chris Crane said the policy ends up allowing illegal immigrants to avoid detention without any proof — particularly so-called “dreamers,” or those illegal immigrants who would benefit under the “DREAM Act” proposal, which Congress has not passed but the administration has partially implemented.
“Prosecutorial discretion for dreamers is solely based on the individual’s claims. Our orders are if an alien says they went to high school, then let them go,” he said at a press conference with GOP senators. “Officers have been told that there is no burden for the alien to prove anything. … At this point we don’t even know why DHS has criteria at all, as there is no requirement or burden to prove anything on the part of the alien.
“We believe that significant numbers of people who are not dreamers are taking advantage of this practice to avoid arrest,” he said.
Crane cited one case in which, he said, an immigrant facing criminal charges was let go under the policy. Further, he complained that officers are “under threat of losing their jobs” if they defy the policy.
ICE didn’t respond to those allegations directly but said allegations of fraud and abuse will be investigated.
The press conference comes just days after the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an anti-illegal immigration group, released a report claiming the administration has worked for the past three-and-a-half years to undermine immigration enforcement.
ICE, though, defended its operations Thursday evening — noting, as it often does, that the agency is only funded to remove roughly 400,000 people a year and has to prioritize. The prioritization under this administration has been to fast-track for deportation those accused of serious criminal offenses and potentially give a reprieve to those who aren’t.
“Because the agency encounters more removable aliens than it is able to process, the agency prioritizes its resources on aliens whose removal have the greatest impact on public safety and the integrity of the immigration system,” spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement. “ICE’s efforts to target the agency’s enforcement priorities are paying big dividends. For each of the past three fiscal years, ICE has removed more criminal aliens from the country than ever before and more than 90 percent of ICE’s removals fell into one of the agency’s enforcement priority categories.”
She disputed the notion that the policy impacts public safety, but she said the agency meets regularly with union representatives “to discuss our goal of ensuring public safety by focusing on the removal of individuals who meet our enforcement priorities.”
In light of the accusations Thursday, she added that “the agency will aggressively investigate allegations of fraud and abuse of the deferred action process.”
The allegations from the union were expressed in unusually blunt terms Thursday.
George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council union, said the Department of Homeland Security has made it impossible for agents to do their jobs.
Crane said it’s led to disorganization and “confusion” at ICE.
Republican lawmakers used the forum to continue their sustained campaign against the administration’s immigration policy changes.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the latest directive is without legal basis and “condones breaking the law.”
Has an Obama gaffe finally revealed his innermost contempt for America, our Constitution and our traditional institutions? A contempt so deep and so villainous to American Principles and Values that he had to keep it concealed from public view. Hidden lest his villainous ideology be exposed and ruin his wicked plan to destroy America’s most cherished constitutional, social and economic institutions. Every once and a while those seers of our American culture would get a glimpse of his veiled intent and would alert our populous who either would not or could not believe that an American President could be capable of such infamous deeds.Then last Monday night while speaking at a fundraiser in Oakland last, Obama momentarily removed his superficial cloak as he told a mob of supporters that, “Just like we’ve tried their plan, we’ve tried our plan, and it worked. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election. That’s why I’m running for a second term.” He thereby, perhaps unconsciously, revealed his ongoing plan to subvert and destroy America.
The Top 50 Obama Short comings-50 reasons not to vote for Obama
1. Obamacare
2. The failed $850 billion stimulus
3. High, persistent unemployment
4. Gas prices
5. The 2012 budget’s fecklessness
6. Massive deficits each and every year
7. The seizure of GM and Chrysler, the transfer of bondholder wealth to unions, and the dumping of the GM stock at a loss
9. Hostility to Israel, including attack on apartment expansion and icing of Prime Minister Netanyahu in basement of White House
10. Failure to support Iran’s Green Revolution
11. Failure to support Syrian revolution
12. The Libyan Fiasco
13. The incompetent handling of the Gulf Oil disaster
14. The unnecessary permitorium in the aftermath of the Gulf Oil disaster
15. The shutdown of Shell’s Arctic oil exploration by EPA
16. The president’s push for cap-and-tax in the Congress
17. The president’s attempt to unconstitutionally impose cap-and-tax via EPA when the Congress wouldn’t pass cap-and-tax
18. The president’s push for unconstitutional restrictions on free speech on his political enemies while keeping the unions free to spend money on campaigns via The Disclose Act
19. The president’s attempt to unconstitutionally impose The Disclose Act on his political opponents but not unions via Executive Order
20. The president’s use of unaccountable “czars”
21. The president’s refusal to accept Congressional direction vis-a-vis his “czars” contained in the last 2011 Continuing Resolution
22. The president’s verbal assault on the Supreme Court while the members of the Court sat before him in the state of the Union
23. The president and Eric Holder’s politicization of the Department of Justice, including the black panthers case and the refusal to defend DOMA
24. The president’s use of demonizing rhetoric towards his opponents, such as accusing doctors of performing unnecessary surgery for money
25. The president’s hyper-partisan approach to governing including “I won, you lost” in 2009 and the assault on Paul Ryan with Paul Ryan as an invited guest in the president’s April 2011 “deficit speech.”
26. Bowing to the Saudi King and the Japanese emperor
27. Returning the bust of Churchill to Great Britain
28. Removing the missile shield from Poland and the Czech Republic
29. Backing the would-be dictator of Hondorus when that nation’s Supreme Court rightfully removed him from office
30. Failure to push for quick ratification of free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea
31. Indecision on Afghanistan surge coupled with announcement of eventual withdrawal.
32. Incoherence on Egypt, most obviously with the dispatch of Frank Wizner and then rejection of Wizner’s advice vis-a-vis Mubarak.
33. Appointment Craig Beck to NLRB via recess appointment
34. Appointment of FCC commissioners who are pursuing “net neutrality” without Congressional authorization
35. Failure to resume full water deliveries to California’s Central Valley because of the Delta Smelt
36. Attempt to close Guantanamo Bay
37. Attempt to try terrorists in New York City
38. Janet “The System Worked” Napolitano
39. Government takeover of the student loan program
40. Cancellation of “virtual border fence” project with no replacement or indeed concern for border security
41. The “Beer Summit” and the attack on the Cambridge Police Department
42. The Department of Justice’s attack on Arizona for that state’s exercise of its sovereign legislative authority on the issue of citizen identification rules
43. The attack on Scott Walker and Wisconsin for the governor’s and the state legislature’s exercise of their sovereign legislative authority on public employment issues
44. Dabbling in basketball brackets while the Middle East fell into chaos and the gas prices skyrocketed
45. Arguing that American exceptionalism was the same as any nation’s sense of exceptionalism
46. Implying that Minnesota bridge collapse was the result of lack of infrastructure funding
47. Inserting himself into campaign for the Olympics
48. Attack on D.C. voucher program
49. Van Jones and a long list of other appointees
50. Teleprompter dependency and the worst run of presidential rhetoric since Millard Fillmore combined with testiness in the few interviews he grants.