Tag: Immigration

Trump to Request an Additional $8.6 Billion to Complete Border Wall

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by Jason Hopkins   President Donald Trump will ask Congress for an additional $8.6 billion for wall construction on the U.S.-Mexico border, a move that will likely set up another fierce battle over border security funding. The president is expected to roll out his 2020 budget proposal Monday, which will include billions more than his previous demand for wall funding. The budget will request $5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security and another $3.6 billion for the Defense Department’s military construction budget to build more sections of wall along the U.S. southern border, The Washington Post reported. Announcement of the new budget proposal comes shortly after the federal government ended a historic 35-day partial shutdown over wall funding. Trump in December demanded $5.7 billion to help fund massive wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. However, following major gridlock between Republican and Democratic lawmakers, Congress allocated only $1.375 billion to finance 55 miles of barrier in Texas. The president accepted that funding in February but also declared a national emergency that ultimately gave him a total of $8 billion in funding. A number of lawsuits have since been filed against the national emergency, and the Senate is set to pass a resolution that disapproves of the…

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Wisconsin Dem Stands Outside ICE HQ Asking for Response to His FOIA Request

Anthony Gockowski

Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI-02) recently stood outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) headquarters asking for answers about a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request he submitted. Pocan claims the request was filed in October 2018 and sought information on the “arrests of 83 individuals in Wisconsin,” who were presumably arrested and deported by ICE. “More than four months after submitting my request, the agency is clearly using delays as an effort to hide something. While we will not know until the agency provides the information, I have reason to believe that the data on the arrests will show that ICE has targeted immigrants with no prior criminal record to stoke fear in our community,” Pocan said in a recent press release. According to Pocan, ICE claims it has responded to his request on two occasions, but those responses were allegedly just acknowledgments of his request. “Despite multiple meetings, letters, a FOIA request, and unannounced visits to the agency’s office, ICE will not provide information regarding communication with local law enforcement officials and information about whether the arrested individuals held criminal records,” he said. Frustrated with the delay, Pocan recently stood outside ICE’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., where…

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Sherrod Brown Breaks from Beto Signialing a Divide on Border Wall

Andrew Shirley

It appears there’s a new buzzword in the ongoing debate over the border wall. Sunday, when asked how he felt about former congressman, and potential 202o presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s proposal to destroy all existing barriers on the Mexico-US border, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown refused to concur with his potential 2020 opponent, citing the need for border security, just not a “long wall.” The term “long wall” seems to be the latest pivot for Democrats who have vehemently opposed President Donald Trump’s planned border wall, yet concede that border security needs to exist. This could be the beginning of the latest divide from within Democratic ranks. While no “long wall” currently extends over the entire length of the 2,000-mile border between Mexico and the U.S., there are almost 600 miles of fences, walls, and other barriers that are currently standing. Some of these barriers go back to the Clinton Administration. The majority of these walls were built specifically in areas with high concentrations of drug trafficking, human trafficking, and illegal entry and assist the understaffed border security agents. Former congressman O’Rourke has asserted that walls kill more people than they save, noting; We know that walls do not save lives. Walls end lives,…In the last ten years,…

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Commentary: The Truth About Border Walls’ Effectiveness

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by Peter Parisi   “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not to his own facts.” That pithy observation is attributed to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who served in the Senate from 1977 to 2001. The final two years of Moynihan’s stint in the Senate overlapped the first two years of that of his fellow New York Democrat, Sen. Charles Schumer. President Donald Trump, at a rally set for Monday night on the border in El Paso, Texas, should remind Schumer of Moynihan’s maxim in their fight over the need for more walls and fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border to help stem the flood tide of illegal immigration. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Schumer and his House counterpart, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are entitled to their opinions about Trump’s proposed border wall, but they aren’t entitled to their own facts. In their rebuttal to the president’s Jan. 9 nationally televised address outlining the need for a border barrier and his request for $5.7 billion in funding for them, both described the proposed wall as “ineffective” – Pelosi once and Schumer twice. In her…

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Commentary: Mass Immigration and Climate Change Doublethink

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by Quentin Borges-Silva   Doublethink, as articulated by George Orwell in 1984, “means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” Unfortunately, the modern left takes Orwell’s book not as the warning it was intended to be, but as an instruction manual. Perhaps nowhere else is doublethink more readily apparent than in the absurdly conflicted intersection of leftist environmentalism – think of it as ecological conservation with a pagan streak – and support for mass immigration. Climate change true believers have perfect faith in the notion that the human contribution of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is the primary driver of global warming, and that only by drastically reducing that contribution can we avoid apocalyptic climate tragedy on a global scale. But when a grand imam of the Climate Change faith, Michael Mann, is called “A Disgrace to the Profession” and many other unflattering things by dozens of his equally credentialed peers, perhaps they are onto something. When recipients of tens of millions of dollars in federal climate research grants ask the Department of Justice to arrest, prosecute, and imprison those who question their data quality, analysis, and conclusions, it’s a fair bet they’re up to something,…

