JasonPye.com

“…Colotl was seven when she came to this country, brought by her parents who were seeking a better life for their family. As a believer in free markets, I believe in the right of workers to migrate to seek better prospects, and Colotl was an example of the American dream and working to correct an error on the part of her parents.

Jeff Jacoby sums up my view on immigration almost perfectly:

I have never understood the anti-immigrant hysterics. Industrious self-starters who come to the United States to find work, create new wealth, and improve their lives are not a menace or a threat. They are an asset. No state seeks to drive out hard-working newcomers from New Mexico or Indiana; why should hard-working newcomers from Old Mexico or India be treated any differently? To say that they cross the border illegally only begs the question. Why should it be illegal for any person to come to the United States, assuming his intentions are peaceful and he is not likely to become a public charge or health risk?

As I’ve noted before, the majority of immigrants, including illegals, are coming here seeking a better life, despite the myths we constantly hear. They contribute to our economy much more than what services they may use.

Unfortunately, a life is probably ruined while politicians pander to nativists. “

HERE

And from the president of Guatemala ( among many others):

No police force can stop migration

La Prensa Grafica (San Salvador, El Salvador), La Jornada (Mexico City) 9/20/10

Alvaro Colom, President of Guatemala, said that people emigrate because there is a market that takes them in, and that any human being ought to have the right to go anywhere to work if that’s their desire. He pointed out that the United States ought to start with laws that permit family reunification, and to bestow legal status to the immigrants who already live in that country. He added, “The United States spends millions and millions of dollars on the border. They put up a fence and people keep on coming through, if not by land it’s by sea or underground.” “There is no police force that can halt the flow of migrants.”

He also said that the “Zetas” already are a very dangerous presence in his country: they began to arrive in Guatemala around 2004 and this was intensified in 2007. They now control two out of the four zones of the country…

HERE
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/09/20/index.php?section=politica&article=002e1pol

Georgia gubernatorial candidate Roy Barnes previous attitudes toward illegal immigration and how to react to that crime here in Georgia has become a topic of discussion in the political blogs recently. So has opponent Nathan Deal’s business use – or not – of the no-cost federal E-Verify database.

So has Georgia Appleseed Inc.

Yesterday’s Political Insider blog reports on the confrontation on illegal immigration records (Your morning jolt: Of illegal immigration and old newspaper clippings ) . On the subscription only Insider Advantage Georgia site today (Is Roy Barnes Soft On Illegal Immigration? Nathan Deal?) , along with a similar note, a little known Georgia group called “Georgia Appleseed” is also mentioned.

As someone who has spent years demanding enforcement of American immigration laws, struggled to encourage the use of E-Verify in Georgia and to shine some light on the pillars of the community at the non-profit Georgia Appleseed, Let me toss a few things that need to be said into the mix.

This long-time American is one of the many who asks why all employers don’t use E-Verify – including Georgia’s public employers and their contractors who are in violation of a 2006 state law that requires exactly that. Did I mention it is free to use and effective? (Or that it is mandatory for most federal contractors? Or that the United States Chamber of Commerce sued in federal court multiple times to stop that mandate?)

While there are clearly no allegations of impropriety, Deal is being asked why his business has not been using E-Verify. A fair question. So is asking why Roy Barnes business, Barnes Law Group LLC, is not an E-Verify user. Just a guess, but it seems likely that a large and active employer like this hires folks periodically.

Why is no one else asking?

A current list of E-Verify users (607 pages – to September 3, 2010) that comes from the E-Verify office at DHS does not include Barnes Law Group LLC.

To respond in advance to the obvious question: Yes, the Dustin Inman Society (DIS) is on the list, page 222. DIS, of which I am president, and sweeper, has been an authorized E-Verify user since June, 2005. If only we had the ability to hire help.

