May 22

Lahren Denounces CA Health Plans

  • May 22, 2019

Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren denounced the proposals of California Democrats to provide health care benefits to illegal aliens in the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom supports a plan costing $98 million a year to cover low-income illegal aliens between the ages of 19 and 25. A bill in the state Assembly would cover all of them above the age of 19 for an annual estimated cost of $3.4 billion. A proposal in the state Senate would cover those between 19 and 25, and those over 65.

Lahren called these plans “infuriating,” adding that “They’re not arguing on if we should spend on illegal immigrants, they’re arguing over how much we should spend on illegal immigrants.”

Read more at foxnews.com

Permanent link to this article: https://www.aicfoundation.com/lahren-denounces-ca-health-plans/

May 22

Texas Detention Center Closed by Flu

  • May 22, 2019

The crisis at our southern border caused by an unprecedented number of “families” with children has begun to take an ugly turn.  The largely Central American flood of adult migrants accompanied by minor children is bringing with it more than mere aspirations to live in the United States. Increasingly, it is bringing disease.

We reported on May 10 about the growing numbers of Border Patrol agents contracting an assortment of illnesses from migrants. Now we learn that a major migrant center in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector in McAllen, Texas, has been temporarily closed following the death of a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant and reports of a large number of migrants subsequently coming down with high fevers and other flu-like symptoms.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Fox News on Tuesday, “To avoid the spread of illness, the Rio Grande Valley Sector has temporarily suspended intake operations” at the center.  “Individuals apprehended in RGV Sector will be held at other locations until this situation is resolved.”

With ever-larger numbers of migrants bringing with them an ever-widening range of diseases, the situation may not soon be “resolved.”

For more, see Fox News.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.aicfoundation.com/texas-detention-center-closed-by-flu/

May 21

Dems Attack HUD Proposal

  • May 21, 2019

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson testified before a House committee about HUD’s proposal to tighten restrictions against illegal aliens using public housing. The plan elicited strong opposition from Democrats on the committee. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) called the plan “despicable.”

Read more at foxnews.com

 

Permanent link to this article: https://www.aicfoundation.com/dems-attack-hud-proposal/

May 21

The Migrant Dam is Burst: U.S. Being Flooded

  • May 21, 2019

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, charged with the disposition of illegal border crossers following their apprehension in the U.S., has all but thrown up its collective hands in response to the overwhelming migrant crisis on the border. On Saturday, Acting Commissioner John P. Sanders issued a press release confirming that the agency is transporting hundreds of families, by bus and plane, from “severely overcrowded processing facilities to less-crowded stations along the Southwest border.”

In practice, this amounts to dropping migrant families off–dozens, even hundreds at a time–at bus stations in southwestern towns, such as San Bernardino, California.

They cannot be deported because they’re “asylum” seekers, supposedly fleeing violence in their home countries. They cannot be housed traditionally because they are “families,” i.e. adults accompanied by minor children that may or may not be theirs.  Government shelters for such “families” are full. They have to be somewhere, while they theoretically await a court appearance that may never happen, a favorable ruling that is not likely to happen, and a deportation following an unfavorable ruling that will almost certainly never happen.

They are “in.” In the U.S.  For good.

But where in the U.S.?  For now, thanks to a hapless and thoroughly overwhelmed system, they are at bus stations somewhere, awaiting anyone, to pick them up and take them somewhere else, anywhere else,  because thousands more are coming right behind them, all of whom have to be dumped somewhere.

The Border Patrol has apprehended a half million such migrants  so far this year. As of Friday, 16,000 were in custody. That means the vast majority of the remainder have been processed and turned loose, and are now being dropped at random bus stations, for dispersal throughout America.

But wait.  There’s more. Not all migrants are detected. Some, at least a third, get past the Border Patrol and make their own way, without benefit of government transportation. If a half million therefore makes up only two thirds of the total, that means 750,000 new illegal immigrants are now in America, in less than five months.

The flood is here, and we are drowning in it.

For more on the San Bernardino story, see San Bernardino Sun.

 

Permanent link to this article: https://www.aicfoundation.com/the-migrant-dam-is-burst-u-s-being-flooded/

May 20

Immigrants Exceed Natives in Jobs

  • May 20, 2019

According to statistics from the Bureau of Labor native-born Americans are falling behind immigrants in the workforce. Breitbart News reports that, “Over the last 10 years, the number of foreign born workers who entered the labor market increased 17.2 percent. At the same time, the number of native born Americans who entered the labor market increased by less than three percent. This indicates that in the last decade, the foreign born workforce in the U.S. economy grew more than six times the rate of the native born workforce.”

Read more at breitbart.com

Permanent link to this article: https://www.aicfoundation.com/immigrants-exceed-natives-in-jobs/

May 18

“Immigrant-Friendly” South Florida Panics

  • May 18, 2019

Local officials in otherwise “immigrant-friendly” South Florida were in a panic on Thursday when word went out that 1000 illegal immigrants would be dumped there each month to alleviate the impact of the ongoing migrant surge in the Southwest.

