illegal immigration Archives - Page 13 of 17 - Tennessee Star

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

August 16, 2018August 15, 2018 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…

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

August 9, 2018August 8, 2018 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…

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

August 1, 2018August 1, 2018 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…

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Trump Threatens Government Shutdown Over Border Wall Funding

July 30, 2018July 29, 2018 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…

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

July 20, 2018July 19, 2018 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,”…

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

July 15, 2018July 14, 2018 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…

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

July 11, 2018July 11, 2018 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…

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

July 11, 2018July 10, 2018 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…

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

July 11, 2018July 10, 2018 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…

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

July 10, 2018July 9, 2018 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…

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Nashville Organizations and Metro Government Lawyers Defend Illegal Aliens

July 6, 2018July 5, 2018 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…

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Phil Bredesen Likely to Support His Would-Be Liberal Senate Colleagues in Abolishing ICE?

July 3, 2018July 3, 2018 John Bryant

Phil Bredesen

U.S. Senate Candidate Phil Bredesen is on record calling the policy that required children to be separated from their families “child abuse” and also voiced his support for the ongoing national protests on behalf of illegal immigrants. Frankly, there seems to be little if any room between Bredesen and the most liberal of current Senate Democrats when it comes to illegal immigration. Video at link. Phil Bredesen on immigration separation policy U.S. Senate Candidate Phil Bredesen on the policy that required children to be separated from their families June 20, 2018 before President Trump repealed it. Now, Bredesen’s would be fellow Democrat Senators, should he win in November, are increasingly calling for the elimination of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) altogether. There’s more on that topic here. Clearly it’s a growing trend among Democrats, especially in the same Senate Democrat Bredesen longs to become a part of. As usual, he’s dodging the touch questions, as in, would he, or would he not support doing away with ICE. And a mostly Democrat friendly media is all too happy to let him get away with it. Given the manner in which Democrats tend to walk in lockstep once they get to Washington,…

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Fact Checking the Fact Checkers: Obama Administration Records Show Illegal Immigrants Are FAR More Likely to Commit Serious Crimes Than the U.S. Public

July 3, 2018July 3, 2018 Admin

Border Patrol arrest illegal aliens

by James D. Agresti President Trump recently held a conference with family members of U.S. citizens killed by illegal immigrants. The parents of nine people slain by such immigrants spoke about their family’s experiences, and Trump presented an array of government data on criminal immigrants and stated: I always hear that, “Oh, no, the population is safer than the people that live in the country.” You’ve heard that, fellas. Right? You’ve heard that. I hear it so much. And I say, “Is that possible?” The answer is it’s not true. In response, the Associated Press published a “fact check” claiming that illegal immigrants are more law-abiding than the general public. Various media outlets, such as the New York Times, Yahoo!, and a number of NBC affiliates published this article. The Washington Post ran a similar story, and other media outlets and so-called fact checkers have made similar claims in the past. The truth, however, is that comprehensive, straightforward facts from primary sources – namely the Obama administration Census Bureau and Department of Justice – prove that illegal immigrants are far more likely to commit serious crimes than the U.S. population. Studies that claim otherwise typically suffer from fallacies condemned by academic publications about how to accurately analyze…

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Three GOP Gubernatorial Candidates Say Uphold the Constitution, But Tennessee Attorney General Disagrees and Randy Boyd Is Silent

July 2, 2018July 1, 2018 Chris Alto

Bill Lee, Diane Black, Herbert Slatery

This past May, seven states, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, sued the federal government to stop Obama’s unconstitutional DACA administrative amnesty program once and for all. To date, Tennessee’s Attorney General Herbert Slatery has not joined the lawsuit. In fact, it appears that Slatery has done an about face choosing instead to support amnesty and a path to citizenship for DREAMER illegal aliens. The Tennessee Star asked each GOP gubernatorial candidate whether as governor would they support having Tennessee join the other states suing to challenge “whether the 2012 executive action unilaterally creating DACA was itself lawful” as stated in the lawsuit? Speaker Harwell responded that she would support the lawsuit. Bill Lee’s campaign spokesman responded: As Mr. Lee stated in the June 20 debate regarding his support of deploying national guard troops to border ‘we cannot be a nation without borders. We are a part of this nation and we should commit our resources to defending the border.’ The same goes for legal resources. Mr. Lee would join this lawsuit to defend our constitution and enforce the rule of law. Diane Black’s campaign spokesman stated affirmatively that Diane “absolutely would join the lawsuit” and that as Diane has…

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FACT CHECK: Democratic Congressional Candidate Ocasio-Cortez Claims Illegal Immigration Was Not Criminalized Before 1999

July 2, 2018July 1, 2018 Admin

Ocasio

by Emily Larsen Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview Wednesday that the U.S. did not add criminal penalties to immigration law until about 1999. Verdict: False The U.S. criminalized unlawful entry in 1929. Laws passed in the 1990s intensified criminal penalties relating to immigration. Fact Check: Ocasio-Cortez defeated incumbent Rep. Joseph Crowley, one of the top Democrats in the House, in a New York primary Tuesday. She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and has called to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Ocasio-Cortez elaborated on her reasons to abolish ICE on NPR’s “Morning Edition” Wednesday. “What we’re really talking about is re-imagining immigration to be humane,” she said. “It wasn’t until about 1999 that we chose to criminalize immigration at all, and then once ICE was established we really kind of militarized that enforcement to a degree that was previously unseen in the United States.” Congress made unauthorized entry into the U.S. a criminal offense in 1929. Aliens who entered the country outside a port of entry or without examination by immigration officials could be charged with a misdemeanor. Previously deported aliens who tried to re-enter the country without authorization could be charged with a felony. Unauthorized entry and unauthorized re-entry remain misdemeanor…

