Category: Immigration

In this atmosphere of high concern regarding foreign access to the United States, we owe it to each other to discuss with clarity real facts about immigration.

Illegal Immigrants’ REAL Rights

July 17, 2019

The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted long ago that those from outside the U.S. who are NOT U.S. citizens when stepping foot on U.S. soil are given the rights of all U.S. citizens “under the Law.” This includes all those illegal immigrants who sneak into the country through our southern border. If you’ve ever wondered what is their reasoning for sneaking in and taking such great risk in doing so, now you know. Once here, the path to citizenship is not nearly so simple nor easy. It takes a long time and it’s intense. Americans are comfortable that it should take a long time and should be intense. After all, these immigrants are all desirous of living in the greatest country on Earth. And “anything worth having is worth hurting for.” (a country song was written by my brother)

Sadly though, most of these illegals that find there way into the United States have no desire to emigrate to America legally — this in spite of the fact that one million come to the U.S. legally each year. They are actually enticed to come to the U.S. outside of the legal process to do so! There are Mexican cartels very willing to accommodate their travels and sneak them into the U.S., though at a hefty price. And then there are those in Washington who are willing to do just about anything to facilitate their easy entry and permanent status when arriving.

“Round Them Up”

President Trump promised in his 2016 campaign when elected he would fix the illegal immigration problem in America. But his hands are tied. Congress makes all the laws. Even a President cannot do that. He can (and does) issue executive orders, which every president in history has done, but they are not comprehensive and as enforceable as laws. And Congress simply refuses to pass new or repair OLD immigration laws sufficient to stop the flood of illegals into the South.

For two weeks President Trump has publicly warned that ICE agents would be canvassing several large U.S. cities to find and arrest illegals who have had deportation orders issued by an immigration court and have ignored those orders to remain in the U.S. illegally. When the news came out, Democrats went stark raving crazy! The Leftist mantra damning this president skyrocketed. You have certainly read and seen the media pundits going after Trump for doing this. And they ALL ignore one fact — and the MOST important fact of this immigration situation: THEY ARE HERE ILLEGALLY!

But that makes no difference to elitists.

A few heavyweights have even got into the fray regarding these Trump/ICE roundups:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and current U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) each gave detailed instructions to illegals in the U.S. on how to avoid deportation. This was a direct result of pending ICE roundups of illegals who have defied deportation orders from immigration judges and have remained illegally in the U.S. Pelosi said this, “If agents come to your house with an ICE immigration warrant, you do not have to answer the door. They cannot search your home without a judicial warrant signed by a judge authorizing a search.” AOC stated the exact same thing. Even Hillary Clinton weighed in with similar advice on Twitter: “Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighed in on Twitter, urging people to share Spanish-language guidelines such as ‘toma fotos y videos’ – meaning take photos and videos. ‘Por favor comparte,’ Clinton wrote, or please share.”

Please keep in mind the following: two of these are currently serving members of Congress one of whom is the Speaker of the House and one was a U.S. Senator and a candidate for the U.S. presidency. And they are advising non-citizens on how to circumvent the law!

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

All three took the above oath of office with one hand on a Bible and the other in the air to affirm their sworn oath to the Nation. Is it not something of a paradox that all three are instructing illegals how to evade U.S. immigration law — a law that was passed by the United States Congress?

Some will say that all of those illegals these three are speaking to are NOT criminals — they just came here illegally. Saying that is absolutely wrong. Regardless of what has been said in national media reports, those who are being sought in these ICE processes are not just illegals who recently crossed over our border. The Trump Administration is going after illegals who came to the United States and were detained, were then found by a court of law to have committed some offense that warrants deportation. They have each been through that entire process — including appeals for immigration court findings against them — and have been ordered by the court to be deported! These are NOT innocent immigrants as Pelosi, Cortez, and Clinton want Americans to believe. These are those who U.S. courts have given the full remedies of U.S. law to prove the innocence of charges made against them and have been adjudicated to be guilty and sentenced to deportation.

How Should Illegals Seek Assylum the Right and Legal Way?

U.S. embassies and consulates cannot process requests for this form of protection because, under U.S. law, asylum seekers can apply only if they are physically present in the United States (or at least at a U.S. border or other point of entry).
There is a common misconception that U.S. embassies and consulates are basically the same as U.S. soil. It is true that international law protects national embassies and consulates from being destroyed, entered, or searched (without permission) by the government of the country where they are located (the host country). However, this does not give those embassies or consulates the full status of being part of their home nation’s territory. Therefore, U.S. law does not consider asylum seekers at U.S. embassies and consulates to be “physically present in the United States” (or at a U.S. border or point of entry).
However, this does not mean that embassy personnel cannot offer any help at all to people who are in danger and seek their protection. In extreme or exceptional circumstances, U.S. embassies and consulates may offer alternative forms of protection, including (in most countries) temporary refuge, a referral to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, or a request for parole to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

A foreign national who seeks asylum in the United States may do so either affirmatively or defensively. An affirmative asylum seeker is physically present in the United States. This person must apply for asylum within one year of his arrival in the United States. He may be undocumented, living in the United States without status, or may have entered the U.S. on a visa which will soon expire.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services reviews affirmative asylum claims through a non-adversarial interview with an asylum officer at one of eight offices nationwide. The affirmative asylum seeker requests asylum by completing an I-589 Application, which asks for personal information about the seeker and her family and for the grounds of asylum, whether she has ever experienced “harm or mistreatment or threats,” whether she “fears harm or mistreatment” if forced to return home, whether she’s been imprisoned or detained in countries outside of the United States and other questions. By answering these questions, the asylum seeker can demonstrate that she is not barred from asylum for any of the reasons listed in the immigration laws.
After interviewing the applicant, the asylum officer may grant the asylum status or refer the applicant to immigration court for removal proceedings, where she may pursue the application for asylum before an immigration judge.
A defensive asylum applicant is a person who is apprehended after entering the United States at a border and applies for asylum while the threat of removal by the Department of Homeland Security looms. An applicant must be in removal proceedings in immigration court to request asylum in this manner. The application is the same, but the asylum seeker must file his application with the immigration court with jurisdiction over the applicant’s case. The applicant must show that persecution is more probable than not if he is forced to return home.
What does an asylum seeker have to prove?
Those seeking asylum must prove that they are escaping their homeland because of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The Immigration and Nationality Act explicitly provides these five bases for granting asylum, having been heavily influenced by the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees.
Though the first three bases are self-explanatory, persecution due to political opinion and membership in a social group are less clear. Persecution based on political opinion means that the asylum seeker holds political views that his homeland’s government doesn’t tolerate. An asylum seeker must provide evidence that his expressed political views have opposed those of his government. He can achieve this by providing evidence of speaking publicly in opposition to the government, publishing opposition literature, taking part in political activities on an opposing side, or joining an opposition political party.
Persecution due to membership in a social group is even more difficult to define and prove. Judges and asylum officers analyzing social group-based claims play close attention to societal perceptions of the group to which the asylum seeker belongs. As such, the social group can vary in definition and interpretation. In one case, the Board of Immigration Appeals defined a particular social group as “a group of persons, all of whom share a common, immutable characteristic.”Additionally, the group must be “particular” and “socially distinct.”

The Four “HorseWOMEN” of the Apocalypse

There will be some who term me as a racist or sexist for referring to Rep. Ilan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Rashid Tlaib (D-MI), and Rep. Ayanna Presley (D-MA) as the “Four HorseWOMEN of the Apocalypse” that comes from the book of Revelation in the Bible. My doing so is neither racist nor sexist for those Bible character’s sex is unknown. The point is, whenever these four appear before a crowd with microphones, it seems they are there to discuss only gloom and doom — very similar to an apocalypse.

After the weekend tweets about them from President Trump, in their responses on Monday, it is apparent those on the Left to whom these four speak support those untrue characterizations of the President, his policies, but more importantly, they support the ignoring of the Rule of Law. Their speeches and attacks on the President are NOT to inform the public but to spread a political ideology that is NOT truthful. There is NO mass incarceration at the southern border. There is NO unilateral action being taken by Border Patrol agents regarding detainees or their incarceration. Border Patrol and ICE agents are simply enforcing United States law.

Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, AOC, Tliab, Omar, and Presley each not only support law-breaking, but they also stomp on the U.S. Constitution, the Rule of Law and the rights of every American who look-on as Democrats in Congress refuse to honor their Oaths of Office while aiding those who systematically break the law daily.

They ignore the fundamentals of America, though they each muttered a few sentences from the Constitution while ignoring THE principles upon which this nation was founded and the most important characteristic of this nation that led them here: “The Rule of Law.” None even mentioned the truth about those being deported. Is that surprising to you?

It’s also fair to mention that as they railed against the Trump Administration for “inhumane conditions for immigrants at the southern border while keeping children in cages,” they forgot to mention THEY WERE THE ONLY 4 DEMOCRATS THAT VOTED “NO” FOR THE $4.4 BILLION BILL CONGRESS PASSED LAST WEEK TO FINALLY GIVE BORDER PATROL AND ICE THE NECESSARY FUNDS TO BUY BEDDING, FOOD AND CLOTHING, MEDICAL CARE, AND TO ADD ADDITIONAL HOUSING FOR ILLEGALS WHILE THEY ARE PROCESSED.

Talk about hypocrisy!

Yes, sadly there are those who hang on their every word. After all, in this social media America, many get their news ONLY from social media and scarcely seek facts on their own.

Sadly, it doesn’t get much better looking around either of the Democrat Party debate stages: all the 2020 candidates seem to be of the same ilk. When asked who among them supports doing away with criminal charges for those illegals who cross into the U.S., all but one raised a hand.

In closing, remember this: without borders, there is NO nation. And a nation without laws and laws that are enforced, those nations become banana republics with mob rule: sort of like Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and even Mexico to some extent.

 

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Kids in Cages in McAllen, TX

July 2, 2019

We’ve all heard the cries against the Trump Administration for keeping kids in cages. Doing so is heartless, unthinkable, unbelievable, and un-American.

If that was truly happening, all of those things would be true. But, none of that is actually happening!  All of the reporting by the Leftist media and their day-after-day harping on it over and over has driven home in the minds of millions of Americans that “because CNN and MSNBC keep telling us it’s going on, it must be true!”

It isn’t true!

