Sauce For The Goose; Good For A Gander

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) suggested that Hispanics have no reason to join the GOP in part because of their stance on birthright immigration - the GOP wants to eliminate it.



Well, not so fast Senator Reid. It looks like you were sponsoring legislation (S.1351
Title: Immigration Stabilization Act of 1993) that would have done just that (although it is unconstitutional since legislation can't trump the Constitution). That bill was cosponsored by James Exon (Democrat from Nebraska and former NE Governor), Lauch Faircloth (Republican from North Carolina), and Richard Shelby (originally an Alabama Democrat who switched to the GOP in 1994). The key language is here:

SEC. 1001. BASIS OF CITIZENSHIP CLARIFIED.

In the exercise of its powers under section 5 of the Fourteenth Article of Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Congress has determined and hereby declares that any person born after the date of enactment of this title to a mother who is neither a citizen of the United States nor admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident, and which person is a national or citizen of another country of which either of his or her natural parents is a national or citizen, or is entitled upon application to become a national or citizen of such country, shall be considered as born subject to the jurisdiction of that foreign country and not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States within the meaning of section 1 of such Article and shall therefore not be a citizen of the United States or of any State solely by reason of physical presence within the United States at the moment of birth.

The legislation went nowhere in 1993, but Reid is making hay over the fact that the GOP wants to do substantially the same thing in 2010.

To Reid, this is politics as usual. All the while, existing immigration laws are not enforced and businesses are not penalized for hiring illegal aliens. That too is business as usual.

Florida Attorney General Proposes Stricter Immigration Law

If you thought that the immigration debate now was a mess, Florida is wading in with its own version of Arizona's immigration law.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum on Wednesday proposed legislation that would toughen law enforcement measures against illegal immigrants in the melting-pot southeastern U.S. state.

The proposal by McCollum, who is engaged in a tough election race as a Republican candidate for the state governorship, was certain to thrust Florida into the sensitive immigration debate that has become a hot political issue ahead of mid-term Congressional elections on November 2.

"Florida will not be a sanctuary state for illegal aliens," McCollum, who was accompanied by state Representative Will Synder, said in a statement that also gave details of the proposed law.

The legislation would require law enforcement officials to check a suspected illegal immigrant's status in the course of a stop, or a violation of another law.

This goes beyond the existing situation in the state where officers are allowed to check for immigration status, but not required to.

Florida, especially its southern portion, is a major U.S. migration destination for nationals from the Caribbean and Latin America, making it a cultural and racial melting-pot.

The concerns over Arizona's laws are the same as for Florida. How do you avoid profiling all while enforcing immigration laws that have been on the federal books for decades.

Indeed, if you ask most people, they wouldn't have a problem with legal immigrants - those that entered the US legally and have obtained their proper work documents. The problem is with the illegal aliens who entered the country illegally or have overstayed their visas and should not be entitled to work in the US because of a lack of documentation.

That latter part goes to enforcing immigration laws against businesses that hire them at lower wages (and frequently off the books). Farming and other labor intensive businesses frequently use illegal aliens as labor because of the costs of hiring documented workers, yet they too must be held accountable for their actions.

Fix the Immigration Mess

When people call for a fix to the immigration system, they are really referring to the mess with illegal immigrants. These are people who entered the US illegally - without going through passport or border control or who have overstayed their visas and otherwise not complied with US immigration law.

There are believed to be 15 million people in the US illegally. That's a considerable amount, and many of the plans bandied about rely on some form of amnesty.

I can't understand why we as a nation would reward people who have broken the US immigration law get some manner of advantage over those people who came to the US legally and conformed to US law.

President Obama knows the system is broken. Republicans like Gov. Chris Christie know the system is broken. That's about it when it comes to consensus.

The problem is what to do about it.

Speaking to lawmakers, academics, and community leaders gathered at American University, Obama touted his plan by stressing the immeasurable contributions that immigrants have made to the United States, and the frequent discrimination they faced throughout history. "Immigrants have always helped to build and defend this country," Obama said.

Obama also put the onus on Republicans to pass a comprehensive immigration law, saying Congress cannot pass it without GOP votes. "That is the political and mathematical reality," he said.

While Obama's plan would include a path to citizenship as well as tighter borders, its chances for passage in Congress don't appear to be great.

Congressional Republicans, and some Democrats, said the government should focus on better law enforcement better moving on to such things as guest worker programs. In the meantime, lawmakers who are already grappling with new Wall Street regulations and an energy bill are also looking at congressional elections only four months from tomorrow.

