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Showing posts with label DACA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DACA. Show all posts

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Congress going rogue: Action Alert


NumbersUSA has the legislative update for next week:

House Democrats are poised to vote on an enormous appropriations bill that will fund a great deal of federal spending next year. It covers the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Education, Labor, State, and others.

This funding bill contains language that UNDERMINES AND EVEN REVERSES efforts already being made to tighten enforcement and end the border crisis. NumbersUSA has already urged House Members to oppose the bill. We warned them that we will score against this action in our Immigration Gradecards. These grade cards are read by hundreds of thousands of our activists. They sort out those that merely pay lip service to enforcement from those who actually vote to reduce immigration.

The NumbersUSA scoring notice sent to Congress states, "House Democrats, however, aren't content with the utter collapse of our entire immigration infrastructure, and instead are using this bill to actively obstruct the Administration's efforts to deal with the crisis on the southern border."

The bill, H.R. 2740, contains these outrageous provisions:

Blocks any federal funds from any source whatever from being used to construct "border security infrastructure." This includes blocking the wall/fencing money appropriated by Congress even earlier this year! But H.R. 2740 provides funding to Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia to protect their borders.
Rewards illegal immigration by making DACA recipients eligible to take federal jobs.
Protects and rewards the illegal alien sponsors of unaccompanied alien children by blocking ICE from working with HHS to deport the illegal alien sponsors. Many of these sponsors are directly involved in human trafficking.
By obstructing efforts to control the border and enforce immigration laws, his bill could help strengthen Mexican drug cartels, which control the entire Mexican side of the Southern border.

The House is pursuing this ruinous course despite border apprehensions exploding, up by another third in May compared to April. Over 144,000 were apprehended in May. Reuters reports the makeup of the arrests: "While the vast majority of undocumented migrants arriving in the United States are from Central America, significant numbers have been arriving in recent months from Cuban and Haiti, via Panama, and from African countries, often via Brazil."

The Capitol switchboard number is:
(202) 224-3121
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Saturday, January 12, 2019

Those phone calls = “public pressure”




Good news. Breitbart reports:

Six Republican Senators have failed to develop a coalition for their plan that exchanges a fifth of border wall funding for an amnesty for illegal aliens and increased immigration.

The plan, described to Breitbart News, was a creation of Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and would have tied $5.7 billion in funding for President Trump’s proposed border wall to an amnesty for illegal aliens enrolled and eligible in President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Sen. Rob Portman is always a squish, but I had thought that Sen. Lindsay Graham was finally growing a spine. But you knew he was playing both ends against the middle on border security when he encouraged Pres. Trump the other day to declare an emergency and build The Wall. At least now he is backing off the DACA amnesty: “I see no path forward...”

More here.  
# # #

Friday, January 11, 2019

ACTION ALERT: DACA rearing its head again / and UPDATE

UPDATE from NumbersUSA:
Thursday afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence announced that Pres. Trump would not sign off on such a deal. Politico reported: 
Vice President Mike Pence and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney had been consulting with senators about the matter on Thursday. Pence and Mulvaney took the idea to the president, who shot it down, according to multiple people directly involved in the talks. 
Again, thanks to all of the NumbersUSA activists who took action to help quell this threat!

Any calls that you made have made a difference!

-----------



The latest from NumbersUSA:

Gang of 8 sponsor, Sen. Lindsey Graham, working on DACA amnesty deal –
Urge Senate Republicans to oppose!

Amnesty-supporter, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), met with several other Senate Republicans and Pres. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on Wednesday to draw up an 'Amnesty-for-Wall' deal that they will pitch to Senate Democrats today [i.e., yesterday].

Voters didn't elect Donald Trump to the White House back in 2016 to pass an amnesty. They elected him because he was strong on enforcement and understood mass immigration's harmful impacts on American workers and their quality of life.

We need your urgent phone calls to senate republicans urging them to oppose any deal that trades border funding for amnesty!
Here is the number for your GOP Senator(s):

Sen. Rob Portman -- (202) 224-3353


You can also call the White House and tell Pres. Trump not to support an amnesty-for-wall deal!

