Tag: Sen. Marco Rubio

Daniel Horowitz: Carly is in no position to punch Hillary on immigration issue!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I told you the other day, I’m a one issue voter.  If we don’t get immigration (how many and who we allow to become permanent residents) slowed (stopped!) nothing else matters.

Carly Fiorina happy to support Dream Act and Gang of Eight!

So, just thought you should see what Daniel Horowitz writing at Conservative Review yesterday tells us about Carly Fiorina on the issue of immigration (among many other issues).  Here is the immigration portion, but please go read the rest of his good analysis.
By the way, it sure looks and sounds like Fox News is doing a Carly coronation these days!  I’m thinking that Rupert Murdoch would love to see a Rubio/Fiorina ticket because they could be controlled and move his open-borders agenda forward!
From Conservative Review:

In 2010, while running for Senate in California against Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, Carly affirmed her support for the DREAM Act amnesty, noting “I would support the DREAM Act because I do not believe that we can punish children who through no fault of their own are here trying to live the American dream.” The DREAM Act has served as the foundation for Obama’s cycle of amnesty and Fiorina’s defense is the heart and soul of the arguments Hillary can and will use during the general election. Don’t we need a candidate who will be able to throw what is perhaps our biggest punch with full force?

Carly also opposed fixing the birthright citizenship loophole for illegal aliens and referred to it as an “emotional distraction.” She also accused some opponents of amnesty as taking on a racist tone. Again, that is exactly what Hillary says. How can she throw the immigration punch with such vulnerabilities?

In February 2013, when the Gang of 8 released the worst comprehensive amnesty bill of our time, Carly was one of its biggest cheerleaders on the Sunday shows. Appearing on Meet the Press, she said “I applaud and salute the Gang of Eight`s proposal. Let`s move forward and vote on that.” She appeared on This Week on February 3 praising the bill as a “carefully crafted” balance and a “good first step,” while expressing hope that the Democrats would not oppose it. This bill was the embodiment of what is wrong with the very political class she now inveighs against in her well-honed stump speech. Yet, when people like Cruz and Sessions were fighting to stop this bill, which emboldened Obama to expand his executive amnesty and create a new wave of illegal immigration, Carly was cheering the armpit of the political class. This is unbelievable. Hillary can eat her alive.

Read it all.
On the Gang of Eight bill, just remember it would have greatly expanded the role of the federal refugee resettlement contractors and consequently they all lobbied heavily for it.

CPAC 2014: Trump was out in front (virtually alone) on immigration issue

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday Ann Coulter tweeted this little walk down memory lane about the premiere (supposedly) conservative conclave held in Washington, DC each year known as CPAC.
trump_cpac14
For the record, we have written often on CPAC, but will not attend primarily because CPAC ‘leaders’ including Grover Norquist have worked hard for many years to keep discussions on immigration to a minimum and have outright banned those who want to discuss the Islamist threat to America.
Go here for our archive of posts on Grover Norquist.  BTW, while pushing his amnesty agenda, Norquist worked very closely with the office of Senator Marco Rubio in helping craft that now discredited ‘Gang of Eight’ amnesty bill, but I’m digressing.
Here is a piece (3/7/14) written by Jon Feere at the Center for Immigration Studies (tweeted by Ann Coulter yesterday) which chronicles how Trump was alone among a list of Republican leaders and Presidential wannabes in addressing immigration.

Trump was talking about our borders, our sovereignty and the future of the Republican Party long before he decided to jump into the Presidential race, and he must have been very unpopular (with the ‘leaders’ at CPAC) with this message! 

From Feere at CIS (emphasis below is mine):

Nearly every speaker at the first day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) avoided any discussion of immigration or amnesty, a sign that Republican politicians are starting to understand that conservative voters have very little interest in doubling legal immigration and amnestying illegal aliens.

Of all speakers, which included Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and governors Chris Christie and Bobby Jindal, only one speaker spent any time on immigration policy: Donald Trump. He came out strong on sovereignty and garnered strong applause for noting “we’re either a country, or we’re not; we either have borders or we don’t.” Trump also noted that amnesty is a benefit for the Democratic Party, while calling out Rubio:

When you let the 11 million — which will grow to 30 million people — in, I don’t care who stands up, whether it’s Marco Rubio, and talks about letting everybody in, you won’t get one vote. Every one of those votes goes to the Democrats. You have to do what’s right; it’s not about the votes necessarily. But of those 11 million potential voters which will go to 30 million in a not too long future, you will not get any of those votes no matter what you do, no matter how nice you are, no matter how soft you are, no matter how many times you say ‘rip down the fence and let everybody in’ you’re not going to get the votes. So with immigration, you better be smart and you better be tough, and they’re taking your jobs, and you better be careful. You better be careful.

