Tag: illegal immigration

Commentary: Now We Know It’s All About the Wall

Admin
Migrant Caravan

by Roger Kimball   Bismarck said that politics is the art of the possible. It looks like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), and other Democrats regard politics as the art of intransigence. In his brief remarks Saturday on border security, Donald Trump outlined a plan that made multiple concessions to Democratic desiderata in exchange for $5.7 billion to fund 230 miles of the wall along the southern U.S. border. Indeed, the president’s plan deliberately took cues from some Durbin’s own legislation on the subject. Didn’t matter. Pelosi said the president’s plan was “a non-starter.” Before rehearsing the specifics of the plan, let’s note two things. First, as the president himself noted, his plan is meant as the first step in addressing a national crisis. The crisis has two parts. One is humanitarian. The hordes pooling at the U.S.-Mexico border attempting to gain unlawful entry to the country are taking huge risks. According to the president, one-third of the women making the journey North are subject to sexual assault; some observers put the figure even higher; some mothers, Trump said, provided their girls with contraceptives in preparation for the journey. Many of the children, most often brought along by adults, are also…

Read the full story

Commentary: At a Cost of $25 Billion Once Versus $165 Billion Annually, Trump’s ‘Wall’ Math Holds Up

Admin

by Spencer P. Morrison   Scott Adams, the creator of the popular cartoon “Dilbert,” transformed himself into a persona non grata in 2016 by exposing how Donald Trump manipulated the media by using sophisticated persuasion techniques. History proved Adams was correct and Trump won the election. As it turns out, Trump was not the bumbling blowhard of CNN’s fever dreams. He was a marketing mastermind whose words went far beyond “resonating” with ordinary Americans—they stuck. Epithets like crooked, lyin’, and low-energy were not just insults, they were silver bullets spoken by a silver tongue. Hillary, Ted, and Jeb didn’t know what hit ’em. Two years on and Trump’s word-wizardry is as potent as ever – Pocahontas‘s racial fraud is now common knowledge, and Trump’s little rocket man jab arguably set the stage for North Korea’s denuclearization summit. At this point, Trump’s language is indistinguishable from political magic. For example, Trump’s push for “the wall” has turned ardent socialists into laissez-faire economists on the issue of illegal immigration – who cares if migration hurts America’s most vulnerable? We need aliens to grow the economy! This flip-flop has made it clear to ordinary Americans: the Democratic Party cares more about illegal aliens than it does the common citizen. Another Brick in the Wall The Democratic Party shut down the government to…

Read the full story

Trump Predicts DACA Will Bring Hispanic Voters ‘Over to the Republican Side’ Amid Shutdown Stalemate

Admin

by Evie Fordham   President Donald Trump predicted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) could become a larger factor in his border wall funding fight during a flurry of tweets Sunday morning. “Democrats are saying that DACA is not worth it and don’t want to include in talks,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Many Hispanics will be coming over to the Republican side, watch!” Democrats are saying that DACA is not worth it and don’t want to include in talks. Many Hispanics will be coming over to the Republican side, watch! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2019 Trump continued to call out Democrats for punting on negotiations to end the shutdown, perhaps referring to the roughly 30 Democratic lawmakers reportedly attending a retreat with lobbyists in Puerto Rico, according to the Washington Examiner. “I’m in the White House, waiting. The Democrats are everywhere but Washington as people await their pay. They are having fun and not even talking!” he wrote. I’m in the White House, waiting. The Democrats are everywhere but Washington as people await their pay. They are having fun and not even talking! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2019 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Republicans need to “abandon”…

Read the full story

Commentary: Visa Overstays Don’t, in Fact, Negate the Benefits of Border Barriers

Admin

by James D. Agresti   Opponents of President Trump’s plan to build a wall along much of the Southwest border often argue that it won’t be effective because many illegal immigrants enter the U.S. by using visas. Visas allow people to temporarily visit or live in the U.S., but every year, hundreds of thousands of people don’t leave when their visas expire. No matter how strong or tall a wall may be, it cannot stop this activity. Those who make that claim—including many media outlets and “fact checkers”—are misleading the public by omitting a key fact: Visa entrants are screened by the U.S. government to keep out foreigners who pose risks to the health, safety, or finances of Americans—while illegal border crossers are not. This lack of screening allows known criminals and others who are likely to harm people to enter the United States, such as the hundreds of thousands of non-citizens who have committed violent crimes in the U.S. and been deported. Federal Law Under Title 8, Section 1182 of federal law, “aliens” who pose risks to the wellbeing of others are generally “ineligible to receive visas and ineligible to be admitted to the United States.” This includes, for example, foreigners who: have been convicted of…

Read the full story

Commentary: Senator Lindsey Graham Makes A Great Point

Admin

by CHQ Staff   Ever since the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings Senator Lindsey Graham has been on a roll, and his appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday was a great example. Graham warned that the ongoing partial federal government shutdown over border wall funding cannot end as long as the “radical left” insists on reflexively calling Republicans racist for supporting immigration officials. Democrats who want to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deride Border Patrol agents for using tear gas hold too much power in the ongoing shutdown negotiations, Graham said. “We’re having to negotiate with people who want to abolish ICE, not support ICE,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “We’re having to negotiate with people who see border patrol agents gassing children, rather than defending our borders as professional law enforcement officers.” He continued: “And we’re negotiating with people who will accuse all of us who support a wall as part of border security as racists. As long as the radical left is in charge, we’re not going to get anywhere. … The goal is to fix a broken immigration system, to bring reality to this table.” Sen. Graham is right but fixing our broken…

Read the full story

The Tennessee Star Report EXCLUSIVE Interview With Incoming Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada

Julie Carr

On Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy talked with State Rep. Glen Casada (R-Franklin), the incoming Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives about the challenges the Tennessee General Assembly will face in its new session, which began formerly later in the day. Gill and Leahy discussed a number of topics with Casads, including Shelby County’s defiance of state statutes regarding illegal immigration and sanctuary cities,  the new incoming freshman legislators and the challenges they face, school choice, and criminal justice reform. At the end of the segment, Gill and Casada touched upon what Bill Lee’s lack of conservative cabinet picks mean for the Tennessee legislation. Gill: The incoming house speaker who will soon move to that position, current state representative and soon to be house speaker Glen Casada is on the line with us this morning. Casada: Good morning Steve, how are you? Gill: Now when do you actually take over as house speaker? Casada: I am sworn in at approximately noon, Tuesday, January the 8th. Gill: So you’ve got about one more…

