Monday, August 24, 2015

The Administration Is Beginning To Feel The Consequences Of Its Immigration Policies

Administration's Chaotic Immigration Policies Bring Trouble on Two Horizons

By Dan Cadman

The Obama White House is finally beginning to feel the consequences of cause and effect where its immigration policies are concerned. Like a paralysis-inducing spider wasp laying its eggs into its prey, it has pretty much cowed our congressional leaders into crippling inactivity in the face of its onslaught of legally dubious "executive actions". But the third branch of our tripartite federal system, the judiciary, has taken action in two different directions and begun to clamp down on the administration's policies.

On the west coast, a U.S. District Court judge has ordered an end to detention of families and unaccompanied minors, spelling potential catastrophe for the administration's game of laundering such individuals through a period of lockdown, followed by resettlement with notional orders to appear at hearings, which the majority simply ignore. This is a potential game changer in the run-up to the presidential elections, because a repeated land-based tsunami of aliens proving the existence of an out-of-control southern border will not bode well for any candidate advocating anything remotely like open borders or a broad-based amnesty.

In southern Texas, another U.S. District Court judge continues moving inexorably toward a show-cause hearing on August 19, in which the administration will be forced to explain publicly why it was either unwilling or unable to comply with his order enjoining the government's plans to extend and enlarge the pool of illegal aliens being granted "lawful status" and work permits to remain in the United States indefinitely, in three-year increments.

The family detention case has the administration scrambling — they clearly understand what is at play — and, for the moment, we are seeing a ray of sunshine and honesty instead of the usual fog of obfuscation they churn out. The Washington Times reports that the deputy chief of the Border Patrol has provided a declaration accompanying a last-ditch petition to the court to reconsider its decision to end the detention. One of the things that has come out of that affidavit is the admission that last month there was a surge of families and minors mirroring the one that occurred in the summer of 2014. This isn't — or shouldn't be — news; CIS's Jessica Vaughan has reported on the continuing flow, even as the administration tried to hide it. It is a measure of the administration's desperation that they now admit as much, even as they also ramp up a second go at trying to persuade Central Americans not to make the trek because "there are no permisos". This line of argument is, of course, fatuous and insulting to the intelligence of Central Americans, whether or not they decide to try. They are smart enough to know that almost no one has actually been deported. Who needs a formal permit if you are released from detention and are so low on the list of so-called "enforcement priorities" that it's unlikely you will ever be picked up even if you do flout your immigration hearing and disappear to live and work wherever you choose?

In the matter of the injunction, there are actually two fronts: the show-cause hearing and the decision in chief, which is now at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and will either result in an order by the appellate judges lifting the injunction and permitting the executive branch to move forward with its plans or in the court upholding the restraining order (which seems more likely), in which case the administration will have to decide whether to seek a Supreme Court hearing at which they risk being shut down in the most formidable terms. But as the appellate decision plays out it will be interesting to see how the government presents its justification for not obeying the injunction when it comes to court on the 19th.

Initially, the judge ordered that senior Homeland Security officials, including the secretary, present themselves personally to explain why they should not be held in contempt. Media outlets are now reporting that the judge has excused their presence — it seems to me a shame that he has let them off the hook, given their arrogance — but he is still requiring the hearing on the substantive matter of why the government either willfully or out of negligence failed so abysmally to comply with his original order enjoining further issuance of documents.

In a court document filed in anticipation of the hearing, the 26 states that are plaintiffs in the case against the administration have laid out in excruciating detail how government officials repeatedly violated the order and continued to issue new documents even while claiming to be in compliance.

I can hardly wait to see the adroit acrobatic flips, twists, and handsprings the government's lawyers will have to undertake in order to try to help the White House and its minions wiggle out of the bind into which they have put themselves.

Reprinted for Dan Cadman’s Blog featured on the Center for Immigration Studies website (www.cis.com). Dan is a friend and former colleague from my days with the US Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Ben Ferro (Editor)


Sunday, August 16, 2015

“Sanctuary” Laws Tie the Hands of Local Law Enforcement Officers

Police Chiefs, Sheriffs Blast ICE Over Policy They Say Frees Violent Illegal Immigrants

by Malia Zimmerman, Published August 13, 2015, www.FoxNews.com

A California toddler fighting for her life Thursday after a brutal beating at the hands of an illegal immigrant with a long criminal record is the latest case to rile California sheriffs and police against a U.S. immigration policy they say is forcing them to release dangerous criminals out on the street.

