Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Obama Amnesty Prosecutorial Misconduct Boston Globe -- January 17    Courts suspend hearings to deport US reviews illegal immigrant status ~~ /// ~~~     Denver -- In a trial of a politically divisive program, US prosecutors in Denver and Baltimore are reviewing thousands of deportation cases to determine which illegal immigrants might stay in the country so officials can reduce a backlog by focusing on detainees with criminal backgrounds or who are deemed threats to national security.     Federal deportation hearings for noncriminal defendants released from custody were suspended Dec. 5 for the review and resume this week. Similar reviews are planned across the country to allow the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to target deportations of illegal immigrants with criminal records or those who have been deported previously.     While the immigration courtrooms in Denver have fallen silent, prosecutors had time to examine case files, check residency history - such as whether someone was brought to the country as a child - as well as criminal history.     "They come in on weekends," Gonzalez said. "They're looking at every case."     Officials have not released information on how many cases will be placed on low priority based on the review. When they are finished, cases of those here illegally but deemed not a threat to public safety or national security will be placed on administrative hold and the numbers will be released.     Citing tight budgets, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said this summer that nearly 300,000 deportation cases would be reviewed to determine which could be closed through "prosecutorial discretion." Republicans have decried the policy as a back-door way of granting amnesty to people who are living in the United States illegally.  Comment on This Feature     Past Features

FronterasDesk.org           sc      New Mexico tries to block driver's licenses for illegals    New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez is asking lawmakers for the third time to pass a bill that would prohibit illegal [aliens] from obtaining driver's licenses. -- The governor addressed the controversial issue on Tuesday toward the end of her state of the state address. She said it was time to put an end to a law put in place by her predecessor, Gov. Bill Richardson...

Gallup    Americans' immigration concerns linger    Nearly two out of three Americans (64%) are dissatisfied with the level of immigration into the country, down slightly from 72% in January 2008. About one in four (28%) are satisfied. -- The latest results are from a Gallup poll conducted Jan. 5-8, 2012, to assess the mood of the nation at the start of this presidential election year. Americans' dissatisfaction with immigration ranks 3rd highest among 17 issues Gallup asked about...

Associated Press     Hearing to be held Monday on Arizona immigration law     A judge will hold a scheduling conference Monday in one of the three remaining challenges to Arizona's 2010 immigration enforcement law. -- The lawsuit by the League of United Latin American Citizens alleges that Arizona's law should be invalidated because it's superseded by federal immigration law. -- Gov. Jan Brewer's lawyers have urged U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton to dismiss the lawsuit and argued...

National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers   Disturbing photos       Latest NAFBPO update from south of the border    Federal police responded to reports of kidnapped persons, and were met with gunfire. In El Peñasco [Zac., Mex.], two kidnapped persons were rescued and 2 bad guys killed. This gave rise to a second shootout, which caused gunmen to use narco blockades to slow pursuing authorities. Nevertheless, there were 6 gunmen eliminated and weapons, ammunition, grenades, grenade launchers, radio equipment...

Mark Krikorian -- Center for Immigration Studies     Santorum gets better on immigration    Rick Santorum had never been especially distinctive on immigration. He was pretty good on enforcement issues, but his constant invocation of his immigrant father and grandfather suggested to me that he might be one of those people who needs to compensate for the grievous sin of supporting immigration enforcement by calling for increased legal immigration...

David Codrea -- The Examiner     Holder position on voter ID exposes racial discrimination against gun ownership  "Attorney General Eric Holder used Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy on the anniversary of the civil rights leader's birthday Monday to emphasize the Obama administration's dedication to protecting the American people from discriminatory voting practices," Politico reports. -- The remarks followed a December move by Holder's agents at the Department of Justice to block...