Read the full story

Commentary: Battle Over Border Is About More Than A Wall

Admin

by Rick Manning   The battle over securing the southern border is bigger than any wall. It is about whether our nation will actually defend its borders against an unconventional invasion — one designed to play on our heartstrings through the inclusion of women and children — but also fundamentally transform our nation from a constitutional republic to a permanent socialist majority. This isn’t just about a wall or fence line, it is about the basic right of the United States to have borders. It has already been established that those who enter our nation illegally our costing the country approximately $338 billion annually according to a just released study by the Center for Immigration Studies. These costs will only increase as Medicare, Social Security, welfare, health care, housing, food stamp and education budgets get further strained by the thousands who flow across the border illegally each month. That is the backdrop for the current fight in Washington, D.C. over whether funding should be provided to build a wall and provide for other key security measures along the border. And the funding fight is relatively isolated with the Department of Defense already fully funded, along with the Veteran’s Administration, Labor…

Read the full story

Marsha Blackburn Says Voters Sent Her To DC To Secure The Border

Admin

by Nick Givas   Republican Sen.-elect Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said voters sent her to Washington to help secure the U.S. southern border, on “America’s Newsroom” Wednesday. “Let me tell you something. There is an acronym for the word team. My mom used it with me growing up. Together everyone achieves more. And what Tennesseans are looking at is a president who has delivered on turning the economy around, promise kept,” Blackburn said on Fox News. “He has delivered on moving the embassy to Jerusalem and he has delivered when it comes to working, defeating ISIS, dealing with China, dealing with trade, getting us back on the road to economic prosperity and Tennesseans want to see more of that action,” she continued. “And I’ll tell you something else they want to see is that border secured.” Blackburn said she has spoken to various constituents and is planning to focus on polices that help maintain America’s sovereignty while promoting faith and family. Watch the latest video at foxnews.com “I say as an elected official and as someone Tennesseans have sent to Washington, D.C., to represent them, they are saying look, Marsha, do everything that you possibly can do to help keep this nation free…

Read the full story

Illegal Immigrant With Criminal Past Reentered Country Illegally and Murdered His Ex in Minnesota

Anthony Gockowski

A 35-year-old illegal immigrant who reentered the country illegally pleaded guilty last week to stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in August in his Shakopee apartment. According to a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Fraider Diaz-Carbajal was deported in 2012 for “suspected immigration violations.” He had a history of criminal activity, including three DUIs and a domestic assault conviction. “Since then he illegally reentered the United States, which is a felony. He remains in local custody pending adjudication of his criminal charges,” ICE said in August after Diaz-Carbajal’s arrest. The Star Tribune reports that he entered his plea to second-degree murder last week, and prosecutors will seek a maximum sentence of 40 years for the murder of Enedelia Perez Garcia. Court records reveal that Garcia was found with “multiple stab wounds all over her body” after she visited Diaz-Carbajal’s apartment to pick up some of her belongings. The two had previously lived together, but Garcia moved out “due to the domestic abuse,” the records state. A witness to the murder, a young woman who lived in a neighboring apartment, said she heard Garcia yell “drop the knife,” and then saw through a bedroom window Diaz-Carbajal pinning Garcia to…

Read the full story

The House of Representatives Approves $5.7 Billion in Spending for ‘The Wall’

Admin

Late Thursday following weeks of political invective and shutdown threats, the House of Representatives passed – by a final vote of 217-185 – a measure that will fund the government through February 8 that included an allocation of over five billion dollars for the construction of a physical barrier along the United States’ southern border. Commonly referred to as “The Wall,” the massive construction project is a key campaign promise President Trump is one step closer in fulfilling. In remarks Thursday afternoon during the signing ceremony for the Farm Bill (the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018), President Trump reiterated his demand to Congress: At this moment, there is a debate over funding border security and the wall, also called — so that I give them a little bit of an out — “steel slats.”  We don’t use the word “wall” necessarily, but it has to be something special to do the job — steel slats. I’ve made my position very clear: Any measure that funds the government must include border security.  It has to.  Not for political purposes but for our country, for the safety of our community. Breitbart News reported: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) cheered the bill’s…

Read the full story

Commentary: Seriously, Just Order The Pentagon To Build The Wall

Admin

by Brandon Weichert   The estimated price tag on President Trump’s “big, beautiful” southern border wall is $25 billion—a paltry sum compared with the ways government otherwise fritters away taxpayers’ dollars. Yet a government shutdown looms—and Democrats can’t have that. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) paid a visit to the White House on Tuesday to make a deal with the president to pass a continuing budget resolution that would keep the government running through March. Trump said he would be more than happy to deal—as long as Congress gives him his wall. Democrats can’t have that, either. Pelosi, who will almost certainly be the new speaker of the House when the new Congress convenes in January, told reporters on Thursday that Trump won’t get his wall and vowed to keep the government “closed forever” if that’s what it takes. For his part, Trump has insisted that if negotiations with Congress fail, he will simply direct the Pentagon to build the wall. It’s strange that the president already hasn’t ordered the Pentagon to build the wall. After all, border security is a basic and vital function of the military. The military, however, has been reluctant to engage in this…

Read the full story

Homeland Security ‘Begging Parents’ Not to ‘Put Their Children at Risk’ After Guatemalan Girl Dies

Admin
Kirstjen Nielsen

by Hanna Bogorowski   The Department of Homeland Security is “begging” parents to not put themselves or their children at risk following the death of a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl in the hospital hours after her father turned himself and his daughter in to Border Patrol officers in New Mexico. The father and daughter illegally crossed the Mexican border into the U.S., Customs and Border Protection said Thursday. They were part of a larger group of 163 migrants who turned themselves in Dec. 6, according to CBP records seen by The Washington Post. The young girl, whose name has not been released, began experiencing seizures around 6:25 a.m. after being taken to the facility. After local EMS arrived, she was determined to have a 105.7 degree fever. She was then transferred via air ambulance to El Paso, a DHS spokesperson told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “At the hospital, the child was revived after going into cardiac arrest. However, the child did not recover and died at the hospital less than 24 hours after being transported,” the DHS spokesperson said. She was in CBP custody for a total of eight hours, and had reportedly not eaten or drank anything for several…