In an August 1st Marietta Daily Journal commentary column , Barnes responded to several questions presented from here on what he would do to discourage illegal immigration here in Georgia if elected. So did Deal. The 2010 Roy Barnes seems to have drastically changed his outlook on the crisis and how to welcome – or not – the victims of geography who escape capture at our borders and refuse to go home as promised when they get visas from his position reported in a 2001 AJC news report.

I can’t help but note that Deal’s answers and promises are in line with the pro-enforcement line he has always taken.

GEORGIA APPLESEED

The well-heeled Georgia Appleseed folks, including Roy Barnes, can’t be happy about seeing their outfit in print today. Georgia Appleseed is part of a nationwide “Appleseed” network that promotes special privileges and treatment of illegal aliens. The entire network, Georgia Appleseed included, is essentially a front for the banking industry that makes billions from banking “the unbanked” and “remittances,” the money wired out of the country by what it constantly refers to as “immigrants” or “Hispanics.”

Some facts about Georgia Appleseed that have and will escape discussion by the too-polite and uncurious media.

Warning, it may be best to position a bottle of Pepto-Bismol nearby for this part of our story.

The stated mission of Georgia Appleseed : “To listen to the unheard voices of the poor, the children, the marginalized; to uncover and end the injustices that we would not endure ourselves; to win the battles for our constituency in the courts of public opinion or in the halls of justice that no one else is willing or able to fight.”

Remember that little tear-jerker gem when you see the list of publications on the Georgia Appleseed Website. And remember this from these oh-so noble, enlightened people who are “sowing the seeds of justice”: The money flowing from the United States to Mexico currently represents the largest remittance market in the world.

Let’s start with “Immigration” and go through “Education” to “Banking.” Note: For purposes of agenda and goals of Georgia Appleseed, these categories could easily be combined into “How to profit from the illegal immigration and stop enforcement that would end the influx of the Golden Geese.”

“PUBLICATIONS” – FROM THE GEORGIA APPLESEED WEBSITE

“IMMIGRATION:

Protecting Assets & Child Custody in the Face of Deportation”

(2009), This manual guides volunteer lawyers and non-lawyer practitioners through important financial and family rights threatened by the deportation process, including final paychecks, bank accounts, car and home ownership, government benefits, child custody, and others. “Protecting Assets” provides easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions to help immigrants protect their financial assets and family relationships.

Forcing Our Blues Into Gray Areas: Local Police and Federal Immigration Enforcement; A Legal Guide for Advocates

Revised and updated (2008), Forcing Our Blues Into Gray Areas contains legal and practical guidelines to combat local anti-immigrant ordinances.

(Special note here for the unaware. This one instructs the reader on how to impede or stop the far- too-successful federal 287(g) program that trains and authorizes local law enforcement to help enforce immigration laws. A quick look at the “Acknowledgements” (page 2) illustrates the sources of the tome. Note the ACLU, the Immigration Law Center, the Center for Community Change and the National Council of La Raza (The Race) and the usual well-funded suspects in the anti-enforcement, amnesty-again mob. It is very similar to an ACLU publication created for the same purpose, but slightly toned down so as to be better suited to cocktail parties at the club)

ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION

Access to Higher Education in Georgia for Undocumented Students: “Visiting the Sins…” by Denying In-State Tuition Eligibility

(top of the news info on reactions and candidate positions on the topic HERE )

BANKING

Remittance Transparency: Strengthening Business, Building CommunityProject Summary/Key Findings

Banking in a Global Market: A Financial Institution Guide for Offering International Remittance Services

This publication offers a step-by-step approach to establishing a remittance program that is beneficial to both consumers and the financial institutions serving them. The report describes several effective remittance programs, drawing on the experiences of financial institutions in Georgia and throughout the U.S. Executive Summary | Supplement

The Fair Exchange: Improving the Market for International Remittances

This report is a preliminary step toward launching a market-based initiative that would help consumers choose the best remittance value and differentiate between industry players. It provides an opportunity for the industry to work cooperatively with consumer organizations to achieve common goals. The next steps in the process include a limited pilot to test the disclosure in a market setting, and then expanded implementation if the pilot proves successful. These pilots should lay a solid foundation for future work establishing the Fair Exchange. Executive Summary

