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Houston Chronicle

Obama to push immigration reform in Texas; Rep. Lamar Smith says it’s ‘unlikely he will succeed anytime soon’

President Barack Obama will use the Texas-Mexico border as a backdrop next week for a speech on the need to pass sweeping immigration reform [read: amnesty], officials said Friday. — Obama is traveling to El Paso where he will call on Congress to fix the nation’s broken immigration system and address the 11 million [illegal aliens] in this country illegally — including 1.6 million in Texas…

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Vanessa Neumann — Mexidata.info

Latin American terrorist ties with the Middle East

In a global triangulation that would excite any conspiracy buff, the globalization of terrorism now links Colombian FARC with Hezbollah, Iran with Russia, elected governments with violent insurgencies, uranium with AK-103s, and cocaine with oil. At the center of it all, is Latin America—especially the countries under the influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez…

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HOUSTON — The Department of Homeland Security will not allow Illinois law enforcement to stop sharing information with immigration enforcement, despite Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s request to opt-out of a controversial program, DHS officials confirmed on Thursday

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Mark Krikorian — Center for Immigration Studies

Republicans and immigration

The standard line among the high-immigration right (earnestly, if insincerely, seconded by their fellow-travelers on the left) is that Republican opposition to open immigration is driving otherwise-conservative immigrant (and / or Hispanic) voters into the arms of the Democratic Party. Some new research suggests it’s actually the other way around…

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WSJ

EU Considers New Border Checks

Some Members Seek National Controls to Contain Recent Influx of Migrants.

BRUSSELS—The European Union opened the door to allowing countries to reintroduce national border controls in order to police illegal immigration, in response to growing fears about whether it can handle an influx of North African migrants.

Bringing back border checks would be allowed only under exceptional circumstances, but the measure would nonetheless be a step toward reversing unhindered travel across most of the bloc’s internal borders, one of the EU’s signature achievements.

“I’m worried that borders might be back,” said Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary-general of the Council of Europe, the Continent’s principal official human-rights organization. “This could be a very bad thing for Europe.”

Concerns about immigration are particularly strong in Italy and France, which have borne the brunt of a recent influx of some 25,000 North Africans, mostly Tunisians, who took advantage of the temporary chaos to leave their home countries.

Opponents of cracking down on migrants say that number is just 10% of annual immigration to the EU, and that more than 600,000 Libyans have fled to Egypt and Tunisia.

The politics are influenced by renewed fears of immigrants wearing out social services and taking jobs at a time of tight budgets and high unemployment. When Italy’s Mediterranean island of Lampedusa was overwhelmed by immigrants, the Italian government gave temporary residence permits en masse to all asylum applicants who landed before April 5.

Some 25,000, almost all of them, have since disappeared inside Europe, most heading to France, because they speak the language. As French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is threatening to use the immigration issue to siphon votes from President Nicolas Sarkozy in presidential elections less than a year from now, it is becoming a headline issue.

French authorities admit they already are carrying out some spot checks, amid protests from pro-immigration groups and despite receiving a slap on the wrist from the European Court of Justice in 2010 for doing so.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Sarkozy met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and the two sent a letter to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso asking the EU to “examine the possibility of temporarily restoring internal border controls in the event of exceptional difficulties in managing the common external borders, under conditions to be defined.”

The commission, the EU’s executive arm, responded by proposing Wednesday that EU countries be given the right to reinstate border guards in “exceptional circumstances.”

The EU “would benefit from labor immigration in order to help address expected labor shortages,” said Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom. “But migration must at the same time be properly managed—this means ensuring effective border control and the return of irregular migrants.”

The proposal has wide support among EU governments and is likely to pass, say EU officials and representatives of member governments.

In a statement Wednesday, the French government said it was “satisfied” with the commission’s response to Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Berlusconi’s letter.

.Proponents of more open immigration policies said they were disappointed by the commission’s proposal. “It’s not yet clear what the conditions will be,” said Joanna Parkin, an analyst with the Center for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based think tank. “But it shows a lack of trust and solidarity among EU countries to manage migration.”

Unhindered travel through seven EU countries was introduced in 1995. The so-called Schengen zone has since expanded to 22 EU nations, plus Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland. The U.K., Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania still maintain border restrictions.

Wednesday’s announcement also included proposals to create a common EU asylum and immigration policy. Mrs. Malmstrom proposed setting up centers outside the EU that would be authorized to grant visas valid for the entire union, and offering trade concessions and visas for skilled workers in countries like Tunisia in exchange for a tougher clampdown by their governments on outward migration. The proposals will be discussed at a meeting of ministers May 12, and at a summit of EU leaders on June 24.

The plan is likely to face its biggest hurdles in the European Parliament, which also must approve it. Juan López Aguilar, a Spanish socialist member of the European Parliament, on Wednesday called the proposal “unacceptable”.

—Stephen Fidler contributed to this article.
Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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HUMAN EVENTS

Obama Must Challenge Utah Immigration Law by Rep. Lamar Smith

05/05/2011

Last year, the Obama administration sued Arizona over its law that was designed merely to assist the federal government in the enforcement of immigration laws. To date, however, the administration has been silent on a new Utah law, even though it blatantly undermines federal immigration law.

The Utah immigration law creates a guest worker program for illegal immigrants who have lived or worked in the state before May 10, 2011. Illegal immigrants who become guest workers can then obtain “immediate family” permits for their spouses or unmarried children under the age of 21 who are also illegal immigrants.

Unlike the Arizona law, the Utah immigration law is in direct violation of federal law.

Congress has the constitutional authority to determine immigration law, and has not been silent on the employment of illegal immigrants. In fact, current federal law says it’s unlawful for any employer to knowingly hire an illegal immigrant. The law also requires employers to comply with an employment eligibility verification system to help ensure they hire a legal workforce.

The Obama administration’s silence regarding the Utah law stands in stark contrast to its early condemnation of the Arizona law that sought to enforce federal immigration law. If the Obama administration wants a consistent immigration policy, then it needs to take action against the Utah law.

It would not be a stretch to conclude that the only immigration policy that the Obama administration favors is one that allows illegal immigrants to remain in the United States. And it’s not just its silence on the Utah immigration law.

Though President Obama recognizes that jobs are a magnet for illegal immigration, his administration has ignored enforcement of immigration laws at the workplace. Arrests of illegal immigrant workers are down 77% from 2008. The administration’s policy? If they conduct a paperwork audit of a company and find illegal immigrant workers, the workers are not arrested. Instead, they are free to remain in the U.S. and take jobs from American workers someplace else.

Also, even though a number of states and localities are in violation of federal immigration law, the Obama administration has not taken action against any of them.

For example, the Obama administration has not sanctioned sanctuary cities, even though they willfully defy federal law by prohibiting their law enforcement officials from cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security.

The administration also has not taken action against states that give in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants, despite the fact that federal law prohibits this.

The Obama administration’s track record and continued silence on the Utah immigration law reflects its anti-enforcement agenda. It is just one more piece of evidence that this government has no interest in enforcing our immigration laws.

Instead of basing its decisions on its own policy preferences, the Obama administration should fully enforce all immigration laws. When immigration laws are enforced, illegal immigrants leave on their own, and wages go up for Americans and legal workers.

With millions of Americans looking for work, the administration needs to take legal action against Utah for its unconstitutional law that hurts American workers.

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Congressman Lamar Smith represents the 21st District of Texas. He is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

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