Read the full story

Commentary: Only Two Weeks Left for Republicans to Get It

Admin

by Rachel Bovard   There’s only one area where bipartisanship still reigns in Washington: avoidance. Republican and Democrat leaders this week held hands and used the funeral events for President George H. W. Bush as an excuse to move their funding deadline—which previously expired on December 7—two weeks forward, to December 21, four days before Christmas. In doing this, Congress isn’t getting festive. Rather, backing up a government funding deadline dangerously close to the Christmas holiday is an old political tactic, designed to assure passage of bloated and controversial spending bills. In the old days, the carrots in this equation were earmarks—funding pet projects of lawmakers was the way to grease the skids on controversial bills. But now that earmarks have been banned (in theory, anyway), the only option left is a stick: threatening lawmakers with chaos, missed Christmas holidays and a government shutdown, unless they instantly (and many times, without reading) pass whatever bill their leaders cook up. This is a vexing development for conservatives, particularly when it comes to the big will-they-won’t-they question circulating around Washington: the fate of Trump’s border wall. If GOP leaders are already willing to waste critical weeks in the waning days of their majority, what…

Read the full story

US Supreme Court Turns Away Challenge to Trump’s Border Wall

Admin

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed a challenge by three conservation groups to the authority of President Donald Trump’s administration to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a victory for Trump who has made the wall a centerpiece of his hard-line immigration policies. The justices’ declined to hear the groups’ appeal of a ruling by a federal judge in California rejecting their claims that the administration had pursued border wall projects without complying with applicable environmental laws. The groups are the Center for Biological Diversity, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and Defenders of Wildlife. Their lawsuits said construction operations would harm plants, rare wildlife habitats, threatened coastal birds like the snowy plover and California gnatcatcher, and other species such as fairy shrimp and the Quino checkerspot butterfly. Trump has clashed with U.S. lawmakers, particularly Democrats, over his plans for an extensive and costly border wall that he has called necessary to combat illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Congress, controlled by the president’s fellow Republicans, has not yet provided him the amount of money he wants. The president has threatened a government shutdown unless lawmakers provide $5 billion in funding. On Saturday, Trump said congressional leaders sought a two-week…

Read the full story

Judge Stops Trump Asylum Ban as Migrant Caravan Nears

Admin

by Kevin Daley   A federal judge in California issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Trump administration’s new asylum rules early Tuesday morning. U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar said that Congress extended asylum eligibility to all new comers, and the president may not impose contrary terms. “Whatever the scope of the president’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden,” Tigar’s decision reads. Tigar is an Obama appointee to the federal trial court in San Francisco. President Donald Trump issued an order on Nov. 9 denying asylum for all foreign nationals who enter the country illegally for a 90-day period. The ACLU challenged the proclamation in court, arguing it violates the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Federal law provides that “any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum in accordance” with applicable statutes. That language…

Read the full story

Tennessee Woman Killed by Alleged Illegal Immigrant Was ‘An Angel’ in Life

Chris Butler

Bedford County resident Keri King, 29, was one of the finest people Jeff Boyce ever knew. She didn’t deserve to die the way that she did, because of the actions of an alleged illegal immigrant, said Boyce, who lives in Cannon County. As The Tennessee Star reported, Omar Edgar Torres-Rangel drove drunk last month and killed King as she drove home from Murfreesboro. Boyce said he feels sadness. He also has rage. Sadness because a woman he called “an angel” no longer walks the earth. Rage because Torres-Rangel escaped from law enforcement. Rage, again, because King’s surviving family members say law enforcement won’t give them any answers. “One minute I’m so angry I can’t even explain how angry I am, and it makes me so sad I want to cry,” Boyce told The Tennessee Star Tuesday, before his voice broke and he started sobbing. Boyce said wants to lobby members of the Tennessee General Assembly to act to make sure nothing like this happens again in Tennessee, although he did not specify how they could do that. “I will spend every penny I’ve got to run a damn front page ad in every paper in this state right before election…

Read the full story

Caravan Migrants Scale Border Fence Near San Diego

Admin

by Will Racke   As the initial wave of Central American migrants traveling in a caravan streamed into Tijuana on Tuesday, many of them broke from the group and scaled the border fence just south of San Diego’s International Friendship Park. Video taken by the San Diego Union-Tribune shows dozens of migrants climbing to the top of the barrier, where they waved and whistled at Border Patrol agents standing guard a few hundred feet away. In a statement released Tuesday, the Border Patrol said it believes some of the people who climbed onto the fences are from the caravan of about 4,000 migrants that has been making its way north through Mexico for the past several weeks, FOX5 San Diego reported. Tuesday’s scene near Friendship Park was reminiscent of what happened when a similar caravan of migrants arrived in Tijuana in April. In that instance, caravan migrants scrambled to the top of the border fence and waved the national flag of Honduras, the country many had fled just weeks before. The latest caravan has been the impetus for the Trump administration’s multi-pronged crackdown on illegal immigration in recent weeks. Characterizing the group as a potential “invasion” of U.S. territory, President…

Read the full story

US Hardens Border at Tijuana to Prepare for Migrant Caravan

Admin

  The U.S. government said it was starting work on Tuesday to “harden” the border crossing from Tijuana, Mexico, to prepare for the arrival of a migrant caravan leapfrogging its way across western Mexico. Customs and Border Protection announced it was closing four lanes at the busy San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry in San Diego, California. It said the closures were needed “to install and pre-position port hardening infrastructure equipment in preparation for the migrant caravan and the potential safety and security risk that it could cause.” That still leaves a substantial path for the tens of thousands of people who cross daily: Twenty-three lanes remain open at San Ysidro and 12 at Otay Mesa. The caravans became a campaign issue in U.S. midterm elections and U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of over 5,000 military troops to the border to help fend off the migrants. Trump has insinuated without proof that there are criminals or even terrorists in the group. To the thousands of Central American migrants making their way toward Mexico’s Pacific coast state of Nayarit, the prospect of meeting a hostile reception at the border is nothing new. After a month on…

Read the full story

ICE: Mexican National Released by Sanctuary County in New Jersey Went on to Commit Triple Murder

Admin

by Will Racke   A Mexican national charged with killing three people in Missouri in early November was released from a New Jersey county jail in 2017, despite being the subject an active immigration detention request, federal authorities said Friday. Luis Perez, 23, allegedly killed two of his ex-roommates in Springfield, Missouri, on Nov. 1 and then, a day later, shot and killed a woman who had accompanied him to the first two murders. Perez had been kicked out of his apartment by the roommates, Steven Marler, 38, and Aaron Hampton, 23, The Associated Press reported, citing a Springfield police probable cause affidavit. The charging documents further stated the Perez was a recent arrival to Missouri and that his immigration status was in question. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed Perez’s illegal status in a statement Friday and added that he had previously been released by authorities in Middlesex County, New Jersey, despite a detainer request. “Luis Rodrigo Perez was being held at Middlesex County Jail in December of last year on domestic violence charges,” the agency said. “ICE issued a detainer and requested notification prior to his release, so that he may be taken into ICE custody and placed in removal proceedings. In…

