VoteKansas.org

November 5, 2011
Jordy Yager
Capitol Hill Publishing Corp.

As the chief law enforcement officer Attorney General Eric Holder came out swinging in the first months of the Obama administration as he pushed to reinstate the assault weapons ban, pointing to the rising levels of violence in Mexico and increased presence of U.S. guns south of the border.

But nearly two years later assault weapons can still be bought and Holder has found himself at the center of a quagmire involving a botched gun-tracking operation that sent thousands of high-powered firearms to Mexico in the hands of known or suspected straw buyers for drug cartels.

Amid a plethora of Republican calls for Holder’s resignation, Democrats have silently indicated their support for the attorney general. Instead of taking him to task for Operation Fast and Furious, Democratic lawmakers have tried to draw attention to what they describe as the country’s weak network of gun laws.

Subjects: Border violence, drug cartels, U.S.-Mexico border, Operation Fast and Furious, DOJ, NRA

Mexican citizens living in Virginia are being helped by an outreach program designed to inform them of their workplace rights.
The U.S. Department of Labor signed an agreement with an official from Mexico's Consulate General in Norfolk on Friday in an effort to curb labor law violations. About 160,000 Mexicans live in Virginia, although it is unclear how many of those are of working age or are employed. Federal labor laws also apply to workers regardless of immigration status.

"There is no distinction made whether the worker is in the country legally or illegally. We don't even ask that question. That's not part of our mission," said Bruce Clark, district director for the Labor Department's Richmond office.

Topics = Illegal immigration, Department of Labor, U.S.-Mexico border, Mexican Consulate

An undocumented Salvadoran man's arrest on murder charges has spurred county officials to attempt to crack down on illegal immigration.

The Frederick County Commissioners and sheriff have generated a number of ideas, such as requiring businesses to vet employees through federal databases and prohibiting day labor sites.

While some proposals were already in the works, the recent arrest of Jose Reyes Mejia-Varela brought the effort to the forefront, Commissioners President Blaine Young said Thursday.

U.S. officials deported Mejia-Varela in 2009, but he re-entered the country and last week was charged with the fatal shooting in March of a Burger King manager in Frederick.

Subjects: Illegal immigration, illegal immigrant crimes, county illegal immigration laws, E-Verify, taxpayers

The Justice Department on Friday told Alabama's attorney general that it has the "express authority" to investigate potential federal civil rights violations in Alabama's public schools authorized by the state's controversial new immigration law.

Assistant US Attorney General Thomas Perez informed Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange of the federal government's powers two days after Strange requested that the Justice Department cite what legal authority it had to collect enrollment data on Hispanic students in his state's public schools.

"The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is tasked with investigating potential violations of civil rights laws that protect educational opportunities for schoolchildren," Perez wrote in a letter. "We know that the longstanding legal tradition in this country of ensuring the right to attend school without being subject to discrimination on any impermissible ground is as critically important to you, as the Attorney General of the State of Alabama, as it is to the Civil Rights Division."

The Justice Department initially requested the enrollment information at Alabama public schools Monday after receiving complaints that the state's immigration law may violate federal anti-discrimination statutes related to education.

But Luther advised the state's school superintendent to decline to handover the data because of the ongoing litigation over the immigration law.

Subjects:  Illegal immigration, Alabama, Dept of Justice, HB 56

While the Justice Department focuses on taking action against state laws to combat illegal immigration, a group of U.S. Senators is asking the Obama Administration to stop ignoring local ordinances that undermine federal laws by offering undocumented aliens sanctuary.

In battling local immigration control measures nationwide, the DOJ has claimed that they conflict with federal immigration law and undermine the government’s careful balance of immigration enforcement priorities and objectives. The Obama Administration has made this argument recently in cases against Arizona and Alabama.

But what is the administration doing about local governments that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and blatantly ignore the legal status of arrested individuals? A group of Senate Judiciary Committee members posed the question to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this week.

They specifically mentioned Cook County Illinois where local authorities openly flip the finger at the feds by refusing to report illegal immigrants who come in contact with police, even dangerous criminals. In fact, in 2007 Judicial Watch took legal action against the Chicago Police Department—which has a don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration policy—after learning of an illegal immigrant sanctuary resolution that was being considered by Cook County’s Board of Commissioners at the time.

Topics - Illegal immigration, Obama administration, Cook County, ICE, Janet Napolitano, sanctuary city, public safety, DHS.

