Category: Immigration

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Rep Beth Van Duyne Defends Gov Abbott’s Immigrant Bussing Ploy

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Rep Beth Van Duyne(R-TX) on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures(04/17/22)

Texas Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne, a former Mayor of Irving who is considered to be a rising GOP star, appeared on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures show(04/17/22) to discuss the Biden administration’s recent lifting of Title 42 and other immigration issues related to the southern border. Rep Van Duyne defended Texas Gov Abbott’s controversial bussing of migrants caught crossing the southern border to Washington DC, saying this will make politicians in DC “see what it has been like in areas all around Texas.”

Rep Beth Van Duyne specifically told host Jason Chaffetz(video at 4:38):“In Texas we are seeing a huge influx of illegal immigrants, a huge influx of illegal drugs, of illegal weapons, and quite honestly the citizens of the state of Texas are sick of it, which is why I think you see some of the desperate measures that our Governor is taking to put them on buses and send them to Washington, DC since the Biden administration finds themselves too busy to actually be able to come back to the border, well maybe they need to see what its like in DC, what it has been like in areas all around Texas…I guarantee you if we see a mass immigration of illegal aliens, you are going to see those walls go back up around the Capitol to be able to protect the politicians, while we are leaving a wall down on our southern border and ignoring the effects it’s having on the rest of the nation.”

She went on to add that the number of illegal immigrants that have come through the southern border in the last 15 months is more than the combined population of three U.S. states, and that mixed in with these illegal immigrants, are people from “questionable countries” like Syria and Yemen–presumably terrorists.

For the record, illegal immigration has been and still remains a big problem in the United States, and the concerns Rep Van Duyne raised in her Fox News interview regarding the sheer numbers of migrants illegally crossing the southern border, and the prospect of some of them being criminals/terrorists are for the most part, valid concerns. The question here is whether Governor Abbott’s bussing ploy, and that’s exactly what it is–a ploy, is the best way to deal with this decades old, complex immigration problem? Reasonable people will agree that the bussing ploy employed by Gov Abbott, which essentially amounts to playing with the lives of desperate migrants, is no way to deal with a complex problem like immigration. The bussing ploy may play well among Fox News viewers eager to embarrass Democrats in Washington, but it will ultimately blow up in the face of Texas Republicans because it does zero to address the real illegal immigration problem at the southern border.

Bottom line folks, illegal immigration is a complex problem that calls for serious politicians to sit down and come up with concrete solutions to fix it. Texas Governor Abbott, and it appears Rep Van Duyne, are clearly not up to the task of coming up with a concrete solution to this complex problem, and have instead settled for ploys/gimmicks, or “stunts” as Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Beto O’Rourke calls them.

Maybe it’s time stuntman Abbott stepped aside, and allowed Gov O’Rourke to work with serious Texas Republicans, to come up with concrete ways of tackling the complex illegal immigration problem. Hopefully Texas voters will arrive at this conclusion this Fall.

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AOC And Fellow House Democrats Want Annual Refugee Cap Raised To 200K

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez(D-NY) appeared on MSNBC’s ReidOut show(08/26/2021) to discuss the ongoing evacuation crisis in Afghanistan, and the plight of Afghan refugees currently trickling into the United States. Rep Ocasio-Cortez told host Joy Reid that she’s joining hands with about 70 other House Democrats, in urging the Biden administration to raise the annual refugee cap from the paltry 15,000 under former President Trump, to at least 200,000.

Rep Ocasio-Cortez told host Joy Reid:“When it comes to the devastation that we have seen in Afghanistan, the United States plays a role. We have a responsibility, and in order to… make good on the role that we have played in this violence, we have a responsibility to make a home for the people whose lives have been upended by interventionist U.S. foreign policy. And so, as a result, I’m proud to have co-written a letter with Rep Barbara Lee[D-CA], to ask and urge the Biden administration to, as they set their refugee quota, to make it no less that 200,000 in the upcoming year.”

You’ll remember the Trump administration dropped the annual refugee cap from 85,000 under President Obama, way down to a paltry 15,000.