Read the full story

Commentary: No Wall, No House, No Surprise

Admin

by Natalia Castro   Republicans would have loved to win the House last night, but unfortunately, they did not deserve it, as they lost at least 26 seats and more likely 30 or so. After failing to solve our countries immigration problem time and time again, it should not be surprising that voters were not enthused to head to the polls on Tuesday. Now with a Democratic House ready to take power in 2019, the lame duck is now perhaps the last chance to get the wall built and if Republicans want a chance in 2020 this must be their focus. President Donald Trump requested $25 billion to fund a defensive wall along the U.S. Southern border. In his first two years in office, with a Republican majority in Congress, only $1.6 billion has been allocated to fund this wall. While Trump has optimistically called this a “down payment” with full funding coming in the near future, that funding has yet to materialize — and the Republican voters knew it. The truth is, House Republicans had ample opportunity to prove to the American people that building the wall is not just a rallying cry, but an actual policy objective. Republicans…

Read the full story

Virginia’s 7th District Contest between Rep. Dave Brat and His Democrat Opponent Could Set the Mood for the Night

Anna Marie Bolton

It will definitely set your mood if you have been a supporter of President Donald Trump and his efforts to control immigration and get that wall built. Incumbent Republican Dave Brat (R-VA-07) is in a statistical dead heat in recent polls with political newcomer Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger who said in a debate with the incumbent Brat that she wants “comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform” which she knows is a coded endorsement for giving amnesty to millions here illegally. Spanberger, a former CIA agent, went on to say she would “give certainty to dreamers” referring to the Obama executive order granting the right to stay in America to young people who came into the country illegally with their parents. In that same debate in Culpeper on October 16th, Brat, the former chairman of the Economics Department at Randolph-Macon College, touted his two-term record in the House of Representatives as an immigration hawk who attempted to work with Democrats to begin reforming a dysfunctional US immigration system. Citing Spanberger’s support for sanctuary cities, Brat said, “my opponent falls to the very far left on this issue of immigration.” Indeed Rep. Brat is entitled to point to his immigration record in the House.…

Read the full story

Commentary: When Laws Are Not Enforced, Anarchy Follows

Admin

by Victor Davis Hanson   What makes citizens obey the law is not always their sterling character. Instead, fear of punishment—the shame of arrest, fines or imprisonment—more often makes us comply with laws. Law enforcement is not just a way to deal with individual violators but also a way to remind society at large that there can be no civilization without legality. Or, as 17th-century British statesman George Savile famously put it: “Men are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses may not be stolen.” In the modern world, we call such prompt, uniform and guaranteed law enforcement deterrence, from the Latin verb meaning to frighten away. One protester who disrupts a speech is not the problem. But if unpunished, he green-lights hundreds more like him. Worse still, when one law is left unenforced, then all sorts of other laws are weakened. The result of hundreds of sanctuary cities is not just to forbid full immigration enforcement in particular jurisdictions. They also signal that U.S. immigration law, and other laws by extension, can be ignored. The presence of an estimated 12 million or more foreign nationals unlawfully living in the United States without legal consequence sends a similar message.…

Read the full story

Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen Promises Migrant Caravan Won’t Cross US Border: They’re Not Getting In

Admin

by Nick Givas   Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the migrant caravan headed for the U.S. southern border will not cross over into the United States, on Fox News Sunday. “I think what the president has been saying and will continue to say and certainly what I have been saying is, this caravan is not getting in,” Nielsen said. There is a legal way to enter this country. Those who choose to enter illegally will be stopped.” “We are working with our partners in Mexico. They have taken unprecedented efforts within their territory to ensure an orderly flow and that those who have no legal right to be there are removed, she continued. We intend to do the same but my general message to this caravan is do not come. You will not be allowed in. There is a right way to immigrate to the United States and this is not it.” Nielsen called the caravan a crisis and said President Donald Trump is exploring every option to resolve the situation as quickly and safely as possible. “We have a crisis at the border right now, Nielsen said. We are stopping between 1,500 and 1,700 people a day trying to cross illegally into this country.…

Read the full story

Ohio Gov. Kasich: ‘The Lord’ Doesn’t Want Americans to Oppose Migrant Caravan

Anthony Accardi

Ohio Gov. John Kasich told CNN Thursday that “the Lord” doesn’t want Americans to build walls and oppose the migrant caravan heading to the United States from Central America. “We’ve got to start putting ourselves in the shoes of other people,” Kasich told CNN’s Newsroom. Kasich, the grandson of Catholic immigrants from Eastern Europe who became an Anglican Christian as an adult, said he believes most Americans would welcome the caravan. We’ve got to start thinking about the consequences that others suffer. And if we have been spared those by the grace of God, let us be appreciative, let us count our blessings, and let us reach out to those who have less. Let’s stop putting up walls around ourselves and not understanding the plight, the trouble, and the problems of others. It is not right. And the Lord doesn’t want it, and our people at their hearts want to reach out to others. Look at what they do in these storms. They go and they rescue people they don’t know. They put them in their homes. They feed them. That’s America. Not all this garbage and this division and yelling and screaming and hatred on all sides.” But not all…

Read the full story

Tennessee Star Report Caller Rita: ‘I’m a Black Female and Trump Was the First Republican I Ever Voted For’

Julie Carr

On Monday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – the team discussed how all politics is local and all politics is visual and in regards to the migrant invasion, they asked listeners to call in and give their take on how they saw it. The duo took a call from an African-American woman named Rita who expressed some interesting views on the topic: Gill: Let’s go to Rita in Nashville next – 737-9522, 737-WLAC – Rita, good morning. Rita: Good morning.  I was calling to say I think it’s going to help the Republicans.  I’m a black female and Trump was the first Republican I ever voted for and I just voted last week for Marsha Blackburn and Bill Lee – but my husband didn’t vote for Trump.  But after he saw this caravan coming through, he all of a sudden switched from being a Democrat as well and he also voted for Marsha and Bill.  So I think it’s going to help the Republicans. Gill:  What was the turning point for you Rita?  Why, again President Trump was saying to…

Read the full story

Senate Candidate Marsha Blackburn Gets ‘True Reformer’ Award From National Immigration Watchdog Group