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Hundreds Arrested at Senate Office Building Protest

June 29, 2018June 28, 2018 Admin

Woman's March protest

Hundreds of protesters were arrested Thursday after staging a sit-in at a U.S. Senate office building in Washington to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policy. U.S. Capitol Police arrested 575 activists, mostly women, decrying President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy on admission of undocumented immigrants. They chanted “What do we want? Free families!” and “This is what democracy looks like,” as they sat in the Hart Senate Office Building’s atrium. Protesters wrapped themselves in Mylar blankets, like the ones given to children separated from their families at the southern U.S. border and detained. Democratic Senators Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Maizi Hirono of Hawaii and Ed Markey of Massachusetts were among those who visited the protesters to lend their support. Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, herself an immigrant, tweeted that she was among those arrested. Under the zero-tolerancepolicy, the government has begun prosecuting all migrants caught entering the country without authorization. Trump has halted his policy of taking children from their detained parents under public pressure, but an estimated 2,000 of them are still being held, with many families saying they don’t know how to locate them. Similar protests also took place elsewhere around the country. Hundreds gathered at a rally…

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Pennsylvania Tracks Traffic Stops of Undocumented Immigrants

June 29, 2018June 28, 2018 Admin

traffic stop

Pennsylvania state police will soon be required to report more fully the circumstances under which they notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when they stop undocumented immigrants for traffic violations. The move comes amid mounting criticism by immigration lawyers and activists that state troopers have been overzealous in assisting with ICE’s stepped-up enforcement ordered by the Trump administration. It’s also part of a wider debate in several U.S. states about whether police and other state agencies should cooperate with ICE in the wake of the crackdown against illegal immigration over the past year and a half. In Pennsylvania, a recent investigation by ProPublica and The Philadelphia Inquirer uncovered cases in which state and local police helped ICE round up undocumented immigrants, especially Hispanics, using questionable traffic stops. According to the ProPublica/Inquirer investigation, there were more “at-large” arrests of undocumented immigrants without criminal convictions by ICE’s Philadelphia field office, which includes Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia, than anywhere else in the country. Some 1,740 people without criminal records were arrested in the year after President Donald Trump took office, according to the investigation, many with the help of state and local police. This high arrest rate of non-criminals has raised accusations of racial profiling. Assertion…

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Steve Gill Debunks Common Media Myths in Immigration Debate on News Channel 5’s ‘MorningLine’

June 28, 2018June 27, 2018 John Bryant

Steve Gill

Tuesday on News Channel 5’s “MorningLine”, Conservative and Tennessee Star Political Editor, Steve Gill sat down with host Nick Beres to discuss immigration and the ongoing debate around it in America today. The full ten minutes is worth a listen as Gill debunks many media myths circling around within the immigration debate. “Part of the problem here …,” said Gill,” of the 12,000 children that have been put into federal custody over the last several months, 10,000 of them came alone. These are not 4 year-olds trekking from Honduras across the Mexican desert. These are 16, 17, and in many cases older than 18 young men who are claiming to be minors.” Gill goes on to debunk other media myths, as well, along with media’s mostly ignoring serious issues of sex trafficking and child abuse linked directly to the same illegal border crossings media is, in essence, defending, while often covering up the more ugly side of same.

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Commentary: Misplaced Democrat Outrage Over Illegals Has Backlash Written All Over It

June 28, 2018June 27, 2018 Admin

Antifa in Nashville

by Jeffrey Rendall Have Democrats got something here, or have they really lost it? The question passed through my mind as a member of my church stood up a couple Sundays ago to request special prayers for the “families” with kids being separated from parents down along the southern border, genuinely implying there was a true humanitarian crisis at hand in America. Fellow church parishioners nodded in agreement to the man’s plea and many a petition was instantly heaven-sent for the sake of children and parents whom we’ll most assuredly never meet and who likely will be deservedly deported right back to whence they came. We shouldn’t have a problem praying for these folks – it’s the human condition, right? A little divine intervention here could only be a positive thing. But Democrats are taking this child-separation issue to the extreme, rejecting every overture from President Trump or congressional Republicans to not only aid those impacted by the government’s official policies, but also to deal with the illegal immigration problem itself. The minority party’s lack of interest in the authentic dilemma exposes their naked ploy to milk the crisis for every political chit it’s worth. Here’s thinking such a flawed strategy is…

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State Senate Candidate Wade Munday Looking For Lawyers to Help Illegal Aliens Come and Stay in Tennessee

