NumbersUSA on CPAC

Conservative Leaders (not activists) Cold-Shoulder The Jobless By Ignoring Immigration

By Roy Beck, Sunday, February 21, 2010, NumbersUSA

Most of the spotlighted conservative leaders at the giant CPAC convention this weekend showed that they are far more interested in the feelings of Republican Party major donors than in offering help for 25 million Americans who can’t find a full-time job.

Americans might have hoped that finally at this meeting there would be a sign of true leadership in stopping the massive importation of new foreign workers during a jobs depression. But on that topic, hope was as scarce as at the Obama White House.

But reports from those at the convention (I wasn’t there) indicated that the thousands of (mostly young) conservative attendees seemed to have a much better grasp of what the country needs on immigration.

They exploded into a standing ovation when a freshman congressman on Saturday finally broke the taboo and stated emphatically:

Rep. Jason Chaffetz
We need to lock down the border and enforce visas, reject amnesty and enforce our current laws, get rid of our rewards and incentives to be here illegally, mandate E-Verify . . . .

— Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)
For three days, one star speaker after another from Congress, from the media, from the conservative pantheon and from potential presidential hopefuls glaringly avoided immigration when given the microphone in the big room. (See P.S. about a couple of exceptions.)

The mood for the convention had been set even before the opening of the annual extravaganza for conservative activists when some of the inside leadership of the convention made a big news splash with the argument that conservatives should stop talking about limiting immigration (and should support some kind of amnesty) if the Republican Party is to have a decent chance at winning elections in the future.

I’ve got news for those kinds of conservatives: The political independents of America — who are deciding one key election after another — are not going to be attracted to the same Big-Business-As-Usual, Country-Club Republicanism of the Bush era that always put immigration ahead of struggling American workers and their families.

And the many eye-witness reports from the conversations in the hallways and exhibit areas suggest that immigration-avoidance doesn’t sell well with the rank-and-file conservative activists, either.

There were a couple of excellent break-out sessions where small audiences could actually hear the immigration issue discussed as if it demands an urgent response. But it seems there was a pent-up desire to hear immigration tackled in a forthright way in the Big Room. There was a satifying release of emotion when Chaffetz finally violated the immigration blackout.

All the potential presidential hopefuls could have had the adultation Chaffetz received as their own if they had only dared to speak the obvious truth that came during Chaffetz’ address on foreign policy:

If we are going to have an effective foreign policy that is true to our convictions then we need to address illegal immigration.
No longer can we ignore the immigration problem. I believe it’s highly immoral and very exploitive.

— Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)

Remember that Chaffetz is the young upstart who challenged incumbent Congressman Chris Cannon in the Republican primary of 2008 and beat him because the voters wanted an alternative to Cannon who was the House Republican leader for amnesty.

Cannon had represented the approach to immigration advocated by the only CPAC leaders who spoke up on immigration this year (for amnesty). Chaffetz broke the taboo in Utah just as he broke it at CPAC.

Cannon stood for the cheap-labor business lobbyists and campaign contributors. Chaffetz stood for the unemployed Americans.

The conservative and Republican stars who spoke in the Big Room decided not to take sides between the Cannon and Chaffetz approach. They just decided to ignore immigration. And that meant ignoring 25 million U.S. workers who want a full-time job and can’t find one, in part because immigration policy gives out 160,000 permanent and temporary, new and renewal work visas EVERY MONTH.

ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA

P.S. Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) brought the room down on immigration in break-out session. And California gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner in the Big Room (on the topic “Saving Freedom from the California Model”) said the state magnets for illegal immigration have to be cut off “once and for all” and the borders have to be secured by National Guard if necessary.

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Mexico tightens entry of aliens from the North

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 06:28 AM PST

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El Financiero (Mexico City) 3/1/10

Passports required

The Mexican immigration agency (INM) reported that as of March 1, US and Canadian citizens will have to present a valid passport to enter the country. The report from INM explained that the requirement applies to those who enter by air or travel beyond 20 kilometers [approx. 12 mi.] from the border. The agency specified that foreigners who arrive on cruise ships or visit the border area are exempt the requirement if they enter as local visitors. The INM pointed out that, for about three years, practically all US and Canadian citizens have been entering with passports.

NumbersUSA
Roy Beck

White Open-Borders Activists Accuse Anti-Amnesty Black Group of Being Like the Klan

March 6, 2010, 8:30 AM EST – posted on NumbersUSA

I have grown accustomed to well-funded open-borders groups sending hecklers to call me a “white supremacist” every place I speak.