Creating a Fair Playing Field for Consumers: The Need for Transparency in the U.S.-Mexico Remittance Market

The money flowing from the United States to Mexico currently represents the largest remittance market in the world. To provide a more complete picture of the impact of the exchange rate spread on pricing, Appleseed Centers collected and analyzed exchange rate data for wiring money from the United States to Mexico. Our study revealed that unpredictable and undisclosed rates make it extremely difficult for consumers to make informed decisions about remitting money to Mexico, and keep the market from operating efficiently for three primary reasons: lack of marketplace transparency, lack of consistent access to correct pricing information, and lack of standardized pricing disclosure practices. Our report offers three recommendations on how to best handle the problem, any one of which would build greater transparency — and consumer protection — into the remittance market.

Expanding Immigrant Access to Mainstream Financial Services

This paper (sic) aim to stimulate a discussion on how best to overcome challenges and build on successes to realize the important social and economic benefits of bringing immigrant communities into the financial mainstream. They outline positive market practices targeting Latin American immigrants and the needs, opportunities, and next steps for expanding and improving financial services for low- and moderate-income immigrant communities. For further reading, see Appleseed’s Next Steps

The light switch already went to ON in the kitchen: Before I could get all of this pecked out starting this AM, I see that Georgia Appleseed has issued a special press statement concerning how they may be “mis-characterized in the current political campaign…”

Don’t forget to remember this: They are a self-proclaimed “public interest law center”.

DO NOT FOLLOW THE MONEY.

MUCH More on the Georgia Appleseed and the lack of media attention these seekers of justice so richly deserve HERE (Scroll down)

Illegal Immigrants May Not Be Allowed To Attend Some State Schools

Michelle Wirth (2010-09-21)

ATLANTA (WABE) – A Georgia Board of Regents committee is recommending that illegal immigrants not be allowed to enroll five Georgia colleges and universities that currently cannot admit all academically qualified applicants. The five institutions potentially affected include the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State. John Millsaps is a spokesman for the state’s Board of the Regents:

“There is a concern that an undocumented student is taking a seat from a legal Georgia resident. This policy would address that concern.”

Millsaps says those students would be able to attend any of the other 30 state schools. But Jerry Gonzalez with Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials says the recommendation would place the Georgia Board of Regents in the role of immigration cops. He also says the state would waste talented contributors.

“These students compete academically with other students. They have earned their place in a university setting. Do we want to water down our flagship institutions to accept less qualified students?”

Millsaps says those students would be able to attend any of the other 30 state schools. D.A. King with anti-illegal immigrant organization, The Dustin Inman Society, applauds the recommendations. But he does not believe that the committee’s actions are student driven.

“They were not trying to protect American students in their discussion. They kept saying if we don’t do this, the legislature may step in and we want to keep control.”

The committee also recommended that Georgia schools verify the immigration status of students. At the moment, undocumented students are allowed to attend state universities if they pay out of state tuition. The measure is scheduled to be voted on by the full board of next month.
© Copyright 2010, WABE

HERE

Marietta Daily Journal

Regents committee proposes ban on illegal immigrants

Jon Gillooly

September 22, 2010 |

ATLANTA – A special Board of Regents committee proposed Tuesday that illegal immigrants be banned from attending Georgia universities that, because of a lack of room, must turn away academically eligible students.

The committee’s recommendation will be considered by the full Board of Regents on Oct. 13. If approved, it would go into effect for the 35-institution university system in the fall of 2011.

Presently, University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, the Medical College of Georgia, and Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville are the only state institutions known to deny academically eligible students because of space. Under the committee’s proposal, even if they paid out-of-state tuition, illegal immigrants would not be allowed to attend one of those five universities, or, in the future, any other college or university where academically eligible Georgians were turned away. The 29 students who attend those five institutions and are in the U.S. illegally would be allowed to remain at their schools under a grandfather clause.