Today, U.S. Senators Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), David Vitter (R-Louisiana) and Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) announced they will soon offer legislation to prohibit President Obama’s administration, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other agencies, from participating in lawsuits against South Carolina, Alabama and Arizona over recently passed immigration laws.

Senator DeMint said, “It’s absurd that the Obama Administration, which has failed to enforce the nation’s immigration laws, is now stopping South Carolina, Alabama and Arizona from taking commonsense steps to protect citizens and uphold the law. President Obama has failed to build the southern border fence mandated by Congress. He’s also failed to control the northern border, allowing the Border Patrol to stop conducting routine checks at bus stops and train stations for illegal immigrants who could be smugglers or terrorists. South Carolina has a duty uphold the law and to protect our citizens from criminals who are in the country illegally.”
 
Subjects: Illegal immigration, state immigration laws, Republicans, legislation, lawsuits, DOJ, GAO, DHS

Signaling growing unrest with the Obama administration’s level of cooperation, House Republicans on an immigration subcommittee voted Wednesday to authorize a subpoena to get data on illegal immigrants against whom the government has declined to pursue deportation cases.

The 7-4 party-line vote came two days after the Department of Homeland Security failed to meet an Oct. 31 deadline given to DHS Secretary Janet A. Napolitano last week by Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith. Mr. Smith said he could issue the subpoena as early as Thursday.

Meanwhile, late Wednesday, Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced its investigative subcommittee will hold a vote early Thursday to authorize subpoenas for documents related to Solyndra, the failed solar-technology company that received special attention from the White House.

Together, they show an increasing belief among Republicans that the administration is stonewalling requests from the new GOP majority in the House.

Subjects: Illegal immigration, House Republicans, DHS, Obama administration, Secure Communities Program, ICE

Illegal immigration is costing Arizona $1.6 billion a year – a staggering 19 percent of the state’s total budget – Gov. Jan Brewer claimed in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, adding that the Obama administration is turning a blind eye to it since migrants will help Obama register more Democratic voters.

Successful efforts in California and Texas to close off the border are funneling aliens through her state, Brewer said, while the federal government sits by and watches.

And she claimed the Obama administration does nothing to stop the influx because the more illegal immigrants there are in the country, the more votes the Democrats will get.

“We are fed up,” said Brewer, whose new book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," was released today. “We are of course assuming all the responsibility and all the cost of the incarceration, the education and the healthcare for the illegals that come across the border and into our state.

“Unfortunately we keep asking the Feds to do their share and they just simply won’t do that."

The Tucson sector of the Mexican border has become the “gateway” for illegal immigration into the United States, Brewer said. “Along with that, of course, comes the drug cartel and all the criminal elements that we have to deal with and pay for,” she said.

“It is our fight with the federal government. Secure our borders.”

Topics:  Illegal immigration, Jan Brewer, Arizona, Barack Obama, Fast and Furious, Janet Napolitano.

The man accused of murdering a 10-year-old girl in Carrollton illegally crossed into the United States on multiple occasions before his most recent arrest.

Records obtained by News 8 show that Carrollton police arrested Sifuentes in April 2009 in a traffic stop. He faced charges including minor in possession of alcohol and driving without a license and insurance. Officers turned him over to immigration officials because of his illegal status.

Sifuentes was granted voluntary return - an option given to some illegal immigrants with no serious criminal history on record. He went back to Mexico, but he didn't stay long.

According to ICE, Sifuentes was caught trying to illegally enter the U.S. that same month, and then again in May 2009. All three times, he was granted voluntary return.

"It tells me that it's continual, that's it's a pattern and it's not going to stop," said Dallas immigration attorney, Michelle Scopellite.


Subjects:  Illegal immigration, criminal, murder, ICE, US-Mexico border, CBP, child, Carrollton.

It’s not every day that lawmakers in Harrisburg gird themselves for votes against illegal immigrants.

But that pervades Rep. Daryl Metcalfe’s ongoing fight against illegal immigrants in Pennsylvania — a battle over what demographers say is a relatively small slice of the state’s population.

Pollsters also say the matter grabs even less of the general public’s attention, but it seems likely to dominate the social justice agenda for the rest of this two-year legislative term.

Metcalfe’s “National Security Starts At Home” package includes bills requiring:

— Verification of legal status for anyone 18 or older applying for public benefits such as welfare or food stamps.