June 27, 2018June 27, 2018 Chris Alto

Wade Munday

With the continuing crush at the border of illegal aliens traveling with children to whom they may or may not be related and children being sent with smugglers to cross the border alone, liberals and open border groups have found a new reason to oppose President Trump’s “zero tolerance” for illegal immigration. In Nashville, Wade Munday, Executive Director of the open borders organization TN Justice For Our Neighbors (TN-JFON) is looking for lawyers to volunteer and help illegal aliens come and stay in Tennessee. In addition to his $61,000+ job at TN-JFON, Munday is the Democrat candidate running against incumbent conservative Republican Kerry Roberts for the state Senate District 25 seat. TN-JFON provides free and low-cost legal services to legal immigrants like refugees as well as to asylum seekers and “unaccompanied alien children” (UAC) who have entered the country illegally. TN-JFON finds legal help by providing continuing legal education which is required for Tennessee lawyers, partnering with area law school legal clinics and using area media to carry their appeal. Not surprisingly, TN-JFON supports Obama’s unconstitutional DACA administrative amnesty program and “safe arrivals” for “unaccompanied minors,” their term in lieu of the statutorily correct unaccompanied alien children. Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC), by law are defined as…

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Illegal Aliens Get In-State Tuition in Five States That Also Allow Them to Practice Law

June 26, 2018June 25, 2018 Chris Alto

Sergio Garcia

California, New York, Florida, New Jersey and Connecticut all provide the in-state tuition benefit for illegal aliens in their states and all permit illegal aliens who graduate from law school, to apply for and obtain a license to practice law. Last week Connecticut became the fifth state to change its rules and license eligible illegal aliens to practice law. Prior to the rule change, Connecticut required lawyers to either be a U.S. citizen or “an alien lawfully residing in the United States.” The rule now includes anyone “authorized to work lawfully in the United States.” The rule change was proposed by Denia Perez, a grantee of Obama’s unconstitutional DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) administrative amnesty program. Illegal aliens trying to get a license to practice could potentially have an easy path in Tennessee, especially as explained below, if proponents of the in-state tuition bill are successful during the next legislative session. State Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) and State Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis) who last session sponsored the bill for its fourth run, are likely to try again in 2019. Unlike Connecticut and California before they changed their rules, Tennessee’s rules about who is eligible to be granted a law…

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Following Portland, San Diego, and New York, ICE Protesters Set Up Camp In Front Of LA Detention Center

June 26, 2018June 26, 2018 Admin

Anti-ICE camp

by Julia Cohen A group who calls itself “L.A. Against I.C.E.” has set up a camp in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Los Angeles detention center, according to the group’s twitter account. https://twitter.com/LAagainstICE/status/1010910647717003270 The group have been outside of the center since Friday, according to a tweet retweeted by L.A. Against I.C.E’s account on Sunday. The group’s twitter feed is urging supporters to bring supplies to the camp that may foreshadow potential violence, including 16C batteries, bandages and mechanical pencils. The group also tweeted it has some “really great stuff planned” Monday. The group suggested making large banners to drop across a Los Angeles freeway on Sunday. The LA camp comes in the wake of several other protests at ICE facilities last week, including a protest at ICE’s headquarters in Portland, Oregon, that shut down the office for almost a full week. ICE employees went back to work Monday in Oregon for the first time since June 19 , according to a report from The Oregonian Monday. ICE protesters are also in Pittsburgh Monday demonstrating in front of an ICE office, according to a tweet from KDKA radio. The movement to abolish ICE has gained traction among left-wing extremist groups and more mainstream politicians alike. New York Democratic gubernatorial…

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Federal Law, Not President Trump, Dictates How Unaccompanied Children and Family Units Are Treated at the Border

June 25, 2018July 18, 2018 Admin

unaccompanied children

by Robert Romano Between 2009 and 2016, more than 242,000 unaccompanied children arrived at the southwest border, according to data compiled by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, averaging about 30,000 a year. In 2016, that number was about 20,000. In addition, in 2016, about 23,000 family units were apprehended at the border. According to CBP, “Family Unit represents the number of individuals (either a child under 18 years old, parent or legal guardian) apprehended with a family member by the U.S. Border Patrol.” Normally, what happens, per a 2008 federal law against human trafficking and federal court rulings, is unaccompanied children are given to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, and eventually released, ideally to a relative residing in the U.S., within 20 days. As for the adults, there is no provision of law allowing them to stay, even if they arrived with children. If upon capture and pleading guilty and being released to ICE custody, they elect to be deported, however, they can return home with the children before the child is required to be released within the 20-day court-imposed deadline — provided there is time to hear the case. If the adults apply for asylum, that…

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Cynthia Nixon Calls ICE a ‘Terrorist Organization’

June 24, 2018July 18, 2018 Admin

Cynthia Nixon

by Julia Cohen New York Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a “terrorist organization” in a Thursday night tweet. “ICE is a terrorist organization, and its egomaniacal leader is Donald Trump,” the tweet says. ICE is a terrorist organization, and its egomaniacal leader is Donald Trump. Sign our petition to #AbolishICE: https://t.co/sZ3VF6lRhE https://t.co/qsB6XiJUJc — Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) June 22, 2018 The tweet also includes a link to a petition by Nixon’s campaign to abolish ICE. “There are so many steps between where we are now and a fair immigration system. But this is the first step,” the petition says. This isn’t the first time Nixon has advocated for the abolition of ICE. “Drivers licenses must be made available to all qualified New Yorkers, including undocumented immigrants … We must … #AbolishICE,” Nixon tweeted earlier on Thursday. Nixon advocated for making New York a sanctuary state, meaning that the state would not cooperate with ICE to deport illegal immigrants. – – – Julia Cohen is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Julia on Facebook and Twitter. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that…