Bottom line folks, as Rep Ocasio-Cortez correctly stated on ReidOut, we have a moral obligation to fulfill the promises we made to Afghans, whose help we enlisted in the fight against terrorism, and whose lives have been upended by the current state of affairs under Taliban rule. The least we can do, is raise our paltry annual refugee cap to at least 200,000, so that we can admit into the United States, as many of our Afghan allies as is possible. It’s also the moral thing to do, and one sincerely hopes the Biden administration will grant Rep Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow House Democrats, their noble request.

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Gov Abbott Says He Never Responded To Sexual Abuse Of Migrants Under Trump Because Complaints Were Filed With Federal Agencies

Texas Governor Greg Abbott(R) appeared on Fox News Sunday (4/11/2021), where he was confronted with a direct question as to why he never spoke out about child sexual abuse at migrant shelters under the Trump administration, the same way he is now speaking out about the issue under President Biden, a Democrat. Gov Abbott responded with a very strange answer, suggesting that because the migrant sexual abuse complaints during the Trump administration were filed with federal agencies, he had no say in them–a totally ridiculous argument.

Host Chris Wallace:“Governor, there were thousands of complaints of sexual abuse at migrant shelters during the Trump years…we couldn’t find one instance of you complaining and calling that out when President Trump was President.”

Governor Abbott:“There are multiple differences between what happened in the Trump administration and what is happening now. First, the Trump administration remained in constant communication with me, and with my office, and let us know what was going on. Second, I saw reports about exactly what you are talking about, and saw that those reports were filed with federal agencies. The one that I talked about earlier this past week, were reports that were filed with state agencies–the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, and the Department of Protective and Child Services which is basically child protective services, and so we have a duty to respond to any complaint about child sexual abuse in Texas, as well as to investigate it, and that’s exactly what I did to make sure it was addressed.”

It also bears pointing out that the Texas agencies Governor Abbott now points to, as the reasons for his newfound concern about sexual abuse of migrant children, are packed with his political appointees(Republicans), who might have well ignored similar problems under the Trump administration for political reasons. All in all, as host Chris Wallace correctly pointed out, this is nothing but political theater by Governor Abbott, and has very little, if anything, to do with the plight of migrant children.

Bottom line folks, it’s time for politicians like Gov Abbott, to stop playing politics with the lives of migrant families, and finally come to the table for a real solution to the decades-old immigration problem. One good suggestion would be for Governor Abbott to step aside in 2022, to usher in a serious Texas Governor, who will work hand in hand with the Biden administration to tackle the immigration problem, instead of undermining the administration’s efforts for cheap political points. Abbott’s political game is embarrassingly transparent, and kudos to Fox News’ Chris Wallace for calling it out.

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Immigrant Basher Tomi Lahren Called Out On Her Family’s Immigration History

In case you missed it, conservative firebrand Tomi Lahren, best known for her hateful attacks on immigrants on social media and on her favorite hate outlet Fox News, was recently called out about her own family’s immigration history on the popular daytime TV show The View. Specifically, Lahren was called out about the hypocrisy in her insistence that immigration to the United States should be based on academic merit and that once admitted, immigrants must learn to speak english so as to assimilate to American culture.

Turns out the hosts of CBS’ The View got their hands on a report by a researcher who dug into Lahren’s family history and found out that Lahren’s great grandmother came to the U.S. from Germany and that after 40 years of living here, she still spoke german. This means by Lahren’s own standards, her great grandmother was a bad immigrant who failed to assimilate to the U.S., and deserved to be sent back to her native Germany.

Lahren was asked on Fox and Friends to address the immigration hypocrisy charge. To her credit, she correctly stated what she is being called out for. Lahren said, “What she [the researcher] was hoping to do was trying to call me a hypocrite for believing in merit-based immigration. Again she failed miserably….” However after correctly laying out the accusation against her, Lahren wentoff on a tangent, deliberately sidestepping the central charge–that by her own standards, her great grandma , who never learnt english, is no different than the non english speaking immigrants she now greatly despises. True to form, Lahren’s Fox News buddies never pressed her on the central charge, instead allowing her to wiggle her way out of it.