Legal immigrants have helped build and defend the country - that's not and hasn't been the problem confronting the country these days. It's about the illegal immigrants. It's about border control and enforcing the laws already on the books. Throwing more laws on the books and poor/inadequate enforcement means that the problem continues.

Some kind of pathway for making illegal immigrants status legal is going to happen, but how to make that happen while giving preference to those who legally came to the US and are seeking citizenship through the current channels should be the priority.

To me, amnesty is a non starter because it disincentivizes people coming to the US via legal channels. Why bother going through the hoops if you can cross the border, start up a life here and a few years down the road be given the rights of citizenship or legal resident.

I'd support some kind of fee/penalty, application, and pathway to legal residency - from which citizenship can then follow (if following all the guidelines during that legal residency period). Those who do not pay the fees/penalties, do not fulfill the terms of the application and then the legal residency requirements should be deported (as is and should be current immigration law practice).

The path should give priority to legal immigrants, and not short circuit that approach for illegal aliens.

Gov. Paterson's Plan To Aid Illegal Aliens

There really isn't any other way to put it, but that's exactly what Governor David Paterson wants to do if his proposal gets implemented. He wants to make it easier for illegal aliens to avoid deportation if they've been imprisoned on other criminal charges.

“Some of our immigration laws, particularly with respect to deportation, are embarrassingly and wrongly inflexible,” Mr. Paterson said in a speech on Monday at an annual gathering of the state’s top judges. “In New York we believe in renewal,” he added. “In New York, we believe in rehabilitation.”

Mr. Paterson is establishing a special five-member state panel to review the cases; while few such cases are currently pending, the administration expects an influx of hundreds of new pardon applications by the end of the year.

The move thrusts the governor into the middle of the country’s immigration debate and could give new hope to legal immigrants facing deportation.

Mr. Paterson said the new policy was in the works weeks before Arizona enacted a law late last month to give the police there broad authority to question people about their immigration status. It was spurred in part by his pardon in March of Qing Hong Wu, a 29-year-old information technology executive who The New York Times reported had been threatened with deportation because he participated in a series of muggings as a 15-year-old. He had not lived in his native China since he was 5.

“We just feel that some of these charges are very minor in nature and some of these conversations go back beyond a decade for people who’ve demonstrated that they’ve lived productive lives in the interim,” Mr. Paterson said. “We’re separating these cases from ones where there are egregious crimes.”

Let's get something straight. The people who are illegal aliens are already breaking the law by the very act of being in the country without proper paperwork. Paterson now wants to provide the means for these people to stay in the country even if they've been found guilty of other criminal acts, claiming that the federal immigration law is too harsh.

Paterson appears to be staking out ground that is diametrically opposite to that found in the Arizona immigration debate, which many people think is too harsh and opens the door to profiling. Paterson wants to let people who are convicted of other crimes to stay in the US despite being subject to proper deportation under federal law.

Moreover, it appears that Gov. Paterson's proposals are clearly preempted by federal law, which takes precedents. For the same reasons that many people think that the Arizona law could be struck down for impinging on federal supremacy in the area of immigration (even though the federal government has abdicated or loosely enforced those laws), the New York proposal actually crosses that line and then some.

The governor should really stick to trying to get the month-late budget passed instead of trying to insert himself into the immigration debate with an asinine proposal.

Democrats Propose Immigration Overhaul Focusing On Border Control

The illegal immigration problem facing the country has been going on for decades, and border control has been a massive failure. The feds pretty much abdicated on their responsibilities, but that doesn't mean that AZ has the right to do what it's done (and there are already two voter initiatives being considered that would delay implementation to at least after the 2010 election if not until after 2012, if at all, to say nothing of lawsuits being filed by various cities in AZ over the costs to comply).

That you now have Democrats scrambling to do something about immigration, and are now touting border control as the top priority, is pretty remarkable - and hilarious given their reluctance to do anything serious when the GOP raised the issue.

But Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said Arizona's move last week taking immigration enforcement into its own hands left Congress no choice but to act.

"It's worth quoting what the Arizona association of the chiefs of police have said, "we strongly urge the U.S. Congress to immediately initiate the necessary steps to begin the process of comprehensively addressing the immigration issue, to provide solutions that are fair, logical and equitable."

In their proposal, Democrats acknowledge widespread concern about violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and the need to get things under control.

"Our framework is fix the border first, but don't just fix the border," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who succeeded the late Ted Kennedy as chairman of the subcommittee dealing with immigration laws.