WH Comment Line -- (202) 456-1111


It’s always good to have a better alternative when you are the phone or leaving a message. Here’s CTP's Ralph King’s suggested alternative (from his social media):

Instead of contemplating a deal of backdoor amnesty for DACA DREAMERS in exchange for Wall Funding, President Trump & the so-called "conservatives" in Congress should be pushing for Mandatory E-Verify.....

“Of all of the proposals, however, E-Verify would be the most effective at curbing illegal entries and limiting non-immigrant overstays. And the president could likely make it mandatory through executive action,” added Arthur, now a legal expert with the Center for Immigration Studies.

The push for the simple employment verification system, currently a voluntary opt-in for non-government contractors, comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed stunning new statistics of workplace enforcement investigations.
# # #

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Amnesty vote this week



Neil Munro at Breitbart has the update on the delayed vote on amnesty:

House Speaker Paul Ryan cancelled the planned Friday vote on his amnesty bill, and will add some business-first and populist concessions to help win votes prior to a debate and vote next week [week of June 25]
. . .
Democrats are expected to unite against the guest-worker program and E-Verify, in part, because they want the 11 million resident illegals to become citizens and vote Democratic.

If the modified bill is passed by the House, the bipartisan cheap-labor caucus in the Senate is expected to strip out Ryan’s modest reductions in immigration numbers because companies want to maximize the inflow of foreign consumers, workers and renters.

Any amendment adding the E-Verify system also will be opposed by Senate Democrats and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because it would penalize roughly 8 million working illegal-migrants.

We’re looking at yet more wrangling amongst Uniparty members of Congress, both –R and –D, and their loyalties to – not their constituents - but their donor masters.

Cleveland Tea Party’s Ralph King posted this on his FB page:

Patriots - it is time to rise up and be loud!

We need to keep President Trump from making any deals on DACA and the Wall! We need to let him know we elected him to stand strong and we will stand with him on NO Deal for DREAMERs!

Besides the left we also have enemies within that would love President Trump to cave and give out backdoor amnesty for DREAMERs in exchange for Wall funding. We know the left is going to fight against it - but we must not forget forces in the Swamp that want the same thing!

The Open Border, illegal immigrant, low-wage loving GOP donor class, the US Chamber & Koch Brothers (American's for Prosperity) all who control Paul Ryan and the Establishment GOP would love and want amnesty for the DACA DREAMERs. They always have.

Exchanging Amnesty for DACA DREAMERs is a trap and sucker bet. Soon as the DREAMERs are allowed to vote they will vote Democrat across the board and there goes any continued funding for building the wall.

We cannot allow President Trump to be swayed by the Establishment Swampers!

We cannot allow President Trump to be fooled, swayed and/or duped like Ronald Reagan was with the Immigration Reform & Control ACt of 1986 (Simpson - Mazzoli Act)! In short - Reagan compromised on immigration and got screwed. We must learn from history!

We need to let President Trump know NO DACA Deal! Do NOT Trade the Wall funding for DACA Nightmares!

You can call or email the White House:
PHONE NUMBERS
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
White House contact page with email option here
# # #

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Update on Dreamers amnesty


It’s on, it’s off, and even if the House passed a DACA bill, President Trump would surely veto it. At any rate, here’s the latest by Mike Lillis And Juliegrace Brufke at The Hill:


GOP staves off immigration revolt — for now

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday tamped down a Republican insurrection on immigration — at least temporarily — with vows to “put pen to paper” on a compromise bill to protect immigrants known as "Dreamers."

During a two-hour, closed-door meeting in the basement of the Capitol, Ryan and other GOP leaders urged their troops not to endorse a procedural move to force votes on solutions for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program — known as a discharge petition — and instead give leaders more time to forge a compromise that can win 218 Republicans.

“The next step is to start putting pen to paper and get legislation to the floor," the Wisconsin Republican told reporters afterward.