Anna Marie Bolton

NumbersUSA, an Arlington, Virginia based non-profit group that advocates for lower immigration numbers across the board, including restricting legal immigration, tracks and grades members of Congress and US Senators on their voting record on this issue of great concern to Americans. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), who has served in the House of Representatives since 2013 and is now a candidate for the US Senate, has received a lifetime grade of A+ and has been designated a “True Reformer” by the one-million member organization. Since entering Congress 15 years ago, and even before immigration became a kitchen table issue for most Americans, her votes and public statements were in line with NumbersUSA positions. NumbersUSA describes its “True Reformers” designation this way: A “True Reformer” is a candidate who PROMISES to support all or nearly all of NumbersUSA’s top immigration priorities. In most instances, “True Reformers” have completed our Immigration-Reduction Survey, but there are a few incumbents who have also earned the “True Reformer” label through their actions in Congress, most notably by sponsoring all five of our “5 Great Immigration-Reduction Bills.” She has consistently voted to reduce chain migration and refugee fraud. She has voted to end anchor baby citizenship, a major…

Read the full story

Former ICE Acting Director Tom Homan Decries Loopholes That Allow Illegal Immigrants to Remain in the US, Blames Democrats

Admin

by Nick Givas   Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director Tom Homan blamed Democrats for loopholes that allow illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. indefinitely. “The numbers are up on family units — and look, the president is 100 percent accurate on this. As ICE director, I went to the hill many times to talk to lawmakers about closing those loopholes,” Homan said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday. “The two biggest loopholes is asylum — threshold is so low you’ve just got to say a couple magic words that the criminal organizations teach you to say and you get into the United States and you get released from custody, because of the second issue. The second loophole is … we can’t detain families for more than 20 days. That’s not quick enough to see a judge,” he continued. Homan said many illegal immigrants are told how they can beat the system and exploit the loopholes in order to bypass any vetting processes or restrictions and have no incentive to leave. “There’s no consequence, there’s no deterrence. You’re going to get in. You’re going to get released, never to show up in court. Why would they stop coming?” “This issue, this…

Read the full story

Nashville’s November Ballot Legislation Can Undermine Tennessee’s New Anti-Sanctuary City Law

Chris Alto

On November 6th, Davidson County voters will decide whether to accept “Amendment #1” and establish a $1.5 million civilian board to oversee the city’s police department. The proposed legislation would establish a Community Oversight Board (COB) with very broad disciplinary authority over the Metro Nashville Police Department. If the charter amendment is approved by voters, an unelected board of community activists will also be authorized to recommend policy changes for the police department and other “agencies involved in public safety and the administration of justice.” Broad and vague language vesting the COB with input into law enforcement policy may well result in  undermining Tennessee’s enhanced anti-sanctuary city law passed by the state General Assembly session during the last session. Notably, per Amendment #1, a Davidson County resident’s illegal immigration status does not disqualify an illegal alien from serving on the board. Asked to review Amendment #1 posted on the Davidson County Election Commission website, Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR) confirmed to The Tennessee Star that: there is nothing in the language that would preclude illegal aliens from serving on the review board. We find it highly objectionable that people whose very presence in the community…

Read the full story

New York Senator Gillibrand, Who Wants to Abolish ICE, Helps Raise Money for Bredesen Campaign

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), the first senator to call for abolishing ICE, stumped for Phil Bredesen’s campaign Saturday in the “I Will Vote Rally” at Third Man Records in Nashville. Gillibrand was the first senator to publicly support the idea of abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Here’s what she said about ICE: “[T]hat’s why I believe you should get rid of it, start over, reimagine it and build something that actually works.” She later claimed her statement was misconstrued. Gillibrand donated $5,000 to Democrat Phil Bredesen to join her in the Senate. Bredesen is locked in a tight race for a vacant U.S. Senate seat with U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07). A Tennessee Star poll shows Blackburn with a 3-point lead. Bredesen has been under fire in Tennessee for his liberal views on immigration, including giving drivers certificates to illegal aliens. Gillibrand isn’t the only Senator supporting abolishing ICE who has also donated to Bredesen. U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) has donated $10,000 to Bredesen and wants ICE to “start from scratch.” If Democrats are trying to win in a state that gave President Donald Trump 60 percent of the vote, they certainly are picking odd outside reinforcements to do…

Read the full story

Nashville Pro-Illegal Immigration Activist Lawyers Lose Deportation Case

Chris Alto

On April 7, 2017, Nashville pro-illegal immigration activist lawyers Elliot Ozment, J. Gerard Stranch, IV, Tricia Herzfeld and Anthony Orlandi, sued Metro Nashville, Davidson County and its Sheriff Daron Hall, on behalf of Saudi national Abdullah Abriq, a student visa overstayer, and the “hundred and likely thousands of immigrants” subject to detainer requests issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The open borders lawyers attempted to use Abriq’s lawsuit opposing his deportation to also challenge the deportation of illegal aliens who are arrested and subsequently held in the Metro jail on a request from ICE to detain the criminal for transfer to ICE custody pending removal proceedings. This time around however, it is score one for the rule of law and zero for the four lawyers trying to protect illegal aliens. Abriq was identified in the lawsuit as a “foreign national who immigrated to the United States under an F-1 student visa.” The F-1 visa is a type of non-immigrant visa that allows a person to be educated in the U.S. if they meet certain conditions. Absent an extension, the student must leave the country once the term or conditions of the visa expire. Visa overstayers are considered unlawfully present…

Read the full story

Illegal Immigration in TN Increased During Karl Dean and Phil Bredesen Administrations

Chris Alto

Estimates from both ends of the political spectrum on the issue of illegal immigration show steady and dramatic increases in the number of illegal aliens in Tennessee during the Nashville mayoral terms of Phil Bredesen and Karl Dean and during Bredesen’s two terms as the state’s governor. Bredesen served as Nashville’s mayor from 1991 – 1999 and Tennessee governor from 2003 until the middle of January, 2011. Dean served as Nashville’s mayor from 2007 – 2015. According to the Soros-funded leftist Migration Policy Institute (MPI), between 1990 and 2000, the increase in foreign-born arrivals to Tennessee more than doubled from 59,114 to 159,004. By the year 2000, almost 40% of foreign-born arrivals to the state, 63,484 were listed as “[b]orn in Latin America (South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean).” Within this same ten-year span, the number of “non-citizens” as reported by MPI rose from 32,523 to 105,819 representing 66.6% of arrivals. For purposes of its reporting MPI’s definition of “U.S. born” excludes illegal aliens as does its definition of “foreign-born” which: refers to people residing in the United States at the time of the population survey who were not U.S. citizens at birth. The foreign-born population includes naturalized U.S. citizens,…

Read the full story

Sheriff Speaks Out After Arizona County Rejects Federal Grant Over Trump’s Immigration Policies