The same things were said early on about illegal immigrant children being ripped from their parents and put on planes unaccompanied by adults and sent to mini-concentration camps in south Florida. Black activist Candace Owens even took a camera crew into one such facility unannounced and brought to us absolute proof that such travesties were non-existent but also how wonderfully treated those immigrant children were living in pristine conditions, were fed well, kept in wonderful living quarters, recreational facilities were abundant, and they even had a hair salon! The video of her visit is 7:09 long. I’m posting the link here so you can click on and watch it. (Beware: her anger at leftists for their non-stop false reports results in some angry rhetoric that may offend some!)

https://youtu.be/_BI4tsONlFk

I’m curious as to why at least CNN and MSNBC have not taken the time to show the World the sordid conditions they allege in these facilities along the southern border. One would think if their outrage is real and their purpose is to prompt the rectifying of these atrocities they would do so, right? Well maybe their intentions are NOT to push through positive changes for the immigrants along with showing Americans the truth. Maybe they’re just pushing a political narrative.

One well-known advocate DID make the trip down south. He did NOT take a film crew with him, but he spoke to some immigrants and walked through unabated an entire facility to get facts about the conditions. His non-profit “Family Talk” has been in exsistence for almost a decade and concentrates solely on families and family issues. He is credible, non-partisan, and totally objective. Let’s take a look at his observations.

No summary conclusion is offered by TruthNewsNetwork because non is necessary!

First-Hand Look at the Southern Border Immigration Centers

Dear Friends,

Several weeks ago, I was invited by White House staff to visit our southern border at McAllen, Texas, where federal agents are struggling to deal with a massive influx of poor and destitute human beings. They come in never-ending waves. Please believe me when I tell you that the media and leftist politicians have not been truthful about what is going on there. It is a human tragedy.

I promised the exhausted U.S. Custom and Border Patrol agents that I would go home and tell as many people as possible what I had seen “up close and personal.” Today, I am attempting to fulfill that commitment.

Approximately 5,500 people show up every day in districts organized along our southern U.S. border. McAllen is the site of only one of them, but it is the busiest and most besieged. The “refugees” arrive exhausted and ragged from walking hundreds of miles. Among them are large numbers of children, many of whom are unaccompanied by a caring adult. Last year, 382,000 aliens were apprehended for illegally crossing into this country and almost 100,000 of them were minors. Some of the kids have been abused along the way. Many of them carry lice, scabies or other diseases. Currently, the facility I visited is experiencing a flu epidemic, and there are no additional beds on which to lie. Some of the women have been raped. More than 70 people of all ages are sent to local hospitals daily along the southern border. Doctors and medical staff are overwhelmed by their patient load. Remember that word, “overwhelmed.” It describes every aspect of the effort to deal with the situation there.

The most heart-wrenching experience occurred during our tour of the holding area. It is a huge gym-like building consisting of dozens of fenced-in areas. Each one is crowded with detainees standing or sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on benches. They stared out at us with plaintive eyes.

I noticed that almost none of them were talking to each other. The children looked traumatized and frightened. Tears flooded my eyes as I stood before them. They had no toys or dolls, except for a few items bought by compassionate border patrol agents. One tiny little girl clutched something that resembled a doll bought for her by an agent. There are few provisions made to accommodate the children. The week before we were there, a delegation of agents went to meet with members of Congress, and begged them for additional money to buy Pampers, toothbrushes, and other necessities. They were turned down flat. These meager supplies have to be purchased with the border patrol budget, which is stretched to the limit.

I then walked up to a fenced area holding many skinny young men. An agent standing beside me asked if I would like to speak to them. He offered to translate for me, to which I replied, “Please tell them that God loves them.” Then I said, “Now tell them that I love them, too.” They smiled and waved timidly.

My heart aches for these poor people. Lest I be misunderstood, let me make clear that I am among the majority of Americans who want the border to be closed to those who attempt to enter illegally. There has to be a better solution than this. I have wondered, with you, why the authorities don’t just deny these refugees access to this nation. Can’t we just send them back to their places of origin? The answer I received was “No,” for reasons I will explain.

Only 10 percent of the detainees are Mexicans. This year alone, people have come to our southern border from 127 countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, India, China, Palestine, Albania, San Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and other nations around the world. They speak their native tongues, which means they can’t be understood by each other or the staff. What are we to do with them? The Mexican government will not take them back, and there is no place to send them. Our current laws do not permit us to repatriate them to their country of origin. This is a disaster with no solution or projected conclusion.

Let me tell you how these desperate people come to be our responsibility. They are the lowest rung of many societies. They sell their shanties and any other possessions to scrape together $3,500 to $10,000 to pay “coyotes” to guide them. I don’t know what happens to those who can’t meet this demand. Apparently, most manage to pay the fee, and arrive penniless and profoundly needy. I was told that some of the vulnerable children are “recycled” repeatedly to help men gain entry to this country. An unknown number of these men are hardened criminals and drug runners, and they are difficult to identify. Most make their way across the border.

Here’s something else you should know. I have been under the impression that these would-be immigrants try to cross the Rio Grande River and outrun or evade the agents. That is not true of most. They come in large groups, from 100 to 400 people at a time. As I write this letter, a record 1,200 people arrived together at El Paso. The refugees quickly give themselves up to agents. That is why they have made this journey. They know they will be fed, medicated, and treated humanely, even if they are in holding areas while they are in our custody. Then they will be released on American soil. This is the system set up by a liberal Congress and judges. It is a well-known fact that President Obama’s administration established many of these unworkable policies, and Congress is steadfastly unwilling to change them. Every effort at reform has been overridden or ignored. It is set in stone. Democrats want massive numbers of immigrants who will someday become voters. Some Republicans support the policies because they want cheap labor for agricultural purposes. The border could be fixed, but there are very few in authority who seem to care.

Getting back to my story, our group of national faith leaders and humanitarian organizations was taken to a grassy park underneath the international bridges where the “coyotes” bring the refugees. We stood 50 feet away from them and watched as about 200 people sat on the ground. Then buses arrived to transport them to Border Control. Agents have to work fast because another group will be showing up soon, and then another and another. The would-be immigrants are taken to the center and given cursory medical exams. Then they are segregated by sex and age and placed in the fenced-in areas to be held for the next 20 days until they are processed and given a Notice to Appear. If that sounds inhumane, what would you or I do? There is simply no other place to “house” them.

Mismanagement of the border has a long history. A federal judge years ago issued a ruling called the Flores Settlement Agreement. It is still the source of many problems. It requires that any unaccompanied alien child must be released within 72 hours. This is now the law of the land, and poor people around the world know it. A single male typically seeks to find a child and a woman to help him “game the system.” Clearly, many of these are “fake families,” but there is no documentation in Pakistan or Bangladesh to challenge their claims. Lawyers at home have told them to claim that they are fleeing from oppression or seeking asylum. They are allowed to plead their cases to judges, but there are too few of them to keep up with the volume. These people are given a court case and released. The vast majority are never seen again. Most then become “anchor babies” who are citizens with rights to bring members of their families. Others are given transportation to an American city where they disappear into the culture.

In addition to this influx of people from places around the world steeped in poverty and despair, Senator Chuck Schumer authored and helped pass a “lottery” system, whereby winners are brought to the United States. They become permanent residents, who then begin bringing their families to our shores. Thank you, Senator.

Ten years ago, 90 percent of illegals apprehended at the border were single males, mainly from Mexico. Now, more than 50 percent show up with babies and children, and 90 percent of them are from countries other than Mexico with 64 percent being family units or unaccompanied alien children. Together, they claim to be “families” and within three weeks, they will be home free in America. Is there any doubt why there have been more than half a million illegal immigrants this year alone?

Before I conclude, I must tell you about the agents who have to deal with this chaos. They are compassionate men and women, sworn to uphold federal law and protect our borders.

They obviously care about the detainees, and I respect them highly. They work tirelessly feeding people three times a day and providing clean clothing. They must also maintain the portable toilets in the cells. It is a never-ending task. There are only two large showers in the facility, one for males, the other for females. Their capacity is for only 20 people at a time, which is insufficient.

The border patrol agents administer this program, but most of them didn’t sign up to be caregivers. Agents were trained to patrol the border and apprehend drug runners, traffickers, smugglers, murderers, and every kind of lawbreaker. This is very dangerous work. But, please understand this: the border patrol agents are so busy caring for refugees seeking entry to the United States that they have very little time to police the borders. It is so porous that huge quantities of contraband, including all kinds of narcotics, flow into this country every day. Then it is transported northward to America’s cities to be consumed by adolescents and millennials. Lawless gangs, such as MS-13, are also pouring into the culture, making violence for inner cities a way of life.

There is one more aspect to the work of the agents that you should know. They are openly hated by citizens who resent the work they do. They are routinely vilified and mocked and demonized. Their families are also subjected to ridicule. These agents need our appreciation and prayers. They have one of the most thankless jobs in America.

The situation I have described is the reason President Donald Trump’s border wall is so urgently needed. He seems to be the only leader in America who comprehends this tragedy and is willing to address it. Those who oppose him do everything they can to impede his effort. That is why I went to the border to see the situation for myself. I came away with an array of intense emotions. First, I was profoundly grieved over the misery of thousands of people. Second, I felt a deep appreciation for those who are doing their best to help in an impossible circumstance. Third, and frankly, I was angry at the political fat cats who have deliberately allowed this chaos to occur for political or financial gain. They, and their friends in the fake media, have told the American people that there is no crisis at the border! Shame on them all.

What I’ve told you is only a glimpse of what is occurring on the nation’s border. I don’t know what it will take to change the circumstances. I can only report that without an overhaul of the law and the allocation of resources, millions of illegal immigrants will continue flooding to this great land from around the world. Many of them have no marketable skills. They are illiterate and unhealthy. Some are violent criminals. Their numbers will soon overwhelm the culture as we have known it, and it could bankrupt the nation. America has been a wonderfully generous and caring country since its founding. That is our Christian nature. But in this instance, we have met a worldwide wave of poverty that will take us down if we don’t deal with it. And it won’t take long for the inevitable consequences to happen.

Thanks for letting me set the record straight.

Dr. James Dobson's Signature
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Congress: Lawlessness With Impunity

July 1, 2019

Politicians use the term “Rule of Law” whenever there’s a legal issue with which they disagree (and they want to frame that issue with a specific law that supports their disagreement) or one with which they agree (and they want to frame that issue with a specific law that supports their agreement). But they always seem to speak louder about the “Rule of Law” when it supports their position. So what is “The Rule of Law?”

The America of 1787 inherited from medieval England the concept of rule of law, sometimes expressed as “a government of laws, not of men.” You can trace the rise of this principle in English history all the way back to the signing of Magna Charta in the year 1215 when King John found it necessary to guarantee his obedience to English laws. For that matter, medieval English writers on law derived their understanding of the rule of law from ancient Roman jurisprudence.

“The king himself ought not to be under man but under God, and under the Law, because the Law makes the king. Therefore let the king render back to the Law what the Law gives him, namely, dominion and power; for there is no king where will, and not Law, wields dominion.” So wrote Henry de Bracton, “the father of English law,” about the year 1260, during the reign of Henry III. This doctrine that no man is above the law applied not only to kings but also to legislative bodies and judges.