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Omar, Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez Turn on the Waterworks at Press Conference to Defund ICE

Anthony Gockowski

Several new progressive members of the U.S. House made emotional appeals to defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a Thursday morning press conference organized by MoveOn. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13) spoke at the press conference behind a podium with a banner of: “Defund the deportation force.” “Earlier this week we were here and we were hearing inside that Capitol the State of the Union. The president said something. He said and spoke of the idea that he likes quote-unquote legal immigration. But that is a lie. The president does not like any form of immigration,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Now he is asking for $5 billion to continue to militarize and weaponize a force that has zero accountability, whose director and whose secretary has no idea when she goes in front of a hearing how many children are dying in her own care, under her own watch, and they have the audacity to ask for more money to fund that. I don’t think so,” she continued. She went on to say that ICE “does not deserve a dime” because it “repeatedly and systematically violates human rights.” Rep. @AOC is calling on Congress to cut…

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In-Depth Analysis of Trump’s Policy Proposals in State of the Union Address

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by Daniel Davis   President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday night, and Heritage Foundation experts weighed in with analysis of the president’s policy proposals. Here’s what they had to say. Immigration Economy Law Defense & Foreign Policy Life Energy & Infrastructure Health Care Education Immigration A Call for Robust Border Security President Donald Trump’s remarks on immigration tonight reflected a commonsense, principled approach to the immigration problem that his opponents refuse to acknowledge in their obsession with opposing anything he does. Trump also made a fundamental point that his opponents refuse to recognize when he said, “We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens.” He pointed out the sharp divide that exists between the public and the Washington establishment when he said, “No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class than illegal immigration. Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards.” Referring to the impasse between the president and Congress over border security, Trump was right when he said this was a “moral” issue and that “the lawless…

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Commentary: Congress Has a Little Time to Get Immigration Right

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by Rachel Bovard   After refusing for weeks to negotiate over border security “until the government is open,” the bluff has been called on congressional Democrats. Congress has until February 15 to craft a border security package ahead of what could be yet another partial government shutdown. Talks among the 17 lawmakers appointed to the committee assigned with drafting a proposal have begun, though details remain scarce. Top Democrat Representative Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) told reporters that “everything is on the table.” President Trump has said that the conference committee is wasting its time if it’s not considering a wall. For those claiming that the recent 35-day shutdown resulted in no substantive achievement, the conference committee may well represent the one opportunity for substantive immigration reform from this Congress—and perhaps for the next decade. It is critically important that Congress get it right. A border wall must be a critical component of the package—and for evidence of why it’s necessary, look no further than stunning videos taken by Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas). The freshman member of Congress visited just one unsecured sector of the border in McAllen, Texas, and watched as truckloads of migrants casually strolled into the United States. McAllen is in the Rio Grande Valley sector, approximately 100 miles of…

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Commentary: The Census Fight Is About Dollars and Votes

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by Rachael Bovard   While the national debate continues over how secure our border will be, another aspect of illegal immigration continues to snake its way through the courts. In 2017, the Trump Administration added a question about citizenship to the upcoming 2020 census; simply, “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” Predictably, the administration was besieged by lawsuits from the Left, calling such a question unconstitutional, illegal, “a direct attack on our constitutional democracy,” and predicting it would “inject fear and distrust into vulnerable communities.” Never mind that questions about citizenship appeared on every long form census from 1820 to 1950. On the short form census, questions about citizenship were asked through 2000, and continue to be asked on the American Community Survey, which goes out to one in 38 households annually (go figure, the Left has not raised ire about the citizenship question on the ACS). Moreover, countries around the world, including Australia, Germany, and Canada, ask about citizenship—maybe because the United Nations recommends it. Also glossed over in the foamy outrage on the Left is the rank and hypocritical irony that census documents ask about race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, homeownership status, electricity bills, job status, age, and even the number of toilets in each house—but…

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Commentary: Who Owns America?

