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WASHINGTON Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) last week pressed Immigration and Customs Enforcement for answers concerning Nemias Garcia-Velasco, an illegal immigrant who was deported multiple times before being accused of killing one person and injuring another earlier this summer while driving under the influence in Nebraska.

Garcia-Velasco, whose blood alcohol content was later recorded at more than three times the legal limit, was traveling over 100 mph on Interstate 80 on July 5 when he lost control of his van. A man was killed and a 16-year-old boy injured in the afternoon fiery crash near the Interstate 680 split in Omaha, one of Nebraskas busiest junctures. The Douglas County Attorneys Office has charged Garcia-Velasco, a Mexico native, with motor vehicle homicide. Court filings show that Garcia-Velasco had been deported seven times -- five times through voluntary return in 2005 and twice more in 2009 and 2011.

Sasse, in an Aug. 3 letter to ICE officials, also drew attention to Eswin Mejia, an illegal immigrant who was allegedly street racing in a pickup truck while intoxicated in January 2016 when he rammed into the back of 21-year-old Sarah Roots vehicle in Omaha. Root, who had graduated from Bellevue University earlier that day, died at the hospital after suffering a severed spinal cord and fractured skull. According to Sasse, Omaha Police requested that the ICE officials apprehend Mejia, who had prior offenses including a missed court date. ICE did not follow through on the request, and Mejia has since fled. Because he remains at large, Sasse said that the Root family has been deprived of justice.

We cannot let these tragedies become the new normal, Sasse said in a statement. The revolving door for dangerous illegal aliens needs to stop. ICE has to step up, answer Nebraskans questions, and fix this broken enforcement system.

Sasse requested details from ICE about Garcia-Velascos various return trips to Mexico, his criminal past, federal communications with him and any information on attempts to apprehend the individual. The Nebraska lawmaker also asked for details about the priority ICE gave Garcia-Velasco due to his criminal history.

Lawmakers around the country have pointed to a multitude of stories similar to the cases of Garcia-Velasco and Mejia, in which illegal activity by a person in the country illegally has resulted in the death of an American citizen. In July, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) welcomed the launch of Advocates for Victims of Alien Crime, an advocacy group whose family members have died in incidents involving illegal immigrants.

Immigration groups and advocates, while recognizing the tragedy of the events, have pointed to statistics that show legal and illegal immigrants arent any more likely to commit these crimes than the general U.S. population. Statistics from the Cato Institute earlier this year revealed that both documented and undocumented immigrants are incarcerated at rates lower than native citizens.

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Sasse Presses ICE for Answers on Illegal Immigrant Charged in Deadly Wreck - PJ Media

College Park, Md., has proposed giving illegal immigrants the right to vote in municipal elections. A recently drafted charter resolution would, if approved, remove U.S. citizenship as a requirement for voting in local elections. College Park would be the largest municipality in Maryland to adopt such a law; ten other towns and cities in Prince George and Montgomery Counties already allow illegal aliens to vote in local elections. The Baltimore Sun reports that the trend is picking up steam in liberal enclaves in the wake of Trumps election.

According to the College Park resolution, the Mayor and Council have determined that it is in the public interest to change the qualifications for voting. They propose creating a supplemental voter registration list for non-United States citizen voters who meet the following criteria: at least 18 years of age; does not claim voting residence or the right to vote in another jurisdiction; is not a convicted felon currently serving prison time; is not under guardianship for mental disability; and has not been convicted for buying or selling votes.

While illegal aliens would still be ineligible to vote in statewide and national elections, this opens the door to taking the next step and allowing people who have pledged no allegiance to the United States to vote for the president and members of Congress. Unsurprisingly, such measures are generally unpopular. According to a Rasmussen poll conducted last year regarding a proposal made by New York City to allow illegal immigrants to vote for mayor and city officials, seventy-one percent (71%) of Likely U.S. Voters oppose letting illegal immigrants vote for local officials in the area where they live . . . 19% favor such a proposal, while 10% are undecided. Additionally, sixty-seven percent (67%) say illegal immigrants should not be allowed to vote even if they can prove that they live in this country and pay taxes. Thats up from 60% when Rasmussen Reports first asked this question in May of [2015]. Twenty-six percent (26%) still believe tax-paying illegal immigrants should be permitted to vote, down from 35%.

This sentiment is understandable.Undocumented people broke American laws when they chose to ignore immigration policies and enter the United States without authorization to do so.People wait for years to come to this country legally and are awarded with the right to vote if they then go through the process of becoming citizens. We undermine the value of that when we give the ability to vote to anyone who wants it.

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Some Maryland Cities Think It's Okay to Let Illegal Immigrants Vote - National Review

Algeria is determined to take all legal measures in accordance with international charters to preserve the security and stability of its borders, the countrys Interior Minister, Noureddine Bedoui, has said.

Speaking at a meeting with members of the municipal council, Bedoui addressed the increasing worries regarding the rise in illegal immigration.He reiterated how the National Commission in charge of the case had taken strict measures to eradicate criminal networks that engage in the trafficking and exploitation of women and children in our territory for criminal purposes. He further added how some of these criminals were arrested last year.

We will continue in this direction with more firmness, he promised.

All the strict measures will be taken to overcome this phenomenon and to preserve our security and stability, he said, adding that this will be done in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its counterparts in Niger and Mali and several other African countries.

Read:Algeria will never give up on African migrants

Algeria has been facing increased hysteria regarding the presence of sub-Saharan migrants settling in the country or transiting en route to Europe. Media frenzies have been blastedfor racist headlines accusing migrants of bringing diseases into the country and of attacking Algerians.

