Siren Songs and the New York Times
By Stephen Steinlight
CIS Blog, July 1, 2009
http://cis.org/steinlight/nyt
Excerpt: Though “indulging in the illusions of hope . . . against a painful truth” is “natural to man,” in one of the greatest speeches in our history Patrick Henry warns us that its consequence can be to degrade our reason so profoundly we become indistinguishable from animals. How much more dangerous is this predilection when practiced by what many still regard as the nation’s newspaper of record?
2.
ICE Adopts Catch and Release for 287(g)
By Jessica Vaughan
CIS Blog, June 29, 2009
http://cis.org/Vaughan/CatchandRelease-287%28g%29
Excerpt: According to news accounts, earlier this month ICE issued a directive to one of the most productive 287(g) jurisdictions to cease holding many of the illegal aliens arrested by the sheriff’s officers, and instead release them back into the community. Just like in the commercial, where the mean guy in the suit takes away the kid’s cool truck and gives him a lousy picture to play with instead, Sheriff Daron Hall knows the difference. Now, only a fraction of the thousands of illegal aliens they arrest in Davidson County, Tenn. will actually be removed. The rest will be released on their own recognizance (“O.R.,” or “down the road,” as the expression goes) and told to appear in immigration court at a future date. ICE knows from experience that fewer than 15 percent of illegal aliens released O.R. will show up for these hearings. Maybe Janet Napolitano will send Sheriff Hall and the residents of Davidson County a picture of the criminal alien being deported instead.
3.
The Speaker of the House, Navajos, and Who We Are
By Jerry Kammer
CIS Blog, June 27, 2009
http://cis.org/kammer/navajos
Excerpt: I am one of the progressives whose position on immigration policy stems from concerns about our country’s social structure, social cohesion and population growth. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is an immigration enthusiast not troubled by such concerns.
4.
What’s the Rush?
By Mark Krikorian
CIS Blog, June 26, 2009
http://cis.org/krikorian/whitehousesummit
Excerpt: Yesterday’s twice-delayed White House pep rally for amnesty offered no surprises, other than the exclusion of Steve King, who’s just, you know, the ranking Republican on the House immigration subcommittee. In fact, despite the meeting’s billing as broadly inclusive, only three of the 30 members of Congress there were opposed to amnesty: Sen. Jeff Sessions and Reps. Lamar Smith and Heath Shuler.
5.
Impatience Mixed with Hope in the Spanish-Language Press
By Jerry Kammer
CIS Blog, June 26, 2009
http://cis.org/kammer/pressreax
Excerpt: The leader of a national Latino political organization wasn’t happy with the results of Thursday’s immigration policy meeting at the White House between the president and congressional leaders.
‘They have to move from statements and meetings to doing something concrete,’ Arturo Vargas, director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials told the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion, which is published in Los Angeles.
6.
The New Sheriff in Town
By Stephen Steinlight
CIS Blog, June 25, 2009
http://cis.org/steinlight/schumer
Excerpt: Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, is point man for President Obama on immigration, riding herd on the Big Push for ‘comprehensive immigration reform.’ According to members of Congress committed to this unpopular policy, the campaign will be launched sometime in the fall. There was a bipartisan meeting today to discuss what’s possible in the current Congress, but it includes Rep. Anthony Weiner so it’s hard to take that one too seriously, and there was another the day before for amnesty advocates. But don’t place too much faith in the time frame. Given this president’s vast policy agenda, with other priorities easily eclipsing this one, talking about beginning this debate in the fall is likely just another sop to the ‘immigration reform’ crowd with little sincerity behind it. And this one’s easy for the President: all he has to do is sit back and let them cherish and mouth their delusions.
7.
Schumer’s Marketing Lesson for ‘Comprehensive Reform’
By Jerry Kammer
CIS Blog, June 25, 2009
http://cis.org/Kammer/ChuckSchumer-ImmigrationMarketing
Excerpt: A powerful Senate advocate of ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ legislation Wednesday offered some marketing advice to those who want to help him get the bill passed: Call illegal immigration by its name.
‘When we use phrases like ‘undocumented workers,’ we convey a message to the American people that their government is not serious about combating illegal immigration, which the American people overwhelmingly opposed,’ said Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Judiciary immigration subcommittee. ‘If you don’t think it’s illegal you’re not going to say it. I think it is illegal and wrong and we have to change it.’
8.