Ted Deutch, a Democrat Congressman from Boca Raton, called it a “mean-spirited, ongoing effort to demonize immigrants and divide our country.“

Broward Mayor Mark Bogen said, “The administration is just dropping them off and saying ‘good luck.’ Then they expect our sheriff’s office to be a bus service. We are not a bus service.”

Mack Bernard, the Palm Beach County mayor, cried, “The burden that will affect us will be humongous, specifically our school system. We are not a border state. We are the state of Florida.”

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said that his county was already grappling with measles and Hepatitis A, and was not prepared to safely accommodate an influx of immigrants with unknown backgrounds. “[I]t’s a dangerous plan,” he said.

Of the three counties comprising South Florida, only Dade had complied with President Trump’s earlier request that they rescind their “sanctuary cities” policies. Broward and Palm Beach had held firm. Dade did not seem to be included in Thursday’s rumors.

On April 29, President Trump said of the illegal surge, “Now we’re sending many of them to sanctuary cities…. They’re not too happy about it.  I said: ‘We’ll give them to you. ’ They said, ‘We don’t want them.’”

The panic among local officials continued for a day, until Friday, when CBP officials in a conference call announced there were no flights of illegals currently scheduled into the area.  Those flights that are scheduled would be between cities in the Southwest–in Texas, Arizona, and California.

Immigrant-happy-turned-immigrant-spooked South Florida could breathe a sigh of relief.  For now.

For more, see the Miami Herald, on May 16 and May 17.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.aicfoundation.com/immigrant-friendly-south-florida-panics/

May 17

‘Catch and Release’ Frees Border Crossers

  • May 17, 2019

Under the existing “catch and release” policy on the border, the Department of Homeland Security routinely releases illegal aliens into the interior of the U.S., with the hope they will show up for immigration and asylum hearings. Often they do not. Every day, between May 6 through May 13, 1,100 of these illegal border crossers were released. Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an authority on immigration law, has outlined steps the Trump Administration could take to end catch and release.

Read more at breitbart.com

Permanent link to this article: https://www.aicfoundation.com/catch-and-release-frees-border-crossers/

May 17

U.S. to Hire Private Contractor to Transport Migrants

  • May 17, 2019

Proverbially,  it’s an ill wind that blows no good, and the ill wind that is the migrant crunch at the border may prove to be good for some as-yet-unnamed contracting company.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) put out a solicitation this week for “on-demand escort services for non-criminal/non-delinquent UAC and FAMUs ranging from infants to 17 years of age and adults with a family, seven (7) days a week, 365 days a year.” (UAC is government speak for “unaccompanied children, FAMU for “family units.)

That means that the lucky winner of the bid will “arrange commercial airline and bus trips for roughly 60,000 people” each year,  over the period covered by the five-year contract.  The asylum seekers will be distributed across the U.S. to any of a number of Office of Refugee Resettlement shelters or family residential centers while they await adjudication of their cases. The estimate of 60,000 represents a significant yearly increase over the average of the previous three years, when a total of 143,000 persons were transported.

The contract will be worth millions.

This is not the first contract for migrant/refugee services entered into by the administration. Last year, the Daily Beast reported that a defense contractor, MVM.inc, had secured a contract worth $277 million for similar services.

Ninety percent of the would-be asylees will be transported by air.

Thus, U.S. taxpayers continue to pay more each year just to house and care for a growing number of asylum seekers knowing that historically at least 80 percent will eventually be denied asylum status. That’s not counting those who simply disappear into the U.S. and never appear for their court hearings. Of those who do appear and are denied asylum, the percentage actually deported is minuscule, as low as 3 percent.

Given so little resolve on the part of the government, you’re inclined to ask, Why bother?

For more, see Quartz.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.aicfoundation.com/u-s-to-hire-private-contractor-to-transport-migrants/

May 16

Orban Upholds Real Democracy

  • May 16, 2019

The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban has become a virtual pariah within the European Union because of his dismantling of his country’s democratic institutions, cruel treatment of asylum seekers and anti-Semitic provocations. But on Monday he is due to be welcomed to the White House by President Trump, who appears to prefer crude autocrats of Mr. Orban’s type to the liberal democratic leaders of the United States’ closest allies. . . .

[Orban has served] nine consecutive years in office thanks to increasingly unfair elections, the construction of a razor wire fence along Hungary’s southern border to prevent the entry of asylum seekers and the articulation of an ideology of ‘illiberal democracy’ whose explicit aim is to preserve Hungary’s white and Christian identity. Mr. Orban’s last election campaign a year ago was centered on the claim that the Budapest-born billionaire George Soros, who is Jewish, was plotting to overwhelm Hungary with Muslim immigrants. . . .

