Monday, August 20, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
Judicial Watch Sues DOJ and DHS for Records about Legal Basis of Obama’s New “Amnesty” Program
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on August 15, 2012, against the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for documents related to the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” directive issued on June 15, 2012 (Judicial Watch v. Department of Justice et al. (No. 1:12-cv-01350)). The new Obama administration policy would allow certain illegal aliens under the age of 31 to apply for protected status that would prevent their deportation and authorize them to work.
Specifically, Judicial Watch seeks the following records in its June 22, 2012, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request:
All records concerning…the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to exercise prosecutorial discretion with respect to individuals who came to the United States as children…Such records include, but are not limited to, opinions, memoranda, or legal advice rendered by the Office of Legal Counsel.
The DOJ acknowledged that on June 25, 2012, it received the FOIA request, and was required to issue a final response by July 24, 2012. To date, the DOJ has failed to respond to the request in accordance with FOIA law.
On June 22, 2012, Judicial Watch also submitted a similar FOIA request directly to the DHS, which acknowledged that on June 28, 2012, it had received the request. After granting itself a 10-day extension, DHS was required by FOIA law to respond by August 10, 2012. To date, the DHS has also failed to comply with FOIA law.
“This new Obama amnesty program is an attack on the constitutional role of Congress and runs rough shod over existing immigration law. It is no surprise that the Obama administration doesn’t want to share the legal basis for this unilateral executive action and is violating Freedom of Information Act law to keep the American people in the dark,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “President Obama and his political appointees are abusing their offices with this new amnesty program. If the administration were confident about the legality of its actions, it wouldn’t be keeping secret the legal basis for President Obama’s extraordinary decision to unilaterally change the law.”
- Judicial Watch
AZ Gov. Jan Brewer Defies Obama Admin: bars public benefits for Illegal Immigrants
PHOENIX - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed an executive order directing state agencies to deny driver's licenses and other public benefits to young illegal immigrants who obtain work authorizations under a new Obama administration program.
Brewer's order issued Wednesday says she's reaffirming the intent of current Arizona law denying taxpayer-funded public benefits and state identification to illegal immigrants.
Young illegal immigrants could start applying Wednesday with the federal government for work permits under the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
The program defers deportations for young illegal immigrants if they meet certain criteria.
Brewer's order says the program's federal paperwork doesn't confer lawful status on illegal immigrants and won't entitle them to Arizona public benefits.
"I have to do what I've been sworn to do and that's uphold the law and execute it as it's been written and that's what we're doing today," Brewer said at a press conference.
She directs state agencies to start emergency rulemaking processes as necessary to implement her order.
After that announcement, dozens marched to the capitol Wednesday night, upset with Brewer's executive order.
But immigration attorney Jose Penalosa says he fully expects the Obama administration to trump Brewer. He believes those approved for deferred action will eventually be allowed to get drivers licenses.
"So I believe the Obama administration's going to come out and say we're changing the notes and our tones of our directive, and say these kids are here under color of law and protected by U.S. immigration laws and due process, and/or they have a specific non-visa immigrant category that allows them to have a driver's license," said Penalosa.
Penalosa says the test will likely come in October or November when the first person is approved through deferred action.
"If the governor backs down great, if not, once a student has a driver's license and state denies then the federal government can sue them in federal court."
"I was stunned she had to take such a happy day and ruin it," said undocumented immigrant Eder Rosas. "I have faith in Obama, I know he's going to do the right thing and he is a man of justice."
An estimated 80,000 people in Arizona will be affected by the new federal program that defers deportation for young undocumented immigrants.
- Fox 10 News
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Monday, August 06, 2012
Black "Leaders" Desert Blacks for Illegal Aliens
Self-appointed and media-approved members of the black "leadership" in America appear either silent or openly supportive when it comes to rewarding the actions of illegal immigrants.
This is in direct contrast to how the civil rights establishment, black and otherwise, operated in the past.
Past generations of civil rights leaders appeared to understand the negative effects of illegal immigration on their constituents and communities. Their words and actions helped protect the gains of working-class Americans in contrast to their successors' calls for amnesty and open borders.
For example, Cesar Chavez, the Hispanic labor advocate lionized by the left, advocated for strict Immigration and Naturalization Service enforcement for the protection of his legal unionized laborers. Clarence Jones, a former advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in his book What Would Martin Say? that he believes King would similarly oppose illegal immigration due to the economic effects an influx of illegal laborers might have on black Americans and their economic security. Barbara Jordan, the first black woman to serve in Congress from the south, testified before Congress on immigration policy in 1995 that an effective policy would find that "those who should not be here will be required to leave."