It would be interesting if the same researcher who dug into Lahren’s family history would go back and also look into whether the said german-speaking great grandma or other Lahren’s ancestors were ever beneficiaries of federal government programs she now wants Trump to use as a basis of denying people green cards. My guess is more Tomi Lahren immigration hypocrisy will come to light .

Bottomline folks, immigration has always been a complex issue in America because we are a country of immigrants. Tomi Lahren is the latest but certainly won’t be the last of Republicans who continue to advocate harsh immigration policies that punish and malign the current crop of immigrants for things their own ancestors did when they first arrived here. Surely Tomi Lahren, if it was okay for your great grandma to speak german after living here for 40 years, a reasonable argument can be made that she wasn’t a merit-based immigrant and that maybe you should not be advocating for policies that pin assimilation to the ability to speak/learn english.

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Ivanka Noncommittal On DHS’ Family Separation Policy

Ivanka Trump appeared today on CBS’ Face the Nation where host Margaret Brennan asked her a direct question as to whether she was “personally engaged” in ensuring migrant families that were separated as a result of DHS’ zero tolerance policy(aka family separation policy) are reunited in a timely manner. Ivanka surprisingly gave a very generalized, even noncommittal answer that left one with the impression that she has never been personally involved in the issue as many including Yours Truly, had assumed.

Host Margaret Brennan said, “You were vocal in your opposition to the family separation policy when it came to immigration in the U.S. border. You said that was a low point for you. We[CBS] went and looked and Homeland Security[DHS] says there are still around 900 children who remain separated from their families. Is that something you continue to remain engaged on when it comes to immigration?” Any reasonable person reading this would conclude that this was a specific question as to whether Ivanka was personally/actively involved with the migrant family reunifications and not a general question about Trump administration’s immigration policy. Ivanka however treated it as a general question and cleverly dodged dealing with the issue at hand–her specific role in resolving the family separation crisis.

Specifically Ivanka replied, “Well immigration is not part of my portfolio obviously. I think everyone should be engaged, and the full force of the U.S. government is committed to this effort, to border security, to protecting the most vulnerable. That includes those being trafficked across our border which this president has committed to countering and combating human trafficking in an incredibly comprehensive aggressive way. So the full United States government has been focused on this issue starting with the president.”

It also bears pointing out that Ivanka takes a lot of heat on social media related to the family separation policy every time she shares pictures of her children. One would think such sustained public pressure would have moved her by now into taking a more active role in resolving the migrant family separation crisis, or at least creating a public impression that she has.

Bottom line even though immigration is not in Ivanka’s portfolio as she correctly pointed out in her Face the Nation interview, the child separation policy in particular, is a topic she cannot be seen to be noncommittal about if she expects the public to take her seriously in her other women empowerment campaigns. Reasonable people will agree that as a champion for women empowerment, Ivanka has a duty to get involved and actively push her father’s administration towards a timely resolution of the migrant family separation crisis. Ivanka herself has expressed frustration with the child separation policy so she has no excuse for looking the other way. Simply put, do something about the migrant family separation crisis Ivanka, it is the moral thing to do.

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5,460 Migrant Children Separated From Parents By Trump Admin

In a shocking new piece, the Associated Press now places the tally of migrant children separated from their parents as a result of Trump’s harsh immigration policy at 5,460. This is almost double the initial 2,814 figure the government cited in court when U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw of the Southern District of California ordered an end to the cruel family separation policy in June 2018. In ordering the Trump administration to stop the family separation policy except in limited circumstances (unverifiable parent or threat to child safety), the federal judge also ordered the immediate reunification of the separated children with their families.

For the record, back in June 2018 when the federal judge ordered an end to the family separation policy, it was widely acknowledged both by immigration activists and government officials that the final tally would end up being higher than the 2,814 figure presented in court because the Trump administration was already separating migrant children from their parents even before they officially embarked on the family separation policy in the Spring of 2018.

