Immigration & the Fiscal Cliff

waltky · Nov 25, 2012

Granny & Uncle Ferd would rather push dem Hispexicans over the fiscal cliff...

Fiscal woes threaten US immigration reform
Mon, Nov 26, 2012 - ATTENTION DEFICIT: Analysts say that the upcoming political battles over the fiscal cliff will take the US Congress focus away from long-promised immigration reforms

US President Barack Obamas re-election this month gave supporters of comprehensive immigration reform a dose of optimism. They hoped that Obama, bolstered by the 70 percent-plus support he received from Hispanic voters, might now feel ready to champion the cause he largely avoided during his first term. They thought that Republicans, after the thumping they got at the hands of Latinos in the Nov. 6 election, might soften their resistance to reform in order to stay competitive. However, as advocates mobilize for what is likely to be a two-year drive to get an immigration law enacted, their optimism may be tested by a dose of reality.

No matter how sympathetic Obama may be, he will be preoccupied with fiscal battles well into next year and less likely to engage in the kind of salesmanship analysts believe is key to sell broad immigration policy changes to the public. As a group, Republicans in US Congress, may not be eager to reverse long-held and deeply felt positions on immigration in an era when so many are vulnerable to primary election challenges from the right. Plus, they may be just as consumed by fiscal issues as the rest of Washington. Democratic Senator Mark Warner said the so-called fiscal cliff the tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect in January will suck up Washingtons energy early next year, even as his party wants to use the new US Congress to tackle big issues like immigration, climate change and job creation.

Immigration reform, which has failed repeatedly in Congress over the past decade, aims to accomplish several goals none of them easy. For Democrats and their labor union supporters, the 11 million undocumented foreigners, many having spent years in the US, should be allowed to come out of the shadows and given a path to citizenship while working in the US legally. Many Republicans say that this approach would reward those who broke the law by jumping in front of those waiting to emigrate legally. The 11 million includes the children of illegal immigrants. Obama, impatient with Congress inaction and with an eye on re-election, last June moved on his own to allow some to avoid deportation for two years and obtain work permits.

For Republicans, stronger enforcement measures are necessary to keep more illegals from entering the US through states bordering Mexico, especially if an improving US economy begins creating more jobs. Democrats argue that tough controls are already in place. Both sides want to more efficiently verify legal workers in the US, while the business community wants better access to low-paid farm workers and well-paid high-tech workers on a temporary basis. At a minimum, theyll want to have a bill [introduced] by early spring, around April, said Andrea Zuniga DiBitetto, who follows Congress for the AFL-CIO, the confederation of US labor unions.

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waltky · Jan 26, 2013

Obama gonna fix it...

White House, Senators Launching Immigration Push
Saturday, January 26, 2013, WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will launch a campaign next week aimed at overhauling the nation's flawed immigration system and creating legal status for millions, as a bipartisan Senate group nears agreement on achieving the same goals.

The proposals from Obama and lawmakers will mark the start of what is expected to be a contentious and emotional process with deep political implications. Latino voters overwhelmingly backed Obama in the 2012 election, leaving Republicans grappling for a way to regain their standing with an increasingly powerful pool of voters. The president will press his case for immigration changes during a trip to Las Vegas Tuesday. The Senate working group is also aiming to outline its proposals next week, according to a Senate aide.

A migrants' rights activist holds a sign that reads in Spanish "Obama, migration agreement right now!" outside the U.S. embassy on Obama's inauguration day, in Mexico City, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. Protesters say Obama's administration has failed to address immigration promptly.

Administration officials say Obama's second-term immigration push will be a continuation of the principles he outlined during his first four years in office but failed to act on. He is expected to revive his little-noticed 2011 immigration "blueprint," which calls for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants that includes paying fines and back taxes; increased border security; mandatory penalties for businesses that employ unauthorized immigrants; and improvements to the legal immigration system, including giving green cards to high-skilled workers and lifting caps on legal immigration for the immediate family members of U.S. citizens. "What has been absent in the time since he put those principles forward has been a willingness by Republicans, generally speaking, to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform," White House press secretary Jay Carney said. "What he hopes is that that dynamic has changed."

The political dynamic does appear to have shifted following the November election. Despite making little progress on immigration in his first term, Obama won more than 70 percent of the Latino vote, in part because of the conservative positions on immigration that Republican nominee Mitt Romney staked out during the GOP primary. Latino voters accounted for 10 percent of the electorate in November.

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waltky · Jan 28, 2013

Granny says dey gonna come up here anyway so charge `em admission so's the gubmint can send her dat 2nd stimulus check...