“Rule of Law” has been around for a long time and has since this nation’s inception has been the foundation which supports the entirety of the United States Government. It holds the rules and laws by which America for its lifetime has grown to and maintained the title of being the most legal, impartial, and fair nation on Earth when following the laws of the land.

But it’s under attack — an attack of the worst kind. America’s lawmakers — those who actually are charged by the Constitution with the sole power to craft ALL the laws that rule our lives — have devolved into governing from a murky world of arbitrary determination of the enforcement of certain laws. And it’s never been more obvious than it is today — on the 2020 Presidential debate stage, the responses to a question about a specific U.S. law and how each candidate felt about a specific law. Watch and listen:

Almost every person on that stage is a member of Congress or was formerly. Each understands what the Rule of Law states and what it means. And each when taking their oath of office to serve in Congress and those who serve in other elected positions made a personal commitment to the Rule of Law!

The Congressional Oath of Office:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

As we learned above regarding the source and meaning of the rule of law, the United States Constitution set the basis for the process of the lawful conducting of our citizens. And further, it set the Constitution as the ultimate authority in the determination of the meaning of specific laws that are legally put in place by the various authorities and groups in America.

Who are those “specific authorities and groups in America” who put those laws in place? 

We’ll get into that in just a moment in our summary.

The Presidential Debate Question From Hell

Of course to the average American, it may seem gallant to raise one’s hands to defend the helpless that find themselves in U.S. Border Patrol facilities being processed as illegal immigrants for crossing into the United States across the U.S./Mexico border. It may be politically brave to attempt to intervene with suggestions of how to help those illegal immigrants in the conditions in which they find themselves after their crossing into America. But, no matter how gallant or brave those candidates felt when they raised their hands in answer to the question about changing the actual law that terms those illegals as criminals. They do NOT have the right to do so! And that is exactly what the Rule of Law says.

Those illegals — every one of those illegals — broke a specific federal law. Here’s the law, its details, and its penalties for its breaking:

8 U.S. Code § 1325. Improper entry by alien

(a) Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

Summary

Folks, it is heart-rending to see and hear the heartaches being played out in the lives of thousands of illegal immigrants in our southern states. It’s horrible to see and hear the thousands and thousands of Americans being caught in illegal acts of every imaginable kind in all 50 states — and not many of the acts of breaking the law result in death or injury of others. No matter: according to the Rule of Law, the breaking of U.S. laws is criminal…PERIOD.

Why are thousands dying of opioid overdoses in America every month? Why are thousands of women and children being kidnapped, trafficked, and forced into drug dealing and prostitution every year?

Answer: Not all, but many are allowed to be in positions to perpetuate their law-breaking because someone somewhere in some position of authority made a unilateral decision to either wink at their wrongdoing acts OR when the perpetrators are brought to a place of accountability for their wrongdoing, refusing to prosecute or sentence according to the Rule of Law!

On Wednesday of this week, we will detail the position of “Supreme Leader” or “Dictator” or “King” many on the Left are accusing Donald Trump of desiring and by many of actually acting out in his governing today as U.S. President. Many of those same accusers are the very ones who have made winking at the Rule of Law or just ignoring it the right thing to do.

Let’s be honest: is the border crisis Donald Trump’s fault? It existed long before Donald Trump ever became Candidate Trump. It was a crisis during the Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, and Obama administrations. Did any of these presidents bear any responsibility for any of the lawbreaking that occurred in any area of the United States while they were in office?

Here’s the answer: the only responsibility any president in the United States bears is directly proportionate to his/her role in the execution of the terms of any bills presented to him/her to with a signature make it an American law AND the execution of ALL of the terms included in that law by federal law enforcement individuals under a president’s authority. And that certainly includes holding lawbreakers accountable subject to those laws.

Who controls the laws that go on the books of the Federal Government? Who makes the laws? Who determines the terms and conditions of each and every federal law ever written and signed into being? The U.S. Congress.

So, in essence, these 2020 presidential candidates who raised their hands saying they wanted illegal immigrants to no longer to be treated as criminals under 8 U.S. Code § 1325 are stating they support ignoring the Rule of Law.

Don’t forget: the same holds true when federal law enforcement officers are told to “stand down” when it comes time to enforce the federal law that makes possession of marijuana a felony. Think about that travesty: several states have passed state laws that make the use of recreational marijuana legal in direct conflict with federal law. I’m no legal genius, but the U.S. Constitution makes it very clear that in each of such cases, the Constitution decides the outcome of such a legal dilemma.

But none of those conflicts should remain. The laws can easily be fixed — every one of them that cause social conflict! Think about these:

  • The law regarding marijuana being possessed in the U.S. is illegal;
  • 8 U.S. Code § 1325 that makes illegal crossings into the U.S. illegal;
  • The electoral college being (allegedly) unfair to American voters in determining U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents;
  • The government as constitutionally being comprised of 3 co-equal branches of which no one branch controls either of the other;

ALL of these can be changed!

Who can do that? Most federal laws can be easily changed: 8 U.S. Code § 1325 that makes alien entries in the U.S. illegal can be changed as can marijuana drug laws as can electoral college laws as can the structure of power for the three branches of government.

Congresses MAKES the Law…Congress is the ONLY government entity that can CHANGE the laws in place.

Yes, the electoral college is Constitutional as is the three co-equal branches of government, but Congress can pass Constitutional amendments that then go to each state for ratification. That’s happened 27 times in U.S. history and it can be done again.

Why is it SO hard to get laws set or get laws changed? Because people in America did not all come from the same cookie-cutter philosophy nor do they share just one. And, by the way, we DON’T live in a Democracy. The United States is a “Representative Republic.” In a pure democracy, every person votes on EVERY issue: 1 vote for 1 person x however many people that are citizens. The American forefathers felt that was unfeasible in a country so large and diverse. Therefore the Constitution was set and determined all such issues to be set by a body elected by the American people to represent each American in each town in each state in each region of the country on ALL federal issues that needed to be controlled by laws. That group — the ONLY entity that makes laws — is the United States Congress.

Do you know why there are so many people being held for illegal entry into the United States at our southern border? It’s not Donald Trump, it wasn’t Barack Obama or George Bush or Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush who needed to and could fix it. It’s the United States Congress. They’re the ONLY ones who can make this right.

The American people need to ask one question about our southern border problem and ONLY ONE QUESTION: Why does Congress continue to refuse to take the action necessary — ALL the action necessary to fix the problem?

The answer: “We the People” can and should make the necessary changes to fix the problem by changing the U.S. Congress.

That’s the way “The Rule of Law” works!

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“We Don’t Need Your Stinking Help!”

June 29, 2019

“Symbolism over Substance” is a phrase you’ve heard and seen us use here numerous times. It best summarizes the hypocrisy we so often see from those on the Left, especially when it comes to immigration.

The primary policy for which Donald Trump was elected President was the one in which he guaranteed the closing of the southern border to illegal immigrants, sealing the border, and the prosecution of immigration law offenders. He’s done as much of the portions of that promise he was able to do on his own. The rest is totally dependent on the U.S. Congress. Who knows what they’ll do, but they haven’t done anything towards stopping illegal crossings.

The “poster child” of politicians from border states is the governor of New Mexico. And she’s stepped in it. Her doing so illustrates the hypocrisy of the elitist politicians that were emboldened by the former inhabitant of the White House who legitimized governing using political elitism and ignoring the rule of law.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham got busted: on her own!

The “Story”

While there’s little debate over the nature of President Donald Trump’s intense focus on border security and illegal immigration, what is up for question — at least among the Left — are the details of what, exactly, is going on along our nation’s southern border.

Some Democrats seem incapable of even agreeing that there is an ongoing crisis at the southern border.

And even if they do admit there is a state of crisis, it nevertheless remains up for debate whether that crisis is of the humanitarian or national security variety, much less how best to address it.

Democrat New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham initially denied there was even a hint of a national security crisis at the border, though it appears she may have changed her tune. Now, she’s asking the federal government for help in dealing with illegal immigrants.

It’s a remarkable shift, especially given that in February, Lujan Grisham dismissed Trump’s repeated claims of a national security crisis at the border. She even went so far as to order National Guard troops from both her state and others to withdraw from the border region, suggesting their presence was an unnecessary “charade” and only the result of the president’s “fear-mongering” about the border.

“I reject the federal contention that there exists an overwhelming national security crisis at the Southern border,” she said at the time, according to NPR, characterizing the border region in her state as having “some of the safest communities in the country.”

Lujan Grisham proceeded to order the withdrawal of about 100 National Guard troops that had been deployed to the southern border in her state at Trump’s request to provide desperately needed logistical and other assistance to U.S. Border Patrol agents.

The few National Guard troops that remained in the border region were relegated to just lending a humanitarian hand to the hundreds, if not thousands, of illegal immigrants who had entered her state illegally and were residing in — and overrunning — New Mexico’s small towns in the area.

Fast-forward a little more than three months, and the governor was reported to have recently traveled to Washington, D.C., for an in-person meeting with Kevin McAleenan, acting director of the Department of Homeland Security.

A spokesperson from the governor’s office reported that Lujan Grisham’s visit with McAleenan, which followed weeks of back-and-forth phone calls, involved a discussion of the ongoing situation at New Mexico’s southern border.

The discussion included a request from Lujan Grisham for federal reimbursement for state money spent providing humanitarian assistance to illegal aliens. She also reportedly requested the deployment of additional resources and federal staffing in the region to help address the border situation.

“The governor wants to continue to urge the federal government to increase its personnel on the border as a means of improving the logistical and communications output,” the Lujan Grisham spokesperson, Tripp Stelnicki said.

Now it’s not exactly clear what specific sorts of personnel and resources Lujan Grisham is asking for, and her office did not respond to a request for comment.

That being said, her request for additional federal resources is somewhat ironic in light of her dismissal of Trump’s characterization of the crisis and her removal of National Guard troops just a few months ago.

Steve Pearce, chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party, summed it up this way:

“She declares there’s no crisis. She removes the National Guard, and now she’s there asking for money,” he said.

“Everything in her actions indicate that she believes there’s a crisis, but yet she will not dedicate the resources or request to her colleagues in Congress to start passing the laws that will change the situation there,” he continued.

The biggest problem for the small New Mexican towns in the border region, if not across the whole state, is that residents and local officials in those towns have no idea how many illegal immigrants have entered their jurisdictions or who exactly those border-crossers are.

Nor is it clear how long they will stay, how much assistance they will require or how many more will soon join them.