Schumer is now the leading advocate for a broad rewrite of those laws. The centerpiece of his proposal is making sure all employees are in the U.S. legally, and to do that, it calls for a biometric version of a familiar document.

"Our framework creates a fraud-proof, hi-tech version of the Social Security card every one of us has," Schumer said. "New hires must show this card to their employers who will swipe the cards through a machine to confirm their identity and immigration status."

A national ID wont solve the matter - as most states now have to comply with federal requirements for strong ID protections. The problem is that once someone gets into the country illegally, it's a matter of time before they can obtain illegal ID that could pass muster.

Hence, the need is to deal with controlling the border, and then gradually rolling back the number of illegal aliens (which by their very label are here illegally - and efforts to mask that very nature by calling them undocumented aliens ignores that these people are breaking federal immigration law every day they're here). Now, that could mean a mix of an amnesty or deportations, but also stronger border enforcement and enforcement of existing employment laws will provide a disincentive for illegals to enter the US in the first place. It's stronger employment enforcement that has the potential to do the most - although it will also mean an increase in costs of doing business since one of the reasons that illegals are hired is because they're willing to work off the books, for less than minimum wage, and do menial labor that folks aren't necessarily willing to do.

None of this should affect legal immigration except as to expand it to allow more legal immigration - permanent visas, green cards, and naturalization. We should make it easier for others to come to the US legally, while discouraging illegal aliens.

Whether the Democrat proposal fits the bill remains to be seen, but it's nice to see that they're now pushing the same kind of border control rhetoric that the GOP was doing just a few short months ago.

On its face, the Democrat proposal is something that the GOP should be able to work with and pass, even if it means giving the Democrats a political victory. As always, the politics will make working on this issue more difficult than it need be given that Democrats are even focusing on the border control issue. The GOP has been pushing for stronger border control for years, and for them to end up opposing the measure because it might deign the Democrats a political advantage would be political suicide. It is in their (and our national interest) to get this done.

Prosecutors Seeking Life Sentence In Kosher Slaughterhouse Case

Not only is Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin standing convicted of defrauding a bank out of $26 million, but he was alleged to have hired illegal aliens in his business. Prosecutors are hoping to use the latter claims in pushing for a life sentence.

Sholom Rubashkin was never convicted of immigration violations and his attorneys dispute the allegations, but they still could be an issue at his sentencing hearing Wednesday on 86 financial fraud charges.

Prosecutors are seeking a life term for Rubashkin, who was found guilty in November 2009 of creating fake invoices to show a lender that the Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking plant in Postville, in northeastern Iowa, had more money flowing in than it did. The charges followed a May 2008 immigration raid at the plant, where 389 workers were arrested.

In court documents defending their sentencing recommendation, prosecutors said the Social Security Administration had warned Rubashkin he was employing hundreds of illegal immigrants three years before the raid but that he did everything he could "to maintain his illegal underpaid workforce."

Defense attorneys argued that Rubashkin didn't have the authority to hire or fire the workers.

Former assistant U.S. Attorney William Mateja said U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade could factor the immigration charges into her sentencing decision under a legal phrase called "other relevant conduct." Instead of trying and proving the charges against Rubashkin, Mateja said prosecutors need to meet a lower bar: a preponderance of evidence.

Interestingly, several other prosecutors have written letters calling on a far more lenient sentence and that a life sentence is out of line with the criminal conduct - white collar crime.

The shutdown of Agriprocessors (it declared bankruptcy in November 2008) caused a price spike among kosher meat products due to the fact that Rubashkin was a major national supplier.

Has Arizona Crossed the Line With Latest Immigration Bill?

Legal experts seem to think that Arizona's new immigration enforcement act (AZ SB1070, with the full text here) may survive a legal challenge because it operates in an area of law known as concurrent enforcement between the federal primacy on immigration and border control and state enforcement.

The tests will come soon enough. Civil rights organizations are already planning their suits, said Lucas Guttentag, director of the immigrants’ rights project of the American Civil Liberties Union. The law, Mr. Guttentag said, “will increase racial profiling and discrimination against Latinos and anyone who might appear to be an immigrant.”

President Obama criticized Arizona’s bill last week before it was signed, calling for a comprehensive immigration overhaul as an alternative to such “misguided” efforts. He also asked the Department of Justice to “examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation.”

On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the department was considering several options, including a federal court challenge.

The major issue in those challenges will be whether federal law should trump state action.

“The closer the law comes to the traditional federal role,” said Juliet P. Stumpf, an associate professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School, “the more likely it is that the state law will be considered to be trespassing on the federal government’s domain.”