The promise seems to have bought them some time in their search for an elusive DACA deal that can win the support of centrist immigration reformers and conservative hard-liners.

The new unofficial deadline appears to be June 12, leaving leadership just five days to craft legislation they believe can garner 218 GOP votes. Supporters of the petition are three signatures away from the number of members needed to bypass leadership and bring the “Queen of the Hill” rule to the floor.

Not good news, and it’s not much of a breather. The rest of The Hill report is here.
# # #


Tuesday, March 6, 2018

DACA / Dreamers: One step closer to the Supreme Court


photo credit:  koat.com


It’s March 5th and the Democrats are nowhere to be found on DACA. Gave them 6 months, they just don’t care. Where are they? We are ready to make a deal!

Update. Sundance reports on yesterday’s court ruling:

Federal Judge Rules Trump DACA Program Elimination Appropriate and Authorized – Full Judicial Ruling…


Federal judge Roger W Titus (Maryland) has ruled that President Trump acted appropriately and within his authority by announcing his intent to rescind the Obama-era executive order surrounding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). However, the Judge Titus order does not stop the previous blocks by activist judges currently working through the courts.

Eventually the state challenges to the recension of DACA will work through the appellate courts and arrive at the Supreme Court. It is likely SCOTUS will take the same position on DACA as they did on DAPA; overrule the state challenges and determine the program unconstitutional.

In the interim, President Trump had requested that congress take up the DACA issue as part of their responsibility to put forth an immigration reform bill. Democrats have abandoned legislative efforts to assist those impacted by DACA, and have instead chosen to make DACA a political issue for the 2018 mid-term election.

The full text of the ruling is at the Treehouse website here.  
# # #

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Keep the immigration enforcement/no amnesty calls flowing

art credit: beforeitsnews.com

From our friend Steve Salvi at Ohio Jobs & Justice Pac :
The backlash that Pres. Trump has gotten from immigration activists is moving him away from his "I sign anything" stance just days ago. Keep the immigration enforcement/no amnesty calls and social media posts flowing into the White House and US Congress! We're still far from stopping an amnesty let alone any end to chain migration, visa lottery, and funding for border protection.
So here are two recent CTP Action Alerts, re-posted:

#1   Take Action and call the White House

White House comment line: 202-456-1111
What to say: Ask the President to oppose any illegal alien DREAMER amnesty and to immediately end the unconstitutional DACA program.

Need talking points or background before you make your call? The Cleveland Tea Party blog citing Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) on DACA is here. Our blog citing Mark Steyn, with link to Ann Coulter, both on the priority of stopping illegal immigration, is here

This blog also linked to additional facts and background information about the DREAMers amnesty. Click here.

#2   DACA Amnesty Alert from NumbersUSA:

CAN YOU HELP STOP THIS? The bi-partisan Senate proposal is a DACA amnesty that
(1) continues Chain Migration
(2) rejects E-Verify
(3) gives green cards to TPS, and
(4) rewards parents of DACA with lifetime of work permits
In other words, the Senate proposal is the opposite of the House of Representatives DACA bill -- H.R. 4760 -- that NumbersUSA is endorsing.

Your senators need to know that their voters see the so-called balanced senate amnesty deal as a scary joke.

Phone Sen. Sherrod Brown at (202) 224-2315
Phone Sen. Rob Portman at (202) 224-3353

Pick one or more numbered items from above that you oppose and tell the Senators' staffers that is why they should make it clear that they want nothing to do with that "Durbin-Flake amnesty proposal" presented to the White House Thursday.
# # #


Monday, January 8, 2018

Action Alert Updated: No DACA No Dreamer Amnesty!


 Image credit: aldawood81.wordpress.com

Action Alert: No DACA  No Dreamer Amnesty!

UPDATE: Last week, callers were getting either a busy signal or a message that due to inclement weather, the office was closed and callers were requested to try again on the next business day. So this is a re-post for the week of Jan-08. 