The 130,000-student university system allows illegal immigrants to attend a Georgia university provided they pay out-of-state tuition. The proposed policy would still allow illegal immigrants to pay out-of-state tuition to attend such universities as Kennesaw State, which does not turn away any students as long as they meet admissions standards, said Regents spokesman John Millsaps.

The committee’s recommendation came after staff informed members that there are 501 students in the University System of Georgia who have not provided documentation that they are a legal U.S. resident. Of those, there are 17 at Kennesaw State and 11 at Southern Polytechnic State University, Millsaps said. All 501 students now pay out-of-state tuition.

The special committee was created after it was learned that KSU student Jessica Colotl is an illegal immigrant who has been paying in-state tuition since 2006.

Regent Larry Walker, an attorney with Walker, Hulbert, Gray & Byrd, who served in the Georgia General Assembly for more than 30 years, warned of legislative backlash if the committee didn’t approve the proposal.

“It shows our concern in this particular area, concern for our citizens,” Walker said. “It’d be mighty, mighty hard for me if I had a son or a daughter or grandson or granddaughter that couldn’t get in to Georgia, and I found out the reason they couldn’t get in was because somebody who was illegally in the country did get in.”

But Regent Felton Jenkins of Madison, a retired partner with King & Spalding, urged the committee to vote against the recommendation.

“I think we need to do what’s right and not necessarily what’s expedient, and I just don’t think it’s right to turn down qualified people,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said he too believed there would be upcoming legislative action on the matter of illegal immigrants attending Georgia schools.

“We’ll have the chance at that point to negotiate with whoever’s introducing the legislation to maybe end up at a place like this. But I think if we start off at a place like this, we’re giving up some control … And I don’t want to make that admission,” Jenkins said.

State lawmakers decide if illegal immigrants can attend universities in their state.

The five Board of Regents members on the committee in attendance on Tuesday, except Jenkins, voted in favor of the proposal. Six committee members, who are employees of the university system, abstained.

Another recommendation, approved without objection, was to add a statement on all college or university applications that warns of the consequences of providing false information. The statement states that false swearing may result in dismissal, a fine of up to $1,000, or jail time of between one and five years per Georgia law.

A third committee recommendation, approved without objection, was to include a statement on college applications asking whether the applicant wants to seek in-state tuition. Presently, an applicant is simply asked if he or she is a Georgia resident. If the applicant wants in-state tuition, the university will be required to verify that they are a resident of the state.

After the meeting, Chancellor Erroll Davis said lawmakers intent on drafting legislation on illegal immigrants in Georgia’s schools need to know that it’s not a problem.

“I’d ask them – do the numbers merit their efforts?” Davis said.

At the same time, Davis said he didn’t know how far the committee’s recommendations would go to satisfy Georgians.

“I am hopeful that as you listen to the articulated concerns earlier, one, there was a concern about large numbers of students in the system. This is not true,” Davis said. “There was a concern about them being subsidized, getting a state subsidized education. This is not true. We are in fact making money. And thirdly, there was the concern about taking seats away from qualified Georgians. We have now addressed that issue. And so I am now not sure what issues you would put forward to preclude human beings from getting an education. And I’m not going to suggest what the mind of any legislator will put forward at this point, but I believe we have addressed every issue that has been surfaced in the public.”

But anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King of Marietta accused the committee members of acting in bad faith.

“They voted to possibly, maybe, exclude illegal aliens from schools that can’t accept all the people who apply, but they did not do it to protect real immigrants or citizens,” King said. “They did it so that the Legislature couldn’t get into their business and make them do something.”

King said the argument about there being a very small number of illegal immigrants using Georgia universities was unacceptable.

