Fox Says Remove Border

In an interview, Laura Ingram asked former Mexican President Vicente Fox if there should be a border between the United States and Mexico. He replied, "God didn't create borders. We shouldn't have a border." He went on to describe Mexican illegal aliens in the U.S. as "heroes." Ingram noted the hypocrisy of Fox calling for an open border with the U.S. when Mexico, under his leadership, took strict measures to protect its territory from illegal immigration. She noted to Fox, "You deported 140,000 in 2003. You deported 120,000 in 2002. And from 2002. And from 2002 to 2006, the number of detainments and deportations was up 74 percent. So you're trashing the United States for deporting Mexicans and other people from our country . . . and meanwhile you were deporting plenty of people . . . ."   

Trump Proposal Flawed

President Trump's proposal for an immigration deal is highly flawed, says Mark Krikorian who heads the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). It offers amnesty to a million more illegal than proposed under the DACA  program. Processing the extra million, says Krikorian, would divert DHS resources from immigration law enforcement. Trump's proposal also calls for an end to chain migration, but it would not eliminate the backlog of people who have already applied. This it would be almost two decades before legal immigration, now at the highest sustained level in our history, would begin to decline.

Poll: Majority Wants Less Immigration

A recent Harvard Harris poll found that most Americans want legal immigration--now about 1.3 million a year--substantially reduced. Thirty-five percent want 250,000 or less per year, and 19 percent favored between 250,000 and 500,000. Only 19 percent wanted more than a million. The poll also found, however, that Americans favor legal status for illegal aliens in the "dreamer" category by a margin of 77 percent to 23 percent.

Senate Democrats Yield on Shutdown

Senate Democrats on Monday gave up on their effort to force passage of an amnesty for "Dreamer" illegal aliens by refusing to authorize spending to prevent a partial shutdown keep the federal government. Thirty-three Senate Democrats voted for the spending authorization despite the wishes of illegal alien advocates in their party.  The failure to pass the amnesty was a victory for the Trump Administration. It may force the Democrats to make significant concessions, such as cutting chain migration, if they want to pass a DACA amnesty. 

More Dreamers Than DACA

Parts of the federal government are now shut down because Democrats are demanding an amnesty for illegal aliens. Those who would benefit are often described as either DACA recipients or "Dreamers." Both are defined as people who came came here illegally before their 18th birthday. But the two groups are not the same at all in terms of numbers. According to one estimate the total of "Dreamers" may be as high as 3.6 million. The DACA recipients are "Dreamers" who applied for amnesty under the program established by former President Obama. They total around 800,000. Immigration control advocates have expressed willingness to allow amnesty for DACA recipients in exchange for an end to chain migration and the visa lottery, as well as steps to increase immigration law enforcement. Many amnesty supporters, however, want legalization for all "Dreamers." An amnesty for 3.6 million illegal aliens would be the largest amnesty in our history. The largest one so far was the legalization of 2.7 million illegal illegal aliens in 1986. Its proponents promised that amnesty would never happen again after that.

‘Schumer Shutdown’ Looms

Today (January 19th) is the deadline for Congress to pass a spending bill to prevent a shutdown of certain government operations. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) refuses to let a bill pass unless it provides an amnesty for illegal aliens in the "dreamer" category. Schumer and other Democrats refuse to make any significant concessions to enhance immigration law enforcement and reform legal immigration.  Critics are calling the impending cut-off of government services the "Schumer Shutdown."  One explanation for the Democrats' commitment to amnesty for dreamers is a memo co-authored by former Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri. It states that amnesty for dreamers is a "critical component of the Democratic Party's future electoral success." 

Shutdown Threatened Over Amnesty

Sen. Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) says that he and his party will shut down the government by refusing to pass a spending bill if they do not get an amnesty for illegal alien "Dreamers." As many as two million of these illegal aliens would receive the proposed legalization, one that would grant them a pathway to citizenship. In exchange for the amnesty, immigration control advocates would get, in the words of The Washington Times, "a small part of Mr. Trump's border wall and tweaks to other immigration policy."

CEOs Support Amnesty

More than 100 CEOs of U.S. companies have urged Congress to pass an amnesty for illegal aliens in the DACA category. In a letter to House and Senate leaders, the CEOs stated that failure to legislate this amnesty would "[create] an impending crisis for workforces across the country." Critics charge that the "crisis" they far is less access to cheap labor.  

ICE Steps Up Business Inspections

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is stepping up inspections of businesses suspected of hiring illegal aliens. The agency recently targeted 100 stores around the country.  Top ICE official Derek Benner said that the inspections will continue and will increase. He added that "It's not going to be limited to big companies or any particular industry. " The Trump Administration's expansion of immigration law enforcement has increased deportation arrests by 40 percent. 

Non-Citizens Commit More Federal Crimes

A study by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) found that non-citizens (legal and illegal immigrants) are proportionately more likely to commit federal crimes than native-born Americans. Non-citizen adults are 8.6 percent of the U.S. population, but they are 21 percent of the total of the people convicted for non-immigration crimes. The author of the study, Steve Camarota,  notes that most crimes are committed at the state and local levels, but it is hard to obtain good data at those levels on the participation on non-citizens. In any case, says Camarota, federal law enforcement is "still enormous."