This liberal governor trashed the president, dismissed the crisis at the border and further weakened the already weak border security situation via her withdrawal of National Guard troops. Now she wants federal taxpayers to reimburse her state, which is some rather delicious irony icing on her hypocrisy cake.

Summary

My father said this quite often: “Give them enough rope they’ll hang themselves.” I wasn’t certain at the time exactly who and what actions he was referring to. I learned later that it really didn’t matter. People — especially politicians — have become so accustomed to just “going with the flow” of the crowd that they often discover their doing so was a big mistake. Such is the case for Governor Grisham.

Don’t you know when all this happened she was glad to be New Mexico’s governor and not the governor of some big coastal state? There’s not much national press coverage of New Mexico that would have really embarrassed her. Getting busted and having to reach out to the Trump Administration for help is bad enough.

Yep, “Symbolism over Substance” was front and center in New Mexico. Governor Grisham just showed everyone how silly one looks when pontificating about facts that aren’t facts.

What did that great philosopher Forrest Gump have to say about this stuff? “Stupid is as Stupid Does.”

Sometimes others simply know more than we do. But that’s a hard pill to swallow — for Forrest and even for some governors.

Pelosi-Schumer are “In the Box”

June 10, 2019

For the purpose of total transparency, please know I am NOT a Democrat. I am NOT a Republican. I am registered as “Other.” My state is one in which “Independent” is not a political category that is available for voter registration.

Honestly, in some ways, I am somewhat Libertarian, in some ways Republican, and though not inclined to support any current Democrat Party policies, on certain social issues I am antipathetic: not leaning Left and not leaning Right.

Whew! Now that we got that cleared up, let me make a statement to open today’s offering: The Democrat Party is in DEEP trouble! Its two leaders have gone totally off the reservation on which Reason resides. Nancy and Chuck are oblivious to YouTube’s capability to capture actual conversations in real time that often come up years later to haunt those who said those things. 

Besides that, both Pelosi and Schumer still act and talk like Americans are oblivious to all the things they say and do, and promises they break. (There has to be a reason for Congress’ approval numbers hovering in the teens) They’ve both been really good at showing the world their foolishness. But this time it is REALLY over the top.

“Nancy and Chuck Sitting in a Tree….”

By now everyone is familiar with the notification to Mexico by President Trump that unless Mexico stepped up to help take care of the flood of illegals through the U.S. border he would impose massive tariffs on Mexican goods. In all fairness, members of Congress — and not all are Democrats — balked at the possibility of Mexican tariffs. Concerns were primarily those for the negative impact tariffs would make on the U.S. economy.

They all looked for cameras so they could pontificate about the lunacy of such tariffs and how bad implementing those would be on U.S. foreign policy. Still, Trump restated, again and again, he was serious and would indeed assess tariffs, and that the first level — 5% — would become effective Monday, June 10, 2019.

Here was Nancy about the Trump lunacy regarding tariffs and Trump’s explanation:

Not to be outdone, the Senate Minority Leader stepped to the microphone to give the world his sarcastic analysis. Here’s what he said:

“This is an historic night!” Schumer said sarcastically in a Twitter post Friday night.
The president “has announced that he has cut a deal ‘to greatly reduce, or eliminate, illegal immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States,’ Schumer added, quoting the president. “Now that that problem is solved, I’m sure we won’t be hearing any more about it in the future.”

Even Beto added his thoughts:

“I think the president has completely overblown what he purports to have achieved. These are agreements that Mexico had already made and, in some case, months ago,” the former congressman from Texas said on ABC’s “This Week.” “They might have accelerated the timetable, but by and large the president achieved nothing except to jeopardize the most important trading relationship that the United States of America has.”

A Mexican government contingent rushed to D.C. to negotiate a resolution with the U.S. State Department. The furor from the Left crescendoed as the tariff implementation date got closer. Friday, June 7th, Mexico capitulated and the President announced a resolution had been reached.

Expectations were that everyone in Washington would breath easier knowing that there would be no tariffs and that Mexico would take-on illegal immigration on their side of the border. But Nancy and Chuck brought any glee back to ground level. They are NOT happy.

Seriously?

Here’s where my head explodes. Pelosi and Schumer are the most powerful people in the Democrat Party. They supposedly represent “The People.” If they do, then please answer these:

How do you refuse to respond to the non-stop illegal alien entries into the U.S., the massive drug cartel floods of opioids across our border, and human trafficking that is mind boggling?

Why do you — the Democrats — not take ANY emergency actions to stop the travesty down South? In fact, when the President when responding to Dems inaction has taken executive action to help ICE and Customs Border Patrol stem the tide of illegal crossings, Democrats have run to the most liberal federal court judge they can find to file grievances against the President. Why is that?

Why did you flatly refuse the President’s offer in early 2018 to protect those DACA recipients and to provide a massive number of interim visas so illegals could remain and take steps for permanent legal status?

Here’s what the President offered them in that proposal:

It offered up to 1.8 million DACA recipients and other “in limbo” immigrants legal status in exchange for doing away with “chain migration” and the immigration lottery used in foreign countries to determine those that would come to the U.S. for legal immigration. As part of the deal, Congress would fund the building of the southern wall/barrier.

Pelosi and Schumer didn’t even bother to make the President a counter offer. They just flatly said, “No!” Meanwhile, those DACA recipients that the Democrat Party had claimed as their own are still left out in the cold — still with tentative immigration status, and are here in the U.S. without citizenship or any way to get it, all thanks to Nancy and Chuck.

The results of their “No”

January 2018 through May 2019, 1,354,202 illegals were “apprehended” at the southern border — more than any previous corresponding period in U.S. history.

At least $200 Billion has been spent by the U.S. government to process and take care of those illegals. And that does NOT include the money spent by state and local governments and for healthcare!

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of opioids and other drugs continue to find their way into the U.S. craftily transferred into the U.S. between ports of entries to escape the notice of border agents. Thousands of children have been trafficked by the Mexican cartels.

Most horrible of all is that there is no way to know for certain how many Americans have paid for the Dems callousness in allowing this to continue. But it is certain that many paid with their health, their safety and security, and many paid with their lives. Crimes committed by these illegals have cost border states, counties tens of millions of dollars.

And why? Why do Democrats following the lead of Pelosi and Schumer continue to turn their backs on legal Americans, legal immigrants, and the rule of law? Why do they allow the continuation of lawlessness and senseless deaths of Americans at the hands of illegals or as a direct result of the opioids they bring into the U.S.?

I would never respond by saying that Democrats don’t care about the carnage and dollars poured down the drain of Illegal Immigration. Certainly, if they really do care, they don’t show it.

What is their objective, then? What can possibly be the desired end result that would cost Americans so much and still be worthy to continue this madness? Why would they not just turn their backs on the success by this President’s putting definite tariffs on Mexico if they continue to ignore international immigration laws, but then laugh at his doing so while denigrating his intentions in taking such action and maintaining he did so for “personal reasons.”

And last but certainly not least, why do they think so little of everyday Americans, acting like all Americans are too dumb to understand exactly what Democrats are doing?

The answer is simple: Nancy, Chuck, Hillary, Barack, Uncle Joe, Mayor Pete, Kamala, Beto, Kirsten, and every other Democrat of prominence today doesn’t’ care about the opinions of Americans; don’t care about what is best for at-large Americans and their specific needs; don’t care that Americans in a huge majority have labeled Illegal Immigration as the great problem in America today. 

How desperately do they despise Americans? Think about it: Hillary (when she thought no one was listening) called Trump supporters — which are comprised of Middle Americans — “deplorables.” And most Democrats feel that Trump supporters are uneducated, of low income households, and, more importantly, unsophisticated and are therefore incapable of understanding what’s best for them, their families, and the U.S.

And, of course, Democrats DO know what’s best for Trump supporters and everyone else on Earth.

Meanwhile, Democrats are consumed with two things: Indictments of pretty much everyone in the Trump Administration and the impeachment of the President. Nothing else matters — especially not you or me. Their all-consuming agenda: control every American, every corporation, every social organization, and every dollar. After all, they certainly know best how to handle all of those, don’t they?

I forgot: what box are Nancy and Chuck in together? Their box is not made of cardboard or wood. Their box is made of mirrors. As far as they can see, they’re the only ones in their box. When they look up, who do they see? Chuck and Nancy. When they look to either side, front or back, who do they see? Chuck and Nancy. No one else is viewable from their box, AND THEY DON’T CARE! You are insignificant, anyway.

We haven’t forgotten about you at TNN. You’re on our radar. This week we’re closely watching what goes on in D.C. And we’ll bring the truth of all that happens to you.

Stay close!

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How Dysfunctional is Congress?

June 7, 2019

Short Answer: VERY!

Not in my lifetime has the U.S. Congress been so slow, so inconsistent, and so unwilling to go about the People’s business. There is no doubt part of their job is to oversee the operations of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government. But that is NOT their primary responsibility.

The Constitution of the United States outlines the responsibilities and duties of Congress. Article I offers an overview of Congressional power, while Section 8 provides details about each duty. Section 8 includes a total of 14 paragraphs of information about all the duties, including:

  • Borrowing money on behalf of the country
  • Regulating commerce
  • Developing a uniform system of laws
  • Establishing the Post Office
  • Declaring war

Wow! That seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? Though those 5 tasks for the Congress set by The Constitution seem to be simple tasks, we all know there’s a lot to it. But, in all fairness, there are 535 elected people who are tasked to work together to complete those 5 things every year. And those 535 elected folks each have a staff comprised of dozens of workers to make certain everything necessary for the completion of those tasks is taken care of.

So why does Congress get so little done?

Congressional Actions in 2017 (2nd Half of 115th Congress)

In that most Americans doubt Congress does much of anything, Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL) argues that the U.S. House of Representatives is getting things done. The Congressman on his website published a list of the greatest accomplishments of Congress in 2017. Let’s look at them:

(If you want details of any of these bills, click on the hyperlink to be transferred to see the actual bill)

These ten Congressional accomplishments — according to Congressman Shimkus — are the MOST important Congressional accomplishments of 2017! Obviously, his list includes specific bills that originated in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed some bills, too. But it takes both Houses to pass bills that find their way to the President’s desk to be signed into law. Of those ten bills listed by Congressman Shimkus as THE significant legislative 2017 accomplishments, only two were actually signed into law! None of the others — including any that the U.S. Senate passed — even made it to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for presidential signature.

