legal immigration

The 2013 Schumer-Rubio Amnesty/ Immigration Surge bill now being debated aims to double legal immigration from what are already historic highs. In many ways, it can be regarded as the 1965 Immigration Act on steroids.

The 1965 Act notoriously unleashed an era of mass immigration after a 40-year lull, and shifted the ethnic mix of new immigrants from predominantly European to Hispanic and Asian. It is responsible for setting the US on the path to a white minority by 2040 or so...

Crime rates have been falling for some two decades, while the foreign-born share of the U.S. population has been increasing. Immigration enthusiasts regularly tout this coincidence, but they are being intellectually dishonest. They simply don’t look back far enough.

A historic crime wave accompanied the post-1965 era of mass immigration. To this day, violent crime rates have not returned to the levels of the early 1960s.

The national crime rate—violent crimes per 100,000 population—rose from 200.2 in 1965 to a peak of 758.2 in 1991, according to historical FBI crime data. That was an increase of 279%. It’s now back down to 403.6.

Over the same period, California’s violent crime rate exploded by 356%. In New York State, the violent crime rate peaked in at 1,180.9 per 100,000 population in 1990, or nearly 25% above the national rate that year. It can hardly be a coincidence that California and New York were the epicenters of mass immigration in the decades following 1965.

We are not arguing that immigration was the only reason crime surged, but it certainly played a role. Similarly, crime has declined after 1990 for many reasons, including tougher enforcement—but immigration has played a role in retarding that decline.

Typical of the utterly irresponsible attitude of all levels of American government to the post 1965 immigrant influx, there has been no systematic effort to collect data on foreign-born crime... Read more about Lesson From 1965: More Immigrants = More Violent Crime

Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, has entered a letter into the congressional record from law enforcement personnel around the country who are warning S.744, officially titled the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act,” would grant sweeping, discretionary powers to “political appointees” – bureaucrats – while stripping law enforcement of authority.

The letter, from the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council of the American Federal of Government Employees Affiliated with AFL-CIO, states:

Congress can and must take decisive steps to limit the discretion of political appointees and empower ICE and CBP to perform their respective missions and enforce the laws enacted by Congress. Rather than limiting the power of those political appointees within DHS, S. 744 provides them with nearly unlimited discretion, which will serve only to further cripple the law enforcement missions of these agencies.

The members warn that the bill conveys to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano “virtually unlimited discretion to waiver” prohibitions on getting legal status, such as previous deportations or criminal activity:

This same section (Section 2101 of S. 744) gives the Secretary of Homeland Security virtually unlimited discretion to waive any manner of crimes that would otherwise make an individual ineligible for legal status – for such expansive reasons as family unity, humanitarian purposes, or what the Secretary believes is in the public interest...

The letter continues:

...Crafters of the letter went on to conclude that ICE agents would essentially become “powerless” to protect the general public, or be able to perform their duties as required, if the bill passes the House. Read more about DHS to be granted total dictatorial power in immigration bill, all laws nullified, voters silenced

As one scandal after another engulfed the White House last week, proponents of immigration reform feared the worst—that the voracious focus on the Obama administration’s missteps would overshadow, and perhaps even doom, their efforts for comprehensive immigration reform during the rest of the president’s second term.

What unfolded instead was just the opposite, as advocates of reform had their best week to date even as the White House ducked, parried, denied, and deflected questions related to the IRS, AP, and Benghazi debacles.

“We hope there’s a fourth scandal,” says Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice and a leader on immigration-reform efforts. “While all of this goes on, we’re just plugging along on this under the radar.”

...instead of conservative media taking shots at the immigration bill in an effort to derail it, as reform proponents expected, talk-radio hosts and other opponents of immigration reform have been consumed by the president’s recent problems instead... Read more about How the White House Scandals Help Immigration Reform Move Forward

An analysis of future immigration flow released Friday by Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions shows that more than 32 million immigrants [illegal aliens] would receive legal status over the next decade and an additional 25 million would be granted non-immigrant work visas under the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill.

On a conference call with reporters about the analysis Sessions explained that number of legal immigrants over the next decade “exceeds the population of California, our largest state, and will have a very significant impact on our economy and the American people.”

“[O]ver the first decade, the total number [of legal status] granted will be well over 32 million (not taking into account chain migration from increased legal flow),” the analysis reads. “Adding in all the various categories of nonimmigrant work visas, the number climbs to more than 57 million.”