Our friend Steve Salvi at Ohio Jobs & Justice Pac sent out this Action Alert:

Take Action this minute and call the White House:
White House comment line: 202-456-1111
What to say:
Ask the President to oppose any illegal alien DREAMER amnesty and to immediately end his unconstitutional DACA program.
Be polite but firm.

Need talking points or background before you make your call? The Cleveland Tea Party blog citing Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) on DACA is here. Our blog citing Mark Steyn, with link to Ann Coulter, both on the priority of stopping illegal immigration, is here. 


And yesterday, this blog linked to additional facts and background information about the DREAMers amnesty. Click here.

 # # #



Sunday, January 7, 2018

More info on DACA / DREAMers amnesty

art credit: beforeitsnews.com

Re: Amnesty for DREAMers, I’ll be re-posting the Action Alert from last week, starting tomorrow, Monday (DC weather prevented most calls from being answered last week). But over the weekend, several blogs, especially American Thinker, have reported on some facts and developments that relate to DACA.   

From American Thinker blogs: Are most of the DREAMers “valedictorians and Medal of Honor-level military heroes” or are they “functional illiterates” and “underachievers”? Thomas Lifson reports here. And in another blog, Lifson sums up the dilemma for the Democrats pushing for DREAMer amnesty, and asks whether Sen Chuck Schumer can risk a government shutdown:

President Trump engineered this dilemma for Schumer by rescinding Obama’s executive order creating the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, but giving Congress until March 2018 to come up with an alternative approach. That trap is now closing in on Schumer. He has 10 Democrat senators up for re-election in November in states that voted for Trump. Will Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, John Tester of Montana, and Claire McCaskill of Missouri be willing to tell their voters that they think amnesty for a group that includes MS 13 members is so important that the government ought to be shut down? Or, if President Trump and the GOP offer some form of amnesty that does not include chain migration (thereby rewarding the parents that illegally brought their children here) but does include border wall funding, are they willing to vote against it?

We are watching another negotiation-in-process.
# # #


Friday, January 5, 2018

Action Alert: No Dreamer Amnesty




 Image credit: aldawood81.wordpress.com

Action Alert: No DACA  No Dreamer Amnesty!

UPDATE: Callers are getting either a busy signal or a message that due to inclement weather, the office is closed and the caller is requested to try again on the next business day. I'll re-post this on Monday. 

Our friend Steve Salvi at Ohio Jobs & Justice Pac sent out this Action Alert:

Take Action this minute and call the White House:
White House comment line: 202-456-1111
What to say:
Ask the President to oppose any illegal alien DREAMER amnesty and to immediately end his unconstitutional DACA program.
Be polite but firm.

Need talking points or background before you make your call? The Cleveland Tea Party blog citing Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) on DACA is here. Our blog citing Mark Steyn, with link to Ann Coulter, both on the priority of stopping illegal immigration, is here. 


 # # #


Saturday, December 30, 2017

Rep. Dave Brat on immigration – THE issue in 2018

R McKee cartoon credit: teapartyamerica.blogspot.com

Rep. Dave Brat spoke to Breitbart about the immigration issues ahead of us in 2018. Brat (R-VA) is the one who beat Eric Cantor, then the House Majority Leader, in the primary – and his upset victory put the amnesty bill on hold. But amnesty is the creature that wouldn't die.

Brat discussed Congress’s considerations to codify the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy into federal law.

Congress must prioritize four repairs for the immigration system before contemplating any DACA-style amnesty negotiation, said Brat: 1. Ending chain migration and the visa lottery; 2. Mandating employer use of E-Verify; 3. Construction of a southern border wall; and 4. Interior enforcement of immigration law.

The four aforementioned “permanent fixes” must precede any DACA negotiation regarding amnesty for illegal immigrants, said Brat: “It shouldn’t be about trusting or hoping, the permanent part has to come first, you see in that place and then you negotiate later.”

The rest of the report is here.

