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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) -- Alabama's new law against illegal immigration may hamper enforcement rather than being the tough crackdown sought by its supporters — by taking officers away from the vital job of prosecuting and deporting immigrants with criminal records, Justice Department lawyers said Monday.

The president of the Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police, Boaz Police Chief Terry Davis, agreed that officers are stretched by multiple duties, particularly with tight budgets. But, he said, enforcing the state law should not conflict with the broader federal goal of nabbing criminals who are in the country illegally.

"I can see where they're coming from ... but I think it's just another tool to use in doing our job," Davis said of Alabama's tough, new law. "We're going to get the federal folks involved just like we always have. I would hope it doesn't cause a conflict because we're all in this together."

U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, the top federal prosecutor for 31 counties in north Alabama, said local agencies already strapped for money and manpower are being forced to develop their own plans for enforcing the state law rather than concentrating on prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants with criminal records, the priority set by the Obama administration.

Vance said she and the head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, Tom Perez, have met with local authorities to discuss what she called a "significant problem" of both enforcing the state law and tracking down criminal immigrants with only limited resources.

Topics: illegal immigration, Alabama, DOJ,

A federal court judge Monday ordered two lawsuits filed against Utah’s enforcement-only immigration law to be combined and set a hearing for Feb. 17 — a time frame that had been opposed by Utah’s attorney general.

U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups issued the order after Attorney General Mark Shurtleff’s Office took issue with Justice Department lawyers who sought an extension after they swooped in late last week to file suit against HB497.

The hearing on the first lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah and the National Immigration Law Center, was originally scheduled for this Friday. Both entities filed on behalf of the Utah Coalition of La Raza and a series of individual plaintiffs.

The brief filed by Shurtleff said the state opposed a "protracted schedule" for the hearing and noted that because of previous meetings between Shurtleff and Justice Department lawyers, they’ve known about the case for about six months.

Topics: illegal immigration, Utah, DOJ, HB497

Intent on drawing a clear contrast between rival Newt Gingrich and herself, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann called for 11 million illegal immigrants to be deported from the United States in steps.

In the week since a GOP debate during which Gingrich supported legalizing some undocumented immigrants, Bachmann has pounded the former House Speaker, likening his position to "amnesty" and circulating a letter he co-authored in 2004 that supported a path for worker legalization.

Asked by radio host Laura Ingraham on Monday about an earlier statement she made differentiating between immigrants who had recently entered the country illegally from those with longstanding ties to the United States, Bachmann said she was never referring to legalization.

"What I'm talking about is the order of deportation, the sequence of deportation," Bachmann replied. "It is almost impossible to move 11 million illegal immigrants overnight. You do it in steps."

Topics: illegal immigration, Michele Bachmann, GOP debate, deportation,US Mexico Border,Hispanic voters

Friends of ALIPAC,

We only have 48 hours left till our fund raising deadline at midnight Wednesday night December 1, 2011.

We have only raised $23,000 or the $40,000 needed for ALIPAC to meet our minimum operations budget for 2011 that will allow us to continue the fight against illegal immigration into 2012!

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The 62-year-old Wheaton barber had earned a law degree in his native Thailand and waited eight years for a visa so he could move to the United States and begin a new life.

When he heard this year about the Maryland Dream Act, which would grant in-state college tuition discounts to illegal immigrants, he was outraged.

“I did the full legal process,” Anuchit Washirapunya, who is deaf and cannot speak English, wrote on a notepad as he hunched in his barber’s chair. “The illegal students have no right to work or stay here.”

Until recently, Maryland’s legal and political battle over in-state tuition has been seen as pitting young illegal immigrants against native residents. But in the past few months, a petition drive by opponents of the measure has attracted a small but growing number of legal immigrants, who say that they, too, are being cheated.
The issue of what to do about the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States has roiled Republican presidential debates. In recent years, it has spawned national movements that advocate a range of solutions, including forcing all illegal immigrants to return home and granting them all legal amnesty.
Topics: illegal immigration, Dream Act, legal immigrants, in-state tuition

November 24, 2011
Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com
American Family News Network

An immigration enforcement activist predicts that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign will "implode" in light of his recent statements regarding amnesty for illegal aliens.

After watching the recent GOP presidential debate on CNN, William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), believes Gingrich could see his poll numbers drop significantly for calling for a "humane" immigration policy -- similar to Texas Gov. Rick Perry's declaration in an earlier debate that if you do not support helping illegal aliens afford college, "you don't have heart."

Subjects = Illegal immigration, ALIPAC, William Gheen, campaigns, amnesty, Republicans, Newt Gingrich

Gingrich has charged into the fray over illegal immigration, risking conservative ire just as his Republican presidential campaign — once declared all but dead — has vaulted into front-runner status.

The firebrand former House speaker broke with what has become a reflexive Republican hard line on immigration, calling for “humane’’ treatment for otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants who have been in the United States for decades, establishing deep family and community ties.

Gingrich suggested they should be provided a pathway to legal residency but not citizenship. Republicans, he said, should see illegal immigrants through the prism of another issue near and dear to the GOP faithful: family values.