“For most of us, if one American or one real immigrant is cheated out of a classroom seat by an illegal alien or a Board of Regents who is terrified to do the right thing, then it’s too many,” King said.

On the national front, meantime, the so-called “DREAM Act” is apparently dead for the time being. The DREAM Act would allow illegal immigrants who are students to become permanent residents of the U.S. if they came here as children, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character, and attend college or enlist in the military for at least two years. It would also give such students eligibility for higher education benefits based on state residence unless a U.S. national is similarly eligible without regard to such state residence. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was expected to try to attach it to the defense authorization bill this week, but he failed to get cloture on the motion to proceed to the defense bill Tuesday afternoon. Therefore, there is currently no timetable for consideration, according to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s office.

“The DREAM Act would reward those who have obtained an education in a system in which they have not contributed,” Isakson said. “While I understand the complex details of students who are seeking financial assistance for educational purposes who were brought to this country by their parents without a choice, I am not supportive of programs that reward illegal activity. I also would not support legislation that will pay for the education of an illegal immigrant when there are thousands of United States citizens who are in need of similar educational funds.”

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Regents committee proposes ban on illegal immigrants

Why the Regents acted today:

Georgia Student Protection Act of 2011

A bill that will have a single digit bill number. HERE

Augusta Chronicle

Ga. public colleges report 501 undocumented students

By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010

ATLANTA – As the U.S. Senate was voting to defeat the so-called Dream Act to loosen immigration laws, a panel was voting Tuesday to recommend stiffer policies for how Georgia’s 35 public colleges and universities deal with illegal immigrants.

The schools have admitted 501 students who don’t have documentation to prove their citizenship, but none were found to be receiving scholarships or in-state tuition, according to figures from the University System of Georgia.

Roughly 30 could have taken classroom seats from qualified Georgia applicants.

The Senate failed to pass a cloture motion that would have led to passage of the Dream Act, which was attached to a defense bill that would have also ended the military’s “don’t act/don’t tell” policy on homosexuals. The vote was considered a victory for conservatives.

Meanwhile in Atlanta, the committee is recommending that the Board of Regents require colleges and universities to validate the citizenship of all students seeking the in-state discount on tuition or those seeking admission to any school that has turned away qualified Georgia applicants in the last two years. It would rely on the federal government to validate the citizenship of students applying for federal aid.

The committee, its report and recommendations came in response to public uproar about a student at Kennesaw State University discovered to have been living in the country illegally and attending the school while paying the discounted in-state tuition.

Tuesday’s report was meant to provide a final tally to a series of preliminary reports in recent months, but administrators say the total is likely to change as some students eventually produce valid documentation and the documents provided by others turn out not to be sufficient.

The largest number of undocumented students was the 80 starting this fall at Georgia Perimeter College and the 130 who were eligible to return fall semester there. Georgia Tech only has two entering this fall and two returning. The University of Georgia has two returning but none entering this fall.

Eight schools, like Savannah State University, the Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Southern University and Waycross College have none enrolled without documentation.

Most of the schools have foreign students, but those with valid student visas are not included in the report.

Five institutions – MCG, Tech, UGA, Georgia State University and Georgia College & State University, have enrollment caps and currently must turn away academically qualified Georgia applicants, said University System spokesman John Millsaps. Of these five, three – Tech, UGA and Georgia State – have together admitted 29 undocumented students, he said..

University System Chancellor Erroll Davis said the report, ordered by the Board of Regents, was worthwhile.

“We discovered that we don’t have a problem,” he said.

Regents and critics of the system had raised concerns that there were large numbers of illegal immigrants in the schools who were being subsidized and taking seats from Georgians. The committee learned earlier that students who don’t get the in-state discount pay tuition that more than covers the actual cost of their education.

Davis said after the meeting he hoped the recommended policy changes would stave off legislation that might impose less-flexible rules.

“I’m not going to suggest what the mind of any legislator will put forward, as this point, but I believe that we have addressed every issue that has surfaced,” he said.