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by Pedro Gonzales   Anywhere from 11 million to 22 million illegal aliens reside in the United States today. The most recent research suggests that the higher number is closest to the correct figure. In and of itself, that is a crisis. New arrivals – legal and illegal – come to America all the time. Two-thirds of these, Steven W. Mosher writes, use food stamps and other forms of state-administered assistance, such as public housing, not long after they arrive in the country, leaving Americans with a $116 billion annual tab. Moreover, much of the savings these new arrivals manage to accumulate are sent out of the country as remittances, about $25 billion of which ends up in Mexico. More people today speak a single non-English language – Spanish – than ever before in American history. For the first time, too, the middle class has registered as a minority in our country – an issue no doubt exacerbated by the importation of droves impoverished foreigners. Media Fallacies That word, “crisis,” however, has become such an overused bit of sophistry among the mindless chattering classes, that it is hard to take it either literally or seriously. When I say mindless, I mean that the chatterers are incapable of seeing the word in…

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Commentary: Understanding the Democrats and Their ‘Vote Alchemy’

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by Spencer P. Morrison   Legend says a humble French scribe named Nicolas Flamel discovered the philosopher’s stone – the alchemical secret to physical transmutation. To immortality itself. After turning a half-pound of mercury into gold, fear consumed Flamel: what man could resist the temptations of unlimited wealth and immortality? In a show of Christian humility, Flamel hid his manuscripts and dedicated his life to philanthropy. What remained of his synthetic treasure built several schools, seven churches, and 14 hospitals. He died a lifetime later, in 1418. The Democrats appear to have rediscovered Flamel’s alchemical texts and have used their knowledge of the philosopher’s stone to transform immigrants and blue-collar conservatives into reliable voters. This has made the once-dying Democratic Party all but immortal. Family Ties It is no secret that by 1965 the Democratic Party’s future looked bleak. The exploitation of black-white tensions – the Democrats’ bread-and-butter – no longer looked like a “growth industry.” To stave off their political decline the Democrats needed a new strategy. They needed new voters. Enter the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This legislation (and the political zeitgeist animating its passage) had two primary effects. First, it opened the floodgates and ushered in the…

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Commentary: President Trump’s Immigration Proposal Puts Democrats in a Tight Box

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by CHQ Staff   On Saturday afternoon President Trump delivered a brilliant speech on border security offering Democrats a path forward to end the standoff over the border wall and the partial government shutdown. And, striking a conciliatory tone, Trump spread the blame to both political parties: …our immigration system has been badly broken for a very long time.  Over the decades, many Presidents and many lawmakers have come and gone, and no real progress has been made on immigration. We are now living with the consequences – and they are tragic – brought about by decades of political stalemate, partisan gridlock, and national neglect. And he was right about that, as anyone who has followed the immigration and border security debate over the past half-century will confirm. Many conservatives were aghast at some of the details of the President’s proposal – an extension of Obama’s unconstitutional Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and an extension of temporary protected status for 300,000 Central Americans who are slated for deportation. Our friends at NumbersUSA quickly issued a statement saying: The offer the President announced today is a loser for the forgotten American workers who were central to his campaign promises.…

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Rep. Green, Senators Blackburn, Alexander Back Trump Immigration Compromise Offer Which Pelosi Has Dismissed

Jason M. Reynolds

At least three members of Tennessee’s Congressional delegation came out in support of President Donald Trump’s offer Saturday to end the government shutdown with a compromise on immigration. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green issued statements of support for Trump’s proposed compromise. Blackburn said: The president has once again shown he is willing to work with Democrats to end this shutdown and find a compromise that will secure our border,” said Senator Blackburn. “This proposal that has bipartisan support would provide the much-needed $5.7 billion for a border barrier. “The border patrol agents have repeatedly asked for three items: a physical barrier, more technology, and more agents and officers. As members of Congress we must deliver for them.” Green said: “The president has made yet another effort to engage Democrats on the crisis at the border, something I’ve called an arterial bleed. It’s time to stop the hemorrhage. Will Speaker Pelosi come to the table and negotiate? Do Democrats care about the American lives being devastated by crime and the drug trade? Do they care about our hard working govt. employees? Speaker Pelosi?” Alexander said in a statement: “The President has proposed…

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

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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…

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

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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”…

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Americans Have Become Dramatically More Concerned About Immigration

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by Jason Hopkins   A significantly higher percentage of Americans listed immigration as an issue they hope the federal government will work to address in 2019. Forty-nine percent of Americans chose immigration as a top priority. The numbers are a far climb from the same poll in December 2017 in which only 27 percent of respondents singled out immigration as a top concern. Such an increase indicates President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on illegal immigration, and the battle in Congress, is grabbing the nation’s attention. The survey — conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research — asked respondents to choose which issues they hoped the government would solve in 2019, allowing them to pick up to five different categories. The “economy/economic issues” grabbed a commanding lead, with 62 percent of respondents listing it as a problem. “Immigration” tied with “health care” for second place. Unsurprisingly, the priority Americans take on immigration varies among partisan affiliation. Sixty-five percent of Republican respondents chose immigration as one of their top five concerns, whereas only 37 percent of Democrats did the same thing. However, both parties saw marked increases over the past year with 42 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of…