The new law, Professor Stumpf added, “sits right on that thin line of pure state criminal law and federally controlled immigration law.”

The courts have rebuffed state efforts through pre-emption in the past. Californians passed a voter initiative in 1994 that denied social benefits to illegal immigrants; a federal district court judge struck down the law in 1997 and the state later dropped its appeal.

Arizona has already won one challenge to a different immigration bill: the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld a 2007 law that penalizes businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Federal law is not settled, however, and a similar law in Hazleton, Pa., was struck down by a federal judge.

Even if the new law is constitutionally acceptable as written, the challenge will be on whether it will be constitutional as applied. On this latter point, I can see real problems with it.

Meanwhile, there are some serious questions that ought to be raised about the background of Kris Kobach, who was quoted in the New York Times article. Apparently the Times didn't do a thorough background check on Kobach and his ties to white supremacist groups and nativists via a group he represents, FAIR, which raises questions about his intentions and the true motivations for the Arizona bill.

New Jersey Lame Duck Legislature's Last Stand

A bill allowing the distribution of medical marijuana at state-run dispensaries passed the Assembly today and it is likely to be passed by the State Senate with Gov. Corzine signing the measure as he leaves Trenton on January 19. It passed by an overwhelming majority - 48-14. Users would not be able to grow their own marijuana, which is a departure from the California medical marijuana law.

The Assembly and Senate versions need to be reconciled, but that appears to be a minor issue and New Jersey can expect to be the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana.

It's expected that incoming Gov. Chris Christie would be amenable to the medical marijuana provisions.

New Jersey considers a medical marijuana law

Meanwhile, the vote on giving illegal aliens in-state tuition is pretty much a dead issue.

The legislature's session ends today, so any legislation that isn't signed into law is effectively killed until it gets reintroduced in the new session.

UPDATE:
The legislature passed the medical marijuana bill, and all it needs is Corzine's signature before Tuesday and New Jersey will be the first in the region to legalize medical marijuana.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign it into law before leaving office next Tuesday. Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie, speaking at a press conference on Monday before the vote, reiterated his support for legalizing the medical use of marijuana as long as the final bill contained safeguards to ensure that it did not end up encouraging the recreational use of the drug.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a Democrat from Princeton, said the New Jersey law would be the most restrictive in the nation because it would only permit doctors to prescribe it for a list of serious chronic illnesses. The legislation would also forbid patients from growing their own marijuana and using it in public, and it would regulate the drug under the strict conditions used to track the distribution of medically prescribed opiates like Oxycontin and morphine.

“I truly believe this will become a model for other states because it balances the compassionate use of medical marijuana while limiting the number of ailments that a physician can prescribe it for,” said Mr. Gusciora, who sponsored the bill.

New Jersey Legislature To Vote On Illegal Alien Tuition Bill; Gay Marriage Bills: UPDATE: Gay Marriage Bill Defeated

It's a busy week in Trenton as the state legislature is looking to send two of the more controversial legislation pending to Gov. Jon Corzine before he heads into the sunset in less than two weeks and his successor is unlikely to sign them.

The first bill is a measure to give illegal aliens the right to attend the state university system in New Jersey at the in-state tuition rate.

The bill would benefit an estimated 2,000 illegal immigrants, those who support the measure say. Those advocates add that those immigrants sometimes must forego college because of their inability to pay out-of-state rates. Those rates are often twice as high as in-state tuition, which is about $11,000 for a four-year public university.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Cid Wilson, vice chairman of the Board of Trustees at Bergen Community College, and a vocal proponent of the measure. “If it passes, I think it will be very close. We need to remind the legislators that this is not an immigration bill; it’s an education bill.”

Under the proposed measure, illegal immigrants could attend college at in-state tuition rates if they show they have gone to a high school in the state for at least three years, received a high diploma or its equivalent from a state school and provide an affidavit saying that they have applied to immigration authorities to legalize their status.

“There are no special privileges here [for undocumented immigrants],” said Charles “Shai” Goldstein, executive director of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, a major proponent of the campaign in support the bills. “The bill has been redrafted over the years to make it as strict as possible.”

The bill would give illegal aliens rights that citizens of other states would not be entitled to - the right to in-state tuition. It's a giveaway that the state simply cannot afford to do. Out-of-state tuition costs double what New Jersey residents pay. That's a benefit that inures to illegal aliens that out-of-state citizens could only wish for.

Corzine has said that he'd sign the measure; Christie would oppose.