Many of the migrants have been forced to live in squalid camps around the capital where diseases have thrived in the poor conditions.

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Algeria to take all 'legal measures' against illegal immigration - Middle East Monitor

Arrests of illegal aliens along the U.S.-Mexico border spiked in July, the third consecutive month that arrests have risen since falling to recent lows this spring, according to government data released Tuesday.

Border patrol agents caught18,198individuals trying to sneak across the southwest border, while Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officersturned away 6,833 people deemed inadmissible after presenting themselves at ports of entry. The combined total for July 25,031 was 16 percent higher than the previous month.

Border arrests are used as a proxy for overall levels of illegal immigration. The number of people caught trying to enter the U.S illegally typically falls during the hotter summer months, so recent trends indicate that the Trump administrations early success in reducing illegal immigration may be waning. (RELATED:Arrests Of Illegal Aliens At Southwest Border Jump 9%, Remain Well Below 2016 Level)

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson David Lapan said Tuesday that officials are still trying to determine why illegal immigration is uncharacteristically rising this summer.

The short answer is we dont know what all of those causes are, he told reporters.

Along with overall illegal immigration, attempted entry by unaccompanied minors (UAC) and family units also rose in July: Border agents detained 27 percent more UACs than in June, while the number of people arriving in family units jumped 46 percent. Those cases are considered particularly troublesome because they often trigger complex appeals in immigration courts.

The rise in illegal immigration comes even as the Trump administration has ramped up deportations of illegal aliens. Government statisticsshow that immigration judges issued 49,983 orders of removal between Feb. 1 and July 31, while 7,086 illegal immigrants left the U.S. on their own accord. That was a 31 percent increase over the same time period in 2016. (RELATED:Deportation Orders And Self-Removals Up Nearly A Third Under Trump)

Despite the recent increase in border arrests, illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border remains well below 2016 levels. There were 47 percent fewer arrests in July than in the same month last year, and year-to-date totals for FY 2017 are22 percent lower than the same period in FY 2016.

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Illegal Immigration Rises For Third Month | The Daily Caller - The Daily Caller

Critics of the sanctuary city crackdown say it will chill immigrants from helping ICE go after MS-13 gang members, but the feds say they have plenty of tools including a change in visa status - to win cooperation from the immigrant community.

The options seem to be paying off, with investigators from ICEs Homeland Security Investigations saying immigrant cooperation is making a big difference in the fight against the lethal and ruthless MS-13 gang.

In an atmosphere where cooperating with law enforcement is a death sentence imposed by the gang, most illegal immigrants appear to be more concerned about how to obtain legal resident status than financial reward, said one investigator who declined to be identified.

But at the same time, critics warn that the visa tool should be used only sparingly, since it could lead to fraudulent claims.

One of the fierce defenders is Eddy Wang, Section Chief, HSI Contraband Smuggling and Gang Unit, who said, We wouldnt be able to close a good number of our cases without the cooperation of the immigrant community.

Gang members prey on the immigrant community by co-opting their children, exploiting the vulnerable with drugs, and violence. They dont want to be victims so they work with us.

Whats more, Wang said, contrary to the public perception that ICE/HSI agents conduct massive sweeps through illegal immigrant communities, they actually reach out to them and explain the options available to let them live without the specter of gang violence.

We have a very robust victim assistance and community outreach program that informs the illegal immigrant community what their options are for legal resident status if they cooperate with law enforcement, Wang said.

Among these are asylum, the S visa for witnesses and informants; T visa, which applies to victims of human trafficking; and the U visa, for victims of violence.

According to spokeswoman Rita Moore, the agencyholds webinars for law enforcement and stakeholder groups about the U-Visa and other immigration relief programs.In the last two years, USCIS has held 21 national webinars for more than 4,000 law enforcement officers, community groups, and practitioners, she said.

ButJessica Vaughn, Director of Policy Studies, Center for Immigration Studies, cautions against overly promoting the program due to the high risk of fraud and says law enforcement has other options.

I think it is a good tool if used sparingly to reward people who are critical in especially significant prosecutions, not just as a back-door green card for anyone who has been the victim of a crime, Vaughn said.Experience shows when it is promoted, large numbers of people try to use it as a way to stay here, even if they have nothing significant of value to offer in any case.

Vaughn said people will go so far as to make up stories of being victimized and shop around for a police department that will sign off on the U visa application.

According to Vaughn, ICE often prefers Significant Public Benefit Parole because they have more control over the witness and they can withhold or terminate the benefit if the witness becomes uncooperative or turns out to have nothing worthwhile to help the case.If the U visa were offered instead, they cant take it back easily and the victim could clam up, leaving them with nothing.

Any police department can tell you stories of fraudulent victimization claims to try to get the visa, she said. I assure you, if there is an appropriate possibility to use it in a gang case, ICE is already on top of it.

Wang countered by saying fraud is difficult because ultimately law enforcement has to verify and sign off on the victims application.

Wang said he was frustrated by what he thought was the distortion of the program by special interest groups, adding the primary role of HSI in fighting crime was to work with victims, regardless of their immigration status, and arrest criminals.

We dont check the immigration status of victims or witnesses, Wang said. When you politicize public safety theres no winners, just losers.

Effective suppression of MS-13 relies heavily on the cooperation of residents in the Central American community and even gang members themselves looking to save their own skin or escape the clutches of a violent culture. But in order to achieve this bond of trust, a viable carrot must be offered.

Wang said HSI is now seeing the fruit of these labors.

Joseph J. Kolb is a regular contributor to Fox News.

Link:
Feds offering possible change in visa status to persuade illegal immigrants to turn on MS-13 - Fox News