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Commentary: Battle Over Border Is About More Than A Wall

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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…

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

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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…

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Ellison Names Outspoken Anti-Trump Immigration Lawyer As Second in Command

Anthony Gockowski

Attorney General-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN) announced Friday that he has named John Keller to serve as his chief deputy attorney general. Keller currently oversees the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, a vehemently anti-Trump non-profit that provides legal services to illegal aliens and refugees. According to a press release from Ellison’s transition team, Keller began working at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM) in 1998 as a staff attorney, and has served as its executive director since 2005. “In that time, he has transformed ILCM from a small, regional legal-services organization with five staff to Minnesota’s leading provider of free, high-quality, and comprehensive legal, policy, and education services with five offices statewide, 32 employees—a majority of whom are from immigrant, refugee, or mixed-family backgrounds—more than 350 trained pro bono attorneys, and a statewide and national reputation,” the press release explains. Keller and the ILCM have become outspoken critics of the Trump administration and its immigration polices, and have repeatedly taken actions to thwart Trump’s agenda in Minnesota. Last December, for instance, Keller helped secure $250,000 in taxpayer funds from Hennepin County to launch a legal defense fund for county residents facing deportation. The fund was criticized by Republican gubernatorial candidate…

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Commentary: Only Two Weeks Left for Republicans to Get It

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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…

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Dr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: How Euphemisms and Language Restrictions Shroud America’s Immigration Debate

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by Dr. Carol M. Swain   Immigration reform requires a political and social environment where well-meaning individuals can speak honestly about the nature of the problem and its implications for American society. Unfortunately, that is not our world right now. Consequently, we are no closer to solving what has become a perennial problem. America has not had a major immigration reform bill since 1986, when Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. It granted amnesty to an estimated 3 million people residing illegally in America. Estimates today range from 11-22 million illegals, with the latter number provided by a 2018 Yale University mathematical modeling study. Euphemisms are being used to deceive, obscure, and control America’s immigration debate. The Oxford Dictionary defines a euphemism as “a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.” Tremendous advantages are afforded the side most skilled using language and the one with the larger platform for messaging. The framing of the issue to affect public perception and response is central to the successful use of euphemisms in affecting public opinion. The Metaphor Project shows that the Left is very…

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New State Rep. Griffey Calls for Resolution Supporting Trump in Ending ‘Birth Right’ Citizenship

Jason M. Reynolds

Newly elected State Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-TN-75) has called on the Tennessee House of Representatives as its first action of the 2019 legislative session to pass a resolution supporting President’s Donald Trump’s efforts to end “birth right” citizenship. Griffey urges Tennessee to lead the way in amending the U.S. Constitution, he said in a press release. His district covers Benton, Henry and Stewart counties. On Oct. 30, President Trump announced his intention to issue an executive order to clarify that simply because a child happens to be born on U.S. soil does not necessarily mean that the child is a U.S. citizen solely by virtue of that location of birth. An entire cottage industry has sprung up to cater to foreigners who seek American citizenship for their soon-to-be-born offspring. Griffey proposed that the resolution provide, in part, that: “Tennessee fully supports President Trump’s effort to end ‘birth right’ citizenship and stands ready to be the first state to ratify Constitutional amendment ending the practice if his executive order is not fully implemented and enforced.” Griffey has been a staunch supporter of Trump, having campaigned for him during the 2016 primary, his press release said. His wife Rebecca served as part of…

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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…

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Colorado: Uber Driver Arrested for Allegedly Kidnapping and Making Unwanted Advances on Teen Passenger

Anna Marie Bolton

Ahmed Muse was arrested in Jefferson County last Sunday morning after an incident involving a teenage passenger the night before. The sheriff’s office moved quickly and as of Monday night the 29-year-old Muse was still behind bars facing charges that included second degree kidnapping, false imprisonment, and harassment. On Tuesday, he was assigned a public defender and bond was set at $50,000. According to several news accounts and an interview by Fox affiliate KDVR-TV with the teenager identified as Brianna Allen and her mother Shamara Ludwig, Muse broke Uber’s rules on ride sharing, but that was just the beginning. As stated in the company’s uberPOOL policy, several riders can share a ride, but no matter in what order the passengers entered the vehicle, the one whose destination is closest must be dropped off first. Allen lives only 10 miles from the part-time job she was leaving around 10 p.m. Saturday. The ride that should have taken 15 minutes took an hour and a half as she describes how Muse first drove another passenger to their destination before returning to Allen’s neighborhood where the driver allegedly locked the doors and began forceably kissing Allen. She claims he kissed her on the…