In wake of typhoon, push is on for Temporary Protected Status for Filipinos

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Problem is, once granted the “temporary” right to live, work, get a drivers license legally in America they don’t go home!  About a hundred thousand illegal Salvadorans make that point daily—they’ve been here since 2001 under TPS status and whatever natural disaster gave them the right to stay has long since been forgotten.

Two peas in a pod! Senators McCain and Rubio want any legal or illegal Filipinos in US to get to stay!

Usually granted for 18 months, TPS designation is just extended and extended as we saw here recently with Somali TPS.

If this lobbying push is successful anyone from the Philippines in the US legally (on a limited visa of some sort) or illegally can apply to stay under TPS and then when/if Congress passes so-called ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ they will get to stay forever!

From Global Nation (emphasis mine):

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for undocumented Filipinos picked up bipartisan congressional support, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) urged the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to grant the status.

Currently allowed under immigration laws for countries impacted by a natural disaster resulting in a “substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions,” TPS will provide temporary immigration relief to undocumented Filipino immigrants currently residing in the US.

In a letter to DHS Acting Secretary Rand Beers, NaFFAA national chair Eduardo Navarra wrote that “this benefit will alleviate their fears of deportation to a devastated country and allow them to work and stay in the US temporarily. With this authorization, Filipino nationals can continue providing material and financial support to the homeland, especially at a time when they are in dire need of help.”

J.T. Mallonga, NaFFAA national vice chair and president of the Filipino American Legal and Defense Fund (FALDEF), explains that there are precedents where the US administration acted on similar requests.

“Following the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti two years ago, the US designated TPS to Haitian nationals, allowing them to continue living and working in the country for 18 months,” Mallonga said. “The same should be done to Filipinos, and it must be done soon.”

Other nationals from countries devastated by natural disasters, such as Honduras, Sudan and El Salvador, have also been granted TPS before.   [And, they are all still here! because even if TPS does expire, no one deports them!—ed]

Obama can designate TPS without Congress, but some Senators and Members of Congress are on board with the proposal.

With members of Congress weighing in on the issue, Navarra has conveyed his thanks to a bipartisan group of US Senators and US Representatives who have endorsed the call for TPS.

“Although congressional approval is not required, their strong message of support is very encouraging,” Navarra said. “We hope more members of Congress will do the same.”

In a Nov. 19 letter signed by 20 US Senators, the signatories assert that “providing TPS is critical to humanitarian relief efforts as it both protects individuals who would be endangered by returning to their country of origin and it allows the home country more time to recover before accepting returnees.”

Among those signing the letter are Senators Harry Reid, John McCain, Robert Menendez, Marco Rubio, Mazie K. Hirono, Richard Durbin, Orrin Hatch, Barbara Boxer, Tim Kaine, and Patrick Leahy. On the House side, 30 US Representatives called on DHS to “exercise its authority to designate the Philippines” for TPS, considering the “daunting rescue and restoration efforts” facing the country. The signatories include Representatives Edward Royce, Zoe Lofgren, Trent Franks. Robert Scott, Xavier Becerra, Judy Chu, Peter King, Colleen Hanabusa, Tammy Duckworth, and Michael Honda.

The next time you hear someone say, ‘I’m o.k. with legal immigration, it’s illegal I have a problem with,’ remind them that Refugee Resettlement, the Diversity Visa Lottery and Temporary Protected Status are all legal programs!

2,000 Syrian “refugees” already in the pipeline on the way to US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

According to Northern Voices Online (a publication from Northern India), 2,000 Syrians have already been approved to come to the US in 2013, along with 30,000-40,000 additional Iraqis!  I guess this is another bit of new information for the Republican immigration wizards, those boys in a bubble—Rubio and Graham.

Taking names? Angelina Jolie meeting with Syrian ‘refugees’ this week. Demotix / Splash News

WASHINGTON, Up to 2,000 Syrian refugees pre-approved by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would start new lives in America in 2013, US officials said late on Wednesday Kelly Gauger, a senior official with the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration responded to reporters at a briefing, marking World Refugee Day on June 20 (today), where she explained that DHS has not been able to gain access to Syria since March 2011, when demonstrations leading to the current conflict began.

The 2,000 Syrians coming to the US were interviewed in person and adjudicated more than two years ago, but would be subject to further US government screening.

As for Iraq refugees, Gauger noted there were also between 30,000-40,000 Iraqi refugees with pending applications. Since 2007, 86,000 Iraqis have been admitted into the US.  [Someone tell Senator Rand Paul!—ed]

According to Simon Henshaw, also a senior official with the bureau, 70,000 refugees from around the world will be admitted to the US this year.

Refugees considered for resettlement by the US must have already fled their home country, and were referred by UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency.

The US typically accepts half of all UNHCR referrals.  [I bet its a lot higher percentage than that!—ed]

Also, the Obama Administration has just extended Temporary Protected Status for Syrians already in the US, but I’ll post separately on that.