Mr. trump’s affinity for this demagogue is matched by his administration’s steadily worsening relations with traditionally close U.S. allies such as Germany and France. On the same day that the White House announced Mr. Orban visit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abruptly canceled a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. As Europe’s centrist parties struggle with a growing challenge from far-right parties with racist and authoritarian agendas, the United States ought to be doing all it can to bolster liberal democracy . . . . Instead, with increasing boldness, Mr. Trump is siding with democracy’s enemies. – Trump Favors Democracy’ Enemies. An Oval Office meeting Monday makes the Point, The Washington Post, Editorial Board, 5/12/19

Fact Check on Quote: It is truly laughable to hear defenders of the European Union (E.U.) claim that they are defenders of democracy. The E.U. is quasi dictatorship, run from Brussels, Belgium, which imposes its rule on its member states. One of its primary goals is to force member states to accept massive immigration from the Middle East and Africa. The elites who run the E.U. don’t seem to care that their project will destroy the historic nations of Europe with multicultural chaos.

Or perhaps this is precisely what those elites want. Countries split and divided with diversity will not be able to unite against their overlords.

When these elites speak of “democracy” they don’t mean the conventional understanding of that word, which is rule by the people. No, they deceptively use the term “liberal democracy,” which isn’t democracy at all, but rather the rule of elites who believe that they are the only people whose views should matter.

Victor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary is a defender of true democracy. He represents the will of the Hungarian people to prevent mass immigration so that they can remain Hungarian. In Hungary’s election last year, after a record level of voter turnout, voters gave Orban’s party 133 seats in parliament out of a total 199. Just what was “unfair” about this political landslide? And just what, one wonders, is “authoritarian and racist” about a country wanting to preserve its ethnic and religious character?

Hungarians rightly are concerned about a huge Muslim influx. They remember their history as subjects of Muslim colonialism and tyranny, and they see today what has happened in other European countries, such as Germany, which have admitted large numbers of Muslims.  Interestingly the Post article lauds German leader Angela Merkel as a democrat when her regime is notorious for its dictatorial efforts to silence German patriots who protest mass immigration.

Prime Minister Orban has rightly criticized George Soros the billionaire currency speculator who has used his ill-gotten fortune to wage a global crusade against national sovereignty. Soros happens to be Jewish, but Orban has criticized his character and actions, not his ethnicity. The Post offers no proof that the Hungarian leader is “anti-Semitic.”

President Trump deserves credit for meeting with Prime Minister Orban and ignoring Orban’s critics. Truly it is they who are the “enemies of democracy.”

Permanent link to this article: https://www.aicfoundation.com/11536-2/

May 16

Trump to Unveil Kushner Plan Today

  • May 16, 2019

President Trump is expected to announce his administration’s plan for immigration overhaul in a speech this afternoon. This plan, in process for several months, has been prepared by a team led by first son-in-law Jared Kushner, widely regarded as soft on the immigration issue.

Kushner himself, along with other White House officials including Stephen Miller,  met with Republican leaders in the Senate on Tuesday, a meeting that, according to reports, did not go especially well.

Central to the Kushner plan is reportedly a proposal to increase the number of “highly skilled” immigrants admitted annually, while theoretically keeping the absolute number (1.1 million) constant.  It would do this by creating a “points” system, similar to a system used in Canada, that would reward applicants based on education level, age, English language ability, and employment offers, instead of family relationships, in contrast to the current system.

To address illegal immigration, the plan would “shore up” certain sections of our southern border deemed “priority” locations.  This would involve the building or fortifying of certain barriers but also provide for more thorough screening of vehicles crossing the border.

The plan would eliminate the diversity visa lottery, which provides 50,000 immigrant visas each year by selecting applicants from countries with historically low numbers of immigrants. It would also revise the asylum process in ways that remain somewhat vague, but theoretically permit the DHS to deport illegal entrants more quickly.

The plan does not address the issue of the so-called “dreamers,” immigrants brought into the U.S. as minors who remain illegal residents. Nor is there any wording regarding the “E-Verify” system. Moreover, the plan seems to have little to say about this year’s surge in immigrants illegally crossing the border.

All in all, the plan offers little for either Democrats or Republicans–other than the most big-business-oriented–to get excited about. According to CNN, the Senate Republicans found Kushner’s presentation “underwhelming” and lacking in substance.  One anonymous attendee said, “[Kushner is] in his own little world. He didn’t give many details about what was in [his plan]. . . . And there were a number of instances where people had to step in and answer questions because he couldn’t.”

One of those people was said to be White House adviser Stephen Miller, regarded as the spokesman for administration hard-liners.  While the aim of the joint meeting was to emphasize White House unity, that unity between hard and soft was not especially evident to some observers. “Miller interrupted [Kushner] a lot,” one source said.

For more, see CNN.com.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.aicfoundation.com/trump-to-unveil-kushner-plan-today/