# # #

Friday, December 15, 2017

Action Alert: Amnesty Again

image credit: americanmexorist.wordpress.com

RE: H-2B visas for 2018 and DACA amnesty
NumbersUSA sent this Alert out today:
NumbersUSA has learned that Congressional Leaders may include an H-2B visa increase in the year-end spending bill. The H-2B visa is the low-skilled guest worker program used to fill seasonal or temporary jobs in landscaping, food service, hospitality, and more. This program adds extra job competition for low-skilled American workers and adversely affects the wages for these jobs.
In past year's spending bills, Congress has exempted returning workers from the H-2B program, having the potential impact of quadrupling the number of these guest worker visas issued each year. For FY2017, Congress didn't exempt returning workers, but gave the Department of Homeland Security authority to issue visas beyond the annual cap. DHS ultimately increased the number of visas available by 15,000.
This new threat adds to the continuing threat of a DACA amnesty being part of the spending bill. Despite rhetoric from leaders of both Parties, Congress could still include this amnesty in the must-pass bill.
The ALERT:
Please call your U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators and tell them to oppose a DACA amnesty and an H-2B visa increase in the must-pass, year-end spending bill.
Sen. Sherrod Brown  ~  (202) 224-2315
Sen. Rob Portman  ~  (202) 224-3353
Rep. Marcia Fudge  ~  (202) 225-7032

If Marcia Fudge is not your Representative, call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 255-3121 to reach your Rep.

# # #

Friday, December 8, 2017

UPDATE on Amnesty (A "No Action Needed" Alert)


NumbersUSA sent out this newsletter earlier today:

Thirty-three Republican U.S. Representatives want to put young illegal aliens who received the unconstitutional DACA amnesty ahead of the interests of American workers, according to a letter they all signed addressed to House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this week.
The letter signers urged Speaker Ryan to immediately pass legislation that would grant a permanent amnesty to approximately 700,000 illegal aliens before the end of the year.
While they did mention their desire to improve border security and to fix the "broken immigration system", they offered no specifics. And they did not suggest that those fixes or any other immigration-related provisions be paired with DACA legislation.
We write in support of passing of a permanent legislative solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients before the end of the year. ...

We are compelled to act immediately because many DACA recipients are about to lose or have already lost their permits in the wake of the program's rescission. ...

We must pass legislation that protects DACA recipients from deportation and gives them the opportunity to apply for a more secured status in our country as soon as possible. Reaching across the aisle to protect DACA recipients before the holidays is the right thing to do.

The letter's signees -- led by Reps. Scott Taylor of Virginia and Dan Newhouse of Washington -- fail to address any of the unintended consequences that would result from passing amnesty-only legislation. They ignore interior enforcement, including a requirement for all employers to use E-Verify for all new hires, that would cut off the jobs magnet and significantly reduce future illegal immigration. An amnesty without E-Verify would only guarantee demands for future amnesties for the new illegal aliens who would be enticed to come.
The letter fails to address Chain Migration, which if not ended, would multiply the size the amnesty, adding millions more foreign workers to the labor market to compete with unemployed and underemployed American workers. Pres. Trump, himself, has said that an end to Chain Migration must be part of any DACA deal, but the letter signers instead refer to an outdated quote from White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that leaves out Chain Migration.
The full list of the letter signers is at the link above to the full letter, or click here. I am pleased to say that none of the signatories are from Ohio, so there’s no Action Alert today to get on the phone to them.

# # # .

Monday, December 4, 2017

More on DACA & Dreamers Amnesty

image credit: wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com

Last week, Cleveland Tea Party blogged on the DACA / Dreamers’ Amnesty bill, urging Ohio AG Mike DeWine (now running for Governor) to stay away from the coalition of state Attorneys General suing the Trump administration and instead support the existing rule of law. That blog included phone numbers for an Action Alert.