Admin

by Will Racke   Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier has the unenviable task of managing public safety throughout more than 9,000 square miles of rugged desert, but county lawmakers may have made his job even harder. A majority of the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to reject $1.4 million in funding from Operation Stonegarden, a federal grant program aimed at boosting cooperation between the federal government and local law enforcement on border security issues. In Pima County — Arizona’s largest by land area and second-largest by population — the Stonegarden grants have long been used to cover overtime pay and equipment replacement for sheriff’s deputies. The money also helped Napier maintain offices in isolated communities more than two hour’s drive from the county seat of Tuscon. Activists have tied the grants to President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, accusing Pima County of supporting controversial federal policies like the separation of illegal immigrant families because of its participation in Operation Stonegarden. Napier says the grant money isn’t put toward immigration enforcement in any way, but rather conventional public safety services in areas that would be impossible to cover without federal funding. He spoke about the controversy with Daily Caller News Foundation reporters, who are…

Read the full story

Website Helps You Track Phil Bredesen’s Level of ‘Sophistication’

Jason M. Reynolds
Phil Bredesen

“Welcome to SophisticatedPhil.com, where you’ll see exactly what Phil thinks of himself!” proclaims a new website launched by the Tennessee Republican Party. “Phil Bredesen has been desperately trying to convince Tennesseans that he’s one of them, but he keeps getting in his own way,” the organization’s press secretary, Gillum Ferguson, said in a press release. Bredesen, a former Democratic governor, is running for the seat being vacated by U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), who is retiring. The website mentions his statements like being more “sophisticated” than rural voters. He made the remarks in an interview with the Times Free Press. Around the same time, Bredesen also released a campaign ad that was filmed outside his grandmother’s American flag-clad house touting his humble roots growing up among “secretaries, nurses, factory workers, and small business owners,” The Tennessee Star reported. Bredesen has reported assets between $88.9 million and $358 million, The Washington Free Beacon said. Bredesen would also become one of the richest members of Congress, The Star said. Public records show he is the owner of five homes—two homes in Nashville, two lakefront properties in upstate New York, and a five-bedroom home in Jackson, Wyoming. And, he is one of the…

Read the full story

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Welcomes 44 New US Immigration Judges

Admin

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions welcomed 44 new immigration judges, the largest class of immigration judges in U.S. history according to the Justice Department. The event took place as the Trump administration struggles to reunite families separated at the border after its “zero tolerance policy” resulted in unprecedented numbers of immigration cases waiting to be heard. The decision to detain children separately as their parents await trial has left about 400 children still separated from their families, according to a court filing — 45 days after a court-mandated deadline for the government to reunite them. There are more than 700,000 immigration cases in the backlog, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data gathering research organization at Syracuse University. During a welcoming ceremony Monday in Virginia, Sessions said, “Counting you, along with our existing judges, we currently have the most active immigration judges in history.” “But we will not stop there,” he continued. “We will add even more by the end of this calendar year, with a goal of seeing a 50 percent increase in the number of judges since the beginning of the Trump administration.” Though Sessions lauded the large number of incoming immigration judges, he warned them…

Read the full story

Jim Jordan Tells Republicans How They Can Keep House Majority: ‘Build The Wall’

Admin

by Nick Givas   GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said Republicans must fund and build a southern border wall if they hope to maintain their congressional majority this November. “We should do what we said. What was probably the single biggest promise Republicans made to the voters in 2016? It was the border security wall,” Jordan said on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday. “So let’s get that done here before the end of the fiscal year. Let’s do what we said and let’s head into the election and let’s keep the majority,” he said. Jordan said the midterms are expected to have many close races, but claimed Republicans could increase their chances if they kept their promise to reform the immigration system. “Everyone’s talking about how tight this election is going to be. I think that’s accurate. I think we can keep the majority but I think we increase our chances of keeping the majority if we do a simple thing,” he said. “Do what we promised the voters we were going to do.” “Again, this was probably the central thing that the people elected Republicans to do is secure our border. Build the border security wall,” Jordan concluded. “So let’s get it done on the…

Read the full story

Federal Judge Will Continue Accepting DACA Applications Despite Believing The Program Is Illegal

Admin
Andrew Hanen

by Molly Prince   A federal judge in Texas announced Friday that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program can continue to accept applications and operate as written despite it likely violating federal law. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen rejected the request by seven states to issue an injunction and promptly discontinue the DACA program. Hanen asserted that while he understands the program is presumably unlawful and will ultimately be struck down if challenged in his own court, he kept DACA in place as the appeal continues, reported CNN. “Here, the egg has been scrambled,” Hanen wrote. “To try to put it back in the shell with only a preliminary injunction record, and perhaps at great risk to many, does not make sense nor serve the best interest of this country.” The states – Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia – filed the lawsuit arguing that DACA could only be established by the legislative branch and by circumventing congress, the program was thereby unconstitutional, according to The Washington Post. Hanen reiterated his belief in the unlawfulness of DACA as enacted by former President Barack Obama but emphasized the necessity of the program itself. “DACA is a popular…

Read the full story

President Trump Decries ‘Coalition of Open Borders Extremists’

Admin
Donald Trump

by Steve Herman   President Donald Trump is referring to opposition lawmakers, as well as local and state officials who oppose his immigration control agenda, as “a coalition of open borders extremists.” Trump at the White House on Monday afternoon accused opponents of waging “an unprecedented assault on American law enforcement — our greatest people,” saying they are threatening Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) “for doing their duties.” According to the president, “They have no courage. They have no guts. They just have big, loud mouths.” The remarks came during an East Room event honoring law enforcement officials for bravery in combating smugglers, drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations. “You’re saving lives. You’re saving a lot of Americans,” Trump told the audience. “We don’t play games,” he said, lauding law enforcement’s performance in strictly enforcing immigration laws. He said that CBP prevents “10 known or suspected terrorists” from entering the United States every day. During remarks, the president repeatedly attacked political opponents against his immigration and border control policies. The president specifically targeted those who have called for ICE to be abolished for alleged human rights abuses. “We will not stand for the…

Read the full story

Object of Deception: MSM Forgets the Facts as ICE Arrests Illegal Wanted for Murder in Mexico

Julie Carr
Steve Gill

On Monday’s Gill Report – broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville – Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill was repulsed by the MSM’s coverage, or lack thereof, regarding the recent arrest of illegal alien and murder suspect Joel Arrona Laura and his illegal wife by ICE while speeding  to the hospital to deliver their fifth anchor baby. Gill said: On Saturday, dozens of media outlets across the country breathlessly reported that federal immigration custom enforcement agencies ICE, arrested an illegal alien who was simply taking his wife to the hospital to deliver their baby. They were appalled that ICE would be so irresponsible, so cruel, so heartless as to arrest this man when all he was doing was taking his wife to deliver a baby by c-section. Now interesting they left out a big detail. A huge detail. Some might even say a ‘bigly’ detail. Seems the man was a wanted murder suspect. Agents arrested murder suspect Joel Arrono Laura when he stopped to get gas when taking his wife, Maria del Carmen Venegas to the hospital so she could give birth to their fifth anchor baby. Yeah, both of them are illegally in this country, both of…