Meanwhile, the contentious gay marriage bill is supposed to get a vote today in the State Senate. It has been delayed for some time after proponents realized that they lacked the votes. They still do by the looks of it. Proponents are still eight votes short of having the necessary 21 votes to approve the gay marriage proposal. Only 13 Senators have publicly announced support for the bill.

UPDATE:
The gay marriage bill was defeated 20-14 with three abstentions. The vote cut across party lines, as this list details:

YES (14)

Sen. Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic)
Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex)
Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex),
Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union), co-sponsor
Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex)
Sen. Teresa M. Ruiz (D-Essex)
Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham (D-Hudson)
Sen. Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson)
Sen. Nia H. Gill (D-Essex)
Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), co-sponsor
Sen. Robert M. Gordon (D-Bergen)
Sen. Nicholas P. Scutari (D-Union)
Sen. Joseph F.Vitale (D-Middlesex)
Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer)

NO (20)

Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May)
Sen. Ronald L. Rice (D- Essex)
Sen. John A. Girgenti (D-Passaic
Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson) .
Sen. Fred H. Madden (D-Gloucester)
Sen. Shirley K. Turner (D-Mercer)
Sen. Robert W. Singer (R-Ocean)
Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris)
Sen. Christopher Bateman, (R-Somerset)
Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (R -Union)
Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth )
Sen. Joseph M. Kyrillos (R-Monmouth)
Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen)
Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Hunterdon)
Sen. Kevin J. O'Toole (R-Essex)
Sen. Philip E. Haines (R-Burlington)
Sen. Christopher J. Connors (R-Ocean)
Sen. Anthony R. Bucco (R-Morris)
Sen. Steven V. Oroho (R-Sussex)
Sen. Sean T. Kean (R-Monmouth)

ABSTENTIONS (3)

Sen. Paul A. Sarlo (D-Bergen)
Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney (D-Gloucester)
Sen. James Beach (D-Camden)

DID NOT ATTEND SESSION (2)

Sen. Diane B. Allen (R-Burlington)
Sen. Andrew Ciesla (R-Ocean)

UPDATE:
The vote on in-state tuition for illegal aliens was delayed.

NJ In Fiscal Crisis; Corzine Set To Extend In-State Tuition to Illegal Aliens

This is the obscene political world in which these open borders Democrats live in. New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine had a panel look into the illegal alien issue, and has concluded that the way to deal with them is to bury their head in the sand and integrate illegal aliens into the towns and cities, including extending these illegal aliens the right to obtain higher education at state schools at the in-state tuition rates.

They're more than willing to tax everyone for their grandiose plans that never seem to live up to their expectations (and would succeed but for the lack of funds), and now are more than willing to grant in-state tuition to illegal aliens at a time when they're pushing tax hikes and other tax and spend programs.

Stop this insanity. These are illegal aliens who would be getting what amounts to a $10,000 subsidy per year over what out-of-state tuition would be at state schools. A New York resident seeking to go to Rutgers couldn't get the in-state tuition rate, but an illegal alien could. United States citizens from outside New Jersey couldn't get the deal that Corzine is offering illegal aliens.

That's money that the state can't afford to give away to its own residents, let alone illegal aliens.

Then, there's the whole issue of extending illegal aliens the privilege of drivers licenses, which are a foundation document on which identity theft can be based and which criminal enterprises will take advantage of. In fact, one of the little known facts about 9/11 is that several of the hijackers on 9/11 obtained fraudulent drivers licenses from state motor vehicles agencies, enabling them to board the airliners that fateful morning. The DHS is not going to sit idly by as New Jersey tries to circumvent the protections put in place after 9/11 to prevent a repeat event, but that's not stopping Corzine's committee from proposing just that.

Poison Pill Provision in S-CHIP Legislation?

Nothing surprises me at this moment, but Mark Levin had been pointing this out for some time. Democrats were going to push their socialist agenda along many fronts, including nationalized health care. They're including some of those proposals in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) legislation, which is supposed to be for children who need health care. Speaker Pelosi says that they're extending coverage to another 4 million children.

What's wrong with that? Well, it does so much more than that.

The only thing is that the Democrats have redefined who poor people are, who children are, and who is eligible for assistance. Quite a few Republicans who have voted on prior versions are going along with this nonsense, which just goes to show that fiscal responsibility is a thing of the past for Congress and our government in general.

The bill redefines categories of eligibility and tortures the definitions of poverty and children. Would you consider someone to be poor if they make under $80,000 a year? That's what the bill would do, based on eligibility of 200% of the poverty line. More egregiously, the bill would extend the benefits to illegal aliens, who pay no income taxes and yet are to derive benefits?