Push for US Immigration Reform Gains Momentum
January 27, 2013 WASHINGTON Democratic and Republican lawmakers report progress on a bipartisan push to reform U.S. immigration laws. An agreement on proposed legislation to fix Americas oft-lambasted immigration system could be announced later this week.

After years of failed and frustrated efforts at immigration reform, a bipartisan breakthrough could be close at hand. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, speaking on ABCs This Week program, said, I am cautiously optimistic. I see the right spirit. I see things that were once off the table for agreement and discussion being on the table. Menendez belongs to a group of Democratic and Republican senators that has been working to craft an immigration-reform package that could pass both houses of Congress. The lawmakers say the deal they envision would provide a means to give legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants while also strengthening U.S. border security.

Another member of the group, Republican Senator John McCain, also appeared on This Week. McCain said the ideas being discussed are not new, but the political landscape surrounding immigration reform has changed. It is not that much different from what we tried to do in 2007. What has changed, honestly, is that there is a new appreciation on both sides of the aisle - including, maybe more importantly, on the Republican side of the aisle - that we have to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill," he said. Republican opposition to immigration reform appears to have softened since last years presidential election, when more than two-thirds of Hispanic voters cast ballots for the Democratic Party's Barack Obama.

Prominent Republicans have said their party will be hard-pressed to win national contests unless it can attract greater support from Hispanics and other minority groups. But points of contention remain, including whether foreign citizens who entered the United States illegally or overstayed their visas can be eligible for eventual U.S. citizenship. Senator Menendez says yes. Absolutely. First of all, Americans support it in poll after poll. Secondly, Latino voters expect it. Third, Democrats want it. And fourth, Republicans need it," he said.

For now, many Republican lawmakers are non-committal on a possible path to citizenship for the undocumented. But Senator McCain says the status quo is unacceptable. We cannot go on forever with 11-million people living in this country in the shadows in an illegal status. We cannot forever have children who were brought here by their parents when they were small children to live in the shadows, as well. So I think the time is right [for immigration reform]," he said. Tuesday, President Obama will attempt to rally public support for immigration reform with a speech in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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waltky · Feb 19, 2013

What's his immigration stratergy?

President Obama is playing games on immigration
February 18, 2013 - Just when you have one of the Republican Partys top leaders, Paul Ryan, praising President Barack Obama for not wanting to politicize the sensitive issue of immigration reform, the White House proves him wrong. Whats more, it fuels speculation and not just from Republicans that Obamas focus is on the 2014 mid-term elections and a gamble that Democrats can recapture the House of Representatives for complete control of Washington and use the last two years of his presidency to push through a liberal dream agenda.

The reason for Ryans praise was what he saw as the constructive tone of Obamas remarks on immigration in the State of the Union speech a week ago. It looked like the executive branch wasnt going to do anything to torpedo the delicate negotiations of a bipartisan Group of Eight U.S. senators struggling to write compromise immigration legislation that could pass Congress. A similar across-the-aisle effort is under way in the House. Then the White House leaked its version of an immigration bill to USA Today. It was lacking on key issues like a guest worker program or dealing adequately with border security, fundamental to achieving bipartisan success. Asked about the leak on ABCs This Week, Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman and former GOP vice presidential candidate, backtracked from his earlier comment, saying the leak does set things in the wrong direction and tells us that hes looking for a partisan advantage and not a bipartisan solution.

Its worth noting here that only a few weeks ago senior Democratic members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus urged Obama not to unveil his immigration legislation for fear of blowing up delicate bipartisan talks in Congress, according to CNN. Its been an article of faith in many conservative circles since his big Election Day victory that Obama is aiming to take advantage of post-election divisions within the Republican Party and keep his campaign apparatus going to regain control of the House next year. Now youre hearing that from Obamas disciples in the media who constantly complain about GOP obstructionism despite efforts like the bipartisan immigration talks.

[M]aybe he just can keep that election base going, keep that campaign strategy alive and maybe, maybe have a chance to take back the House, Lincoln biographer and Obama cheerleader Doris Kearns Goodwin said on the Charlie Rose PBS show. And then you get everything and then you get the whole ball game. So its worth it, you take a risk. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman called for Obama to seek a grand bargain on fiscal issues though the record shows Obama considers a grand bargain to be the GOP caving to his tax and spending demands (*) before Obama opts for a strategy of trying to pummel the Republican Party, hoping that he can win the House for the Democrats in 2014 and then push through his second-term agenda unencumbered.

The immigration leak would argue Obama already has opted for politics over bipartisan policy. This is a very loyal, tightly controlled White House, so leaks dont happen without a reason. A White House official described it as a backup plan if congressional efforts fail. Does anyone really believe that an Obama bill could pass if a bipartisan group of legislators cant produce a bill? The leak only undercuts GOP leaders like Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida trying to fashion a plan that can work as policy rather than use immigration as a political wedge issue, as increasingly looks to be the case with Obama. If that is his strategy, will Hispanic voters fall for it?