One proponent of strict enforcement of immigration rules is D.A. King, president of the Atlanta-based Dustin Inman Society, named for a Georgian killed when struck by a car driven by an illegal immigrant.

King attended Tuesday’s meeting and expressed his distrust in the figures presented and disappointment in the recommended policy changes.

“One American – or one real, legal immigrant – that loses his education in Georgia’s public university system is too many to most mainstream Georgians,” he said.

The full Board of Regents will vote on the recommendations at October’s meeting.

HERE

Responsible parties? The majority of the American people who know legalization is not the solution.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP!

D.A. King ‘Dream Act’ for illegal aliens should be nixed
September 20, 2010

It’s baaack. The “Dream Act” amnesty for illegal aliens, which has been lurking around Congress for nearly a decade, is being pushed as a political ploy by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to boost his chances of getting re-elected in Hispanic heavy Nevada. He plans on attaching it to the completely unrelated defense funding bill.

The related trickery, pandering, maneuvering and name calling in the senate are scheduled to start today.

Unsurprisingly, the mainstream media is doing a partial job of telling the American people what the amnesty legislation really entails.

Constantly spun as a legalization for “young people who should not be punished for what their parents did” (violate American immigration laws) the amnesty could legalize two million illegal aliens up to age 35. And then, allow them to sponsor their parents — who brought them here illegally — for U.S. citizenship, as well as extended relatives.

The Dream Act amnesty would retroactively repeal the federal ban on in-state tuition for illegal aliens, so individual states could grant this subsidy at the expense of U.S. citizens and legal residents. Put another way, if the Democrats were to be successful in finding the votes for this amnesty bill, an American citizen or a real immigrant whose family obeyed American laws and joined the American family that silly, old-fashioned legal way, would pay the higher out of state tuition rates while illegal aliens pay less to attend American universities

The Dream Act amnesty would punish legal immigrants for what their parents did not do … ignore our laws and steal American jobs.

Some more inconvenient truth that won’t make it to the front pages or CNN from the well-respected and influential pro-American immigration experts at Washington-based NumbersUSA.com:

The Dream Act amnesty “would require DHS to award amnesty to every illegal alien claiming to meet minimal criteria: 1) present in the U.S. for the last five years; 2) a U.S. high school diploma or GED, or admitted to a U.S. institution of higher learning; and 3) of “good moral character” with no more than 2 misdemeanor convictions.”

Neither the House nor Senate versions require specific documentation or other proof that amnesty applicants actually meet minimal criteria. Once an alien files an amnesty application, they cannot be removed from the United States for any reason until the application is fully processed and a final decision on amnesty has been made.

More from the NumbersUSA fact sheet:

“All amnesty applications go to the front of the line for processing, thus bypassing millions of people around the world who have applied to come to the United States the right way.”

“In order to deny any amnesty application, the federal government has the burden of proving an illegal alien’s ineligibility for amnesty.”

“There are no numerical limits to the amnesty and there’s no end date for the application process.

Amnestied aliens are required to complete two years of college or military service during their first six years of legal residence, but DHS can waive the requirement or grant additional time to comply for those who do not.”

“Amnesty beneficiaries are eligible for certain federal student loans and work-study programs.”

The internet is sizzling with pleas for calls to the senate supporting the latest legalization scheme from such anti-enforcement groups as the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the National Council of La Raza (“The Race”) and the rest of the usual suspects in the open borders industry.

The Hispanderer-in-Chief, Barack Obama, has publicly pledged his support for the amnesty bill.

Listeners to last week’s White House conference call with supporters on Dream Act strategy heard “…there are a lot of hurdles before final passage. The Administration and the Senate leadership are all united to maximize the vote. If you look at other bills over the last 28 months, not all of the Democrats voted with the President. Some won’t support this now so we will probably need a number, probably a small number, but a number of Republican votes. We are in a very tough environment. There are lots of ways for Senators to make excuses because it’s a complex debate about a lot of issues. The DREAM Act is not the only controversial thing on this bill. We have a lot of work ahead of us in order to be successful, but the Administration’s commitment is very strong.”