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Mexican Airline Offers Free Flights to Reunite Families

June 24, 2018July 18, 2018 Admin

Volaris airline

Reuters Mexican airline Volaris said Friday it was offering free flights to reunite families separated by the “zero tolerance” immigration policy of U.S. President Donald Trump. “It hurts us to see these children without their parents and it is our vocation to reunite them,” Volaris said in a statement. The airline said it would work with authorities in the United States, Mexico and Central America to offer free flights on its pre-existing routes to reunite children with their parents. According to its website, Volaris flies to more than 65 locations across Mexico, the United States, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. After facing an uproar at home and abroad, Trump bowed to intense pressure Wednesday and signed an order ending the separation of children from their families while parents were prosecuted for crossing the border illegally. This week, four major U.S. airlines asked the federal government not to use their flights to transport migrant children away from their parents. Some of the more than 2,300 children separated from their parents since mid-April have been flown to states far from the border area between Mexico and the United States, where their parents are being charged in immigration courts, according…

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Families of Victims of Illegal Aliens Tell of ‘Permanent Separation’ From Children, Being Ignored by Media

June 23, 2018July 18, 2018 Admin

angel parents

by Fred Lucas With President Donald Trump still facing criticism over separating migrant families who illegally crossed the border, other families met with the president Friday to share their stories of “permanent separation” from children killed by illegal immigrants—and to complain of being ignored by the news media. Among those family members were Laura Wilkerson, who recalled the 2010 slaying of her son Josh. “He was brutally tortured, strangled over and over. He was set on fire after death. His last hours were brutal,” Wilkerson said, standing on a stage at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with Trump, administration officials, and family members of 13 other victims of crimes by illegal immigrants. They were among the “Angel Families” advocating for strong enforcement of immigration laws. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Wilkerson contrasted their situation with those of illegal-immigrant parents who can communicate with the children they’ve been separated from on Skype. “As with everyone standing up here, none of our kids had a minute to say goodbye. We weren’t lucky enough to be separated for five days or 10 days,” she…

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Phil Bredesen Accused President Trump of ‘Child Abuse’ on Border Despite Flawed Media Coverage of True Situation

June 23, 2018June 22, 2018 John Bryant

Phil Bredesen

While the controversy of separating families crossing the U.S. border illegally has been mostly settled, it’s worth noting that Democrat Senate Candidate Phil Bredesen took his criticism of President Trump on the issue as far as any far Left-Wing agitator did, in effect, labeling it child abuse. That despite it becoming increasingly apparent that media coverage of the issue was slanted, at best, as the Knoxville News Sentinel reported: Before he spoke about rising health care costs, before he listened to the stories of gaps in the system and before he visited the wing dedicated to babies born dependent on opiates, Phil Bredesen spoke Wednesday about the “elephant in the room.” Bredesen said it was wrong for the U.S. government to institute a policy that separated children from families at the U.S.-Mexican border and he said the policy was “effectively child abuse.” He said he hoped President Donald Trump would fix the crisis Tuesday, which he did later in the day. It’s also worth noting that it’s now obvious that some of the media’s coverage of the issue varied from somewhere between dishonest and incompetent, as Fox News reported in this story, “Crying migrant girl on TIME magazine cover was…

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Commentary: Fund The Wall Before Any Other Immigration Legislation

June 21, 2018July 18, 2018 Admin

Donald Trump, The Wall

by CHQ Staff Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate have suddenly found the time and energy to pass a quick legislative fix to end the practice of separating parents from children when they cross illegally into the country – but they apparently do not plan to act on any real illegal immigration fixes, such as funding the border wall. According to reporting by The Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, is working with other GOP senators on a bill that would allow families who enter the country illegally to remain together at immigration facilities at the border as they await adjudication. The Trump administration has said a court decision requires family separation as adults are prosecuted. Cornyn’s bill would eliminate that requirement, and speed up court hearings for people seeking admission into the country, which can take months. “The answer to this current situation is a solution that allows us to both enforce the law and keep families together,” Cornyn said Tuesday. “They don’t have to be mutually exclusive.” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has said he talked to Trump about the idea, and said it could move as quickly as this week. “It could be…

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State of Tennessee Left to Protect Itself From Illegal Immigration As Corker & Alexander Say Laws Should Not Be Enforced

June 21, 2018June 21, 2018 Chris Alto

Bill Haslam, Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander

Tennessee’s two U.S. Senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker each released a statement opposing the administration’s zero-tolerance immigration policy including separating children traveling with adult illegal border crossers. The law requiring the separation of children from the adults illegally crossing the border and who are being detained, was signed by President George W. Bush in 2008. Yesterday, President Trump signed an Executive Order allowing illegal alien adults and any children they bring across the border, to stay together in detention pending a determination of their illegal border crossing. While Corker limited his remarks to how adults traveling with children should be dealt with when apprehended at the border, Alexander’s statement goes much further, suggesting that legislation to fix the current crisis should include some type of amnesty for illegal aliens already present in the U.S.: Illegal immigration is against the law but new enforcement policies have resulted in hundreds of children being separated from their parents. The administration should end that new policy immediately while Congress works with the president on a bipartisan immigration solution that secures the border, provides a status for those already here and prevents a humanitarian crisis at the border. Both Alexander and Corker voted to…