Hans von Spakovsky at The Daily Signal outlines the pitfalls and downsides of DACA (useful analysis if you are making any calls now or later this week and needing information to counter the usual liberal talking points).
DACA had no requirement of English fluency either. In fact, the original application requested applicants to answer whether the form had been “read” to the alien by a translator “in a language in which [the applicant is] fluent.”
The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that “perhaps 24 percent of the DACA-eligible population fall into the functionally illiterate category and another 46 percent have only ‘basic’ English ability.”
This is a far cry from the image of DACA beneficiaries as all children who don’t speak the language of—and know nothing about the culture of—their native countries.
In fact, it seems rather that a significant percentage of DACA beneficiaries may have serious limitations in their education, experience, and English fluency that negatively affected their ability to function in American society.
Providing amnesty to low-skilled, low-educated aliens with marginal English language ability would impose large fiscal costs on American taxpayers resulting from increased government payouts and benefits, and would be unfair to legal immigrants who obeyed the law to come here.

. . .

Providing amnesty would simply attract even more illegal immigration and would not solve the myriad of enforcement problems we have along our borders and in the interior of the country. Congress should concentrate on giving the federal government (with the assistance and help of state and local governments) the resources to enforce existing immigration laws to reduce the illegal alien population in the U.S. and stem entry into the country.
Until those goals are accomplished, it is premature to even consider any DACA-type bill.
Read more here.

# # #

Friday, December 1, 2017

Stop Mike DeWine from Suing President Trump over DACA


image credit: discussionist.com

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was an American immigration policy that allowed some individuals who entered the country as minors, and had either entered or remained in the country illegally, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and to be eligible for a work permit. As of 2017, approximately 800,000 individuals—referred to as Dreamers after the DREAM Act bill—were enrolled in the program created by DACA. The policy was established by the Obama administration in June 2012 and rescinded by the Trump administration in September 2017.

(from Ralph King, Cleveland Tea Party):
Call Mike DeWine and tell him to put Ohio citizens first - NO MORE Kate Steinle's!
 Mike DeWine: 800-282-0515
To date Ohio Attorney General and candidate for Governor Mike DeWine has REFUSED to come out and support President Trump's ending Obama's DACA program. We must STOP the soft-on-illegal immigration AG DeWine from joining AG's in 15 other states from suing President Trump!
Seeing that Mike DeWine has used Obama's original DACA ruling in allowing illegal immigrants to obtain an Ohio Driver License -- suing President Trump over DACA is not far off! Tell Mike DeWine to put Ohio citizens first and don't be like his buddy John Kasich!
Call Mike DeWine (800-282-0515) and tell him to put Ohio citizens first and respect the rule of law!
# # #

 

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Dreamers Amnesty

image credit: zazzle


Old news: Speaker Paul Ryan is pro-Amnesty. Yesterday, he had this to say:

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that it was “not in our nation’s interest” to expel the roughly 800,000 young people protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

William A. Jacobson has more on DACA / Dreamer amnesty at Legal Insurrection:

Trump is on the verge of turning a temporary Obama policy deferring enforcement against people here illegally into a full-blown amnesty, which may even go beyond people brought here as children.

Amnesty is the issue on which to oppose Trump, particularly if you support Trump generally. It will kill his presidency, something Schumer and Pelosi correctly diagnosed. Democrats want amnesty for all illegal immigrants and open borders, they’ll take 800,000 as the way to open the door. And they’ll use even the slightest sellout to seek to separate Trump from the people who elected him so as to defeat him on other issues.

Amnesty is the gateway drug to a failed Trump presidency.

NeverTrump Republican are particularly ecstatic on social media today. They want nothing more than for Trump to fail so they can proclaim “I told you so.” They thrive on being out of power. Schumer and Pelosi are NeverTrump Republicans’ best friends right now.

When Trump was elected, my reaction was that there was great opportunity, and I’d support him when his policies were good, and oppose bad policies. Amnesty is a bad policy. It goes to something more than the rule of law, it goes to whether we have a country.

Particularly if you support Trump and want his positive policies to succeed, you need to oppose an amnesty sellout.