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Commentary: The Migrant ‘Caravan’ Marching Northbound To Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas, and What The U.S. Constitution Has To Say About It

Gregory Watson

The United States Constitution does contain a few references relative to immigration and naturalization as well as to persons seeking to enter the United States in contravention of its laws — whether violently or non-violently and whether singly or in the form of a human tsunami. In its Article I, Section 8, Clause 4, the Constitution specifically grants Congress the power “To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization….” By expressly allocating this capacity to Congress, the Constitution seeks to prevent the confusion which would inevitably result if an individual state could itself bestow U.S. citizenship upon a person not born within the boundaries of that — or any other — state. Construing Clause 4, the United States Supreme Court, in the 1892 case of Boyd v. Nebraska ex rel. Thayer, defined “naturalization” as “…the act of adopting a foreigner, and clothing him with the privileges of a native [U.S.] citizen.” In Clause 11 of that same Article I, Section 8, the Constitution authorizes Congress “To declare War…and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water….” Interpreting Clause 11, the High Court ruled in the 1795 case of Penhallow v. Doane that the war power of the United States government is…

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New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu Among Lone Republicans Left Standing

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The blue wave made its way through New Hampshire Tuesday night when both U.S. House seats went to Democrats as well as both houses of the state legislature. Neither of the state’s U.S. senators, both Democrats, were up for reelection this year. The results left incumbent Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) among the only victorious Republicans of the night in the state, beating his opponent Democrat Molly Kelly 53 percent to 46 percent. “The next two years are going to be a little bit different, but that’s OK. That’s New Hampshire. Anybody who has ideas is invited to the table,” he said in his victory speech. Sununu will also be up for reelection in 2020, since governors are elected every two years in New Hampshire. Local conservatives blamed nobody but the state GOP for the bad results. The local website GraniteGrok wrote: If the NH Republican Party wants to win, and win Consistently, act like you believe in the Platform.  Speak like you do and at each and every turn.  Vote like you do at each and every opportunity.  And Legislate like there’s no tomorrow because two days ago was that “no more tomorrow” – and you blew it. Creating additional trouble for Sununu is the state’s Executive Council, a political body…

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Commentary: The ‘Sacred Walls’ of Donald Trump

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by Pedro Gonzalez   With each step the “caravan of contradictions” takes toward our border, another progressive illusion slips away. Victor Davis Hanson considers this mob, and by extension the events surrounding it, a “paradox, a contradiction, and an irony.” He’s right. The “reasoning” of progressives that leads them to endorse opening our borders to a group of intransigent lawbreakers so that they may escape lawlessness, is logically unacceptable. Progressives recoil in horror at President Trump’s declaration that we must defend ourselves against an invasion of thousands of foreigners who denounce our laws and hold our sovereignty in contempt. And by progressives, I mean to include those “conservatives” of National Review who cry, “it’s hard to think of a response less measured and more effective at undermining moderate support for immigration restrictions than the reaction of the president and key allies.” Consider, 65 percent of voters favor – compared to 35 percent who oppose – increasing merit over connection to relatives for immigration preference, eliminating the visa lottery, and increased funding for border security. That includes 68 percent of Latino voters, 64 percent of black voters, 64 percent of Democratic voters, 67 percent of Independent voters, 63 percent of “liberal” voters, and…

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Michigan Judge Orders Food Stamp Fraudsters to Write Publicly About Their Crimes

Anna Marie Bolton

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn ordered four Bangladeshi brothers convicted of scamming Michigan and American taxpayers out of millions of dollars in food-stamp benefits to write about it in a local newspaper. Cohn ordered the men to run an ad admitting to their crimes, and pay for it themselves. “To Readers, listen to us. If you cheat on food stamps you are committing a federal crime and will be punished for doing so,” the ad states. “We know: we have been punished for cheating on food stamps.” The fraud was committed in Hamtramck, a city that adjoins Detroit and is heavily populated with immigrants from Bangladesh. It made the news in 2015 for becoming the first U.S. city with an entirely Muslim city council. The four men, brothers Ali, Nazar, Mustak, and Mohammed Ahmed, were arrested by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2014 after an investigation revealed that six small grocery stores in Hamtramck were responsible for scamming the government out of $12.5 million between 2013 and 2014, using the practice of “trafficking” in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. The practice of trafficking is a multi-million dollar scam widespread throughout the country, as the Government Accountability Institute (GA)I) recently found…

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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.…

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What The United States Constitution Really Says About ‘Birthright Citizenship’