Francisco Javier Chavez, the live-in boyfriend of the unidentified two-year-old's mother, is out on bail after being charged in the late July attack, which left the San Luis Obispo County girl with two broken arms, a broken femur, a compressed spine, a urinary tract infection and a fever of 107 degrees. Chavez's criminal record includes assault and drug convictions and arrests for violent acts including kidnapping, car jacking and cruelty to a child.

A disgusted San Luis Obispo Sheriff Ian Parkinson told FoxNews.com Chavez should have been locked away or deported long before he had the chance to inflict "horrific injuries" on the little girl, but said conflicting federal policies leave his department handcuffed. Instead, Chavez is now free, awaiting a court date for which he may not even show up.

“The truth is, if we had any legal right to hold him, we would, because of the concern that, not being a U.S. citizen, he will bail out and flee the country and flee prosecution,” said Parkinson, who suspects Chavez may have already fled the county.

The issue, says Parkinson and dozens of other sheriffs and police chiefs across California and Arizona, is that, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement routinely asks departments to hold prisoners like Chavez until they can take custody of them for deportation, the local law enforcement officials believe doing so will expose them to lawsuits. They cite court cases including the March, 2014, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruling in Galrza v. Szalczyk that held states and localities are not required to imprison people based on ICE "detainer" requests, and that states and localities may be held liable if they participate in wrongful immigration detentions.

“I am not aware of any County in California that is honoring detainers, simply because we can’t,” Parkinson said. “We have to follow the law or the threat of violating the law ourselves,” Parkinson said, citing a Court decision issued approximately one year ago. “The law actually does not give us the right to place an ICE hold, unless there is a warrant for them. That is why we (local law enforcement) are united in California and asking that this be fixed and changed, because at end of the day, we are the ones who have to let them out the door.”

The Arizona Sheriffs’ Association agrees, noting every day ICE asks local sheriffs to ‘detain’ an inmate, yet don’t provide “rational, legal authority to do so,” putting sheriffs at enormous risk for legal liability. When the local authorities let an illegal immigrant criminal free on bail, they do so reluctantly - and they blame ICE.

ICE maintains there is no requirement that it obtain a judicial warrant to compel law enforcement agencies to hold suspects and that a detainer is sufficient. A spokesperson for ICE said the agency continues to work “cooperatively” with local law enforcement partners and is implementing a new plan, the Priority Enforcement Program – PEP, to place the focus on criminals and individuals who threaten the public safety and ensure they are not released from prisons or jails before they can be taken into ICE custody.

Martin Mayer, legal counsel to sheriffs and chiefs of police in 70 law enforcement agencies throughout California for the last 25 years, and general counsel to the California State Sheriffs’ Association, told FoxNews.com the U.S. Department of Justice, the California Office of the Attorney General, and ICE all take the position that the detainer is only a request and the law does not give sheriffs authorization to hold illegal immigrant suspects ordered released by a judge.

If ICE agents are present when suspects are ordered released, and if they have the legal basis to take custody of them, they can, but local law enforcement does not have the authority to hold them in the absence of ICE, the California Sheriffs Association recently said in letter to Congress.

The American Civil Liberties Union's California chapter has been vocal in pressuring city police chiefs to honor the court rulings that said ICE detainers are mere requests, not mandates, and that honoring them would violate suspects' Constitutional rights.

“This (ACLU) letter to the cities states that ‘Your police department should immediately cease complying with immigration detainers, or else risk legal liability for detaining individuals in violation of the Fourth Amendment,’” Mayer said.

The ACLU did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment.

A string of murders across the country by criminal aliens has spotlighted the conflict between ICE and local law enforcement, and in recent days, caught the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. After one of the cases, the July 24 murder of Marilyn Pharis, a 64-year-old Air Force veteran, Santa Maria Police Chief Ralph Martin blamed the state and federal governments for a convoluted policy that leaves local law enforcement holding the bag.

“I am not remiss to say that from Washington D.C. to Sacramento, there is a blood trail to Marilyn Pharis’ bedroom,” Martin said.