“I don’t see how the party that says it’s the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter-century,’’ Gingrich said at a televised debate Tuesday night.

The response was swift.

Topics = Illegal immigration, Newt Gingrich, Republicans, ALIPAC, William Gheen, Amnesty, campaigns

Newt Gingrich’s soft-line position on immigration could hurt his campaign in the same way it hurt another recent Republican frontrunner, Rick Perry.

Like former frontrunner Rick Perry, Gingrich became a target of criticism among fellow Republicans at Tuesday night’s nationally televised debate for saying that some people should be allowed to stay in the United States even if they’re here illegally.

The former U.S. House Speaker said longtime residents who have raised families here, paid taxes and stayed out of trouble should not face deportation.

“I don’t see how the party that says it’s the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century,” Gingrich said during the CNN debate.
 
Subjects: Illegal immigration, GOP debate, Newt Gingrich, ALIPAC, William Gheen, DREAM Act Amnesty

November 23, 2011
Roy Beck
NumbersUSA Action

The mainstream news media is filled with awe that Newt Gingrich showed some "compassion" for illegal aliens in last night's GOP presidential debate. A look at his record while in Congress shows this is nothing new.

In fact, Gingrich's leadership in Congress is one of the reasons we have so many illegal aliens today who have been able to stay in this country for 25 years.

That's the supreme irony of Gingrich's pro-amnesty remarks in last night's debate. The man who helped ensure that illegal aliens from the 1980s and 1990s are still here in 2011 asked voters last night to consider the inhumanity of making illegal aliens leave this country after they have sunk such long roots here.

If, while Speaker of the House in the 1990s, Gingrich had shown any leadership in stopping illegal immigration, there would be very few illegal aliens still here from the 1980s and 1990s because they wouldn't have been able to hold payroll jobs.

Topics: Illegal immigration, GOP presidential debate, amnesty, Campaigns, Republicans

Gingrich on Top of GOP Polls, Takes Big Risk Articulating Illegal Immigration Policy

Published November 23, 2011
| FoxNews.com


Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich threw down the gauntlet to conservative Republicans at Tuesday night's presidential debate, challenging his rivals to upend his argument against mass deportations of illegal immigrants while also taking a huge risk with the law-and-order GOP base.

The Republican presidential hopeful, who has sprung to the top of the polling charts in the past two weeks, warned against a policy that proposes deporting illegals who have been in the country for 25 years. Gingrich said he would not "expel" those who have come to the United States illegally if it happened decades ago.


And in an appeal to family values, he said long-residing illegal aliens shouldn't become citizens, but neither should they be torn apart from their families.

Posted on November 22nd, 2011

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich receives applause when he calls for declaring English the official language of American government, but his immigration policy effectively equates to amnesty for foreigners residing in the United States unlawfully.

In the Reagan Library debate in September, Speaker Gingrich admitted he favored a path other than enforcing existing law regarding illegal immigrants:

“…find a way to deal with folks who are already here, some of whom, frankly, have been here 25 years, are married with kids, live in our local neighborhood, go to our church. It’s got to be done in a much more humane way than thinking that to automatically deport millions of people.” (“2012 Republican Presidential Candidates Debate,” NBC, transcript: , 11/7/2011)

...

For National Release

November 22, 2011

Contact: Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC)
Press@alipac.us Toll Free: (866) 703-0864

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC is predicting that the Gingrich campaign will implode in reaction to Speaker Gingrich's support for Dream Act Amnesty during tonight's CNN debate. ALIPAC successfully predicted the implosion of Rick Perry's campaign immediately following Perry's debate support for in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.

"Newt Gingrich's campaign will now take the 'Perry Plunge' due to his support for Dream Act Amnesty," said William Gheen, President of ALIPAC. "Newt Gingrich is finished!"

Rick Perry fell from first place to fourth place in many polls following his debate support for in-state tuition for illegal aliens. ALIPAC was quoted across the nation correctly predicting "Perry is finished."

UPDATE: Only 8 days left to help ALIPAC meet our fund raising goals by Dec 1. Please read details below and offer your support today via http://www.alipac.us/content-9.html

Friends of ALIPAC,

We would like to wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We are certainly thankful for Americans like you who are fighting to preserve many of the good things about our nation. Today, great traditions like Thanksgiving are under attack along with our flag and many other distinctly American traditions. Illegal immigration invasion supporters are working hard to dismantle our national culture and identity in many parts of the country.

We are thankful for all of you who give of your time, attention, and resources to stand as one on the principles, laws, and founding documents that unite us as Americans...

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Republican leaders today said the federal government should be sending Alabama accolades and thank you notes instead of lawsuits for trying to addressing the problem of illegal immigration

"President Obama should be sending the state of Alabama, the state of Georgia, the state of Arizona and every other state that is proactive on illegal aliens a thank you note. Congress should be sending those states thank you notes for helping the federal government do a job that the federal government has been derelict in doing," said U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville
"Instead, this president and this judiciary department is sending a lawsuit. That is the exact wrong thing. That is encouraging illegal conduct," Brooks said.