WorldNetDaily.com     More homeless in California on welfare    When Genivive Jones lost her job last year and started bouncing between friends' homes and motels with her toddler daughter, she inadvertently joined one of the fastest-growing groups of state welfare recipients: homeless families who receive aid known as CalWorks. -- Over the last five years, the number of CalWorks families without a permanent place to live has grown by 98%... [See Cal Meltdown Watch]

The Hill -- Washington     Romney: I would not sign DREAM Act    Mitt Romney walked a fine line on immigration at Monday night's GOP debate, stressing that he is in favor of legal immigration while blasting illegal immigration in South Carolina and saying he would not support the DREAM Act. -- After Fox News's Juan Williams asked him whether his hard-line immigration stance could hurt him with Latino voters in the general election, Romney avoided taking the strident tone...

KRQE-TV -- Albuquerque     Lawmaker proposes immigration reform    New Mexico may join the ranks of states trying to tackle immigration reform. One state lawmaker wants to give illegal [aliens] permission to work legally in the country if they don't have a criminal background. -- Sen. Steve Fischmann, D-Las Cruces, is proposing to allow illegal [aliens] to keep their jobs and licenses through a "guest worker program." Under the measure, foreign nationals...

Estelle Gonzales Walgreen -- Hispanically Speaking    'Leave and get in line' Romney tells illegals at the SC debate    Yesterday's South Carolina Republican debate set in idyllic Myrtle Beach belied the chaotic and boisterous verbal dueling going on inside the Myrtle Beach Conference Center. -- There didn't appear to be much adherence to time limits or audience control --- the booing was at one of the highest decibel levels seen thus far. -- Only Romney seemed above it all by focusing not on the other Presidential contenders...

Rick Oltman of The Immigration Tea Party -- The Examiner    Talking about immigration enforcement does NOT alienate the Hispanic vote  Alienate the Hispanic vote, Alienate the Latino vote. We will hear that moronic rant more frequently as we move closer to the general election. It is nonsense, but it is nonsense we have to endure every two years as elections come near. -- I've said this all before, and will keep saying it as long as necessary. [More from Rick Oltman]

Sacramento Bee     Immigration law's wrinkle keeps man in Davis, may help others    Davis waiter Rogelio Servin entered deportation proceedings in San Francisco earlier this month and came home a legal resident, thanks to a little-used wrinkle in immigration law. -- Servin, 32, was a boy when he came here from Mexico with his family without documentation. After 20 years worrying about whether he might be deported, he rushed home after the decision to celebrate with his wife...

Prison Planet -- Austin, Texas    Journalist sues Obama over indefinite detention law     Journalist Chris Hedges has filed a class action lawsuit against President Barack Obama over his signing of the National Defense Authorization Act, claiming that the 'indefinite detention' provision of the bill could see him sent to Guantanamo Bay simply for doing his job. -- The controversial legislation, signed into law by Obama on New Years Eve, allows American citizens to be abducted and held in a detention camp...

Fox News     US Border Patrol to toughen policies on illegals The U.S. Border Patrol is moving to halt a revolving-door policy of sending migrants back to Mexico without any punishment. -- The agency this month is overhauling its approach on migrants caught illegally crossing the 1,954-mile border that the United States shares with Mexico. Years of enormous growth at the federal agency in terms of staff and technology have helped drive down apprehensions...

J.D. Longstreet -- Right Side News -- Kennesaw, Ga.    The hyphen that destroyed a nation     ..."The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality..."

James Fulford -- VDare.com     Kaus: Romney will flip-flop again on immigration    Mitt Romney has flip-flopped so often on so many issues that his political opponents took to having him followed around by a man in a dolphin suit ("Flipper," get it?). Last night I blogged on some conservative approval of Romney's current immigration positions. Here's neo-liberal Mickey Kaus, not so trusting of Romney...

Jared Taylor -- VDare.com     Diversity is strength! It's also... the end of free speech    Most Americans have a vague sense that the First Amendment means we can gather just about anywhere and say just about anything so long as we don't break the law. But that's not how it works. It is increasingly common for fanatics to shut down meetings held by people with whom they disagree. -- It's not very hard to stop a public meeting. If your political enemy has rented a meeting room in a hotel...