Read the full story

Commentary: The ‘Willy Horton Moment’ in the Pennsylvania Senate Race

Admin
Michael Baylson

by George Rasley   When Muslim terrorist Edward Archer shot Philadelphia Police Officer Jesse Hartnett, and Democratic Mayor James Kenny said the attack had “nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith” we wrote in our article Jim Kenny: Having A Mayor Like This Could Get You Killed that we had originally intended to title the article “Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenny is an Idiot,” but that that was all too obvious from Kinney’s news conference. But Kinney’s policy of making Philadelphia an illegal and extra-constitutional “sanctuary city” and his subsequent behavior has now given us an opportunity to resurrect the title. When the Trump administration tried to crack down on sanctuary cities Philadelphia and other cities sued. Federal Judge Michael Baylson of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania subsequently ruled that President Donald Trump cannot cut off grants to Philadelphia over the way they handle illegal immigrants. Baylson, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote that Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ “public statements… asserting that immigrants commit more crimes than native-born citizens, are inaccurate as applied to Philadelphia, and do not justify the imposition of these… conditions.” A member of Mayor Kenney’s staff taped the Democrat dancing with his…

Read the full story

Dept. of Homeland Security Agents Conduct Massive Worksite Raid In Two States, Arrest Business Owners For Employing Illegal Aliens

Admin
ICE arrest

by Will Racke   Federal agents conducted a multi-state worksite raid at several Midwestern agricultural businesses on Wednesday, arresting more than 100 people including owners and supervisors who allegedly conspired to employ illegal aliens at the expense of American workers. Homeland Security Investigations — the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — led the operation against at least 11 companies in Nebraska and Minnesota, the Grand Island Independent reported. Along with more than 130 suspected illegal workers, agents arrested 14 business owners and managers for allegedly using bogus social security numbers to build a workforce of underpaid, exploitable illegal immigrants. Three other people involved in the scheme were also indicted but not taken into custody during the operation. The operation was one of the largest worksite raids in HSI’s 15-year history, according to Tracy Cormier, the special agent-in-charge of the agency’s St. Paul field office, which covers Minnesota and Nebraska. “I would say the amount of criminal warrants that are being executed will be one of the largest for HSI,” Cormier said, according to the Associated Press. “I’m not aware of a bigger one.” Wednesday’s operation is notable because is targeted business ownership and management, not just illegal workers. Two of HSI’s…

Read the full story

State Rep. Tim Wirgau Voted to Give In-State Tuition to Illegal Alien Students But Is Not Fessing Up to It With Voters

Chris Alto
Tim Wirgau

Posted on Rep. Tim Wirgau’s campaign website under the heading “Straight Talk with Tim” is this statement about his 2015 “yes” vote to award illegal alien students residing in Tennessee the in-state tuition benefit: I am opposed to illegal immigration. My consistent voting record as your State Representative proves it. I have voted against sanctuary cities in Tennessee and illegal immigration. My opponent claims I voted to give to illegals with HB675. The record shows I voted against HB675. “Wirgau requested to be recorded as voting No. It was only when the Senate version was presented on the House floor with Amendment 488 which states, “A student may be classified as a Tennessee resident and be charged in-state tuition if the student: (1) Is lawfully present in the United States;…” I felt it necessary not to deny lawfully present children the opportunity for skilled training if they can afford to pay their way. No HOPE scholarship. NO Tennessee Promise. And That’s a Fact. Wirgau’s post shows that he voted against the original language of the bill presumably because he understood that the bill was intended to give illegal alien students in Tennessee the in-state tuition benefit. But, he states, he decided…

Read the full story

Trump Threatens Government Shutdown Over Border Wall Funding

Admin
Donald Trump

President Donald Trump threatened Sunday to shut down the government if Congress does not fund construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to thwart illegal immigration. The U.S. leader claimed opposition Democrats need to give him “the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall!” and other tougher national immigration policy changes. But it was a splintered Republican majority bloc of lawmakers, along with unified Democratic opposition, that twice in recent weeks rejected immigration changes Trump supported. Trump, in a Twitter comment, called for the U.S. to “finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country! I would be willing to “shut down” government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2018 Trump’s call for a wall, a favorite vow from his 2016 presidential campaign, would likely cost more than $20 billion, but Congress so far has allocated only $1.5 billion for extra border security. Democrats have often…

Read the full story

Illegal Aliens Charged In Heroin Scheme That Led To Overdose Deaths In Tennessee

Admin
ICE arrest

by Will Racke   Two illegal aliens have been indicted on multiple counts of conspiracy and drug distribution for allegedly running a drug trafficking operation that led to the overdose deaths of at least two people in Tennessee, federal prosecutors announced Thursday. Juan Manuel Morales-Rodriguez, 39, and Juan Samudio-Castro — both Mexican nationals — directed a heroin and fentanyl delivery service in Williamson County, Tenn., according to the nine-count indictment returned Wednesday. Along with two U.S. citizen partners, the men allegedly delivered the potent opioids up and down the I-65 corridor, just south of Nashville. In March, at least two people in nearby Maury County, Tenn. died as a result of overdosing on the heroin and fentanyl they purchased from the operation, according to the indictment. Samudio-Castro and Morales-Rodriguez are both in the U.S. unlawfully. Morales-Rodriguez was previously deported and has also been charged with with aggravated illegal reentry. Don Cochran, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, described the case as a result of “unchecked” illegal immigration and drug trafficking across the southwest border. “This is yet another tragic example of the consequences of a long unchecked immigration system and the ease in which these illegal drugs enter our country,”…

Read the full story

Evidence from Many Nations Confirms That Border Walls Stem the Tide of Illegal Immigration

Admin
Great Wall of China

by Daniel Marulanda and James D. Agresti   The border between the United States and Mexico stretches for 1,960 miles, parting two major regions of the world with vastly different governments, standards of living, and levels of crime. Consequently, many millions of people have risked their lives to illegally cross the border into the United States. During 2013 to 2015 alone, the U.S. Border Patrol recorded an average of 700,000 illegal entries per year along the U.S.-Mexico border. Additionally, roughly one million people per year legally immigrate to the U.S., 100 million per year legally visit the U.S., and more than 300,000 per year illegally overstay their visits, often never leaving. People who illegally enter the U.S. avoid criminal background checks, and as a result, they have much higher serious crime rates than legal immigrants and the general U.S. population. Highlighting the impact of this, a U.S. Government Accountability Office study of 249,000 non-citizens in U.S. prisons and jails during 2003 to 2009 found that they had been arrested for 2.9 million offenses committed within the U.S.—including 69,929 sex offenses and 25,064 homicides. Like most government data, this study did not isolate legal non-citizens from illegal ones, but given that legal immigrants have to undergo background checks, the vast bulk of these criminals were probably in the U.S. illegally. Mexico is…