Laws Passed thru 5/31/2019 in this the 116th Congress

Public Law Number Bill Number and Title Date
PL 116-19 S.1693 – National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2019 05/31/2019
PL 116-18 H.R.2379 – To reauthorize the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program. 05/23/2019
PL 116-17 H.R.1222 – Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act 05/10/2019
PL 116-16 H.R.1839 – Medicaid Services Investment and Accountability Act of 2019 04/18/2019
PL 116-15 S.725 – A bill to change the address of the postal facility designated in honor of Captain Humayun Khan. 04/16/2019
PL 116-14 H.R.2030 – Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan Authorization Act 04/16/2019
PL 116-13 H.R.276 – Recognizing Achievement in Classified School Employees Act 04/12/2019
PL 116-12 S.863 – A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify the grade and pay of podiatrists of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 04/08/2019
PL 116-11 S.252 – A bill to authorize the honorary appointment of Robert J. Dole to the grade of colonel in the regular Army. 04/06/2019
PL 116-10 S.49 – A bill to designate the outstation of the Department of Veterans Affairs in North Ogden, Utah, as the Major Brent Taylor Vet Center Outstation. 03/21/2019
PL 116-9 S.47 – John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act 03/12/2019
PL 116-8 S.483 – Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act of 2018 03/08/2019
PL 116-7 H.R.439 – National FFA Organization’s Federal Charter Amendments Act 02/21/2019
PL 116-6 H.J.Res.31 – Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 02/15/2019
PL 116-5 H.J.Res.28 – Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 01/25/2019
PL 116-4 H.R.430 – TANF Extension Act of 2019 01/24/2019
PL 116-3 H.R.259 – Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019 01/24/2019
PL 116-2 H.R.251 – Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program Extension Act 01/18/2019
PL 116-1 S.24 – Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 01/16/2019

Are you counting? 19 laws in 2019.

Estimates are that American taxpayers’ costs for funding Congressional operations were $4.4 Billion in 2009 — a decade ago! Current numbers simply “are not available.” But using realistic assumptions, it is credible to believe that number approaches $10 Billion annually. Look at what taxpayers received in Congressional services in legislative actions for the entirety of 2017 and the first half of 2019: 29 pieces of legislation plus the one big meaningful one: tax cuts. Do you feel like we’re getting our money worth?

So What is Congress Doing?

Great question. The #1 concern among Americans is dramatically and emphatically Illegal Immigration. Last week, more than 1,000 immigrants surged through the U.S. southern border near El Paso, Texas — the largest number ever encountered by U.S. Border Control and Protection, with the previous record being set in the month of April, which was 424. This unprecedented invasion spurred President Donald J. Trump to slap a 5 percent tariff on goods from Mexico in an effort to get the Mexican government to take seriously the problem of undocumented immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The mainstream media, predictably, started lamenting on how the price of avocados for American consumers may potentially increase a few cents and completely ignored the $200 billion American taxpayers pay each year in illegal immigration costs. Not to mention the cost of illegal drugs on our youth, and the cost to education and health care on American taxpayers. So, let’s take a look at these dollars and cents.

According to a recent analysis done by Chris Conover, an American Enterprise Institute adjunct scholar, “all told, Americans cross-subsidize health care for unauthorized immigrants to the tune of $18.5 billion a year.”

Although current federal policy prohibits federal tax funding of health care to unauthorized immigrants through Medicaid or Obamacare, “rough estimates suggest that the nation’s 3.9 million uninsured immigrants who are unauthorized likely receive about $4.6 billion in health services paid for by federal taxes, $2.8 billion in health services financed by state and local taxpayers and another $3 billion bankrolled through ‘cost-shifting,’ i.e. higher payments by insured patients to cover hospital uncompensated care losses, and roughly $1.5 billion in physician charity care,” Mr. Conover wrote in Forbes.

Public education of illegal immigrants’ children is also hemorrhaging the American taxpayer, as, under federal law, all students are eligible to receive schooling regardless of their immigration status.

“Public education is where the real big cost comes in,” Randy Capps, the director for research for U.S. programs at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute told NBC News this year. “The amount of taxes that the parents pay on their earnings, that they pay through property taxes — passed through on their rent — it’s not going to be as much as is spent on public education for their kids and food stamps for their kids.”

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimated it cost public schools $59.8 billion to educate the children of illegal immigrants, and almost the entirety of this cost, 98.9 percent, is borne by taxpayers at the local and state level, through property taxes, according to a 2016 study. At the time, the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador were driving increased funding programs for students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) — causing a major drain on school budgets. That was when 118,929 unaccompanied minors were crossing the border during the fiscal year. Already this year, 44,779 unaccompanied alien minors have crossed the border and 248,197 family units, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

More people have been apprehended illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border this fiscal year than in any year since 2009, according to the CBP.

Then there’s the human cost of the drug crisis. In fiscal 2018, the U.S. border patrol seized 480,000 pounds of drugs, including fentanyl, marijuana, and meth, on the U.S.-Mexico border. In January, the CBP saw the largest seizure of fentanyl in the agency’s history — seizing nearly $4.6 million, or 650 pounds, of fentanyl and meth from a Mexican national when he attempted to cross the border.

Drug overdoses, fueled by opioids killed more than 70,000 people in the U.S. in 2017, with fentanyl overdose deaths doubling each and every year.

And today we learned that ISIS has been sending English-speaking terrorists to sneak through Mexico to get to the U.S. And we have no idea how long that has been happening and how many have entered the U.S.!

Can Mexico do more? Absolutely. Mexico needs to do a better job securing its own southern border — which runs only 150 miles across. It also can do a better job cracking down on its domestic terror organizations — both the coyotes smuggling young children across the border and the drug kingpins. Lastly, Mexico could grant asylum to migrants within its own homeland. According to international law, if you leave a country seeking asylum, you are to seek asylum in the first safe country you arrive. Mexico is safe, and the Mexican government can address this.

Who has the legal requirement to take care of the flow of immigrants into the U.S.? Are there laws that regulate all types of immigration? Why are they not being enforced? If they are bad laws, shouldn’t they be changed?

The answers to all those questions are singular: the United States Congress.

Why Doesn’t Congress Act on Illegal Immigration?

The simple answer: They don’t want to.

For Democrats, illegal immigration assures them of millions of “potential” voters that are present in the U.S. Democrats feel certain that whenever they take back the power of the House, Senate, and the White House, they can pass legislation to legalize all those illegals. That gives them instant VOTERS! And they are certain they will be able to lump those in the same Democrat basket in which they have already relegated African Americans and Hispanics.

For Republicans, those in the House and Senate simply don’t want to rock the boat. On the most part, their driving purpose is to maintain the balance between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans know it’s just a matter of time for the Democrats to take control of the Senate and probably the White House. Republicans want to “not make waves” now so that when Dems are back in power, the “revenge factor” will not lead Democrat leadership to strip GOP members of the prestigious committee spots they currently now have.

Remember: Congressional membership is no longer about money like it was decades ago — it’s all about “Power.” With power, you not only control money — billions of discretionary dollars — but everything  else. Balance is the key.

Regarding the border crisis: now that Democrats have come around and dropped their talking point “there is no crisis at the border,” why don’t they just pass legislation to take care of the problem, fund the necessary items to underwrite the current issues, stop illegal crossings, and fund the border wall?

They can no longer blame President Trump. Remember his offer last year? All Democrats had to do in the deal Trump offered Congress was fund the $5.7 billion for partial construction of the southern border wall. In exchange, his offer included hundreds of millions of dollars in new humanitarian money for safety and health of illegal immigrants, it would allow Central American children to apply for USA asylum from their home countries, and it would create a three-year legal status for about 700,000 people now here under the Obama-era DACA program, and some 300,000 people here under humanitarian protections, who might otherwise become illegal immigrants soon.

Of course Dems rejected the offer. So Trump has watched as the crisis down South has reached epidemic proportions and is taking Mexico on in an effort to force them to stop the Central America flood of immigrants through Mexico to get to the U.S. His plan is to use tariffs on Mexican products that come to the U.S. It sounds reasonable to most. But not to Pelosi and Company.

Her patent refusal is sad but not unexpected.

But then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky weighed in on HIS thoughts of the tariff proposal:

President Trump cannot win for losing!

Summary

Here’s the rub: President Trump cannot do it alone. Congress can! They could in a 30-minute session in the House and a 30-minute session in the Senate pass the necessary legislation to stop illegal immigration — if not completely then to a crawl — and give DACA recipients the peace of mind that though their parents brought them here illegally, they have stayed and can stay with government protection while they follow a path to citizenship. But they don’t!

The ball is in the court of the U.S. Congress. President Trump’s options are extremely limited. Many don’t like increased tariffs on China and other countries that are already in place. But they’re having positive results. Those on Mexico would hurt a bit, but their results would mean fair trade, which the U.S. has not had with most countries for decades. And if Mexico would simply honor their own immigration walls for their southern border and turn Central Americans away if not emigrating legally, our southern border crisis would subside!

Each American has only one thing to put into this battle: a vote — one vote. It would be a good thing (if you haven’t already) find out how your House member and your U.S. Senator feels, has voted, and will vote on any illegal immigration legislation issue if and when one comes to the floor for a vote. Let them know where YOU stand. And make some noise.

After all, they are allowing and even encouraging illegal immigrants to keep on coming! And they are making Americans who want the flood of illegals to stop feel guilty for wanting the government to simply abide by the law and enforce it.

After all of this, do you think there’s a possibility that many in Congress are just stupid?!?

 

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State of Emergency Chaos

February 16, 2019

The noise is deafening. One Democrat operative declared in a televised interview, “This President didn’t get his way on his border wall, threw a temper-tantrum, and is declaring a national emergency and then heading to the golf course. There IS no national emergency,” she said. 

Nancy Pelosi said this about a proposed Trump National Emergency declaration: “That’s an option and we will review our options. But it’s important to note that when the President declares this emergency, first of all it’s not an emergency what’s happening at the border — It’s a humanitarian challenge to us … putting that aside, just in terms of the President making an end-run around Congress. Here he said, let us respect what the committee will do and then walks away from it. The President is doing an end-run around Congress.”

It is important to note that national security declarations and subsequent actions are NOT unique. In fact, since Congress gave the U.S. President pretty much unilateral power to implement such measures, there have been 58 such declarations made. President Trump has already issued 3. President Obama made his fair share. Let’s take a look at the history of National Security actions.

There are a lot of national emergencies going on. In fact, there are 31 active national emergencies declared under the National Emergencies Act. Bill Clinton used this authority 17 times. President Trump has only used it three times so far. 11 of Obama-made declarations are still in force.

Sorry Democrats, this “national emergency” business is not quite the work of “dictators.”

Of Obama’s 11 continuing national emergencies, nine of them were focused exclusively on foreign nations, while only one seemed focused on protecting America — a declaration aimed at punishing individuals “engaging in significant malicious cyber-enabled activities.” All of the rest of Obama’s national emergencies were focused on blocking property or prohibiting transactions/travel for individuals engaged in various activities in — by order of the date of enactment — Somalia, Libya, transnational criminal organizations, Yemen, Ukraine, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Venezuela, and Burundi.