The full markup of the new bill, H.R. 2, hasn't been made available. Democrats want to act before the bill gets a proper examination, because they want to have it ready for President Obama to sign into law as quickly as possible.

The cost? They're talking about $35 billion, but the reality is that no one knows because they're only getting started raiding the Treasury. The program is supposed to be funded by a 61 cent increase in the federal cigarette tax, but it's curious how revenues generated by cigarette taxes keep falling short, so it would be interesting to see where the money will really come from to fund this program.

New Jersey Opening Door To Illegal Aliens

Once again, the media distorts an immigration related issue. Here, New Jersey is contemplating extending driving privileges to illegal aliens, but the Bergen Record calls them migrants or undocumented immigrants. That's just the start, as the meat and bones of the article should raise hackles over what rights and privileges are being considered for individuals who entered the US illegally:

The governor's immigration advisory panel this week is expected to consider recommendations that the state allow undocumented immigrants to drive with a special "driver privilege card" and to attend college at in-state tuition rates, two Hispanic leaders say.

The recommendations are among several from subcommittees of Governor Corzine's Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigrant Policy, which will meet Tuesday in New Brunswick. The Hispanic leaders, who are not panel members, said that New Jersey Public Advocate Ron Chen told them at a meeting last month that the recommendations would be included in the panel's report to Corzine.

The "driving privilege card" would allow undocumented immigrants, who are forbidden from obtaining driving licenses in New Jersey, to drive legally. But it would not have the same identification function of a standard driver's license. Many undocumented immigrant students forgo higher education, which often requires them to pay higher, out-of-state tuition.

"Those are the big issues, as far as many leaders of ethnic communities are concerned," said Daniel Santo-Pietro, executive director of the Hispanic Directors Association in New Brunswick, an umbrella group. Santo-Pietro says he has been in regular contact with Chen's staff and with panel members. Laureana Organ of Montvale, who attended the meeting with Chen as a representative of the Dominican American Council, confirmed Santo-Pietro's account of the meeting.

Why exactly is the state suddenly concerned with extending in-state tuition rates to non-citizens who entered the US illegally?

If these proposals are adopted, New Jersey would be treating illegal aliens better than the citizens of other US states. Out of state tuition is nearly $10,000 a year more than in-state tuition. If Trenton agrees to this, they'll be subsidizing illegal aliens to the tune of $10,000 per year who seek education at Rutgers. Why would any legal resident of another state want to go to Rutgers knowing that if they were an illegal alien that they'd be paying the in-state rate? They wouldn't, or they'd try to claim that they too are illegal aliens in order to pay the in-state rate.

This is also a spectacularly insane way to spend the state's money as a subsidy for illegal aliens.

Then, there's the whole issue of drivers' licenses. Terrorists can and have gamed the system to obtain drivers' licenses, which are gateway documents and enable the holder to obtain other documents - essentially establishing new identities.

Illegal aliens are in the country illegally and states should not be going out of their way to extend them still more rights and privileges at a time when these states can ill afford to pay for services to lawful taxpayers.

Agriprocessors Seeks Bankruptcy Protection

One of the nation's largest kosher meat producers is seeking Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection. Agriprocessors, which produces kosher meat under the Aaron Rubashkin label and is sold at supermarkets nationally such as Albertson’s, Kroger, Shop Rite, Wal-Mart, Trader Joe’s, Ralph’s, Pathmark, and H.E. Butt, was the focus of an immigration and customs investigation that revealed 300 workers were illegal aliens. There were also allegations of child labor law violations, which were referred to the state's attorney general.

In its filing, the company blamed the May 12 raid:

The company says it owes between 200 and 999 creditors $50 million to $100 million, according to records filed in U.S. District Court. Agriprocessors lists assets of $100 million to $500 million.

The company's board of directors met Tuesday and decided to file for bankruptcy a day before a scheduled hearing on a lawsuit from the company's largest lender, First Bank of St. Louis.

First Bank alleged in a federal lawsuit Friday that Agriprocessors defaulted on a $35 million loan and overstated how much money it had available. The bank is seeking to foreclose on the Postville plant and appoint a third party to oversee the company's assets.

An affidavit filed with the bankruptcy petition says the bankruptcy will temporarily halt the lawsuit.

Plant owner Abraham Rubashkin stated in the affidavit that before the raid, the plant had annual revenue of more than $300 million and employed about 1,000 people. After arrests of about 389 people, the plant is down to 250 to 300 employees, Rubashkin said in the document.