NumbersUSA has posted several Action Alerts over the past few days. One recommended action is to let Speaker Paul Ryan know where you stand on DACA (Dreamers) amnesty:

We're hearing from a number of NumbersUSA activists that Speaker Ryan's voicemail is full. You can also contact his office by filling out the contact form on his website:

An accessible background essay on the case against Dreamer amnesty is on the American Thinker blog here

# # #

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Federal Judge Puts a Temporary Halt to Obama's Executive Action Amnesty for Illegals


Currently the Democrats in the U.S. Senate have shown they are willing to put protecting President Obama's Constitutionally questionable Executive Action on immigration over the national security of our country with their continuing to block a funding bill that would allow the Department of Homeland Security to stay open.

Yesterday a federal judge in Texas, Judge Andrew Hanen, hearing the lawsuit filed by 26 states against President Obama's Executive Action on immigration, issued an injunction to temporarily put a halt to this backdoor amnesty for illegals....

From Huff-Po --



A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday that will temporarily prevent the Obama administration from moving forward with its executive actions on immigration while a lawsuit against the president works its way through the courts.

The order, by Judge Andrew Hanen of the U.S. District Court in Brownsville, Texas, was an early stumble for the administration in what will likely be a long legal battle over whether President Barack Obama overstepped his constitutional authority with the wide-reaching executive actions on immigration he announced last November.

While the injunction does not pronounce Obama's actions illegal, it prevents the administration from implementing them until the court rules on their constitutionality. 

The federal government is expected to appeal the ruling.

The impact of the order will be felt almost immediately: One of Obama's actions is set to take effect on Feb. 18. On that day, the administration was set to begin accepting applications for an expanded version of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. DACA allows undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to stay in the country and work legally.

Now, newly eligible immigrants seeking to apply will be unable to do so while the lawsuit is pending. The administration will also be unable to move forward, for now, with a DACA-like program created under Obama's executive actions. That program confers similar relief to undocumented immigrants who are parents of legal permanent residents or of U.S. citizens.

Hanen, who was appointed to the court by former President George W. Bush, said in the ruling that the 26 states who brought the suit had standing to do so, and indicated he was sympathetic to their arguments.

The lawsuit against the executive actions was filed in December. Texas is leading the effort, joined by Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

According to the suit, Obama's executive actions violate the Constitution, and allowing them to move forward would cause "dramatic and irreparable injuries" to the plaintiff states.

"This lawsuit is not about immigration," the complaint reads. "It is about the rule of law, presidential power, and the structural limits of the U.S. Constitution."

The White House has said that Obama acted within his authority and that the policies will allow immigration enforcement agents to focus on deporting higher-priority offenders such as convicted criminals, recent border-crossers and those who pose national security threats. Attorney Generals from 12 states and the District of Columbia signed onto an amicus brief in support of Obama's actions, asking the judge not to issue an injunction.

"The truth is that the directives will substantially benefit states, will further the public interest, and are well within the President’s broad authority to enforce immigration law," the amicus brief reads.

Obama's executive actions are at the center of a congressional impasse over funding the Department of Homeland Security. The dispute could cause an agency shutdown once funding runs out on Feb. 27. Most Republicans say they will only support a DHS funding bill if it includes measures to stop Obama's immigration policies, but those measures are being blocked by Senate Democrats. Even if such a bill were to reach the president's desk, Obama has said he would veto it.

The district court ruling was considered a potential game-changer for the funding fight, since some Republicans might be convinced to support a DHS funding bill with no immigration measures if Obama's actions were not moving forward anyway.

UPDATE: 8:20 a.m. -- White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest put out a statement early Tuesday defending the executive actions, which he said "are consistent with the laws passed by Congress and decisions of the Supreme Court, as well as five decades of precedent by presidents of both parties who have used their authority to set priorities in enforcing our immigration laws."

"The Department of Justice, legal scholars, immigration experts, and the district court in Washington, D.C. have determined that the President’s actions are well within his legal authority," Earnest continued. "Top law enforcement officials, along with state and local leaders across the country, have emphasized that these policies will also benefit the economy and help keep communities safe. The district court’s decision wrongly prevents these lawful, commonsense policies from taking effect and the Department of Justice has indicated that it will appeal that decision."