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Off the Record: Switch-Hitter Boyd Donors Now Raising Money For Liberal Democrat Phil Bredesen

June 19, 2018June 19, 2018 Chris Alto

Randy Boyd, Phil Bredesen

“Switch-hitters” are the baseball players who bat both right-handed and left-handed. Political switch-hitters who want liberal representation in the U.S. Senate and a moderate in the governor’s office are rooting for the Boyd-Bredesen team – and they are willing to put their big bucks behind these guys and bring along their moneyed friends. (Anyone willing to bet whether we see Jim Haslam and others with the last name Haslam show up on a Bredesen campaign finance disclosure report?) Boyd’s big dollar donors Sharon Pryse, Raja and Michelle Jubran, and Jim Clayton are co-hosting a fundraiser for Phil Bredesen just like the super-wealthy “Republican” donor Conway-Welch in Nashville whose fundraiser for Bredesen was preceded by the one in Nashville headlined by former Vice-President Joe Biden. Boyd’s Knoxville Cabal needs him to go to his warehouse and get them those special flea collars. And there is plenty of money in them thar hills – Sharon Pryse, Raja Jubran and his wife coughed up $8,000 dineros each to hand over to La Raza Randy. Jim Clayton was only able to come up with a measly $5,000. Pryse, Raja Jubran, and Clayton are members of Boyd’s business coalition but it’s even cozier than that. Boyd served…

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Advocates in Pennsylvania Want More Taxpayer Money to Educate Illegal Immigrant & Refugee Students

June 19, 2018June 18, 2018 Chris Alto

Education Law Center sues Phila

Philadelphia-based Education Law Center told the city’s School Reform Commission that immigrant students and English Language Learner students (EL), need expanded programming, “improved cultural competency” for teachers, more support for the parents of these students and greater access to vocational training programs. According to the Law Center, test results show that this group of students are failing to progress in their education: Test results indicate that immigrant students and ELs are among the most educationally at-risk of all student groups. For instance, 44 percent of EL students scored below basic in 2015-16 in standardized math and reading tests, while only 19 percent of non-EL students were in that category. The Law Center advocates statewide “fighting for fair school funding” and “equal access” to education services and programs. In 2016, the ELC with help from the ACLU of Pennsylvania and lawyers from a high-priced private law firm, sued the Lancaster School District on behalf of six high school- age refugee students, objecting to their placement at the privately run Phoenix School. Officials with the school district cited Phoenix School’s “special acceleration program”as the reason the refugee students were placed there instead of the district’s regular high school: A special ‘acceleration program’ at…

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Rep. DesJarlais Focuses in on Support for Law Enforcement and Addiction Treatment

June 16, 2018June 15, 2018 John Bryant

Scott DesJarlais

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04) released a statement this week geared to focusing attention on his work in support of both law enforcement and addiction treatment. “During a week in which the House of Representatives focused solely on solutions to the country’s opioid crisis, Congressman Scott DesJarlais, M.D., voted to improve veterans’ addiction treatment, prevent childhood trauma and illness as a result of parental drug abuse, and to stop shipments of narcotic chemicals across U.S. borders, among other votes to help his home state of Tennessee conquer its drug epidemic,” it reads in part. Said DesJarlais, “Drug overdoses as well as suicides have increased, and the rising figures are tied to declining economic fortunes in depressed rural areas. In addition to strengthening addiction treatment and law enforcement, growing job opportunities is very important. Reversing the decline of American manufacturing and encouraging small businesses will provide hope to people who in despair have turned to drugs.” “Tennessee’s opioid-related mortality rate is higher than average. The rate in Grundy County in the Fourth Congressional District is particularly high”, he continued. DesJarlais represents parts of Appalachia, a region experiencing the worst of the crisis, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission. “Nearly every demographic is…

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Sponsor of 2001 Bill That Allowed Illegals to Get Drivers Licenses in Tennessee Claimed It Was Only for ‘A Properly Documented Immigrant,’

June 10, 2018July 23, 2018 Chris Alto

Diane Black

Tennessee Jobs Now, a SuperPAC that supports Randy Boyd in the Tennessee Governor’s race, has been running a television commercial that hits Diane Black for a 2001 vote as a member of the Tennessee General Assembly that resulted in illegal aliens being able to get driver licenses. Black does not deny that she voted for the bill, SB1266, nor does she deny that the result of the bill was that it allowed illegal aliens to obtain drivers licenses in Tennessee. She has subsequently explained that the result that illegal aliens were able to obtain drivers licenses in Tennessee after the law was passed was “an unintended consequence of a bill that was supposed to allow legal immigrants to get licenses.” A cursory reading of SB1266, as it was passed by the Tennessee General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Sundquist, does not give the impression its purpose was to allow illegal aliens to obtain drivers licenses. Indeed, the words “illegal,” “alien,” “immigrant,” “documented immigrant,” and “undocumented immigrant” appear nowhere in the law: SB1266, An Act to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-50-321, relative to information required to be submitted to obtain a driver license Section 1: Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-50-321(c)(1), is amended by…

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Over One Hundred Suspected Undocumented Workers Arrested in Ohio