It is fair to say that the new tally of 5,460 migrant children which almost doubles the initial 2,814 figure, is way more than anyone expected and further cements the conclusion already reached by many that Trump’s immigration policy is the most cruel and inhumane in U.S. history. The government separating one child from their family as a result of an immigration violation is already cruel and unusual punishment. When the government separates 5,400 children from their families as a result of immigration violations, that is sufficient grounds for a Human Rights violations probe by the United Nations, especially when according to the AP piece, as many as 71 children 2 years old or less(5 of them only months old) were also victims of this cruel immigration policy. Simply put folks, no immigration policy is worth ripping a baby less than a year old from their mother, and no decent human being would ever defend such a policy.

It is also worth pointing out that child health advocates repeatedly warned the Trump administration that separating children from their parents would cause severe and irreversible mental and psychological injuries to them. These warnings were made while the Trump administration was still conducting the family separation policy. Well, according to the AP piece, it appears that even after the federal judge ordered the an end to the family separation policy in June 2018, the Trump administration disregarded the judge’s order and proceeded to separate a further 1,090 children—an inexcusable abuse of power.

Bottom line folks, immigration has always been and still remains one of the most complex issues any U.S. administration faces. The reason for this is very simple–America remains a country of immigrants and issues related to immigration elicit sharp reactions from both sides of the political divide. The Trump administration is not the first, nor will it be the last one to enact an immigration policy that generates a lot of public outcry. One only hopes however that the Trump administration’s cruel and inhumane family separation policy is the last immigration policy any U.S. administration ever enacts in total disregard to the serious and irreversible health consequences it subjects young migrant children to. As Senator and Presidential candidate Kamala Harris (D-CA) famously says, “We are better than this.”

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DHS Harassing Pastor For Ministering To Migrants

Rev Kaji Dousa

In yet another troubling case of abuse of surveillance powers by the Department of Homeland Security, we now find out that the agency is harassing a Christian Pastor Rev Kaji Dousa, subjecting her to among other things heightened surveillance simply because she ministers to migrants and laments the cruel immigration policies of the Trump administration

The details of DHS’ troubling intimidation tactics against Rev Kaji Dousa are laid out in a federal lawsuit she filed on 7/8/2019 which we will definitely keep track of.

Yours Truly has repeatedly warned about how DHS has become nothing more than a political tool of the Trump administration used to wage war against those it perceives as anti-Trump and thus in their warped reasoning, anti-American. This is one of the gravest abuses of surveillance powers by DHS that is playing out in every major U.S. city today with seemingly no pushback from House Democrats or even the mainstream media.

Some of the worst surveillance abuses by DHS on people of color are occurring in Texas not only because it is a border state and home to a lot of immigrants, but also because the state falls under the 5th Circuit Court jurisdiction–a rightwing federal appeals court that has traditionally been indifferent to the plight of poor minorities. DHS is fully aware that whatever complaint is lodged against them in Texas for illegal surveillance will not attract the attention of the 5th Circuit Court or it’s associated district courts–a total travesty of justice. Consequently there is no impetus for DHS to stop targeting minorities with illegal surveillance.

Some civil rights groups like Color of Change and others have pushed back against illegal surveillance on minority activists by DHS and FBI with limited success. With every single passing day it is becoming clear that the problem of illegal surveillance for intimidation purposes has to be addressed by Congress and the mainstream media.

Bottom line, it should go without saying that DHS targeting people with illegal surveillance for engaging in conduct perfectly within their first amendment rights is patently unconstitutional. The bigger injustice is the continued silence by House Democrats and the mainstream media in the face of DHS’ troubling conduct. The U.S. Supreme Court should also start cracking the whip on the 5th Circuit Court for the strange indifference with which the court handles illegal surveillance claims against DHS by minorities.

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Trump Admin Deporting Children On Cancer Care

Brazilian Sirlen Costa consoles her critically ill 5 year old son who now faces deportation under new Trump admin policy of denying medical deferred action.