Gregory Watson
Constitution Series 14th Amendment

In Section 1 of its 14th Amendment, the U.S. Constitution reads in pertinent part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Proposed by Congress in 1866 — and deemed by a procedurally-rare subsequent vote of Congress to have been validly ratified by the sufficient number of state legislatures in 1868 — the 14th Amendment is among the Constitution’s lengthiest and it touches upon a number of different topics each of which could stand alone. Authorship of the above-quoted words has been attributed to United States Senator Jacob Howard of Michigan. This particular provision of the 14th Amendment is generally acknowledged to overturn the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the now-infamous 1857 case of Dred Scott v. Sandford in which it had been determined that African-Americans born in the United States — to parents likewise born within the United States — could not be deemed to be American citizens. Often overlooked by persons professing to be in-the-know about the 14th Amendment, and what it does — or does not — convey about birth citizenship are the key words…

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Lancaster County Will Be Pennsylvania’s First Investigative Target Under New Program to Tackle Welfare Fraud

Anna Marie Bolton

The Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General and the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office announced last week that they are joining forces to tackle welfare fraud, specifically food-stamp fraud. Commonly referred to as the food-stamp program, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has increasingly become a concern among law-enforcement officials. Due to the extent of the fraud and the ease with which it has been carried out, as well as the apparent lack of desire to tackle it until now, fraud had “ballooned” from 2012-2016 during President Barack Obama’s term in office. Most recently, the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) released a stunning report linking the misuse of food-stamp dollars to international terrorism as the practice of  “trafficking” raked in millions of dollars for fraudulent convenience stores nationwide. The findings from GAI’s groundbreaking report, titled “EBTerrorism: How Fraud Ridden SNAP Funds Terror, Fails at Enforcement and Wastes Taxpayer Money,” were reported by The Ohio Star last week. In short, the trafficking involved individuals selling their benefits to store owners and managers for less than what they were worth, while the recipients turned them in for full value. Such fraud will be the focus of Pennsylvania’s efforts to find and prosecute those running welfare…

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Republicans See Boost From Migrant Caravan Before Midterm Elections – While Democrats Continue to Avoid the Issue

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by Henry Rodgers   Republicans believe their opposition to the migrant caravan filled with thousands of illegal immigrants who are approaching the U.S. border will help energize their base before the Nov. 6 midterm elections, while many Democrats have continued to remain silent on the issue. The caravan, which was roughly 2,000 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border near Tijuana and about 800 miles from the southern tip of Texas as of Thursday, has been a key issue for Republicans less than one week out from the midterm elections, as GOP candidates have been hammering their Democratic opponents for not mentioning the potential threat to the U.S. The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Republican strategists have all echoed similar messages, saying the migrant caravan would indeed help the GOP before the midterm elections — many saying it reminds voters that Democrats are putting U.S. citizens in danger. They also mentioned how the silence from Democrats on the issue will end up helping Republicans, who have so vocally denounced the caravan entering the country. “From their open border policies to their calls to abolish ICE, the caravan is yet another reminder to voters that Democrats have put the sovereignty of our country in…

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Tennessee Star Report-Knoxville Edition: Steve Gill Proposes a Solution to the Migrant Mob Headed for the U.S. Border

Julie Carr

On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report: Knoxville Edition – broadcast on on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville – Star News Digital Media National Political Editor Steve Gill talked about his solution to the mob that is approaching the United States border.  After reviewing the current violence over the past weekend in Chicago, he suggested that the migrants might want to know about the violence here before fleeing their less than violent countries in comparison.  He proposed that perhaps those wishing to enter the United States, would have to live in Chicago. Gill continued: Now I have come up with the solution to what we do about this “mob” that is marching towards the United States.  The take our jobs, take our stuff, caravan that is continuing to move through Mexico with police escorts, with assistance, with funding to help them along their way.  To continue that move towards the United States despite the fact that President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security, and the military are saying they will not enter the United States. This is an invasion.  Good clue as to when an invasion is taking place is if people are waving the flags of a foreign country, singing their national anthem as they’re…

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Legal Immigrant Explains How to Enter America the Right Way and Says Illegals are a ‘Threat to National Security’

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by Nick Givas   A U.S. immigrant from Nicaragua explained how she legally came to the United States, on “Fox & Friends” Monday, and said those who are coming in illegally are a “threat to national security.” Amapola Hansberger referred to the caravan of migrants headed for the U.S. southern border as an “invasion and act of war” against America and said they constitute an “immediate threat.” Host Brian Kilmeade asked how Hansberger she was able to come to America legally and she said she simply followed the process. “I went to the embassy, filled out forms. [I] submitted myself to the vetting procession and waited patiently for the embassy to approve my coming,” she said. “That’s how people should do it.” Hansberger claimed there’s no way to keep track of those who come over the border illegally and said some of them could be radicalized terrorists who plan to harm American citizens. “They are a threat to our national security because today — war is not only countries that go to war, it is groups such as ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban,” she added. “And they have declared war openly against the United States. So with the open borders policies we’ve had, how…