Among the company's largest creditors are Jacobson Staffing Corp.on, of Des Moines, which Agriprocessors owes $845,000. The company owes $806,970 to Weyerhaeuser Paper Co. of Chicago.

This will have a significant effect on kosher food availability in some parts of the country and may lead to higher prices for kosher meat.

New Jersey Imam Facing Deportation

Mohammad Qatanani is one of the most prominent Muslim leaders in New Jersey and was singled out to lead the Legislature in the opening prayer back in 2005. Of course, his background is far more complicated than that. He's alleged to have lied on his Green Card application and faces deportation under federal law.

Qatanani, his wife and three children are facing deportation for his alleged failure to disclose on his green card application a 1993 arrest by Israeli authorities. Israeli military officials told the Associated Press he confessed to being a member of Hamas, a known terrorist organization. Qatanani denies the charge.

Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will begin presenting the case before an immigration judge in Newark on Thursday.

Qatanani's case will be decided by Judge Alberto J. Riefkohl of the Executive Office of Immigration Review, an administrative court system within the U.S. Department of Justice.

The hearing is expected to last three days. Riefkohl can issue an order of deportation or grant either legal permanent residency or a green card to the imam, his wife and three foreign-born children. The couple also have three children who are U.S. citizens.

First of all, note that the link to the Star Ledger's blog says the following: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/keep_the_imam_in_america.html What a way to maintain an objective stance on the story. Stay classy Star Ledger.

It's not that his arrest by Israel requires the deportation, but that he did not disclose the arrest on his Green Card application. By lying on his application, he committed a crime and should be deported under federal law. There's no excuse for this, especially since it's alleged that Qatanani tried to hide his ties to the terrorist group Hamas.

Bordering on Craziness

As you are aware, I recently visited Arizona for a week. Part of the time, we were in the Tucson area, and did a day trip to the town of Tubac. It's home to a boatload of art galleries and shops about 50 miles South of Tucson and 22 miles North of the border town of Nogales, Arizona. The art galleries were quite interesting, but that isn't what piqued my interest.

Several miles north of Tubac, we came across a Border Patrol checkpoint where they stopped vehicles heading North along I-19. It looks like it's a semi-permanent affair as they have speed bumps in the area along with a trailer and signage that suggests that they are regularly checking vehicles going through the area.

Mrs. Lawhawk suggests that they are probably doing those checks in that area because they figure that they might catch illegal aliens who made it past the border and had let down their guard.

That's certainly possible, but one has to wonder why the Border Patrol and Congress aren't doing more to secure our borders at our borders. It's a sentiment that was echoed at several of the galleries, where signs made that point clear.

At a similar checkpoint outside San Diego, more than 60 illegals were found crammed into a big rig.

This comes at a time when Sen. John McCain, who represents Arizona is busy pandering to the open borders crowd and claiming to try to woo Hispanics. He clearly doesn't get it. He wants people to think that those who oppose amnesty and open borders are racist or somehow opposed to immigration. McCain has it all wrong. We're opposed to illegal immigration and giving citizenship to those that do not deserve it because they clearly chose the path of least resistance and violated federal law to enter the country illegally. The rule of law is there for a reason, and amnesty stands it on its head.

McCain appears to be out of touch with many of his own constituents, but that's not all that surprising since he's in a pandering mood. Of course, such pandering puts Americans at risk because insecure borders are open borders.

Yet Another Reason To Dislike McCain

As my readers know, I detest GOPer and Arizona Senator John McCain and can't wait to see his presidential campaign go down in flames. This is yet another reason I do not trust him. One campaign official can be a mistake. Two could be a coincidence. But when you start loading up your campaign with advisors who are open borders and amnesty enthusiasts, it's a seriously disturbing trend.

And it's one that is even more enlightening considering that McCain has said that if he were elected President, he'd sign into law his McCain-Kennedy amnesty immigration plan.

Border Agent Murdered By Drug Smuggler Entering US Illegally

Luis Aguilar, 32, who was assigned to the Yuma, Arizona, border patrol station, died Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner W. Ralph Basham said in a statement.

"Agent Aguilar's death serves as another stark reminder of the risks our front-line agents and officers face each day," Basham said.

Aguilar was trying to place spike strips in the path of two vehicles believed to have illegally entered the country from Mexico when one of the vehicles hit him, agent Michael Bernacke, a spokesman for the agency's Yuma sector, told The Associated Press.

Both vehicles drove back across the border into Mexico, the AP said.