This amnesty legislation should be stopped.

D.A. King, a nationally recognized authority on illegal immigration is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society. On the Web: www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org

Read more and COMMENT: The Marietta Daily Journal – D A King ‘Dream Act for illegal aliens should be nixed

Center for Immigration Studies

Despite Media Mythmaking, the DREAM Act is for Adults

By Jon Feere , September 15, 2010

The open-border media continues to mislead the American public about the DREAM Act, which Sen. Harry Reid has said he will offer as an amendment to the defense spending bill as soon as next week. You wouldn’t know it from reading a newspaper or scrolling through your favorite online news site, but the proposed amnesty is an amnesty for children and adults – illegal aliens up to 35 years of age (see Senate Bill S.729). This fact does not seem to have made it into the newsrooms across the nation:

The Los Angeles Times explains that the proposed measure “would allow minors” to receive amnesty.

The Wall Street Journal claims that it would benefit “undocumented minors.”

Politico claims it would benefit “young, undocumented immigrants.”

ABC describes the beneficiaries of the DREAM Act as “young illegal immigrants” and “children and teenage immigrants.”

CBS claims it would benefit “undocumented young people.”

The Associated Press is using the phrase, “young people in the country illegally.”

CNN claims that the bill would benefit “young illegal immigrants.”

Roll Call, an inside-the-beltway newspaper distributed to all offices on Capitol Hill each morning, claims that the bill is “for children in the country illegally.”

The Hill, another inside-the-beltway favorite, gets it really wrong by claiming that the bill “would put the children of illegal immigrants who meet certain conditions on a path to citizenship.” However, the DREAM Act does not have anything to do with the parent-child relationship. The only relevance is that if illegal aliens do have living parents, those parents – even if overseas – would also be put “on a path to citizenship” because of existing chain migration laws that allow legalized illegal aliens to bring in their extended family members.

These media outlets – and many others – are full of writers who are either uninformed or willfully misleading the public. As far as the age requirement goes, under the DREAM Act an illegal alien simply must claim that he or she entered the United States sometime before reaching the age of 16; the standard of proof required by the government is unclear and it should raise concerns of fraud as most illegal aliens enter clandestinely and off the record. The only other age requirement is that an applicant must not have reached the age of 35 at the time of the bill’s enactment. It is also unclear how the government will deal with fraud regarding this age requirement. Illegal aliens do not have U.S. birth certificates. Will DHS, the agency tasked with coming up with the regulations, require faxed copies of foreign birth certificates as evidence of age? If so, does this mean that the administrative accuracy of the DREAM Act will be dependent on the accuracy of bookkeeping in foreign nations (many of which have a vested interest in keeping their citizens permanently in the United States)?

These are but a few of the many questions the media isn’t asking.

One more interesting fact about the age cut-off: Since the first version of the DREAM Act in 2001, the age threshold has been expanding, the goal being a larger and larger pool of potential beneficiaries. In the 2001 version, S. 1291, the applicant had to be younger than 21; in the 2007 version, S.2205, the applicant had to be younger than 30; and as noted earlier, the latest version of the DREAM Act allows applicants up to age 35. The version inserted in the 2007 amnesty bill, S.1348, had no age limit.

Depending on how a new version of the DREAM Act is written, it has the potential to immediately legalize millions and also result in the admission of millions more immigrants for years to come via chain migration.

HERE

James W. Antle, III — The American Spectator

Leaked Memo: DHS contemplates amnesty by executive fiat

Remember the amnesty memos? The leaked documents that showed officials in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency discussing an Obama administration end-run around Congress to implement an administrative amnesty for untold numbers of illegal [aliens]? It turns out that USCIS wasn’t alone…

HERE