Read the full story

Cost for English Language Learner Services in Tennessee Public Schools Increases Over 100 Percent Since FY 2016

Chris Alto
ESL student

The cost to teach English to non-English speaking students in Tennessee public schools has increased over 100 percent since FY 2016. In FY 2016, the total cost for English Language Learner (ELL) services was $94,110,440. Seventy percent was funded through the state’s Basic Education Program (BEP) in the amount of $65,877,308, matched by a “required” local share of approximately 30 percent, totaling $28,233,132. In FY 2018, funding for ELL services for the upcoming school year will cost state and local taxpayers $198,150,357. The state will fund $138,705,250, a 110 percent increase from FY 2016. The required local match will increase 111 percent from FY 2016 at a cost of $59,705,107. “There are 2,872 EL teaching positions and 287 translator positions that will be funded for this [FY 2018] school year, which are funded at a ratio of 1 teacher per 20 EL students and 1 translator per 200 EL students,” according to information forwarded to The Tennessee Star by the state’s Department of Education Deputy Director of Communications. In FY 2016 the BEP funded 1,570 teaching positions and 153 translator positions, highlighting the sharp increase just two years later. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, Title VI of the…

Read the full story

Two More Countries are Hit with Visa Sanctions for Refusing to Take Back Deportees

Admin
Donald Trump

by Will Racke   The Trump administration has hit certain government officials from Burma and Laos with visa sanctions as punishment for both countries’ refusal to take back their citizens the U.S. is trying to deport, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Tuesday. Going forward, the U.S. embassy in Rangoon, Burma, will halt the issuance of tourist and business non-immigrant visas to senior officials in the ministries of Labor, Immigration, Population and Home Affairs. In Laos, the U.S. mission will no longer grant tourist and business nonimmigrant visas to senior officials from the Laotian Ministry of Public Security. The restrictions also apply to the officials’ immediate families, DHS said. The sanctions come after a review by DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who determined that Burma and Laos have “denied or unreasonably delayed” accepting citizens ordered removed from the U.S. They will remain in place until Nielsen notifies Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that cooperation on deportees has improved, according to DHS. “The decision to sanction a recalcitrant country is not taken lightly,” the department said in a statement. “DHS makes significant efforts, in collaboration with the State Department, to encourage countries to accept the prompt, lawful return of their nationals who are subject…

Read the full story

Randy Boyd Calls Diane Black ‘D.C. Diane’ And Questions Her Record On Immigration In Flyer, Website

Jason M. Reynolds
anto-Black mailer

Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd fired a salvo this week at opponent Diane Black by calling her “D.C. Diane” and questioning her past stances on immigration as a congresswoman and former state senator. Boyd’s campaign mailed a flyer which said, in part, “The Real D.C. Diane Black: A typical 20-year career politician who says one thing in Tennessee, but does another in D.C.” The flyer said: “D.C. Diane mocked President Trump’s border wall. In an interview with liberal reporter Katie Couric, D.C. Diane Black openly mocked and laughed at President Trump’s plan to build a border wall saying: ‘First of all, you can’t build a wall. That won’t work. It can’t be done.’ “Voted against funding for border security. D.C. Diane voted against a bill that provided $1.6 billion to fund the border wall, even though most Republicans and President Trump supported it. “Voted to give Tennessee drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. Diane Black voted for a bill at the urging of Democrat Governor Phil Bredesen to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. “Voted to give Obama a blank check for his amnesty. The conservative Heritage Foundation slammed a bill D.C. Diane supported that funded Obama’s executive amnesty for illegal…

Read the full story

Commentary: Immigration Quagmire Exposes Both Parties’ Leadership Deficit in D.C.

Admin
Donald Trump

by Jeffery Rendall   It’s no secret to regular observers of American politics that the Republican Party has its problems with leadership; fractures have developed within the caucus over time and by all appearances the leaders of both the House and Senate have frequently worked against conservatives in their drive to thwart certain aspects of President Donald Trump’s agenda. One such fissure sprung up last week over immigration. In a last-ditch effort to make it seem like he was “doing something” about solving the lingering border dilemma Speaker Paul Ryan allowed a pair of “moderate” compromise amnesty bills to receive floor votes in the House of Representatives. Neither passed and afterwards the measures’ RINO supporters had a hard time explaining why. David M. Drucker of the Washington Examiner reported, “[Republican Reps. Jeff Denham, R-Calif. and Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla.] and a group of other centrists strong-armed House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., into allowing a vote on immigration reform legislation after they threatened to use a rarely-used parliamentary procedure to require a floor vote on legislation that might have been far less conservative than the twin packages that ultimately received a vote. Both failed after receiving tepid support from Trump. “Had Democrats provided significant support…

Read the full story

Nashville Organizations and Metro Government Lawyers Defend Illegal Aliens

Chris Alto

Nashville Community Defense/Defensa Comunitaria Nashville uses the tagline “here to stay.” The group is led by Cathy Carrillo who organizes and leads protests against deporting criminal illegal aliens while Metro’s lawyers in the Public Defender’s office provide legal services for “non-citizen defendants.” According to Elizabeth Lopez, a graduate of Vanderbilt University and a spokesman for Nashville-based Workers Dignity which is funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Workers Dignity helped spin-off Carillo’s group. Last year Lopez and Carrillo spoke as representatives of Workers Dignity at the TN Alliance for Progress conference on a panel titled “Resisting Deportation: Immigration Policy and Organizing.” Workers Dignity organized in 2010, to advocate for the workplace rights of legal immigrants and illegal aliens. Protesting “wage theft” from low wage immigrant hotel cleaners, the group has expanded the campaign to include construction workers and are bootstrapping their menu of demands to the explosive growth currently being experienced in Nashville. Listed among the TN Immigrant & Refugee Right’s (TIRRC) coalition members, Workers Dignity hired a full-time organizer to head up a Neighborhood Defense Committee, the project launched by the TIRRC to shield criminal and non-criminal illegal aliens and obstruct enforcement of immigration law by U.S. authorities. A 2017 meeting notice for Carrillo’s Nashville Community Defense group explained…

Read the full story