— Employers seeking public-works contracts to use the voluntary federal database “E-Verify” to authenticate employees’ Social Security numbers; and higher penalties for firms that have hired illegal immigrants.

— Police to verify a person’s immigration status if that person is stopped for a crime and reasonably suspected of being in this country illegally.

Metcalfe, along with like-minded lawmakers from other states, has also proposed a special noncitizen birth certificate for the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants to prevent their families from gaining privileges.


Topics - Illegal Immigration, Pennsylvania, Daryl Metcalfe, food stamps, birthright citizenship, E-Verify, ACLU, migrants.

Friends of ALIPAC,

After fighting them back for more than ten years, Americans now face a crushing blow.

Unless Americans on the left and the right unite to stop the Mexican Truck program authorized by NAFTA, over 150,000 unsafe Mexican trucks loaded with drugs and illegal aliens will roll into every state and community!

If this happens, and without a strong response from you it will, then over 100,000 American truckers will lose their jobs.

Border level drug and illegal alien interdiction efforts will become completely moot as the designers of this 'North American Integration' treason desire.

Untold numbers of innocent Americans will perish at the hands of unqualified Mexican truck drivers who are inexperienced at driving on 1st world roadway systems, unsafe Mexican trucks, and the increased amount of deadly addictive drugs and illegal immigrant invaders brought into our American communities. The organized crime syndicates will have a new powerful tool in the stripping down of America if this planned trucking integration happens.

Kimberly Dvorak
San Diego County Political Buzz Examiner
October 21, 2011

Despite a protest rally from Teamsters, a speech from Jim Hoffa Jr. and bi-partisan Congressional members, Mexican long-haul trucks will take to U.S. highways today.

Safety standards and the threat of losing more than 100,000 truck driver jobs was not enough to sway the Obama Administration’s decision to allow Mexican trucks, approved through a North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) pilot program, to gain access to U.S. and deliver their goods.

Using a Russian roulette analogy for Mexican truck safety standards, Hoffa said it would take a serious car accident to get Mexican trucks off the highways...

Note: Although this is an editorial and written by a GOP website, for decades both parties have refused to seriously enforce our federal immigration laws.  Nevertheless, this common sense article is worthy of our homepage and hopefully someday we will finally have the leadership to enforce these laws.

November 1, 2011
Bobby Eberle
GOPUSA

Perhaps I should rephrase my headline. From the actions of our federal government, it's not that immigration laws are made to be broken, it's that they are made to not be enforced in the first place. After years of neglect in keeping American's borders secure and fighting illegal immigration, states have had to step up and do it themselves. The problem is that each time a state passes a law to get tough on illegal immigration, the feds move in to shut it down. That's exactly what's happening now in South Carolina.

Whether overtly or covertly, the federal government is doing everything it can to stop Americans from stopping illegal immigration. First, the overt actions... When states like Arizona and Georgia passed laws that help them do what the federal goverment should be doing regarding illegals, Barack Obama directed his Justice Department to file lawsuits to shut them down. In Arizona, the law that was passed was essentially the same law that's already on the federal books. The reason Obama and company got scared was because they knew Arizona would enforce it.

Subjects: Illegal immigration, GOP, state immigration laws, President Obama, federal immigration laws

November 1, 2011
Naxiely Lopez
The Brownsville Herald

EDINBURG — A police shooting that stemmed from a botched drug transaction and kidnapping Sunday afternoon is being labeled the first reported incident of spillover violence in Hidalgo County by Sheriff Lupe Treviño.

While other law enforcement officials, such as Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, call Hidalgo County the center of spillover violence in Texas, Treviño repeatedly disputes those claims and is quick to dispel talk about cartel-related attacks in the U.S.

But the circumstances surrounding Sunday’s shooting, in which a suspect was killed and a deputy was injured, were enough to make him “say it like it is.”

“I have to say … this is our very first reported spillover-violence event that we have experienced,” he said. “And unfortunately, it got one of our deputies shot.”

Subjects = Illegal immigration, border violence, U.S.-Mexico border, drug cartels

MEXICO CITY – Eleven Mexican trucking companies hope to join a pilot program that could see more than 150,000 vehicles delivering products to destinations deep inside the United States by year’s end, the vice president of the Canacar transport association said.

Eight of the 11 firms have already submitted applications and are awaiting a response from the U.S. Transportation Department, Luis Moreno said.

It was only last Friday that a Mexican long-haul truck became the first to deliver a shipment to the U.S. interior under the revived pilot program.