The 57 million estimate includes the 11.1 million to 40 million] illegal immigrants already in the country, who would receive legal status under the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill...

CAIRCO Research:

• Read Sen. Sessions' report on illegal aliens numbers.
• Read Sen. Sessions' report on illegal aliens numbers on the Sessions website.
• How many illegal aliens reside in the United States?

  Read more about Sessions: Gang of 8 would give legal status to 57 million, including non-immigrant visas

Overview

• Officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries reached an estimated $401 billion in 2012, growing by 5.3 percent compared with 2011. Remittance flows are expected to grow at an average of 8.8 percent annual rate during 2013-2015 to about $515 billion in 2015.
• Employment conditions in the US, including for migrants are improving, as also reflected in the quota for H-1B visas being rapidly filled for fiscal year 2014. Political momentum behind immigration reform in the US is growing.
• Average remittance prices were broadly unchanged at just above 9 percent over the last year, while the weighted average dropped in the first quarter of 2013 to an all-time low of 6.9 percent. While this suggests progress in reducing prices in high volume remittance corridors, prices continue to remain high in smaller corridors, affecting countries that have greater dependence on remittances.
• Migration and remittances are being featured in ongoing discussions on the Millennium Development

Developing countries received about $401 billion in remittances during 2012

Officially recorded remittances to developing countries are estimated at $401 billion in 2012, and remain a key resource flow far exceeding official development assistance as well as private debt and portfolio equity (Figure 1). Growth in remittances to developing countries decelerated to 5.3 percent in 2012, but is expected to accelerate to 8.8 percent during 2013-15 (see Table 1 at the end of this brief).

Growth in remittances to low income countries is projected to be even faster at 12.3 percent during this period, as economic conditions strengthen in remittance sending countries. Remittance flows to developing countries could reach $515 billion in 2015, sustaining growth and development in emerging markets, and serving as a lifeline to the poor.

India, China, the Philippines and Mexico remain the largest recipients of migrant remittances...

Proposed immigration reforms in the US could increase remittance flows to developing countries, especially Latin America and the Caribbean

The US Congress and the Obama administration are pushing for an overhaul [via amnesty for illegal aliens] of the US immigration system... the general discussion has revolved around:

1. Establishing a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million [to 40 million] undocumented migrants [illegal aliens].
2. Improving the process for admitting workers that helps meet workforce needs, especially skilled migrants, to boost key sectors of the US economy.
3. Strengthening border controls and verification of employers hiring migrant workers. 

Regularizing the status [via amnesty] of the large stock of illegal migrants in the US may not have much impact on remittance flows initially, as migrants [illegal aliens] may have to pay fines, back taxes, and/or application fees, which will reduce migrants’ capacity to make remittances. Over time, however, the regularization of undocumented migrants [illegal aliens] could dramatically increase remittance flows from the US, as migrants gain access to better job opportunities as well as formal means of remitting money...

CAIRCO Research:

Remittances - a Massive Transfer of Wealth, by Fred Elbel, The Social Contract, Spring, 2012.

  Read more about Amnesty for illegal aliens could dramatically increase remittance flows

Read the Gang of Eight bill. It offers amnesty to from 15 to 20 million illegal aliens AND if passed will bring 30 million more foreigners here legally.

Within the space of a decade or so, 45-50 million foreigners would be added to America's population, mostly from poor countries in the Third World.

Then, these numbers would continue to rise further as the newly arrived immigrants start to bring their relatives to the U.S. through chain migration...

Does America need this?

Are the American people clamoring to flood their country with tens of millions of people from around the world who are strangers to our open society, western culture and democratic form of government?...

We must ask, is the most extreme social engineering experiment in all of human history, one purposefully designed to fundamentally alter our country, being led, promoted and sold to the American people by a left wing ideologue?

Look again, it's being shoved down our throats by a front man for the Left who calls himself and pretends to be a conservative: None other than Florida’s Republican Senator Marco Rubio...

If awarding citizenship to 15-20 million illegal aliens and admitting another 30 million immigrants from the Third World doesn't constitute a big enough blanket for Mr. Rubio -- what does?

Marco Rubio has no intention of backing off. He has totally committed himself to achieving amnesty for illegal aliens.

That commitment was made the moment he was elected to the Senate and hired as his principal aide Cesar Conda -- a George Soros associate and hard line ethno-centric, open-borders amnesty advocate going back decades.