June 7, 2018June 7, 2018 Admin

ICE arrest

U.S. immigration agents raided two Ohio garden stores Tuesday and arrested 114 workers believed to be undocumented immigrants for alleged identity theft. It was the largest such sting by Homeland Security and immigration agents in recent years. The agents carried out raids at two separate locations of Corso’s Flower and Garden Center — one in Sandusky and the other in Castalia. Along with the arrests, agents carried out boxes of what a spokesman called “a lot of documentary evidence” from one of the stores. The investigation into Corso’s began in October when agents arrested a woman that they called a “document vendor” — someone who sells stolen identity documents to legal and illegal would-be workers. The suspected vendor led investigators to Corso’s. Immigration investigator Steve Francis said some of the documents in Corso’s files included the Social Security numbers of dead people. Corso’s is not facing any criminal charges but is still under investigation. Francis said the garden center chain was obviously unaware it was hiring workers with falsified documents. “If you are a legitimate business, you have nothing to be concerned about,” Francis said. “But if you are harboring or hiring illegal aliens, you will be identified, arrested and…

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Off the Record: A Number One ‘Hit’ About La Raza Randy

May 29, 2018August 13, 2020 Chris Alto

First it was “The Ballad of La Raza Randy,” a lyrical stroll through Boyd’s “conexion” to the leadership of the National Council of La Raza which earned him his nickname not long after he decided he wanted to “spend whatever it takes” to get elected. Hint – it had something to do with his quarter of a million dollar donation to the Nashville organization whose founder and director has been the chairman of the board of the National Council of La Raza when Boyd decided to turn on the greenies – that is, the paper stuff, not the dog breath freshener. Granted, he’s tied to plenty establishment type issues and groups like Common Core, Jeb! and the big-business-cheap-labor lobbyists. But the alliteration with La Raza? Just sirens out to creative conservatives in Tennessee to bring it on! And sure enough, the newest, catchiest tribute to La Raza Randy, was recently posted on YouTube. Boyd’s been trying to convince voters that he actually really does support Trump. He’s even running ads where he says, with a straight face, that he and President Trump “have a lot in common.” Pay close attention when you get to minute 1:26 – it could be…

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Who Is This ‘MS-13 Gang’ the Media and Democrats Are Defending?

May 26, 2018July 18, 2018 Admin

Hooman

By Natalia Castro Since the 2016 election, President Donald Trump has waged war on gangs within the U.S., most notably, the violent MS-13. For nearly 40 years, MS-13 has grown across the United States and Central American to become one of the deadliest gangs in the world. To understand the best method of combatting their continued rise, we must first understand who these people are and how they have grown to take over American cities. What began in the 1970s as a group of low-level drug users in Los Angeles emerged into a violent and satanic group in the early 1980s. Dara Lind of Vox Media explains, the LAPD’s first reference to the group was of the “Mara Salvatrucha Stoners,” but as Civil War in El Salvador and conflict with Nicaragua intensified it brought waves of illegal immigrants hardened from escaping violence in their home country. Immigrants from El Salvador flooded areas dominated by Mexican-American gangs and used brutal tactics, such as machete killings, to take control over the area and expand. The BBC of April 2017 reported that U.S. intelligence data suggested the gang has spread to 46 states and maintains an international presence of at least 60,000 members. The group operates…

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Boyd Versus Black: Battle of the Illegal Immigration Ads

May 24, 2018May 24, 2018 Admin

Anybody who doubts whether Tennessee voters, especially Republican Primary voters, are concerned about illegal immigration needs to watch a few of the early political ads that are starting to pound the airwaves. Candidates at every level, from state legislative races to Congressional races to the Governors race, are embracing a “tough on illegal immigration” stance intended to align with Tennessee voters. Support for President Donald Trump’s border wall gives prospective office holders a double bump, as they demonstrate their focus on illegal immigration and tie themselves to a political figure who still enjoys extremely high approval ratings among GOP primary voters. The air war between Republican gubernatorial rivals Diane Black and Randy Boyd is the latest example of competing ads trying to “out illegal” their opponent. In Boyd’s ad, he declares that “professional politicians have made a mess of our immigration system” – a not very thinly veiled shot at Congresswoman Diane Black. For those who might miss the point, the screen simultaneously shows a picture of the U.S. Capitol with the words “Washington Has Failed Us” in large capital letters. Boyd says “illegal is illegal” and promises to crack down on illegal immigration, support President Trump’s border wall, “no sanctuary…

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Trump Wants Aid Cut to Nations Not Helping US Stem Illegal Immigration

May 24, 2018July 18, 2018 Admin

Trump illegal immigration

by Steve Herman President Donald Trump called Wednesday for a “radical change” to the structure of U.S. aid to countries deemed not sufficiently assisting the United States in keeping violent illegal immigrants from heading here. “We’re going to work out something where every time someone comes from a certain country, we’re going to deduct a rather large amount of money from what we give them in aid,” promised Trump. “We may not just give them aid at all, because despite the reports I hear, I don’t believe they’re helping us one bit.” Trump did not specify any countries. The president’s remarks came at an event, held inside a homeland security center in Bethpage on New York’s Long Island, which the White House said was intended to be “a call to action for legislative policy changes.” Focus on MS-13 Much of the conversation among the president and others, including family members of victims of gang violence, at the round-table event focused on MS-13 — a criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles and has spread to much of North and Central America. It draws many of its members from El Salvador. The Central American country, plagued with drug gang violence,…