Subjects: NAFTA, border security, U.S.-Mexico border, Mexican trucks

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The federal government filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to stop implementation of South Carolina's tough new immigration law, arguing that the legislation that requires law officers to check suspects' immigration status is unconstitutional.

Federal officials and state officials had met to discuss the issue a week ago.

The government wants a judge to stop enforcement of the legislation, which requires that officers call federal immigration officials if they suspect someone is in the country illegally following a stop for something else, U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles told The Associated Press.

"The Department of Justice has many important tasks," Nettles said. "Two of those important tasks are the defense of the constitution and ensuring equality is afforded to all."

The lawsuit filed in federal court names Gov. Nikki Haley as a defendant. A spokesman for the Republican, the daughter of immigrants from India, said the state was forced to pass its own law because there is no strong federal immigration law.

Topics: Illegal immigration, Department of Justice, state immigration laws, Obama administration, DHS

Friends of ALIPAC,

A few times each year, we are going to offer an invitation to our supporters to join the national discussion about illegal immigration by participating in the Discussion Groups area of our main website at www.ALIPAC.us

Our Discussion Groups are for supporters only, and offer a unique online community where your opinions and activism are on display in a very prominent forum.

The Discussion Groups area is accessed via the main menu box on the left of each page at alipac.us

We have very strict rules regarding participation in our Discussion Groups, and this facet of ALIPAC's national operations is not for everyone. While comments in this open source section of our website do not reflect the positions of the ALIPAC organization, our volunteer moderators work hard to assure the rules of proper discourse are followed.

Broadcasting via our Discussion Groups area means that an activist must be careful about how comments can be perceived or intentionally distorted by illegal alien supporters who watch us closely with a baleful eye.

The culture war is moving from when life begins to how it should end. Like a drum beat, supporters of the Obama agenda are protesting that the elderly are consuming too many health resources, and their care needs to be cut back.

The current target of this unrelenting campaign against the elderly is the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, which is charged with devising a plan to reduce federal deficit spending by Nov. 23.

Among those calling for less care for seniors is H. Gilbert Welch of Dartmouth Medical College.

“If you were hoping to play the ‘death panel’ card, now’s your chance,” Welch says to his critics. “But don’t play it and then pretend you care about the budget.”

That brazen statement — pitting grandma's well-being against the nation's fiscal health — is a false choice. Future federal healthcare spending can be significantly reduced by repealing the expansion of Medicaid and the billions poured into medical and interpreter services for illegal immigrants under the Obama health law before these provisions go into effect.

Subject - Illegal immigration, illegal aliens, elderly, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, deficits, spending cuts.

Police have arrested a man in connection with the fatal stabbing of a woman in a Wal-Mart Super Center parking lot in the town of Albion last night.

Luis A Rodriguez-Flamenco, 24, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, has been charged with second-degree murder.

According to the Orleans County Sheriff's Office, Kathleen I. Byham, 45, of Albion was stabbed multiple times after she left the store, on Route 31, around 7 p.m. and walked toward towards her car.

She was taken to Medina Memorial Hospital, where she died about 40 minutes later.

Topics: illegal immigration, Honduras, Mexico/U.S. Border, US Border Patrol

When an illegal immigrant was accused last year of driving drunk and causing a crash in Prince William County that killed a nun, the case unleashed a wave of anger and became a touchstone for supporters of stricter immigration enforcement.

With the murder trial of Carlos Martinelly-Montano set to begin in the county’s Circuit Court on Monday, the political reverberations of the case are still playing out and will probably do so long after the verdict is read.

“The case has become a hallmark,” said Claire Gastanaga, a former Virginia chief deputy attorney general and a lobbyist for immigration advocacy groups. “It has become a place holder for a lot of different things that people are unhappy about with the immigration system.”

Melissa Sanchez, Martinelly-Montano’s attorney, said he is expected to plead guilty to five of the six charges he faces but intends to plead not guilty to the most serious charge, felony murder.

Police said Martinelly-Montano, 24, of Bristow slammed his car into another with three nuns inside about 8 a.m. on Aug. 1, 2010. The crash on Bristow Road in Bristow killed Sister Denise Mosier, 66, and seriously injured Sisters Connie Ruth Lupton and Charlotte Lange. All three belonged to the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia, who have a monastery in the town just west of Manassas.

Topics: illegal immigration, licenses for illegals, drunk-driving, Mexico,