Ben Ferro (Editor)

benferro@insideins.com

Saturday, August 15, 2015

I Can't Say That This Is Totally Unexpected‏

Obama’s Illegal Immigration Actions Cause New Surge of Illegals


 By: Dan Spencer

A new report issued by the Center for Immigration Studies (“CIS”) estimates that the “illegal population could be 12.4 million in 2015.” This new report also “suggests” there has been a new surge in illegal immigration. The CIS report credits the new influx, in part, to the lax enforcement efforts resulting from President Obama’s illegal so-called “executive actions on immigration“:

Given the significant cutbacks in enforcement in recent years, the permissive nature of the legal immigration system, and improvements in the economy, it is not surprising that the immigrant (legal and illegal) population has surged in the last four years. …

After growing little from 2007 to 2011, the nation’s immigrant population has grown by 4.1 million from 2011 to 2015. This is roughly equal to the pace of growth from 2000 to 2007. …

In the last two years, the growth in the immigrant population has been largely driven by immigrants from Mexico and the rest of Latin America. This suggests that illegal immigration has increased in recent years after having declined or grown little from 2009 to 2013.



Other interesting findings from the CIS report include:

§        The nation’s immigrant (foreign-born) population, which includes legal and illegal immigrants, now are 13.3 percent of the nation’s total population — the largest share in 105 years.
§        Growth in the last year was led by a rebound in the number of Mexican immigrants, which increased by 740,000 from 2014 to 2015 — accounting for 44 percent of the increase in the total immigrant population in the last year.
§        The total Mexican immigrant population (legal and illegal) reached 12.1 million in the second quarter of 2015 — the highest quarterly total ever.

We have now been fiercely debating comprehensive immigration reform for more 11 years, ever since President George W. Bush asked Congress to pass new immigration laws consistent with a dozen or so key concepts. While I gave President Bush credit for his willingness to take on such a controversial issue, I opposed his plan for going too far. I remain opposed to any immigration reform that provides legal status to those 12.4 million illegal immigrants already here until we control the border, have a reliable and effective visa control and tracking system and a reliable and effective e-verify system.

As I have written many times, starting in 2003, I’m not against immigration. We are, after all, a nation of immigrants. Immigration is one of the factors that provides the ambition and drive behind this country’s strong entrepreneurial spirit. I understand that certain industries are heavily dependent on immigration. None of the multitude of reasons proving the benefits of immigration justify the illegal immigration.

We need to control immigration. Our immigrants need to play by the rules.

We have an immigration policy. What we don’t have, and haven’t had, is anyone willing to enforce it. We won’t secure our border. State governments encourage the provision of government services to illegal immigrants. Local governments enact “sanctuary” programs for illegal immigrants, preventing their employees from reporting an illegal alien’s status. Right, these problems have been around for a long time.

There has been a movement afoot since the turn of the century to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants who have demonstrated a willingness to live and work peacefully and productively in the United States. Dick Gephardt, then a presidential wannabee, called this “earned legalization.” The movement was sidetracked by 9/11.

We tried amnesty once before. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, made nearly four million illegals eligible for legal residency with the understanding we would control the border. That policy was an obvious failure because now there more than 12 million illegals to be considered for legal status, or as some say amnesty. If amnesty or legal status is now given to these millions, then we should only expect requests for legal status from millions and millions more.

We almost accomplished immigration reform in 2006. Senate Republicans reached a compromise on the status millions illegals in the U.S. The compromise would have treated illegal aliens differently based upon the length of time they have been in the U.S. I was willing to accept this compromise. But According to the Associated Press and Eleanor Clift the Democrats wanted a political advantage more than they wanted immigration reform.

Initially reported on www.redstate.com

Ben Ferro (Editor) 

benferro@insideins.com

Monday, August 10, 2015

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Everything!


Suspect In Killing Of San Francisco Woman Had Been Deported Five Times

San Francisco (CNN) Kate Steinle was walking on a busy pier in San Francisco with her father when there was a single popping sound in the air.

She fell to the ground, struck by a bullet, the victim of what police say appears to be a random killing.

The man accused of firing the deadly shot -- 45-year-old Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez -- is an undocumented immigrant, a repeat felon who has been deported five times to Mexico, according to immigration officials.

It would have been six, a federal law enforcement source told CNN, except authorities in San Francisco wanted him on a drug-related warrant.