Burundi? Come on: are the citizens of Burundi storming our borders, shipping millions of pounds of illegal drugs across our border, operating human and sex trafficking here that created the necessity for Obama to declare a national emergency regarding Burundi?

Here’s what the “Burundi Threat” was and is to the U.S.:

“On November 22, 2015, by Executive Order 13712, the President declared a national emergency to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States constituted by the situation in Burundi, which has been marked by the killing of and violence against civilians, unrest, the incitement of imminent violence, and significant political repression, and which threatens the peace, security, and stability of Burundi and the region.”

The “Burundi” action taken (and most all of the other such actions taken by previous presidents) were initiated not because of any direct, physical threat of any kind to the United States. They in total were preventive actions taken in places and in circumstances to make certain no actual threats against the United States could be initiated.

Even with that knowledge together with the plethora of statistical data and actual specifics of the costs of illegalities at and from our southern border, those on the Left in the U.S. STILL maintain “there is no emergency at the border,” “there is no humanitarian crisis at the border,” and that President Trump is pushing such action to simply fulfill a campaign promise.

What’s Really Their Reasoning?

No doubt about this one thing: the insanity of Leftist cries against the closure of our southern border are for purely political purposes.

It’s hard to say what I’m about to say, but it is necessary for all Americans to understand: American Leftists who rail against stopping illegal immigration into the U.S. do so with NO regard for the price Americans have and will pay if we do NOT close the border.

In the wake of the conservative media listing of names, showing pictures of murdered and tortured Americans at the hands of illegals, states giving details of the human and economic losses they sustain as a direct result of current open border political policies, Leftists maintain that there is no crisis!

CNN’s Jim Acosta — CNN’s lead White House correspondent and the most obnoxious reporter in D.C. — today badgered the President in the Rose Garden, calling out Mr. Trump for his “in-error” reporting of illegal crime statistics. Mr. Acosta referenced an Associated Press report that stated: “multiple studies have concluded that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than native-born U.S. citizens.” That indeed WAS in the AP report. But there was significant error in that report that has been pointed out and clarified with factual information after the fact. Of course, the “truth” clarification of the Associated Press story is rarely discussed, and by Acosta’s reference of the report’s inaccurate and misleading information, few if any of the members of the Mainstream Media even care about accuracy in their reports.

As it turns out, the Associated Press claim is quite misleading, because the “multiple studies” on crimes committed by “immigrants” —  including a 2014 study by a professor from the University of Massachusetts, which is the only one cited in the article —  combine the crime rates of both citizens and non-citizens, legal and illegal.

The General Accounting Office released a report that gives far more accurate statistics than quoted by Mr. Acosta and the AP. The GAO report (GAO-05-646R) looked at the criminal histories of 55,322 aliens that “entered the country illegally and were still illegal in the country at the time of their incarceration in federal or state prison or local jail during the fiscal year 2003.” Those 55,322 illegal aliens had been arrested 459,614 times, an average of 8.3 arrests per illegal alien, and had committed almost 700,000 criminal offenses, an average of roughly 12.7 offenses per illegal alien. Out of all of the arrests, 12 percent were for violent crimes such as murder, robbery, assault, and sex-related crimes; 15 percent were for burglary, larceny, theft, and property damage; 24 percent were for drug offenses; and the remaining offenses were for DUI, fraud, forgery, counterfeiting, weapons, immigration, and obstruction of justice.

Is it my imagination or are Democrats and members of the Mainstream Media and other leftists ignoring the tragedies perpetrated on legal Americans by illegal aliens? Do they not even care that little boys and girls are being kidnapped, tortured, raped, sold into slavery by some of these illegals? Is it not important to them to stop the senseless drug overdose deaths that are direct results of the massive amounts of opioids and other murderous drugs trafficked into the U.S. through the southern border?

WHY DON’T THEY CARE?

I must be honest: I am scared. I in my wildest imagination cannot picture a group of Americans who accept crimes committed against anyone as “acceptable.” And apparently, that is what we are dealing with today.

The only explanation I can muster that even though plausible is horrifying is that those thousands and thousands of leftists who continue the open border mantra consider the felonies committed in the hundreds of thousands by illegals against Americans a justifiable price to pay so that Democrats can stack the population of the U.S. with future voters who will be obligated to vote for Democrats. Why would they want that? To maintain power and control.

Can you think of….is there any other explanation?

GOD HELP US!

Every politician who does not vocally and outwardly fight against illegal immigration, sanctuary cities, the forcing of local, state, and federal entities to support illegals in every way need to be confronted by American citizens with this one question:

“How many American deaths at the hands of illegals are acceptable to you before you will begin to honor your oath of office in which you swore to uphold the laws of the United States?”

Honestly, we all should get in the faces of each of our lawmakers and demand a formal response to that question.

Folks, illegal immigrants, and illegal immigration really ARE desperate problems in the United States. And politicians of any ilk CANNOT explain that fact away. Here are just several more examples:

In closing, simply consider this one final thought:

“Every crime committed by an illegal alien is one that would not have occurred if that alien wasn’t in the United States in the first place.”

How many legal Americans will be killed, raped, robbed or stabbed before YOU will say “Enough is Enough?”

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The Next Step for “The Wall”

January 29, 2019

I doubt there are many who have any conviction that Speaker Pelosi and/or Senate Minority Leader Schumer have any intention to honor the “perception” they gave that with the President opening the government they will assist in real border control. In fact, it is a virtual certainty that if/when they and other Democrats complete their seemingly never-ending victory dances over their “forcing” President Trump to open the government, NO border wall funding is in their future. And certainly not within the next few weeks.

So what can be done without House financial support?

Media Mania

Even knowing how possessed this media is and the consistency of their attacks on this president, it has been shocking to see and hear their coverage of the reopening of the government tied directly to the “win” against President Trump in it happening. Pelosi, Schumer, other leading Democrats and talking heads at every level in the U.S. are ecstatic! This is in total disregard of what’s at stake: the safety of the U.S. against what amounts to be an invasion of illegal activities and those who initiate them when crossing our southern border. Drugs, human trafficking, murders, and those who commit other serious crimes are crossing by the thousands every week. Yet the mainstream media and leftists ignore the threats those illegals bring to the U.S., and their cries for open-borders have gone far beyond fever-pitch to outright hysteria: “Let them in! Let them in! We Welcome them!”

At what cost?

Have you noticed how little is the reporting on the costs of illegal immigration by this media? They refuse to report numbers, discuss details of specific criminal acts of violence or their victims, or to even discuss the consideration of the economic and social costs of these open-border policies. The left are treating illegal immigration just like they are unresponsibly reporting in their discussions about “Medicare for All.” Both policies would bankrupt America, to begin with, yet alone how each would destroy life as we know it.

Do you know what’s amazing? Anyone can via the internet read hundreds of horror stories perpetrated on the people of Europe by illegal immigrants over just the last 2 years! And the U.S. media refuse to report them. And leading European countries are now relentlessly trying to find ways to stop illegal immigration in their futures while contemplating deportation procedures of millions of illegals who inhabit their countries if that is even possible. These include countries like The Netherlands, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, and even the U.K. Where’s the U.S. Media on telling any of those stories? 

We could easily fill these pages with not only stories documenting the gang rapes, murders, forced prostitution, sexual assault, theft, and home invasions perpetrated daily by these illegals on citizens of European nations, we could show hundreds and hundreds of pictures of these horrors that play out daily. But that is not OUR job — IT’S THE JOB OF AMERICAN MEDIA TO WARN AMERICA WHAT IS COMING TO OUR SHORES AND THROUGH THE SOUTHERN BORDER!

Have we all just gone to sleep? Or is it that we in America have some responsibility to knowingly allow people through our borders every day, many of who want nothing more than to find unimaginable ways to illegally and surreptitiously insert themselves into legal Americans lives while sucking the life right out of us?

Surely not. Americans are not that stupid. But before you embrace benign trust and acceptance for leftist Americans by self-convincing yourself that “they’re just hungry people looking for a better way of life,” there are several considerations you must ponder:

  • How many illegals are there and how much do they cost Americans in real dollars? With the vast resources available to billion dollar newspapers and television networks, isn’t it logical to expect one or several of those to put those research assets to work to find out and give to Americans what our costs of illegals really are? How about starting with just the number of illegals that are here? But, no: not only do none of them conduct such research, but they also spend their ink and airtime to blast the Administration. Here’s just one example:

“President Trump on Sunday asserted that the U.S. has already incurred nearly $19 billion in costs related to illegal immigration in 2019, and called it “ridiculous” that millions of immigrants are living in the U.S illegally. Trump claimed in a tweet that there are close to 26 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, casting doubt on the more commonly cited figure of 11 million.

The president typed “DHS” in his tweet, but did not provide a source for the figures he shared. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Asked about the tweet on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney defended the president’s broader point about the need for increased border security. “I’m not exactly sure where the president got that number this morning, but I think what you see him trying to do is point out how silly this debate is,” Mulvaney said. “This is not that much money in the greater scheme of things. “I think he was trying to draw attention to the fact that while the Democrats are sitting here dug in … that we’re spending so much money on other things,” he added. “It’s really quite absurd.”

Multiple news organizations have in recent months disputed Trump’s claims about the costs associated with illegal immigration. The Washington Post noted that the president has steadily increased the purported annual cost, stating on the campaign trail in 2015 that it was $130 billion, tweeting in December 2018 that it was more than $200 billion, and remarking at a White House event last month that the total was $275 billion per year.

NBC News reported that a number of groups have cast doubt on Trump’s figures. The conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation estimated in 2013 the cost was roughly $54 billion per year, while the nonpartisan Cato Institute approximated in 2017 that the cost was as much as $15.6 billion annually.

News organizations have similarly pushed back on the president’s assertions about the number of people living in the U.S illegally. The Associated Press reported last month that while Trump claimed there were as many as 30 million in the country illegally, the most recent data available from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center put the figure at 11.3 million as of 2016. Mulvaney argued on “Face the Nation” that the 11 million figure was accurate “a couple years ago,” but that the number of people coming across the border on a monthly basis means the figure could be as high as “30 or 40 million.”

Notice that not one organization or news entity of any kind did anything but intimate the President was wrong in reporting these numbers! NONE GAVE US WHAT THE CORRECT NUMBERS ARE! Does anyone but me find that a bit brazen and amazingly hypocritical?

It isn’t going to get better, I fear. Theirs is a “one-task” issue: destroy President Trump and all those who support him. I doubt that ever before in U.S. history has the media in America so viciously attacked any previous president — even Richard Nixon. Their universal goal consistent in every presidential administration is to lift up and support Democrat presidents while attacking Republicans. And all the while the media maintain they know better than do Americans what elected officials do, why they do it, and what their actions mean. The media give Americans NO credit for understanding on their own. Don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

And, by the way, truth in reporting is immaterial today. But I’m sure you already know that!