Brooks, Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead and Rep. John Merrill , R-Tuscaloosa, said held a press conference this morning to praise Alabama's sweeping and controversial immigration law. While they applauded the law, nearly a several members of Congress are scheduled to speak in Birmingham tonight to rally for the law's repeal.

Topics: illegal immigration, Alabama, US Immigration, ICE, DHS, Rep. Mo Brooks

SIERRA VISTA — While many federal officials claim the American border with Mexico is safe, a retired U.S. Border Patrol Supervisory Agent vehemently disagrees.

“It’s more dangerous than I’ve every seen it during my 26 years in the Border Patrol,” Zach Taylor said Sunday afternoon.

Speaking to more than 40 people at the Cochise County Building in Sierra Vista at an event arranged by the Cochise County Republican Committee, Taylor said the Border Patrol, which is now under the Department of Homeland Security and not under the Department of Justice as it was prior to 9/11, has become more of a political tool for those who do not seem to be willing to address border issues as a law enforcement matter, he said.

One of the founders of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, he said agents of the former organization he served are being denied the right to do their jobs in as federal law enforcement agents.

Topics: Illegal immigration, U.S.-Mexico border, drug cartels, U.S. Border Patrol, border violence

Unemployment rates have fallen in Alabama amid new legal pressure on companies to comply with a popular immigration reform law.

September was the first full month that the reform was in force, and the unemployment rate fell from 9.8 percent in September to 9.3 percent in October, according to a Nov. 18 report from the state government.

The rates fell from 9.9 percent to 9 percent in Etowah County, from 8.8 percent to 8.1 percent in Marshall county, and from 11.6 percent to 10.6 percent in DeKalb county.

“The latest fall in unemployment numbers is proof that American citizens will work, and continues to solidify [the evidence] that self-deportation [by illegal immigrants] due to the Alabama Taxpayer & Citizen’s Protection Act is occurring,” said Chuck Ellis, a city council member in Albertville — the main town in Marshall County, northern Alabama.
Topics: illegal immigration, Alabama, DOJ,ICE

The conviction and life sentence of a day laborer who brutally murdered a Morristown boy in 2001 has been upheld by a state appellate panel, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi announced Thursday.

Public defenders for Porfirio Jimenez, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, had tried to overturn the conviction by challenging details surrounding a search warrant and testimony of an expert witness.

“In summary, we find none of the arguments raised by defendant to be sufficient to warrant reversal and a new trial,” stated the decision by appellate Judges Edith Payne, Marie Simonelli and Margaret Hayden.

Topics: illegal immigration, Morristown NJ, US/Mexico Border

Discretion urged with immigrantsU.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., urged a standing-room-only crowd Sunday to unite in fighting against South Carolina’s new immigration law during a community forum to raise awareness on the issue. 

While in Charleston, the Chicago-area congressman heard community testimony putting down the state’s immigration law, which was scheduled to take effect in January.

One such testimony came from Elizabeth Davis Rios, a white woman and U.S. citizen who said her Hispanic husband has been stopped by police for alleged traffic violations that led to his being considered for deportation.

“We all need to band together and do whatever we can. That way, the government cannot continue to separate families,” Rios said.

The law is now subject to a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit fueled by questions pertaining to its constitutionality.

Topics: illegal immigration, US Rep Luis Guttierrez, US Justice Dept, South Carolina, ICE

"I have learned to live with trash," said fifth-generation Arizona rancher Jim Chilton.

He saw his once-beautiful ranch, just a few miles from the border with Mexico, is now dotted with clusters of crushed trees and cactus, whole hillsides have been turned into charred eyesores, years worth of his award-winning conservation projects obliterated -- and the whole thing is littered with trash, tons and tons of trash. And some of the trash was dead bodies.

Chilton had the misfortune of settling in the path of what would become a dangerous drug- and human-smuggling route on the U.S.-Mexican border, parallel with the notorious Peck Canyon Corridor.

"I've got 30,000 to 40,000 illegal aliens coming right through the ranch every year, and the Forest Service says each one leaves about eight pounds of trash. That means 100 tons of trash. Some cows eat the plastic bags and about 10 head a year die a slow and painful death. At $1,200 a head, that means we lose $12,000 a year to trash."

Subjects: Illegal immigration, border trash, human smuggling, Obama administration, border control

November 19, 2011
Judson Berger
FOX News Network, LLC

A top House Republican is threatening to enforce a subpoena for criminal immigrant information "to the fullest extent" of the law, after claiming the Obama administration "stonewalled" his request.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith for months has been seeking a comprehensive list of names and other information for the thousands of immigrants who are flagged, but not taken into custody or deported through a program known as Secure Communities.

Earlier this month, a subcommittee on his panel subpoenaed the Department of Homeland Security for the information, claiming it was "not acting in good faith." It was the first subpoena issued by the committee since it came under GOP control.

The department ended up turning over documents by a Nov. 10 deadline -- but Smith claimed all he received was a list of numbers.

Topics = Illegal immigration, Obama administration, Secure Communities Program, immigration databases