ILLEGAL ALIEN CRIME ACCOUNTS FOR OVER 30% OF MURDERS IN MANY STATES


Reported by Breitbart.com

The mainstream media – including, sadly, major segments of the presumably conservative media, like the Wall Street Journal — are working overtime to keep the American public and the American voters in the dark on the scope of illegal alien crime. The murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco exposed only the tip of a massive iceberg, and the media establishment is desperate to avoid dealing with the iceberg underneath.

Let’s look at a few numbers. You haven’t seen them in the New York Times, Atlanta Constitution, or the Miami Herald, nor have they been featured on NBC Nightly news or CNN. So, the average American is blissfully unaware of them.

Between 2008 and 2014, 40% of all murder convictions in Florida were criminal aliens. In New York it was 34% and Arizona 17.8%.

During those years, criminal aliens accounted for 38% of all murder convictions in the five states of California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and New York, while illegal aliens constitute only 5.6% of the total population in those states.

That 38% represents 7,085 murders out of the total of 18,643.

That 5.6% figure for the average illegal alien population in those five states comes from US Census estimates. We know the real number is double that official estimate. Yet, even if it is 11%, it is still shameful that the percentage of murders by criminal aliens is more than triple the illegal population in those states.

Those astounding numbers were compiled by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) using official Department of Justice data on criminal aliens in the nation’s correctional system.

Fox News, obtained reports by the House Judiciary Committee and nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. They are the result of the committee’s subpoena request for Department of Homeland Security records from October 2008 to July 2011. The information was analyzed by the CRS and show 276,412 reported charges against illegal and criminal immigrants over that three-year period as identified by Secure Communities, a federal program that essentially attempts to make best use of resources by identifying and prioritizing which illegal immigrants pose the biggest threat to public safety and should be arrested or deported. Fox News reports, “Of the 160,000 people in the database, more than 26,000 were re-arrested — accounting for nearly 58,000 crimes and violations. They allegedly committed nearly 8,500 drunken-driving offenses and more than 6,000 drug-related violations. The records also show major criminal offenses, which included murder, battery, rape, kidnapping and nearly 3,000 thefts. Roughly two percent of the crimes included child molestation, lynching, and torture, according to the 13-page Congressional Research Service report. [source: www.foxnews.com)

An FBI crime study also shows heavy illegal alien involvement in criminal activity revealed these statistics:

§        75 percent of those on the most wanted criminals list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.
§        One quarter of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals, as are more than 40 percent of all inmates in Arizona and 48 percent in New Mexico jails.
§        Over 53 percent of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
§        63 percent of cited drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that number, 97 percent are illegal aliens. 66 percent of cited drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66 percent, 98 percent are illegal aliens.
[source: www.examiner.com]


The statistics are traumatic, but the anecdotal stories are horrifying.

§        A year after Baltimore’s mayor signed an order officially converting the city into a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, federal authorities arrested an undocumented Ecuadorian national wanted for the brutal rape of a nine-year-old girl.  [source: www.ice.gov/news/releases]

§        Carlos Martinelly-Montano, a Bolivian national who killed a Virginia nun in a drunk-driving accident, was on a new federal government supervised release program, allowing the illegal alien — who committed a series of crimes — to remain on the streets despite being subject to deportation. Rather than detaining Montano, authorities determined that he was a candidate for the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, which supposedly monitored his whereabouts. [source: www.judicialwatch.org]

§        Guatemalan illegal alien Juan Tzun killed California sheriff’s dispatcher Dominick Durden. In 2008, Tzun was charged with two felonies. He pled guilty to one felony and the other was dropped. Tzun was given 3 years probation but should have been deported. A year later he was caught driving drunk. Three more years probation, but again, no deportation. Another year later, Tzun was caught driving drunk a second time and was released — two months later he drove into Durden and instantly killed him. Finally, ICE detained Tzun until an immigration judge freed him on bond. Tzun spent all of 35 days in jail, and is now in detention pending deportation. [source: www.caps-blog.org]

Other Examples of Serious Crimes of Illegal Aliens:

§        July 2015 — Ever Olivos-Gutierrez, an illegal visa overstay, was convicted of second degree murder in Colorado for the death he caused while driving intoxicated. It was the fourth time since 2000 he had been arrested for DUI, but there was no record of immigration authorities ever being notified. He was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment. (Denver Channel 7)
§        June 2015 — A Salvadoran, Mauricio Hernandez, convicted of rape and murder of the baby born to his victim was sentenced to 50 years in prison in Texas and faces deportation when he has served his sentence. (The Dallas Morning News, June 5, 2015)
§        May 2015 — A Salvadoran, Julio C. Saravia, faces deportation following a prison sentence of 29 years for rape of a minor, to which he pled guilty in Virginia.
§        May 2015 — Two Mexicans, Juan Hernandez-Sanchez and (FNU) Canela-Perez, pled guilty in Portland, Oregon and were sentenced to seven years in state prison for distribution of methamphetamines and heroin. (Oregonian, May 14, 2015)
§        May 2015 — Zeng Liang Chen and Dong Biao Lin, illegal aliens from China, were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in New Jersey. (NJ.com, May 5, 2015)
§        May 2015 —Bernabe Flores, a Mexican illegal alien, pled guilty to first-degree rape in California and was sentenced to eight years in prison. (Times-Herald Record, May 7, 2015)
§        April 2015 — Victor Garzon-Alvarez, a Mexican illegal alien pled guilty and was sentenced in New Jersey to 14 years in prison for murder. (NJ.com, April 22, 2015)
§        April 2015 — Sergio Quezada Lopez, a Mexican illegal alien who had been deported four times, was sentenced in Oregon to 15 years in prison for a heroin overdose death. His brother, Gerardo Chalke Lopez, also a previously deported alien, was earlier sentenced to 18 years in prison on the same charges. (Oregonian, April 29, 2015)
§        April 2015 — Three illegal aliens, Uriel Ramirez-Perez, Darwin Zuniga-Rocha, and Eliseo Mateo Perez, pled guilty to first-degree sexual abuse (rape) in New York and were sentenced to time served in jail and will be deported. (Daily News, April 29, 2015)
§        March 2015 — Javier Guerrero Molina, a Mexican illegal alien, was sentenced in federal court in Jacksonville, Florida to 10 years imprisonment for attempting to transport a minor to engage in sexual activity. Guerrero said he had entered the United States illegally in 1999 or 2000. (Dept. of Justice, Middle District of Florida, March 30, 2015)
§        March 2015 — An Idaho judge sentenced Phuong Hoang Le, a Vietnamese illegal alien, to prison for 36 months. Le was convicted of possession of a stolen car and stolen credit card. The judge  commented, "Stealing cars and credit cards strike at the hearts of average middle class citizens." The prosecutor said that Le had 10 prior felony convictions, but that according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he is not likely to be deported because if Le were to be deported to Vietnam "he would be killed." (http://magicvalley.com/news/local/mini-cassia/ — March 25, 2015)
§        March 2015 — Luis Daniel Cabrera-Guzman, a Mexican illegal alien, was sentenced in Kansas City to two years in federal prison for conspiracy to produce and distribute false and counterfeit identification documents that were sold to illegal aliens. He had previously been deported twice in 2009. Four other Mexican illegal aliens have pled guilty to the same conspiracy and await sentencing. (Kansas City infozine, March 25, 2015)
§        May 2014 — Humberto Gonzalez, an illegal alien, was convicted in New Jersey of criminal assault and sentenced to 50 years in prison. The rape occurred in 2005 and Gonzalez was not identified until a DNA match was made following an arrest in Texas for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Gonzalez also had a criminal record in Louisiana and Arkansas. (Times of Trenton, May 9, 2014)
§        February 2014 — Cinthya Garcia-Cisneros, an illegal alien from Mexico, was found guilty of two counts of a felony for failure to perform the duties of a driver and sentenced to three years of probation and 250 hours of community service.  Garcia-Cisneros committed a hit-and-run that resulted in the death of two stepsisters, 6-year-old Anna Dieter-Eckerdt and 11-year-old Abigail Robinson.  (Associated Press, Feb. 4, 2013)
§        January 2014 — Jasim Mohammed Hasin Ramadon, aka Jay Hendrix, an Iraqi immigrant, was found guilty in Colorado on multiple counts of sexual assault. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison. Sarmad Fadhi "Levi" Mohammed, another Iraqi was earlier convicted for the same assault and sentenced to 16 years in prison. An additional three Iraqi immigrants involved in the assault have received misdemeanor convictions. (Colorado Gazette, January 21, 2014)
§        January 2014 — Modesto Osco, a Peruvian, pled guilty to indecent assault on a minor. He was sentenced in Pennsylvania to five months to two years in prison. (The Morning Call, January 6, 2014)


Ben Ferro (Editor)
benferro@insideins.com