The fatal incident occurred in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area near Andrade, California, Basham said. Andrade is just over the California state line from Arizona.

The area is popular with off-road vehicle enthusiasts but also is frequently used by smugglers carrying people or drugs, the AP said.

Once again, lawlessness and mayhem is caused by criminals who cross the border into the US. Agent Aguilar was murdered by drug smugglers who treat the US border as nothing more than a line in the sand that can be crossed with impunity.

Will the US government take further action to secure its borders, or will it simply pay lip service to the family of Agent Aguilar, who will be left to grieve the lost of their husband, brother, and father. Given past performance, I would count on more lip service. I wish I'd be wrong on that count.

When Will NYT Run Expose On Illegal Aliens

The New York Times began running a series of articles about crimes committed by US military war veterans, which suggests that members of the US Armed Forces come home to commit crimes. The Times' methodologies are suspect, and ignores the fact that crimes committed by members of the US Armed Services is below that of the general population. In other words, it's agenda "journalism" that seeks to undermine support for the US military.

I wonder whether the Times would do a similar report on criminality of illegal aliens, seeing how they are not only here in the country illegally (a violation of federal law), but engage in a significant number of violent crimes that are shocking and deplorable (recall the Newark triple execution murders committed by MS-13 thugs). One such recent case is reported by Dan Riehl. This particular individual was arrested and deported twice. His crimes? Serial rapes of 25 teenagers. In other words, he was a one-person crime spree.

But sadly, it's not just a one-person spree. How about law enforcement officers murdered or assaulted by illegal aliens. Or the victims of illegal aliens in general, which is just the tip of the iceberg.

How about the fact that the nearly 55,000 illegal aliens incarcerated in 2003 were arrested some 460,000 times and were responsible for some 700,000 criminal offenses (see pages 8 through 10) for the year studied - 2003. Among the caveats of the report - it may not capture all illegal aliens in the system nor does it capture all the arrests. It makes for a most interesting read.

That's just a small sampling of the problem, and yet the Times sees fit to focus elsewhere. It isn't curious, because the Times has regularly sought amnesty for illegal aliens and has refused to consider enforcement of existing laws as a solution to deal with illegal aliens in the country. The editors refuse to recognize the serious disruption caused by illegal aliens on the nation, and the huge burden on the nation as a result of illegal aliens. Further, the problems are exacerbated by the likes of MS-13 and other gangs that are made up of illegal aliens that terrorize inner cities and suburbs alike around the country.

Drawing the Line

After dealing with hundreds of attacks by Mexican thugs across the US/Mexico border, US border control agents have finally had enough and begun to go after these thugs using tear gas.

The Border Patrol says its agents were attacked nearly 1,000 times during a one-year period along the Mexican border, typically by assailants hurling rocks, bottles and bricks. Now the agency is responding with tear gas and powerful, pepper-spray weapons, including firing into Mexico.

The counteroffensive has drawn complaints that innocent families are being caught in the crossfire.

"A neighbor shouted, 'Stop it! There are children living here," said Esther Arias Medina, 41, who on Wednesday fled her Tijuana, Mexico, shanty with her 3-week-old grandson after the infant began coughing from smoke that seeped through the walls.

That's gotten some Mexicans quite annoyed.

Sorry, but that's a tiny violin playing for them.

Some of these same Mexicans have no problem with the thugs using those people as cover for their illegal operations and illegal border crossings into the United States.

Jules Crittenden offers his take, and Michelle Malkin notes that Congress has again gutted the border fence funding. Nice. Combine that with the fact that Congress can't figure out how to provide enough personnel for issuing passports as per federal law, then you begin to scratch the surface of what a mess border control really is.

Obama's Turn To Squirm

The debates are proving to be a farce, but there are moments of hilarity. Like this for instance:



Which is it Senator Obama?

Do you or do you not support providing licenses to illegal aliens?

Simple question.

The answer? Well, he's got to go through contortions to make sure it hits every demographic and focus group just in the sweet spot, which means he muddles his way through and makes the same mistake that Hillary did a few weeks back.

Far from using the issue to slam Hillary with a concise response that every candidate on the dais had to know was going to rear its ugly head at this debate given the way that Hillary spun furiously and then cajoled and threatened Blitzer over how to manage the "debate", Obama all but hands the issue back to Hillary.

Nice.

UPDATE:
For updates and recaps of today's debate, check in with Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, LGF (multiple threads), Dan Riehl finds a potted plant (and ostensibly a carbon credit for CNN) and Vodkapundit (but his summation can't be missed either).