Politics of Immigration: The Wall

In numerous reports at TruthNewsNetwork we have related facts, statistics, posted videos and news reports, and even have posted interviews with several federal elected officials regarding the U.S. immigration system. We will not go back into those today. But what we WILL do is set the stage for the upcoming red-letter day in U.S. immigration history: February 15, 2019. What is that day? The deadline was given by President Trump to Democrats to have crafted bipartisan legislation for border security that includes funding for a southern border wall/barrier.

“It ain’t gonna happen!”

Pelosi, Schumer, and other leading Democrats feel strongly they have won this battle with Donald Trump. What they have assumed is that the battle they won was the war of immigration reform. They miscalculated. The tenant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is NOT going away, nor are his demands for a southern border barrier. I assure you, this time he will NOT cave. And a battle is NOT a war. The battle is yet unresolved: but it WILL be!

So what will happen? What are the options?

Honestly, there are really only two in regards to options for border security: 1) legislatively Congress passes legislation that comprehensively closes the southern border with a combination of border barriers, manpower increases, electronic surveillance measures where capable, and significant funding increases to support border judges and staff sufficient to handle the outrageous backload of immigration cases that have spiraled out of control; 2) President Trump declares a National Security Threat at the southern border and invokes measures for funding and building that border barrier per border control experts and diverts federal dollars from federal and DHS discretionary funding to complete those measures.

So which will it be?

IF, Pelosi and Schumer refuse to bring meaningful and comprehensive legislation to the floor of both Houses and such legislation is not passed and sent to the President for signature, he will declare that National Emergency and initiate through Executive Order the security measures necessary to close the border.

But Democrats will Fight!

So? It would be surprising if they DIDN’T fight….and very odd!

They HATE President Trump; they HATE Trump supporters; they HATE ALL conservatives in the U.S. Nothing is going to change that anytime soon. But stopping the flood of illegals into the nation from the South, stemming the flow of billions of American tax dollars into Mexico and Central America, and stopping the hundreds of thousands of needless crimes committed annually by illegals in the U.S. are far more important than winning a political game of chess!

Can President Trump win the Immigration War?

He can. And HE will not be the victor — Americans will be the winners.

Many times in U.S. history have presidents used the power given to the Executive Branch to invoke government actions regarding national security issues. In fact, Abraham Lincoln was the first to do so when he suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War. It is far from unusual for such measures to take place.

“But,” some will say, “those on the left will certainly file in a liberal court somewhere actions for a temporary restraining order to stop the President from doing so.” That certainly will happen. But this action is quite a bit different than others that have been stopped. Two very significant things weigh in favor of the Courts allowing these measures to proceed should President Trump initiate that action:

1) Congress granted the unilateral power for ANY president to take such actions when he or she alone is confident such actions are necessary for the purposes of national security. As long as a president can show just cause and that his/her efforts with that specific executive action were instigated only after attempts to obtain that necessary action through the legislative process have failed. Few would dare argue that this president has NOT sufficiently implored Congress to shut our border against an onslaught of illegal entries into the United States;

2.) Even if a liberal court steps in with a temporary restraining order, this administration has already jumped around the lengthy appeals process and pursued immediate relief directly from the Supreme Court. While SCOTUS has previously spurned such action from this and previous White Houses, certain of those appeals have been taken up. The conventional wisdom is that in this case, it would be simple to present the urgency of such immediate action to protect Americans and that the legislative process has totally failed to do so.

Summary

We WILL have a border barrier. President Trump will win this faceoff somehow.

How do I know that with such certainty? He never gives in and never gives up when he knows what he is doing is right and as Commander in Chief is necessary for the safety of Americans and the United States. There is NO quit in this president.

Folks, find an oddsmaker and win you some money in February! This is a safe bet!!!

 

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Why Not Just Go Ahead with Dems Immigration Plans?

January 21, 2019

Everyone sees and hears the same thing day after day after day after day: “Why doesn’t President Trump just agree to one of the bills passed by the House of Representatives that fully funds the federal government and let government employees go back to work. The closing was strictly for political purposes — his border wall — which is a waste of $5 Billion taxpayer dollars, will not work, and is immoral. And those 800,000 federal employees are being penalized in the name of his stupid Wall.” Has anyone heard any or all of that? It’s EVERYWHERE!

Certainly, it would be much easier for a lot of folks if President Trump went ahead and caved to Pelosi and Schumer and did just that: call those workers back. But if he did, he would be betraying 63+ million Americans who he promised while campaigning that he would build that wall, close the southern border, and stop the flood of illegal immigrants from coming across that border. That would stop the flood of illegal drug, stop the sex traffickers, stop multiple felony offenders, and see to it that immigration laws in place are enforced until the portions of those laws that are outdated, unreasonable, and ineffective are terminated, fixed, or replaced with new legislation from Congress.

I am stepping aside of objectivity for just one moment and say this: Why would ANY American — member of Congress or anyone else for that matter — want so desperately for the hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants that numbered among them are gang members, drug and human traffickers, and thousands of others that have already been deported for lawbreaking to be allowed into the United States illegally? They are willing for this to happen in spite of no one knowing who those illegals are, which are good people just looking for better lives, and which are illegals who prey on legal Americans by committing against them everything from petty larceny to rape and murder? Until someone in a position of authority is willing to explain their willingness to continue to allow that to happen, please stop the outrageously ridiculous cries to do so.

To kick off a real discussion about this today, let’s address the argument that is thrown in our faces almost daily: Ronald Reagan gave citizenship to millions of illegals in 1986. He was the Republican hero that all point to as the conservative example for all to follow. If he did that, what is wrong for doing it again?

Yes, that was 33 years ago — a LONG time ago. But that law and surrounding circumstances are worth taking a look at. So let’s (in brief) take a look:

Reagan’s 1986 Immigration Law

President Reagan had a heart for immigrants. As a former California governor, he knew first-hand the benefits that immigrants were to the California agriculture industry. He was pressured by most of the leaders in California’s agriculture industry to find a way to legalize all those workers that were necessary to California Agriculture operation. They made it clear that without those illegals available to work in their fields, vineyards, and on their farms, California’s leading economic industry was doomed. That was the place that Reagan birthed the idea of addressing the growing illegal migrant population in America.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) is the legal name of the law. In a very brief fashion, here were the immigration issues addressed in the law:

  • required employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status;
  • made it illegal to hire or recruit illegal immigrants knowingly;
  • legalized certain seasonal agricultural undocumented immigrants, and;
  • legalized undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982, and had resided there continuously with the penalty of a fine, back taxes due, and admission of guilt.
  • candidates were required to prove that they were not guilty of crimes, that they were in the country before January 1, 1982, and that they possessed at least a minimal knowledge about U.S. history, government, and the English language.

At the time, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) estimated that about four million illegal immigrants would apply for legal status through the act and that roughly half of them would be eligible.

So what did the law actually do?

I’ll refer to an article from the Washington Post who better than I could list its provisions:

What did the 1986 immigration law do? Two big things. First, there was the “amnesty” bit. Any unauthorized immigrants who had already been living in the United States continuously since 1982 became eligible for temporary legal status, after paying a $185 fee and demonstrating “good moral character.” After 18 months, they could then become eligible for green cards, provided they learned to speak English.

Second, there was the enforcement bit. The law aimed to secure the U.S.-Mexico border against illegal crossings with new surveillance technology and a bigger staff. The bill also, for the first time in history, imposed penalties on businesses that knowingly hired or employed unauthorized immigrants.

How many immigrants took advantage of amnesty? The law awarded green cards to about 2.7 million immigrants, all told — including about 1 million farm workers. It was the largest legalization program in U.S. history.

When the bill passed, at the signing ceremony, President Reagan was obviously pleased with the accomplishments. Listen closely to the things he says at the signing:

Has it Worked?

  • The 1986 amnesty legalized approximately 2.7 million illegal immigrants, a much smaller number than the 11 million estimated today. Washington approved 90 percent of the 1.3 million agricultural workers who sought legal status despite detecting fraud in nearly a third of the applications.
  • The amnesty was supposed to be balanced with stronger enforcement measures, such as employer sanctions for those who hire illegal immigrants. This remains a major selling point of the “comprehensive” approach to immigration today.
  • This enforcement turned out to be a bait and switch, like when spending cuts are promised in exchange for tax increases. The amnesty happened and is irreversible. The enforcement has been spotty and in some cases never materialized.
  • What did materialize was more illegal immigration. By one estimate, illegal immigration increased by 44 percent between 1987 and 1989, from the start of amnesty to its peak. The Congressional Research Service reports that the illegal immigrant population swelled from 3.2 million in 1986 to 12.4 million in 2007, “before leveling off at 11.1 million in 2011.”
  • Some analysts believe the number of illegal immigrants reached as high as 20 million. The author of a Bear Stearns report arriving at the figure later told the Wall Street Journal, “The assumption that illegal people will fill out a census form is the most ridiculous concept I have ever heard of.”
  • It’s also worth noting that four years after amnesty became law, President George H.W. Bush signed a bill increasing legal immigration by 40 percent. Legal immigration has also been higher than in the mid-1980s and illegal immigration still increased.

Many Republicans who want to repeat the Reagan amnesty hope this will improve the party’s standing among Hispanics. But the actual Republican Hispanic vote share decreased between 1984, before amnesty, and 1988, after. It is noteworthy that since December of 2018, the statistics showing support among Hispanics for President Trump’s stand against illegal migrants has climbed from 31% to 59%.

As illegal immigration increased, enforcement decreased. Audits of employers of illegal immigrants dropped 77 percent between fiscal years 1990 and 2003. Warnings fell 62 percent. Notices of intent to fine illegal employers plummeted 82 percent.

Summary

So here’s the answer to the question asked in the first paragraph above: The reason President Trump has not agreed to the immigration plans given to him by Democrats is illustrated perfectly by the Washington Post  — which few would disagree that doesn’t support the President in any way — the promises of Democrats that were even included in the law were NOT and still are NOT being kept in the wake of the blanket amnesty given to 2.7 million illegals. And the population of other illegals, as a result, has climbed to what the most recent non-partisan report states is now over 20 million.

How could any thinking, breathing human being expect this president — ANY president — to flatly agree to any promises made by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer? Why shouldn’t he go ahead and open the government? If he does, several things will happen:

  • Obviously, all those federal workers go back on the job. That’s a good thing;
  • Nancy Pelosi said plainly in their last meeting when the President asked she and Chuck: “If I go ahead and re-open the government, will you agree to negotiate over the next 30-days to fund border protection measures that include the wall?” Nancy stated they would not;
  • In doing so, he would break a campaign promise that was the justification for millions of Americans to vote for him for President. For that, he certainly would lose the White House in 2020.