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Rep. Diane Black Introduces Novel Crowdsourcing Bill to Fund ‘The Wall’

May 23, 2018May 23, 2018 Admin

Embracing the online ‘crowdsourcing’ trend pioneered by inventors and entrepreneurs to raise vast sums of money, support and sometimes, fame, Representative Diane Black (R-TN-06) introduced a novel bill late last week that would create a trust fund in the U.S. Treasury that could accept money donated by individuals and earmark the funds to cover the costs associated with one of the flagship campaign promises by then-candidate Trump: the construction of a border wall along the southern border. “While Democrats block commonsense border security and put illegal immigrants before our families, we are going to put America first,” Rep. Black said in a statement accompanying the proposal. She added: Real immigration reform cannot be achieved without a secure border – President Trump has been clear about this since day one. The most important job of the federal government is the safety and security of the American people, and if citizens in our country wish to contribute to this effort, they absolutely should be given the opportunity. Americans know that President Trump is committed to protecting our nation for future generations, and we are ready to stand with him to build the wall. “The Border Wall Trust Fund Act” is a four-page bill, H.R. 5876 that…

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Haslam Passes Sanctuary City Bill Without Signing; Boyd, Who Claims He’s Against Sanctuary Cities, Wouldn’t Ask Him to Sign

May 21, 2018May 30, 2018 Chris Alto

Randy Boyd and Bill Haslam

Governor Haslam announced today that instead of signing or vetoing the anti-sanctuary city bill he will allow it to become law without his signature: I could sign it but that would mean that I agree that we have an issue around sanctuary cities. In that regard, intentionally or not, the Governor has acknowledged last year’s attempt by the Metro Nashville Council to institutionalize its sanctuary city status. An ordinance proposed last year by Metro Councilmen Bob Mendes and Colby Sledge (who is married to TIRRC’s co-director), was headed to a final vote before being withdrawn due to pressure from state legislators and the public. The bill, drafted with TIRRC’s assistance, would have made Nashville the most liberal non-deportation zone in the U.S., magnetizing Davidson County for criminal illegal aliens. Specifically, the Mendes/Sledge proposal would have prohibited Metro Nashville employees from inquiring into anyone’s immigration status. Had it passed, the bill would have effectively enabled illegal aliens to access public benefits they would otherwise be barred from using. Additionally, the ordinance would not have violated the state’s 2009 anti-santuary city law, but would violate the new anti-sanctuary city law which expands the definition of what constitutes a sanctuary city policy: “Sanctuary policy” means…

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Supreme Silence In Longrunning Immigrant Abortion Controversy May be Coming to an End

May 21, 2018July 18, 2018 Admin

by Kevin Daley After six months, the U.S. Supreme Court has not acted on a Justice Department request to vacate a lower court order requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to facilitate an abortion for an illegal alien and punish ACLU lawyers for allegedly unethical behavior. The Court’s protracted silence in the matter is somewhat unusual, suggesting the justices are divided as to how the case should proceed. The case, Azar v. Garza, was occasioned in October 2017, when an undocumented teen in federal custody, known in court papers only as Jane Doe, learned she was pregnant and asked authorities to terminate her pregnancy. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services refused, claiming it had no obligation to facilitate abortions for minors in their care. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concluded the government’s actions imposed an undue burden on abortion access, in violation to the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. ACLU lawyers immediately moved to schedule an abortion, which occurred on Oct. 25, before the administration could appeal to the Supreme Court. In a remarkable filing to the justices, the Justice Department claimed ACLU lawyers deliberately misled them as to the timing…

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Nashville’s City Council, School Board and Mayoral Candidate Erica Gilmore Want All Tennesseans to Keep Paying for Nashville’s Illegal Aliens

May 20, 2018May 19, 2018 Chris Alto

Erica Gilmore

Predictably, Nashville’s Metro Council, school board and mayoral candidate Erica Gilmore want Governor Haslam to veto HB2315, the anti-sanctuary city legislation sitting on his desk. Nashville’s leadership wants the Governor to protect criminal illegal aliens. But Nashville’s advocacy for illegal aliens goes further, wanting all Tennessee taxpayers to continue sharing the fiscal burden for the 33,000 illegal aliens estimated to be living, working and going to school in Davidson County. Part of Nashville’s gripe is that they believe the state should give them more public money to pay for more services like English Language Learner (ELL) instruction and translators for the 15,000 or so students in their schools that need these services. Davidson County is reputed to have the highest concentration of students in the state, who need to learn the English. As it is, in FY 2017, state and local governments in Tennessee spent $122.3 million dollars to fund ELL services for all non-English speaking legal and illegal alien students enrolled in Tennessee’s public schools. It is estimated that across the state, approximately 135,000 illegal aliens including the 33,000 in Davidson County, cost Tennessee taxpayers $793 million dollars in 2017. This cost estimate does not include remittance money sent by…

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Diane Black: ‘Uncouple Tennessee’ From Illegal Immigration

