Wednesday, July 6, 2011

ICE Memo Reveals new Obama Administration Plan to Incentivize Illegal Immigrants

By Tara Servatius

By now, the word is probably spreading like wildfire on the country's Spanish language radio stations that cater to illegal immigrants. Get pregnant, or conceive a child with your spouse or significant other, and you likely won't be deported.

Already have a child? Bring them here to America illegally. If you can prove you are the guardian of a minor, the government will likely take deportation off the table.

It's all part of what appears to be a new Obama Administration plan to incentivize illegal immigrants not just to come to America , but to stay, have and expand families, and put down roots that will hold them here.

Follow the news and you can see what's driving this. Democrats hoping to build a new, undefeatable super party by turning today's illegal aliens into tomorrow's voters are getting nervous. News reports have been popping up about illegal immigrants fleeing the country by the thousands as the economy sputters and states pass laws that make functioning here tougher for them.

Just as bad was the news of declining birth rates among the country's women driven by a sudden, large fall in Hispanic birth rates of nearly 10 percent, which the centers for Disease Control reported in March. It's another sign that illegals are both fleeing and slowing down their family expansion while here. (While obviously not all women who are Hispanic are illegal, most women who are illegal are Hispanic, a statistical reality not lost on the Democrats when it comes to birth stats.)

Given all this, panic has apparently set in among the liberal ruling class in Washington . In one fell swoop last week, the Obama Administration essentially suspended deportations of illegal immigrants who aren't dangerous felons.

It was widely reported last week that the Obama Administration used executive fiat to pass the DREAM ACT, which allows illegal immigrants brought here as children to stay. But the administration actually went much further than that. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo virtually decreed that it is now immigration enforcement policy in this country not to deport anyone except those with violent criminal histories. And even those with criminal histories may be eligible for a pass on deportation because their histories will be considered on a case by case basis, according to the memo.

In it, ICE Director John Morton suggests immigration enforcement officers and courts should exercise "prosecutorial discretion" when considering deportation arrests or proceedings if illegals meet any one of about two dozen criteria. Just about every illegal immigrant in the county would fall under at least one of the criteria.

For instance, the memo suggests that living here a long time should be considered as grounds for ending deportation proceedings. The memo incentivizes illegals to put down roots in their communities and rewards them for it. If they create community ties by joining a church or other groups, if they take a job from an American and develop a record of holding it, it can help them avoid deportation.

If they have other family members living here, illegal or not, they can also get a pass on deportation. Got a cousin who served in the military? Any family member will do. Military service of a family member is another way to avoid deportation and should be considered in deportation legal proceedings, according to the memo.

This is a shocking moment in American history that should have made headlines in every newspaper in the country. Never before has our government carved out such a large, protected class of people who are not subject to existing federal laws because they are favored by the political establishment.

In a press release this week, Chris Crane, President of the National ICE Council, which represents approximately 7,000 ICE agents and officers, said that ICE worked hand-in-hand with immigrants rights groups to develop the new enforcement policies and that they are a "law enforcement nightmare" that is "a means for every person here illegally to avoid arrest or detention."

"Any American concerned about immigration needs to brace themselves for what's coming," said Crane. "This is just one of many new ICE policies in queue aimed at stopping the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws in the United States . As officers we will never know who we can or cannot arrest."

The new policy of lawlessness for the privileged illegal immigrant criminal class was on full display last week as illegal immigrants openly took part in a Senate hearing on the DREAM Act with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the country's top immigration officer, sitting on front row.

As Human Events reported, Napolitano actually went so far as to tell the subcommittee that although those gathered were part of the population that is subject to deportation, there would be no enforcement of the law that morning. Earlier in the week, when asked in another hearing if a drunk driving conviction would keep an illegal alien from getting amnesty under the DREAM Act, she wouldn't answer the question.

The stakes couldn't be higher for desperate Americans competing with illegal immigrants for jobs. As the Associated Press reported in April, 40 percent of Americans with only a high school diploma are currently unemployed. In 2007, it was 10 percent. Just 30 percent have full time jobs. The rest are making do with part time work.

Not part of a favored political class, they apparently don't get any special breaks from Obama.

Tara Servatius is a radio talk show host. Follow her @TaraServatius and on Facebook.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2011/07/ice_memo_reveals_new_obama_administration_plan_to_incentivize_illegal_immigrants.html at July 06, 2011 - 05:25:22 PM CDT


Senator Introduces Homeland Security Secretary to ‘Hundreds’ of Illegals—at Capitol
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
By Penny Starr

durbin

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) at a June 28, 2011 hearing on the DREAM Act. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced a crowd of what he described as "hundreds" of illegal aliens to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and others attending a congressional hearing focusing on the DREAM Act, a bill Durbin is sponsoring that would give illegal aliens who came to the United States as minors a path to citizenship provided they meet certain conditions.

Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security is responsible for enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.

Durbin began Tuesday's hearing, held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, by personally introducing a number of the illegal aliens by name, citing elements of their personal histories. He then asked for all the illegal aliens in the room who would qualify for an amnesty under the Dream Act—and who thus call themselves “Dreamers”--to stand up so they could be recognized.

The majority of the people in the room then stood up—just behind Napolitano who was seated at the witness’s table in front of the senators on the subcommittee, whose job it is to oversee the administration’s enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.

“The young people who would be eligible for the DREAM Act call themselves Dreamers,” Durbin said in his introductory remarks. “And over the years I've met a lot of them, and hundreds of them are here today. I want to introduce a few of them.”

From among the “hundreds” of “Dreamers” attending the hearing, Durbin personally introduced only seven—each of them with an exemplary record of achievement.

One was Tolu Olubunmi, who Durbin said had been unable to use the chemical engineering degree she earned at a Virginia university because she is “undocumented.”

Tolu Olubunmi, please stand,” said Durbin. “Brought to the United States from Nigeria as a child, in 2002, she graduated from a prestigious university in Virginia with a degree in chemical engineering. It has been nine years since she graduated. She has yet to work a day as a chemical engineer because she is undocumented.”

Another was Monji Dolon, who has been unable to use the degree he earned from the University of North Carolina because he is “undocumented.”

“Monji Dolon, please stand up if you're here, Monji,” said Durbin. “His parents brought him here from Bangladesh in 1991 when he was 5 years old. In 2008, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . Now he is being courted by the technology industry. He has even been offered a job as a lead engineer for a start-up in Silicon Valley .

“He cannot accept the job offers he has received,” said Durbin, “because he is undocumented.”

At the end of his opening remarks, Durbin said: “There are many others here today that I would like to introduce, but I don't have the time to do it. Let me ask everyone here today who is a Dreamer, a DREAM Act student, to stand and be recognized.”

At this point, most of the audience in the hearing room stood up.

In her own introductory remarks, Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano said: “It simply doesn't make sense from a law enforcement perspective to expend limited law enforcement resources on young people who pose no threat to public safety, have grown up here and want to contribute to our country by serving in the military or going to college.”

"Yet as long as there are no legal options available for them to adjust their immigration status, they will be part of the population subject to immigration enforcement," said Napolitano.

The DREAM Act, she said, would establish “a rigorous process for those who enter the United States illegally as children, but allows them to obtain conditional permanent resident status by proving that they meet several strict requirements.”

Passage of the act, she said, “would completely eliminate them from the population that is subject to immigration enforcement.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/durbin-invites-throng-illegal-aliens-hea