Let’s stipulate the wall, other types of border security, and closing the border WERE Trump campaign promises. But Americans should NOT have to argue in any way about the need for Congress and other parts of our government to enforce the laws of the United States! Not doing so accepts anarchy as a legitimate and acceptable government operation!

Here’s what I suggest: everytime you have a conversation with anyone who supports keeping immigration policies just as they are and wants the government open without making any commitments for real immigration law enforcement, ask them this question: “What is an acceptable number to you of legal Americans to be killed by illegal migrants before you would demand total illegal immigration law enforcement?”

And if they give you a number — any number — ask them this: “Are you O.K. if included in that number is your wife, husband, or child?”

That may seem harsh or cruel. But if we continue down this open-border road on which we are traveling, the odds of having an immediate family member having that happen become more and more real everyday.

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Money, Money Money

January 18, 2019

Ever wonder what happens to the money illegal migrants make while working in the U.S.? It is common knowledge that, for decades, the primary reason for illegals entering the U.S. is to find better employment than that available to them in their home countries — especially Mexico. Having the ability to almost at will cross the U.S. southern border, it is common for illegals to find mostly blue collar jobs that pay far more than the available jobs in Mexico. Unfortunately, many employers in the U.S. find it tempting to take advantage of those workers AND U.S. law by paying those migrants lower than normal wages and paying many in cash. Doing so saves companies millions in required Medicare, Social Security, and federal unemployment employer matching fees. Cash payments allow migrants to get these jobs AND employers to bypass federal and state employment laws by not enrolling these workers in the system.

A large majority of these illegals send a portion of their earnings back to Mexico to family members. It is shocking to know how many U.S. dollars head to Mexico in this fashion every year. It’s BILLIONS!

How much is it?

Mexicans sent home $26.1 billion from January to November 2017, according to figures released Tuesday by the central bank of Mexico. That’s the most ever recorded and better than the $24.1 billion sent in 2016 over the same period. Most of the cash sent to Mexico by Mexicans living in the U.S. is transferred by “undocumented” workers. A survey by Inter-American Dialogue of remittances to Mexico found that 67 percent were sent by these individuals living in the U.S.

Of all of the remittances sent to 11 countries in Latin America from the U.S., Mexico received the largest share by far at 36 percent – four times more than the closest competitor, Guatemala, at 9 percent, the survey found.

Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), which exceed US$70 billion dollars, are playing a key role in the region’s economic development,” according to the institute’s recent “Remittances scorecard.”

The majority of remittances to Mexico, 88.2 percent, are sent using the services of companies like MoneyGram and Western Union, the institute found. It said the cash transfer industry has “expanded dramatically,” and now helps migrants in the U.S. pay their bills in Latin America.

But while services have expanded, the cost of sending money to Latin America and the Caribbean has dropped to below 5 percent of the transfer amount. Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, says the cash transfers reveal a “hidden cost of illegal immigration because you have millions of dollars being taken out of local communities.” “Remittances being sent out of the country represent a substantial economic impact on local communities because that money is not circulating in those communities,” Mehlman said. “On top of that, a lot of the people generating this money are working off the books and there are no payroll taxes being taken,” he added.

Data gathered by the Mexican government and BBVA Research shows nearly one-third (29.6 percent) of all of the remittances sent from the U.S. to Mexico originated in California. Just over 14 percent was sent from Texas, and 5.1 percent from Illinois. Recently obtained numbers show that remittances sent to Mexico totaled 2.3 percent of the country’s GDP. Forbes has reported that the money sent from the U.S. to Mexico by migrants “replaced oil revenues as Mexico’s number one source of foreign income.”

Some 90 percent of all remittances sent worldwide are in cash, rather than by electronic or bank transfer, according to Alix Murphy, director of mobile partnerships at the remittances company WorldRemit, which operates in 47 states of the U.S. She said the market for money transfer services in the U.S. was “very diversified.” “We’re talking hundreds of companies that are regulated by the states.” Individuals using cash transfer services are required to show identification, but not immigration status. Foreign-issued IDs, however, can be used, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service.

The Remittance Status Verification Act, introduced by then-Senator David Vitter (R-La.) in 2014 but never passed into law, would have fined senders of international cash transfers seven percent of the transfer amount if they could not show “proof of status under U.S. immigration laws.” If enacted, such a law could slow the flow of remittances considerably, according to David Landsman, executive director of the National Money Transmitters Association.

In remarks published in the “Remittance Industry Observatory” newsletter, Landsman said that “forcing remittance companies to be immigration enforcement agents would make remittance volumes plummet in the best of times. Their transactions would then go through more informal methods, and become completely opaque to law enforcement.”

Details

We have known for years that most migrants slip into the U.S. illegally for job opportunities. Jobs that offer real futures to natives of Mexico are slim. And most Mexicans lack really good education because of dollars and cents. No reasonable person fails to understand the desperation that drives those from Mexico and all of Central America to the U.S. southern border. It’s all about income.

Additionally, it is unquestionable that the families of those illegals are dependent in part — and often totally dependent — on income sent back to Mexico from employed illegals in the U.S. That being said, those $26.1 billion taken out of the U.S. economy hurt the U.S. How?

No one knows an exact number if there is one, but experts state payroll dollars roll over 5 times in the markets where spent. As an example: Joe the Worker is married with 4 kids and makes $2000 a month. Joe takes home $1600 of that. Joe pays $600 rent, $100 in utilities, $400 in food, $200 for auto expense, $100 for clothing, $100 for prescription drugs, and $100 for miscellaneous expenses. Jose the worker is married with 4 kids and makes $2000 a month. Jose takes home $2000 in cash. Jose and his family share a house with his brother and they each pay $300 in rent. Jose pays $400 for food, shares the car with his brother and pays $100 for gas, $100 for clothing, $100 for drugs, and sends $1000 to his mother in Mexico.

Of Joe’s $2000, $400 is deducted for federal and state income tax and his share of Social Security and Medicare which are matched by his employer. Jose pays none of that. Both Joe and Jose’s rent money goes to their landlord as does cash for food, gas, and drugs. The federal and state government have $400 that goes to pay on government infrastructure for roads on which Joe drives, hospitals, and the schools which his children attend. The stores where he buys food and clothes and the utility company have money he pays them for THEM to spend paying their employees who in turn spend their checks in the town. Joe’s paycheck is spent 100% on goods and services from the federal and his state and local governments. Jose’s $2000 — with the exception of what he pays for rent, utilities, gas, and food — are paid to those in Mexico rather than being spent in his U.S. town. Just a small percentage of the portion of his local payments support government and public services he and his family use: roads, schools, medical facilities, etc. Yet he sends money home to Mexico that is paid into the economy there instead of the U.S.

If as economists claim payroll dollars roll over 5 times in the markets wherein employees work and live, Joe’s $2000 makes a $10,000 economic impact on his town and state. Of Jose’s $2000, only $1000 goes into that “rollover” cycle. The impact of his pay is just half of Joe’s, or $5000.

What’s wrong with that picture?

  • Being in the U.S. without permission is a crime. I struggle to even in conversation get beyond that point. And it is stupefying that such illegalities are even allowed to occur every day in the U.S.! But they are. Many in our federal government simply turn their backs on the rule of law in this instance purely for political purposes;
  • Illegals eat up the U.S. infrastructure with very little contribution for doing so while law-abiding Americans foot the bill. The two primary targets of their consumption without any (or very little) economic input on their part are medical facilities and public schools. The added weight of Spanish-speaking-only children in U.S. schools impacts how schools can even operate. It forces bilingual teachers to be provided which comes at additional taxpayer expense. And often children of illegals are significantly deficient in their level of education when enrolling in U.S. public schools. This forces schools to adjust curriculum and age/grade participation processes that impact U.S. children in major ways;
  • We cannot forget one major consideration in this issue: Jose takes a job that would be available for an American who is abiding by all the rules and whose income is spent totally in the United States. Yes, there are those who maintain that Mexican illegals perform in jobs that Americans will not. There is no factual basis for that premise though there certainly are some of those positions to which it is pertinent. But even if 50% of those jobs end up with illegals, 50% could have gone to legal American citizens.

What’s The Fix?

  1. Stop illegal immigration! There’s no substitute for that. Many conflate the issues purposely. It certainly is true that millions of people — not just from Mexico, but from almost every other country on Earth — want to live in the U.S., primarily for economic opportunity. The U.S. legally accepts 1 million immigrants annually into the U.S. legally. And that is more than do all the other countries on Earth combined! The U.S. really cares for the poor and needy. But the U.S. infrastructure cannot survive under the weight of those who soak up its resources with little if any economic contribution. That doesn’t even consider the social and criminal justice illegals bring to the U.S.
  2. Stop giving financial incentives to those who come here. U.S. employers are just as guilty in many cases as the illegals. If they would not hire workers that are illegal, the incentive for their coming would be severely limited. Many of those employers do so to dodge paying payroll taxes, (they are paid in tax) and they are able to hire illegals at a much lower wage than they pay legal immigrants and Americans. Why? Illegals are not in the U.S. system as are legal immigrants and Americans, sho those employers can get away with shortcuts at not only the government’s expense but by not paying into benefits for illegals as they do for legal workers.
  3. Minimize the massive amounts of dollars that leave the U.S. from these workers sending large portions of their pay back to Mexico. That could easily be accomplished by limiting the legal ways for them to do so. Several of those companies that process such payments internationally are listed above. Congress could easily pass legislation that would force these companies and all banking institutions to require full identity verification for all those who transfer money out of the U.S. AND could charge a percentage transfer fee for every transfer. Do the math: Of the $26 billion transferred each year, assess a 5% fee that would help make up the cost to America’s infrastructure used every day by these illegals that so far have been provided free. (Hey, that could even be applied to the cost of President Trump’s wall!)

This is all just a piece of the big problem America’s federal government keeps dancing around: illegal immigration. There’s no need for us to discuss details further. We all know them. But it certainly is time to right the ship of immigration and takes our country back to the rule of law. Everyone who lives and visits the U.S. should abide by EVERY law in place in every city, state, and anywhere in the U.S. And those who violate laws should pay the legal penalty for doing so.

Short of doing that, the U.S. is headed toward certain anarchy. How long will law-abiding American citizens continue to standby and watch our federal government allow illegal migrants to soak up our tax dollars and break our laws with impunity? We have not reached a tipping point yet. But in American history, there are examples of Americans saying, “Enough is enough!” and doing something about government wrongdoing.

Let’s don’t go there. Let’s fix the problem…NOW!

 

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