With black unemployment officially at 15.5 percent in November of 2011 (and likely much higher considering so many no longer look for work) and an astronomical 39.6 percent for black teenagers, illegal immigrant jobseekers can place a particular strain on the black community.
Yet today's black leadership remains fighting the old battle for human rights when the new prize is economic opportunity. In the process, they aren't really standing up for black America. Jesse Jackson, for instance, demanded last year in Phoenix that "we must end the criminalization of undocumented people." The NAACP worries that immigration enforcement such as Arizona's state-based version of federal immigration laws will "contribute to the further criminalization of black and brown community members and mass incarceration."
What it doesn't seem to realize is that equality is not at risk to the degree anywhere close to how economic instability threatens blacks right now. What's important now is employment, access to business opportunity, fair contracting and lending and sane regulation. Cheap, exploited illegal laborers threaten black stability.
It is still true, as Ronald Reagan said, that America is a shining city on the hill that people from all over the world aspire to reach to bask in its warm glow. America is a place where dreams can come true if one works hard. As I often have said to African dignitaries and black Americans, I am not interested in going back to Africa despite any problems here and all the Africans I know are trying to get to the shores of my country.
I also believe there are those in the world, such as the Mexican elite, who are reportedly content to want to remove the discontented poor from within their own borders rather than make the fundamental reforms necessary to fix their own problems. America the beautiful becomes their dumping ground.
This is why it is so aggravating when self-professed black leaders appear more committed to the legalization of these law-breaking foreigners than economic uncertainty, crime, terrorism, the budget, education and overt neglect among their suffering black constituents. Rather than searching for "parallels" between immigration reform and the civil rights movement, as Representative John Lewis (D-GA) did with The Root earlier this year, how about fixing the economic mess facing America's real citizens?
I want to make unequivocally clear that my concern is about illegal immigrants and not American citizens and others who in the country legally. The fact is that employers are hiring illegals instead of Americans because of greed and a false veil of power.
Black leaders will not engage the issue in a realistic, logical or pragmatic manner based on the facts of illegal immigration and its negative impact on their constituents and the country. It's hard to tell if they do so for politics, personal gain or if they are just plain stupid!
-By Charles Butler
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Feds: Latino gang targeted blacks
HAWAIIAN GARDENS, Calif. — A Latino street gang waged a racist campaign to eliminate the city's black residents through attempted murders and other crimes, according to federal racketeering indictments unsealed Thursday.
Five indictments charged a total of 147 members and associates of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang, and federal and local agencies arrested 63 of them by early Thursday, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said at a news conference.
Another 35 defendants were already in custody on unrelated charges. Weapons and drugs worth more than $1 million also were seized in what O'Brien called "the largest gang takedown in United States history."
The indictments detail attempted murder, kidnapping, firearms, narcotics and other charges related to attacks by the gang, which is predominantly Latino and mainly operates in Hawaiian Gardens, a city of about 15,000 in southeastern Los Angeles County.
"(Varrio Hawaiian Gardens) gang members take pride in their racism and often refer to the VHG Gang as the `Hate Gang,'" the main indictment said. "VHG gang members have expressed a desire to rid the city of Hawaiian Gardens of all African-Americans and have engaged in a systematic effort to achieve that result by perpetrating crimes against African-Americans."
Shots fired into home
The indictment alleges a string of attacks on black residents, including a shooting into a home with eight people inside. The indictment does not say if anyone was hit.
In another instance, two gang members allegedly chased a black man, yelled a racist epithet at him and then beat him with a garden rake. The same man was later repeatedly stabbed by two gang members, according to the indictment, which charged them with his attempted murder.
According to 2000 census data, the latest available, Hawaiian Gardens was roughly 73 percent Hispanic and 4 percent black.
Hawaiian Gardens Mayor Michael Gomez welcomed the crackdown, saying: "Honest residents should not have to live in fear of lawless thugs who act like it's high noon at the OK Corral."
The indictments mark at least the second time in less than two years that federal authorities have accused Latino gang members of attacking black residents because of their race. Local officials have tried to downplay racial tensions.
Deputy's murder prompts investigation
The investigation of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang began in June 2005 after the murder of Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Luis Gerardo "Jerry" Ortiz. Jose Luis Orozco, a member of the gang, was sentenced to death in 2007 for the killing.
Ortiz, 35, died as he searched for Orozco, who had shot and wounded a man while he did yard work. Orozco was later found guilty of attempted murder in that case.
"It was this hatred of African-Americans that may have spurred the attack on Deputy Jerry Ortiz, who was killed trying to arrest a gang member suspected of trying to shoot an African-American man in the back," O'Brien said.
-Associated Press
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)