The Beauty of Arizona
Amnesty / Illegal Immigration
S.C. Illegal Immigration Bill Moves to State House
By Gina Smith - The State (Columbia, S.C.)
A controversial bill that tasks police officers with determining the immigration status of people they stop is heading to the S.C. House floor, where Republicans have made its passage a priority.
Supporters – including Columbia activist, John Perna who attended Tuesday’s meeting – say the bill, if signed into law, will help South Carolina detect and deport people who should not be in the country.
“They are not immigrants. They are not undocumented workers. They are illegal immigrants who should not be allowed in the country,” Perna said. “They have broken our laws when they crossed into this country, and it’s unlikely they’ll respect our other laws.”
Texas Latino Senators Brace for Immigration Bill Debate
Published May 18, 2011 | Fox News Latino
A new proposed immigration law is being called racist and "hate-mongering" by Latino lawmakers in the Texas senate who are bracing for a bitter fight over the so called sanctuary cities bill.
The bill would give most police officers the right to question detained people about their immigration status, and prohibit cities from adopting policies that ban the practice. None of Texas' major cities claim to be sanctuary cities, but many police departments discourage their officers from asking about immigration status.
Supporters, including Republican Gov. Rick Perry, say the bill is needed to stop crime committed by illegal immigrants. Read more
Arizona Immigration Law Headed for Supreme Court
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the toughest immigration bill in the country last year, has decided to go straight to the U.S. Supreme Court over challenges to the most controversial parts of the law.
A federal appeals court last month upheld a lower court’s ruling that prevented some parts of the law from being enforced. Those include requiring immigrants to get and carry immigration papers, and allowing police to question the immigration status of those they have reason to believe are here illegally.
Instead of trying again with the appeals court, Arizona will ask the Supreme Court to decide the law’s constitutionality. Read more
Mexican Police Find 513 US-Bound Migrants in Two Trucks
Published May 18, 2011 | Associated Press
TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico – Police in Mexico's southern Chiapas state found 513 migrants on Tuesday inside two trailer trucks bound for the United States, and said they had been transported in dangerously crowded conditions.
Some of the immigrants were suffering from dehydration after traveling for hours clinging to cargo ropes strung inside the containers to keep them upright as the trucks bounced along from the Guatemalan border, and allow more migrants to be more crammed in on the floor.
The migrants said the smugglers were charging them about $7,000 apiece to get them into the United States. A Guatemalan migrant who identified himself as Juan said remaining in his hometown in Guatemala was not an option, noting "a lot of us are Indians, and we can't stay in our homes. There is no work, and there's nothing to eat."
An agent for the National Immigration Institute who was not authorized to be quoted by name said it was the largest shipment of migrants detained in Mexico in recent years. Read more:
If You Care About Immigration, You Should Care About the STAPLE Act
By Alex Nowrasteh | Published May 16, 2011 | FoxNews.com
President Obama’s immigration speech last week suffered from political schizophrenia. Early on he bragged of his administration’s efforts to stop undocumented immigration, but later he touted the economic benefits of immigration. Then he spoke out in favor of comprehensive immigration reform, but endorsed a bill that is anything but comprehensive.
The "Stopping Trained in America Ph.D.s from Leaving the Economy" (S.T.A.P.L.E.) Act (H.R. 399), sponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake’s (R-Ariz.), would help us accomplish that. It would remove the numerical cap on H-1B visas and employer sponsored green cards for foreign Ph.D. students who graduate from American universities in the sciences, technology, engineering, or mathematics. Read more
DHS Requests National Guard Extension
By Jordy Yager - 05/17/11 05:42 PM ET
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has asked Congress for permission to reprogram more than $30 million to keep the 1,200 National Guard troops along the U.S.-Mexico border until September.
The move comes as President Obama has pushed hard in recent weeks to reinvigorate the immigration debate among lawmakers on Capitol Hill, pronouncing the border more secure than it has ever been in recent years.
But many Republicans argue that illegal drugs, guns, money and immigrants are still being trafficked across the southwest border — until it is secured, they say, no serious talks can be had on reforming the country’s immigration system. Read More
Morning Bell: Illegal Immigration Is No Laughing Matter
Posted May 11th, 2011 at 9:14am in Ongoing Priorities, Protect America
The White House correspondents’ dinner might have been two weeks ago, but President Barack Obama continued his comedy routine yesterday in El Paso, Texas, only this time Donald Trump wasn’t the butt of the jokes. Instead, during a speech on immigration, the president mocked Republicans at large, the rule of law, and any American who takes the defense of our nation seriously.
Respectfully, Mr. President, illegal immigration and border security are no laughing matter.
But to the president, they apparently are, especially when it provides fodder for a purely political speech, delivered amid a round of campaign fundraisers in the Lone Star State. After claiming that his administration has “gone above and beyond” Republicans’ calls for immigration reform (which he hasn’t), Obama launched into an all-out assault on the GOP: Read More