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waltky · May 26, 2013

Amnesty bill gonna put ICE outta business...

Study: Immigration Bill Legalizes 45% of ICE's Criminal Caseload
24 May`13 - Nearly half (45%) of illegal aliens arrested on criminal charges would be eligible for legal status under the immigration bill S. 744, analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows.

Looking at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) records from its Secure Communities program for the six month period Oct. 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013, the analysis shows that 17,208 of 38,547 (45%) criminal illegal aliens would be eligible for legalization under the bill despite their offenses. The 17,208 criminal illegal aliens are classified as by ICE as "Level 3 offenders in ICE parlance (convicted of fewer than three misdemeanors on separate occasions), fugitives, prior removals and returns, illegal border crossers, and over-stayers and visa violators," the analysis shows.

It cites an illegal alien convicted of negligent vehicular homicide as an example of the type of criminal alien who would qualify for legalization under the bill: "This group would include the likes of Manuel Zaruma, a 24-year old illegal immigrant construction worker from Ecuador, who recently was convicted in Worcester County, Mass., of negligent vehicular homicide (a misdemeanor), driving unlicensed, and two more traffic infractions after a crash that killed Andrea Agosto, age 47, mother of three children." It would take three such fatal crashes to make Zaruma ineligible for legalization, CIS notes.

The remaining 22,339 (55%) were convicted of a felony or at least three misdemeanors and, thus, would be ineligible for legalization - "unless the Homeland Security Secretary waived their ineligibility, which is allowed under the bill," CIS says. As "The Right Views" previously reported, the ICE Council warned Congress in a letter that the S. 744 stipulates that "the (DHS) Secretary is given the 'sole and unreviewable discretion' to waive that ineligibility for large classes of qualifying aliens."

The letter warns that political appointees would have the power to pardon virtually all types of criminal acts: "At least two of these standards appear undefined by S. 744 or current law, providing political appointees with broad authority to establish their own definitions of these terms and pardon criminal acts under almost any circumstance." In a separate analysis of S. 744, CIS warns that the bill creates other threats to public safety, national security and enforcement efforts, as well, since it is "designed to reward and protect lawbreakers" while undermining current immigration law measures.

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waltky · Jun 15, 2013

Granny says make `em pay it - might get us outta the deficit...

Immigration Bill Would Cost $6 Trillion, Harm Hispanics, Blacks
June 14, 2013 Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) delivered her case Friday against the comprehensive immigration reform proposal, saying it would cost $6 trillion and particularly harm blacks and Hispanics.

What Im asking all of us to consider are the profound implications of what this will mean, because amnesty will cost a fortune, Bachmann said at the Road to Majority Conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Faith & Freedom Coalition. Were looking at a $6 trillion cost for amnesty. Just the retirement benefits alone for illegal aliens which must be born by the American people is something like $2.7 trillion.

The Congressional Budget Office has yet to estimate how much the immigration reform bill would cost, but the Heritage Foundation estimates it at $6.3 trillion. It would be one thing if we had high skill workers coming into the United States, but the estimate is that the average illegal alien that comes to the United States, the average age is 34 years old, Bachmann said. The average education level is about 10th grade. Thats not to demean anyone for a lack of education, but a 34-year-old with a 10th grade education, its tough to believe you will be paying more in taxes than they will be receiving in benefits, she said. The people who will be hurt the most are Hispanics and African-Americans who already suffer high levels of unemployment, because rather than competing for jobs now at say $10 an hour, they will have seven more people with like skills who dont have to compete, she added. In 1986, the American people were promised we would have a one-time deal for amnesty one time, and it would be 1 million illegal aliens to be given status, Bachmann said. We all know that did not turn out to be true. It turned out to be 3.5 million.

Bachmann said that under this legislation, America will confer legal status on more illegal aliens in 10 years than in the last 40 years. Bachmann expressed doubts that the bipartisan Gang of Eight proposal will have adequate enforcement measures as proponents claim. The bill that we are currently looking at, if it survives in its existing form, will mean that the borders will not be secure, despite the promises that we are being given, Bachmann said. It is as we heard this week from one of the members of the Gang of Eight, it will be legalization first and maybe well deal with border security down the road. It takes the whole technology of e-Verify and puts it on the shelf. It prevents the states from even using the concept of e-Verify. The Senate is still debating the immigration reform proposal. The House Judiciary Committee will begin discussing the legislation next week.

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/bac...on-harm-hispanics-blacks#sthash.yaUSthnL.dpuf
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Immigration & the Fiscal Cliff

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