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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…

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Battle Heats Up Over Issue of Welfare for Immigrants, Billionaire Koch Brothers and Tennessee Immigrant Activists on the Same Side

Anna Marie Bolton
TIRRC demonstration

As President Donald Trump continues to push forward with campaign promises to rein in out-of-control immigration, one measure announced in September has the Open Borders activists and some business tycoons up in arms. It is the so-called “public charge” regulatory change published last week in the Federal Register by the US Citizenship and Immigration (ICE) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Like all new regulations and re-writes, the proposed rules will be open for public comment. The sixty-day comment period ends on December, 10, 2018. Simply, ‘public charge’ is a very old idea that basically says immigrants shouldn’t be coming to America for welfare benefits. The Trump administration, understanding that the US cannot have open borders and a generous welfare state, wants to make it harder for immigrants already here, in some cases benefiting unfairly from taxpayers’ generosity, to move forward with permanent legal status. Even before the official comment period opened some groups announced their opposition. Two Tennessee pro-immigrant advocacy groups are part of a national campaign to stop the administration’s sweeping reforms of refugee and immigrant policy throughout the government. Calling this recent Trump policy tightening “immoral” and “callous,” the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and The Tennessee…

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Trump Administration Will Restrict Green Cards For Foreign Nationals On Public Aid

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by Will Racke   The Trump administration will move forward with regulatory changes that could make hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals living in the U.S. ineligible for green cards if they use any one of a wide range of public assistance programs, immigration officials announced Saturday. The draft regulation expands the definition of “public charge” to include users of many non-cash aid programs such as food assistance and Section 8 housing vouchers. The change restores the definition of public charge to its original meaning under a federal law that aims to block the admission of immigrants likely to become a drain on public resources, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. “Under long-standing federal law, those seeking to immigrate to the United States must show they can support themselves financially,” Nielsen said in a statement. “The department takes seriously its responsibility to be transparent in its rulemaking and is welcoming public comment on the proposed rule. This proposed rule will implement a law passed by Congress intended to promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers.” Under the current interpretation of immigration law, non-immigrant visa holders who receive cash welfare…

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Commentary: Immigrants Won’t Pay for Our Pensions – We’ll Pay for Theirs

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senior citizen

by Spencer P. Morrison   Ask any Democrat why they support open borders and invariably they will respond with one of two pre-packaged answers: because “diversity is our strength” or “we need immigrants to pay for our pensions.” The first argument is a sham: if liberals valued diversity they would welcome conservatives to college campuses and tolerate them online. They don’t. Instead, they protest when anyone to the right of Marx dares speak on campus – remember the “progressive” response to Milo Yiannopoulos at Berkeley? It was an orgy of violence and rioting. Likewise, the Left enthusiastically de-platforms conservative voices on social media. For Democrats, diversity means intellectual and political homogeneity – with a smattering of ethnic restaurants. Exposing this hypocrisy sufficiently rebuts this nonpoint. The second argument – that immigrants will pay for our pensions – is far more persuasive. Most people instinctively defer to the “experts” when it comes to economics: “because Milton Friedman said so” is a compelling statement, despite being a perfect example of the call to authority fallacy. Who cares what economists think? What do the data say? On this point the data are conclusive: immigration will not save America’s welfare system, it will bleed it dry. Worshipping Ponzi In an article for the New…

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions Welcomes 44 New US Immigration Judges

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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…

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Integration of Foreigners in Sweden Has ‘Failed,’ and It Could Sway the Country’s Political System

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Riksdag

by Hanna Bogorowski    – Voters in Sweden will hit the polls Sunday to elect a new Parliament.   – The right-leaning Sweden Democrats, an unusual pick for the progressive nation, are rising in the polls, and experts say immigration is the driving force.  – Recently, even foreign-born Swedes are questioning the state’s immigration policies. Voters in Sweden will hit the polls Sunday to elect a new Parliament, and following a similar trend present in other European countries, immigration is driving the political agenda and is the force behind the rising popularity of the right-leaning Sweden Democrats (SD) party. While nationalistic governments have been making waves in the political sphere as anti-immigrant sentiment rises in governments such as Italy, Hungary and even Australia, it’s notable that these views are taking hold in such a progressive government as Sweden’s. SD’s popularity has been climbing over the years, but recent polls show the party is in first or second place ahead of Sunday’s elections, according to The Wall Street Journal. The SD party entered the country’s Parliament in 2010 and holds 42 of the 349 seats in Parliament, but its emphasis on immigration policy struck a chord with voters this time around. Sweden has taken in more…