Temporary Protected Status protects criminals from deportation

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

But will Temporary Protected Status be rendered moot if Obama-Rubio-Ryan get their way?  The answer is Yes!  Everyone will be able to stay! (but they can now anyway!)

Just two days ago I told you that the push was on to give Temporary Protected Status to Malians in the US.  Most recently we granted TPS to Syrians.   Haitians, as we reported here, aren’t signing up in large numbers because they see the Obama-Rubio-Ryan Amnesty coming (more on that below).   And, those Guatemalans and their Leftwing open borders advocates are trying to get the designation as well (although they seem to have slacked off, waiting for amnesty perhaps?).  “Temporary” refugees, can get drivers licenses and jobs and every couple of years their “temporary” status is renewed.

The Center for Immigration Studies tells us here how hard it is to get rid of even the criminals who have TPS status.

Roberto Galo has been in the US since the 1990’s!

Last week ICE arrested Roberto Galo, the unlicensed Honduran who killed a young man named Drew Rosenberg in a traffic crash in November 2010, and is detaining him without bond. Galo’s arrest is appropriate but, incredibly, despite the fact that Galo repeatedly violated California driving laws and killed someone, ICE had to make an exception to its policies in order to take him into custody and seek his removal.

Galo is an illegal immigrant who has been living here legally since the late 1990s under a grant of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Beneficiaries of TPS may apply for driver’s licenses; but Galo could not get one because he failed the driving test three times. Under immigration law, Galo no longer qualifies for TPS after having been convicted of two misdemeanors (vehicular manslaughter and unlicensed driving) stemming from his responsibility for the crash that took Drew Rosenberg’s life.

But under current policies, offenders like Galo are not supposed to be put on the path to removal. USCIS, which administers the TPS program, has directed its officers to try to reclassify some misdemeanors as “infractions” in order to allow these offenders to stay.

Read it all!

The Obama-Rubio-Ryan Amnesty of 2013

Appropriately, Mark Krikorian the Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, with USCIS cases like Galo’s in mind, asks Rep. Paul Ryan and Senator Marco Rubio, so are you planning to trust Obama to keep his end of the bargain as you pander to the ‘Hispanic’ voter.

Krikorian:

Sen. Marco Rubio has effectively endorsed President Obama’s approach to immigration, and that endorsement was in turn endorsed by Rep. Paul Ryan. Or, as Julia Preston put it in the New York Times yesterday, “Strikingly, Mr. Rubio’s principles did not sound that different from proposals for an immigration overhaul by Mr. Obama, Democratic leaders and a handful of other Republicans.”

So, in considering what can now accurately be referred to as the Obama-Rubio-Ryan amnesty plan of 2013, there’s one central question that Rubio and Ryan need to be asked: Do they trust President Obama to enforce the immigration laws in the future, after today’s illegals have been legalized?

If they answer “yes”, then they need to explain why they think he’d suddenly become committed to enforcement after four years of downgrading immigration law enforcement, and more generally acting as though the U.S. Code were a body of suggestions rather than laws.

[…..]

This isn’t some nit I’m picking — it’s central to the whole concept of “comprehensive immigration reform”. If you trust Obama to do the right thing, then, by all means, endorse his plan for amnesty, as Rubio and Ryan have done. But if you don’t trust him to keep his word, if you think all his statements come with an expiration date, then there’s no honest way you can back his approach.

For more on what Rubio’s (and no doubt Grover Norquist’s too!) “comprehensive” plan would do, visit VDARE and see what “Washington Watcher” says about it.  Here is one snippet:

In reality, because, as I mentioned earlier, there is no way to find out when an illegal alien first came to this country, an amnesty will certainly lead to more illegals crossing the border to take advantage of the new program.

It is safe to say that Rubio’s proposal appears to be virtually indistinguishable from what the Democrats want—except the delay in granting citizenship to the amnestied illegals.

Usually, Republican amnesty proposals at least pretend that they are focused even more on enforcement than legalization—but Rubio has pretty much given up even that pretense.

My theory: Rubio is willing to give the Democrats whatever they want—so long as the illegals don’t get (immediate) citizenship.

Back to TPS

I don’t see any other conclusion, if Obama-Rubio-Ryan get their way, everyone gets to stay and Temporary Protected Status is permanent (no more fig leaf), but for certain classes of illegal immigants it already is—Salvadorans, Somalis, Haitians etc.

Liberians had TPS for years and note that they are off the list, but no one deported them!

To be truly “comprehensive,” Rubio’s bill should include a repeal of TPS.  And, the diversity visa lottery too!  How about a moratorium on refugee resettlement as well until that 1980 Kennedy-Biden-Carter law has been back to Congress for reauthorization (something that has never happened).