Just when you though the Trump administration could not possibly embark on an immigration policy more cruel that the child separation policy, we now find out courtesy of a shocking Boston Globe piece, that they plan to deport immigrants currently under medical care for diseases as serious as cancer.

America has traditionally granted immigrants faced with such severe medical needs deferral from deportation on humanitarian grounds. The reasoning is simple–deporting such migrants to their often poorer countries of origin while they are critically sick is for all intents and purposes handing them a death sentence. Turns out for Trump and the “evangelicals” who support him, effectively handing out death sentences to critically ill immigrants is justified because it is “good for the base”–sickening!!

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) said it best when describing this latest inhumane immigration policy by the Trump administration; “We have now reached the bottom — the most inhumane of all of Donald Trump’s policies.” Ronnie Millar, executive director of the Irish International Immigrant Center said “Just when you think the administration can’t sink any lower, it finds a new way to torture our immigrant children and families.”

Bottom line folks, as we saw with the evil child separation policy, even though Democrats have few options in terms of congressional power, grassroots immigration activism has proven to be very effective. Where, as here, a U.S. administration embarks on a cruel and inhumane policy of deporting children on cancer care, congressional Democrats must step out of their lofty perches in Washington and join immigration activists nationwide in pushing back on this and other inhumane policies of the Trump administration. Simply put, Dems must not let Trump hand out death sentences to immigrants with serious medical needs.

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1700 Migrant Children Were Separated Before “Zero Tolerance” Policy

A shocking NBC News piece says DHS separated more than 1700 migrant children before it officially began the “zero tolerance” policy in May 2018. This means the 1700 figure is over and above the official figures released by the Trump administration as to the number of migrant children separated from their parents as a result of the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy which according to this NBC News piece currently stands at 2800. Think about that, we are now finding out that the roughly 2800 migrant children that were separated from their parents as a result of DHS’ “zero tolerance” policy sparking justified national outrage, were just a drop in the bucket.

All these new revelations are coming out as a result of U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw’s order that the Trump administration identify all the migrant children that were separated before “zero tolerance” took effect and make efforts to reunite them with their families. Lee Gelent, the Lead ACLU lawyer in the case told NBC News, “The government has indicated that it has already found preliminary indications of 1700 more separated families, on top of the more than 3000 separated families already reported.”

Bottom line folks, it appears even with all the bombshell news reports about DHS’ evil family separation policy and the resultant national outrage, we are just now coming to terms with the breadth and scope of DHS’ troubling actions in this regard. It is vitally important that House Democrats and the mainstream media not drop their guard on this humanitarian issue of great national concern so that we not only get to the bottom of what happened here, but that bad actors are brought to justice. America owes this to the innocent migrant children.

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Missouri Court Denies Illegal Immigrant An English Translator Then Takes Away Her Biological Son

A shocking ABC News piece says a Missouri court has stripped an illegal immigrant from Guatemala of parental rights to her biological son, ruling in favor of the boy’s American adoptive parents. What’s even more shocking about this seemingly cruel Missouri court decision is that the Guatemalan mother, Encarnacion Bail Romero, who does not speak English, was denied an English translator throughout the court proceedings that resulted in her losing her biological son to the American adoptive parents. Encarnacion Bail Romero told ABC News, “Nobody could help me because I don’t speak English.” The Missouri court also stripped Romero of visitation rights to her biological son–a total travesty of justice.

According to the ABC News piece the only offense this Guatemalan mom seems to have committed is coming to the U.S. illegally. She was apparently arrested after an immigration raid at a chicken processing plant where she worked. So this was clearly someone who came to the the U.S. to work and provide a better future for her young son. After her arrest, her then 11 months old son was adopted by American parents Seth and Melinda Moser and stayed with them for the entire duration of her incarceration (5 years).

Bottom line, reasonable people will disagree as to whether coming to the U.S. illegally is sufficient cause for someone to lose custody of their Biological child. All reasonable people will agree however that it is a serious miscarriage of justice for a court to take away the parental rights of a non-English speaking illegal immigrant without even according them a translator. This is wrong and immoral!!

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