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Immigrant Voting Base Was Top Priority For Karl Dean When He Was Mayor of Nashville

Chris Alto
Karl Dean

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean placed a high priority on meeting the needs of “new Americans” during his two terms as mayor of Nashville. Speaking forcefully against an English-first proposal to launching programs like “MyCity Academy” and “Pathway for New Americans,” Dean looked for ways to politically capture the support of the immigrant constituency and solidify Nashville’s blue vote. In 2009, Nashville Councilman Eric Crafton proposed an amendment to Nashville’s charter which would have declared English to be the official language of Nashville and Davidson County and which would have limited the use of languages other than English in conducting the city’s business: English is the official language of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee. Official actions which bind or commit the government shall be taken only in the English language, and all official government communications and publications shall be in English. No person shall have a right to government services in any other language. All meetings of the Metro Council, Boards, and Commissions of the Metropolitan Government shall be conducted in English. The Metro Council may make specific exceptions to protect public health and safety. Nothing in this measure shall be interpreted to conflict with federal or…

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President Trump Decries ‘Coalition of Open Borders Extremists’

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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…

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Commentary: Democrat Judge Releases Muslims Arrested At School Shooting Training Compound

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Sarah Backus

by George Rasley   Siraj Ibn Wahhaj was arrested along with several other adults at a squalid compound in New Mexico. Wahhaj is the son of a Brooklyn imam, also named Siraj Wahhaj, who was named by prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the New York Post reported. During the raid eleven abused children were taken into care by authorities and the remains of one dead child (since identified as Wahhaj’s son) were found at the compound. Lucas Morton, Jany Leveille, 35, Hujrah Wahhaj, 38, and Subhannah Wahhaj, 35, were arrested along with Wahhaj on the property on Friday and all face child abuse charges according to Fox News. Wahhaj, who has now been charged with felony child abuse, had reportedly been training the children to commit school shootings. The makeshift compound – located near the Colorado border – was found shielded by old tires, wooden pallets and other debris. Upon authorities’ arrival, Wahhaj was “heavily armed with an AR15 rifle, five loaded 30 round magazines, and four loaded pistols, including one in his pocket when he was taken down,” Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said according to reporting by Fox. The sheriff said the…

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

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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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Despite the Media-Driven Rhetoric, the Constitution’s 14th Amendment Does Not Grant ‘Birthright Citizenship’

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young children

by James D. Agresti   Michael Anton, a former national security official in the Trump administration, recently argued in a Washington Post op-ed that the current federal practice of granting citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants “is an absurdity—historically, constitutionally, philosophically and practically.” A number of media outlets have published fiery rebuttals declaring that Anton is dead wrong. They claim that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives citizenship to all children born in the U.S., except for the children of diplomats. However, the legislative history of the 14th Amendment proves that it does not award citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants or anyone who is not legally and permanently residing in the United States. Background In 1866, shortly after the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished, a bloc of Congressmen called the “Radical Republicans“ passed a civil rights law to ensure that African Americans had the “full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens….” This law applied to former slaves but not to foreigners, and thus, it stated that: all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to…

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Trump Threatens Government Shutdown Over Border Wall Funding

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

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

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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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Called Out: NPR Reporter Rips Apart AP’s Story On Immigrants In The Military

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US Army

by Neetu Chandak   National Public Radio reporter Tim Mak took apart the Associated Press’s coverage of discharged immigrant military recruits in multiple tweets Friday. The AP’s article, “AP NewsBreak: US Army quietly discharging immigrant recruits,” framed the military as adopting policy changes that hurt immigrants, according to Mak. However, Mak criticized the AP for only providing “hints and anecdotes” instead of evidence that the Trump administration made such changes. “If I was the editor on this story I would have asked for more meat on the bones,” tweeted Mak. “Show me evidence of a change in policy.” Bottom line. Two things can be true: the Army needs immigrant recruits and they are proven to be above average troops Also Some of those who enlist as immigrants will not meet the background check standards and will have to be discharged — Tim Mak (@timkmak) July 6, 2018 While the AP framed immigrants as being unfairly and abruptly targeted by the military, Mak said discharges happen frequently for a variety of reasons. “I bet I could find 40 recruits discharged bf basic [sic] for being too fat,” he said. “Perhaps these immigrant recruits could not pass a background check (by the way, there are jobs in the…

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