May 19, 2018May 19, 2018 Chris Alto

In a straightforward statement today, GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) said “we need to uncouple illegal immigration and Tennessee”: The recent arrest of illegal aliens working at the Bean Station slaughterhouse is a red flag that Tennessee has been allowed to become a magnet for illegal aliens despite an E-verify law which I voted for when I was in the state Senate. The attempt by a city government last year to skirt our current sanctuary city law, which I also voted for, is another flag that we need to uncouple illegal immigration and Tennessee. Our current sanctuary city law needs strengthening and the Green-Reedy bill is sound public policy that should be signed into law. Black has zeroed in on the fact that Tennessee is offering what illegal aliens are looking for – the ability to live, work and go to school in communities where officials who have promised to uphold the law, simply look the other way. With pressure from well funded organizations that advocate for illegal immigration and Republican legislators softening to demands for state benefits like in-state college tuition for illegal alien students, a proposal publicly backed by Governor Haslam, Tennessee looks like a very “welcoming…

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TIRRC Using Reckless Disinformation Campaign on Sanctuary Bill to Create Hysteria in Immigrant Communities

May 19, 2018May 18, 2018 Chris Alto

Renata Soto of TIRRC exaggerates HB2315 provisions

The TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) is using a reckless and manipulative disinformation campaign filled with untruths about the anti-sanctuary city bill creating cruel and needless hysteria among legal immigrants and illegal alien communities in Tennessee. The Soros-funded TIRRC is employing a predictable tactic of the open-borders left – distort the facts until they are unrecognizable, the bury the truth under scripted political propaganda. Exactly what TIRRC and their fellow travelers have been doing with the Green-Reedy anti-sanctuary city bill. Almost immediately after the Tennessee General Assembly passed HB2315 by a 64-23 vote in the House and 25-5 in the Senate, TIRRC labeled it a “mass deportation bill.” To date, TIRRC has never admitted that the sanctuary policies and practices addressed in the Green-Reedy bill pose unnecessary risks to public safety and are dangerous because they return criminal illegal aliens to Tennessee communities. Another important fact about sanctuary policies – they apply to individuals who are already in local custody because they committed a crime. Only then does ICE get involved. The April raid at the Southeastern Provision slaughterhouse in Bean Station is not related to the sanctuary city bill. That of course, has not stopped TIRRC from trying…

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Fayette County Republican Party Adopts Resolution Supporting Green-Reedy Anti-Sanctuary City Bill

May 17, 2018May 16, 2018 Chris Alto

The Fayette County Republican Party is the first county political organization to adopt a Resolution supporting the Green-Reedy Anti-Sanctuary City bill. They have transmitted their resolution to Governor Haslam’s office with the following message: “As fellow Republicans, we respectfully ask that you please sign the bill that overwhelmingly passed in both the House and Senate. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.” Resolution of the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Fayette County, Tennessee Supporting Federal Immigration Laws in Tennessee Whereas every person of alien nationality who has not complied fully with the immigration statutes and regulations of the United States is not a legal resident of the State of Tennessee or any other jurisdiction, and, Whereas every such person illegally present in Tennessee is in conscious violation of the law, defiantly putting their own convenience and benefit above the rights of the People of the United States to make, enforce, and abide by the laws we choose, specifically defining whom we choose to allow to join in our national community, and, Whereas every member of the General Assembly, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial branch of the State of Tennessee, has sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United…

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California Officials Back Trump on Crackdown on ‘Sanctuary’ Policies

May 17, 2018May 16, 2018 Admin

by Fred Lucas California law enforcement and local officials gathered at the White House on Wednesday to make it clear that Sacramento doesn’t speak for them on illegal immigration. The Democrat-controlled state legislature passed and Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed a “sanctuary state” law that prohibits state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities on matters such as detaining illegal immigrants in local jails or reporting them. California state Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, a Republican, praised President Donald Trump for holding the White House meeting, noting that Brown has not met with Republican officials. “This is your Republican resistance right here,” Melendez told the president during the Cabinet Room meeting, obliquely referencing the “resist” movement among some Democrats and liberals dedicated to opposing Trump’s policies. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Seven mayors, four sheriffs and one deputy sheriff, two county supervisors, a city council member, and a district attorney—all from California—attended the White House meeting with the president and administration officials from the Justice and Homeland Security departments. Each expressed support for the administration’s tough immigration policies. House…

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Diane Black Petition Urging Gov. Haslam to Sign the Anti-Sanctuary City Bill Receives ‘Overwhelming Response’

May 15, 2018May 14, 2018 Admin

A spokesman from the Diane Black campaign for governor told The Tennessee Star over the weekend that their petition urging outgoing Governor Bill Haslam to sign recently-passed, anti-sanctuary city legislation into law has received an “overwhelming” amount of support by Tennesseans concerned about state and government officials turning a blind eye to illegal immigration and the issues arising from it. “The response we’ve received has been overwhelming, with over 1,000 Tennesseans signing our petition urging Governor Haslam to sign the sanctuary cities bill,” Black communications director Chris Hartline wrote. “It’s clear that Tennesseans support this common-sense bill that puts the safety and security of the people of Tennessee first.” Last Wednesday, the Black campaign launched a petition asking Tennessee residents to help them pressure Governor Haslam – who originally campaigned on confronting illegal immigration in the Volunteer State – to sign the Green-Reedy bill that closed key loopholes in the existing anti-sanctuary city legislation he signed in 2011: The Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill to end sanctuary cities in our state. Governor Haslam hasn’t signed the bill, and every day, those who support illegal immigration are emboldened by the inaction. Our governor should sign the bill without hesitation. If you agree, please…

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