The Rule of Cynicism
By Jerry Kammer
CIS Blog, June 23, 2009
http://cis.org/Kammer/Cynicism-MexicanDayCareTragedy
Excerpt: Today’s New York Times has a story about a tragedy at a day care center in the northern border state of Sonora that has shaken the entire country. The Times reports that in the weeks since a fire killed 47 children in Hermosillo, “evidence has piled up suggesting a chain of negligence that may have abetted the tragedy. The revelations have led to outrage and, in this culture of widespread corruption and legal impunity, resignation.”
9.
Come, Let Us Reason Together – So Long as You Agree With Me
By Stephen Steinlight
CIS Blog, June 22, 2009
http://cis.org/steinlight/commonground
Excerpt: Artfully practiced, casuistry is discernible only by the naturally skeptical or perspicacious while remaining invisible to the gullible or incautious majority. When performed ineptly, however, the duplicity is plain to all. Bungled deception insults ordinary ‘inquiring minds,’ repels the more acute, and reveals the intellectual slovenliness that accompanies the bad ethics, making each that much more deplorable.
10.
Touchback Redux?
By Mark Krikorian
CIS Blog, June 19, 2009
http://cis.org/Krikorian/ObamaTouchbackAmnestyPlan
Excerpt: The president this morning spoke at a Hispanic prayer breakfast and reiterated his support for amnesty, but again offered no timeline. One interesting twist is that he endorsed the bogus ‘touchback’ gimmick that was floated during the last round of the amnesty debate, wherein illegal aliens would go home to apply for amnesty, have lunch, then come back legally, thus ‘rebooting’ their status. As the L.A. Times writes
11.
Illegal, but Not Undocumented: Identity Theft, Document Fraud, and Illegal Employment
By Ronald W. Mortensen
CIS Backgrounder, June 19,2009
http://cis.org/IdentityTheft
Excerpt: This Backgrounder examines illegal immigration-related document fraud and identity theft that is committed primarily for the purpose of employment. It debunks three common misconceptions: illegal aliens are “undocumented;” the transgressions committed by illegal aliens to obtain jobs are minor; and illegal-alien document fraud and identity theft are victimless crimes. It discusses how some community leaders rationalize these crimes, contributing to a deterioration of the respect for laws in our nation, and presents a variety of remedies, including more widespread electronic verification of work status (E-Verify and the Social Security Number Verification Service) and immigrant outreach programs to explain the ramifications and risks of document fraud and identity theft.
A Whole New Meaning to ‘Cheap Labor’
By Mark Krikorian
CIS Blog, June 17, 2009
http://cis.org/krikorian/anbar
Excerpt: From a Washington Post story on foreign workers in Iraq:
Jasim al-Dulaimy, another tribal leader in Anbar who brought in Bangladeshis, said the workers had adapted well to desert life, adding that he had made them adopt the long, loose dishdashas traditionally worn in the province.
Dulaimy said he doesn’t need to worry about the foreign workers joining the insurgency or acting as moles. And there is an additional benefit, he said. Because Awakening leaders have become targets of the insurgents, all his employees are vulnerable. But if any of his foreign workers are killed, he said, ‘I don’t care as much as I do if one of the Iraqis working for me gets killed,’ explaining that relatives of slain Iraqi employees expect to receive hefty compensation.
This is why they used Irish immigrants to build the antebellum railroads instead of slaves — if the Irish got killed, it was no big deal, but slaves cost money.
13.
The Environmental Argument for Reducing Immigration to the United States
By Winthrop Staples III and Philip Cafaro
CIS Backgrounder, June 17, 2009
http://cis.org/EnvironmentalArgument
Excerpt: This Backgrounder argues that a serious commitment to environmentalism entails ending America’s population growth by implementing a more restrictive immigration policy. The need to limit immigration necessarily follows when we combine a clear statement of our main environmental goals — living sustainably and sharing the landscape generously with other species — with uncontroversial accounts of our current demographic trajectory and of the negative environmental effects of U.S. population growth, nationally and globally.
14.
Should Judges Set Immigration Policy?
Participants: Jon Feere, Peter Nunez, Mark Krikorian, and Jan Ting
CIS Panel Discussion, June 15, 2009
http://cis.org/Transcript/PlenaryPowerPanel
Excerpt: Mark Krikorian. I’m executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
All the debates over amnesty or an immigration bill presuppose a basic deal. And this was the case in the ’80s and this was the case in the recent debates a couple of years ago and also in the one that will be upcoming. And that basic deal is this: that illegal immigrants will get legal status in exchange for tougher enforcement measures.