Rubio and Conda it appears were simply waiting for the right time...

If conservatives wake up now, see Rubio for who he really is, and for what he is really up to -- he and his abominable nation-killing amnesty bill can be stopped. Read more about Marco Rubio's Coup d'Etat is America's Coup de Grace

Senators fended off changes to the immigration bill in committee on Tuesday, but the first cracks emerged in the carefully crafted compromise between business groups and labor unions, leaving even some supporters frustrated at the defensive votes they had to cast...

On Tuesday, the gang wrangled enough votes to stop one amendment that would have allowed the government to conduct audits to make sure a temporary high-tech visa program wasn’t being used to displace American workers from their jobs, and also halted a proposal that would have required biometric identifiers from every visitor upon entry or exit in the U.S...

Biometrics — immutable characteristics such as iris scans or fingerprints — have been a sticking point since 1996, when Congress passed legislation requiring a biometric identifier of every visitor as they enter and leave the U.S. That was supposed to be a way of making sure temporary visitors go home when their visas expire...

[But the] current immigration bill requires photos rather than biometrics, and only at airports and seaports... Read more about Crumbling coalition? First cracks in immigration deal emerge

President Obama and the Gang of Eight senators are repeating a number of talking points designed to elicit support for amnesty, or as they call it, "'earned legalization," for immigrants [illegal aliens] who have come to the United States illegally. The so-called "path to citizenship" is part of a bipartisan Senate immigration bill.

The current version of the bill provides immediate legal status and many benefits to illegal immigrants [illegal aliens] who pass a background check and pay some fees and fines. Applicants can meet additional requirements years down the road if they wish to switch this "provisional status" to green-card status and eventual US citizenship.

On close inspection, however, the hoops illegal immigrants [illegal aliens] are required to jump through do not amount to much. Each of the following five claims about the requirements for illegal immigrants to earn amnesty are not what they seem.

1. They must pay back taxes.

...The only requirement in the bill is that illegal immigrants [illegal aliens] must iron out any existing problems they may have with the IRS. If the IRS has ever audited the illegal immigrant [illegal alien] and requested payment of unpaid taxes, they would be required to pay them before receiving amnesty....

The reality is that the 45 percent of illegal immigrants estimated to be working off the books are not even on the IRS's radar and are highly unlikely to have ever been audited. There simply aren't any tax forms to audit. Of the remaining illegal immigrants, the number who have been audited by the IRS is also likely very small, simply because historically the IRS audits only about 1 percent of tax filers...

2. They must learn English

The 1986 amnesty also required some applicants to “learn English,” but in practice, attendance at a handful of classes was sufficient for the majority of them to meet this requirement. After the law’s passage, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) weakened the language requirements administratively... it is unlikely that any illegal immigrant will be denied amnesty for not knowing how to properly conjugate a verb...

3. They must pass a background check

History suggests that the government does not have the capacity to carefully vet those who apply for amnesty. The 1986 amnesty resulted in the rubber stamping of hundreds of thousands of fraudulent applications. It also gave legal status to an illegal immigrant [illegal alien] who would become the ringleader of the 1993 World Trade Center attack;...

4. They must pay a fee and fine

The bill calls for immigrants [illegal aliens] to pay both a fee and a fine. In a recent speech Mr. Obama used the word “penalty” to describe the fine illegal immigrants must pay. Fees, on the other hand, are meant to help cover the cost of administering an amnesty.

As to the fees, the bill does not outline what the fees would be – and there are waivers. The bill simply notes that illegal immigrants [illegal aliens] aged 16 and older who want legal status will have to pay a fee “in an amount determined by [DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano].”...

As for the fine – or "penalty" – the current version of the Senate immigration bill requires illegal immigrants to pay $500 for the initial probationary legal status and another fine of $500 six years later. If a person wants to switch from this provisional legal status to green card status (and eventual US citizenship), he or she will have to pay a $1,000 fine many years down the road. But there are many exceptions....

5. They must go to the back of the line

Most illegal immigrants [illegal aliens] who claim to be eligible for this amnesty will be allowed to stay in the country and will be given time to apply. Those approved for provisional legal status under the amnesty (i.e. those who have passed the background check and paid the provisional $500 fine) will be immediately entitled to a work permit, a Social Security account, travel documents, drivers’ licenses, many federal public benefits, and many additional state-level benefits... Read more about 5 myths about amnesty for illegal immigrants in Senate bill