But I was still a little surprised when I spoke to a Black grassroots group recently to have all the African Americans there also accused. It now looks like pro-amnesty groups are willing to label as racist anybody who advocates for less immigration.

It kind of makes me laugh. But it really is despicable, because the ridiculous efforts to silence our side are not the work just of fringe activists but of the largest pro-amnesty organizations of America. These groups not only spread the same lies and libelous characterizations, but they orchestrate the McCarthyism tactics of intimidation and marginalization.

BLACK AND WHITE TAXPAYERS FIND COMMON GROUND

I was one of five panelists at a meeting of People For Change, a grassroots group in Prince George’s County, Maryland — probably the premier majority-Black county in America. Three of the speakers were Black and I was one of two White speakers. The moderator and leader of People For Change was Black, as are most members of that organization. Also present were members of a mostly-White grassroots organization called Help Save Maryland.

All of us were agreed in our concern for what largescale illegal immigration was doing to costs for taxpayers and to services for the needy in Prince Georges County and in the whole state of Maryland.

Our calls for mandatory verification to keep illegal aliens out of jobs, and for the use of the SAVE system to keep them out of most public benefits, drew enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

BLACK AMERICANS WHO STAND UP FOR JOBLESS BLACKS OVER ILLEGAL ALIENS ACCUSED OF ACTING LIKE THE KKK

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CIS

Hurtt Not So Good

By Jessica Vaughan, March 5, 2010

Sources inside and outside ICE are reporting that the agency leadership intends to install an embattled ex-police chief known for his obstruction of immigration law enforcement as its liaison to the local law enforcement community. Former Houston police chief Harold Hurtt is reportedly the top candidate to lead the agency’s Office of State and Local Coordination. That office’s main responsibility is the 287(g) program, of which Hurtt has been outspokenly critical.

As chief, Hurtt stubbornly resisted pressure to allow his officers to work more cooperatively with ICE, citing his belief that such cooperation would scare immigrants and distract from the department’s public safety mission. He was eventually forced to yield on his sanctuary policy after several police officers were killed by illegal aliens. One victim was officer Rodney Johnson, who in 2006 was shot four times in the back of the head by an illegal alien with a long record of prior arrests in Houston, including indecency with a child, DWI, and hit and run. Hurtt is named in a lawsuit filed by Johnson’s widow, who is also a Houston police officer.

Even after losing several officers at the hands of illegal aliens, Hurtt’s policy stipulated that only those aliens with outstanding ICE warrants would be turned over to ICE, meaning that if his officers arrested an illegal alien ICE had not yet discovered, Houston PD would shield that individual from immigration law enforcement. Houston police officers were directed to treat consular ID cards as a legitimate form of identification, in direct conflict with recommendations of federal law enforcement agencies. Such policies surely interfere with crime-fighting — in our study of immigrant gangs, for example, we found that ICE has been able to identify and remove relatively few illegal alien gang members in the Houston area, although it is a hotbed for violent cross-border gang activity, including assassinations; drug, human and weapons trafficking; extortion and kidnappings.

This appointment would raise serious doubts about ICE’s sincerity in its outreach efforts to state and local law enforcement agencies, whose help it badly needs in addressing the public safety problems associated with immigration. It would be an insult to the 73 police, sheriff and state law enforcement agencies that have stepped up to assist ICE through the 287(g) program (The career ICE agent, William Riley, who previously held this job was highly regarded by the local LEA partners, his fellow agents, and on the Hill, but was sent packing to make way for the new candidate). It also will encourage even more state and local governments to follow the lead of Arizona, Georgia, Oklahoma and others to tap into their own authority and resources to punish and deter illegal immigration, since they are getting so little help from the feds these days.

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President to meet with key senators on immigration

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to focus attention on immigration next week by meeting at the White House with two senators crafting a bill on the issue.

White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Obama will meet with Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Monday.

The president is “looking forward to hearing more about their efforts toward producing a bipartisan bill,” Shapiro said Friday.

The meeting will be the first Obama has had with Schumer and Graham on the proposal they are developing since they began focusing on it last year.

Immigration has taken a back seat to the economy and health care on Obama’s agenda since he took office just over a year ago. Immigrants and their advocates — promised by then-candidate Obama that he would tackle the issue in his first year as president — have been growing frustrated by the inaction.

Several community groups planned to vent some of that frustration in a news conference Monday in Washington. The groups also are trying to organize tens of thousands of people from around the country for a March 21 demonstration in Washington.

“The president’s commitment to fixing our broken immigration system remains unwavering,” Shapiro said.

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