Mediaboss Marketing

The residents of Baltimore and their representatives on the City Council are celebrating a big win this week. But its nothing to do with curbing their record setting murder rate or fixing their imploding budget. The festivities center around a court order resulting in the release of Serbando Rodriguez and Segundo Paucar from detention. A team of pro bono lawyers had worked to convince a judge to spring the two men, despite the fact that ICE had determined they were in the country illegally and scheduled them for deportation. (Baltimore Sun)

The immigration arrests of a barber and a small business owner in February galvanized many in Baltimores Highlandtown neighborhood.

Neither man had a criminal record. Protesters hit the streets. Lawyers snapped into action. Nervous friends and family took to prayer.

Today, after advocacy lawyers succeeded in arguing their cases before immigration judges, both men have been released from the Frederick County Detention Center and reunited with their friends and family.

They could have easily been removed from the country, but they have viable cases, said Michelle N. Mendez, a senior attorney at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network who represented both men. This is why we shouldnt be doing these fast-tracked deportations. If the person has access to competent counsel, it makes a big difference.

This doesnt mean that either of the men are off the hook entirely. Theyve simply been released on their own recognizance while the appeals are heard in court and they will be required to check in regularly with ICE in the meantime. But is this really a reason to celebrate?

As we so often see with media coverage of these stories, the Baltimore Sun goes to great lengths to paint a sympathetic picture. One of the detainees is described as the hard working guy who cuts hair and repairs bicycles while just wanting to help others in the community. The other is a small business owner. Whats not to love, right? You have to dig down a number of paragraphs before you find out something else about them. Rodriguez wasnt just caught up by accident as part of some Trump-fueled, cruel hearted raid. Hed already been deported once and was wanted for illegally reentering the country. Paucar had been caught by ICE more than a decade ago and had a standing order for deportation but had simply disappeared off their radar.

The reason given for the fresh look at these cases was rather odd as well. Rodriguez claims that he was fleeing gang violence in Honduras when he left. Not that he was specifically a target as a public official or something, but just that theres a lot of that sort of violence in Honduras. Okay, so let me get this straight. You were fleeing a problem of gang violence in your home country and you fled to Baltimore?

But even if thats the case, people fleeing persecution and immediate danger in their home countries can apply for refugee status or any number of other available programs. He didnt follow any of those steps but rather chose to continue living here as an illegal alien. If the courts are starting to buy stories such as this were in a lot of trouble.

Of course, were still talking about Baltimore here, so its all in keeping with the public mood and climate in the municipal government. Keep in mind that back in March the City Council was issuing a request for ICE to stop arresting illegal aliens who werent wanted for serious crimes. But thats not how it works, folks. The only reason we havent been regularly arresting those who dont commit other crimes in addition to violating our federal immigration laws was that a lack of resources forced us to prioritize the cases we pursue. That doesnt mean that the rest of the illegal aliens had permission to be here. We just didnt have the manpower to pursue them and they knew it. But when we do happen to catch them, theyre still eligible to be ejected. And thats how its supposed to remain.

See the article here:
Baltimore celebrates victory in release of illegal aliens - Hot Air

Homeland Security officials reject the idea that the agency is too focused on immigration. Officials noted that Mr. Trump signed an executive order on cybersecurity and has proposed adding money and staff to the agencys cybersecurity efforts.

The officials add that the president appointed Brock Long, an experienced emergency management official, to head FEMA. Mr. Long was confirmed, 95 to 4, by the Senate.

They also point out that John F. Kelly, the Homeland Security secretary, has taken a number of steps to protect air travel, including a temporary ban on portable electronics from some countries and implementing new screening measures to thwart attacks.

No one is going to tell you that immigration and border security arent priorities; they are the priorities that the president ran on, said Jonathan Hoffman, assistant secretary for public affairs at the department. But the focus on these issues isnt so much that we have neglected any part of the Department of Homeland Security.

But so far the Trump administration has focused on illegal immigration: building a wall along the border with Mexico, hiring thousands of new Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and deporting tens of thousands of people in the country illegally.

Illegal immigration was the centerpiece of Mr. Trumps presidential campaign, drawing large crowds as he promised to build a border wall and deport millions in the country illegally. But security experts said the country faces a number of continuing threats ranging from domestic terrorists to attacks from political extremists and cyberattacks against the nations election systems that demand the full attention of the Department of Homeland Security.

John Kelly and his staff have a wide portfolio, said Tom Ridge, who served as the first Homeland Security secretary, under President George W. Bush. I hope the White House realizes that they have an enormous job in protecting the border and the nations infrastructure from cyberattacks. They cant be used just to keep campaign promises.

The budget proposal Mr. Trump submitted to Congress prioritizes agencies and programs that target illegal immigration.

Under the plan, funding would increase just over 21 percent for Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol. Much of the increase would be used to build a border wall. But the agency would also be charged with hiring 5,000 new Border Patrol agents, even as the number of people crossing the border illegally has declined. Last month, 21,659 border crossers were caught, compared with 45,722 in June 2016, a 53 percent decrease.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcements budget would increase even more, nearly 30 percent. The new funding would pay for more deportation officers, detention centers and money to fly or bus unauthorized immigrants back to their home countries.

But other services and programs within Homeland Security would have their funding cut. The proposed budget includes cuts to the Coast Guard, elimination of the Transportation Security Administrations teams of uniformed armed officers that sweep public facilities and shutdowns of several of the departments national labs, including one in New York City that helps detect nuclear radiation. Several grant programs that pay for local police officers in airports or those that fight extremism would be cut or reprogrammed.

For example, Life After Hate, a group that works to deradicalize neo-Nazis and members of white supremacist groups, was slated to get $400,000 in the final days of the Obama administration. But Homeland Security canceled funding to the group in favor of groups and law enforcement agencies that target Muslim extremists.

Cutting grant programs that combat domestic extremism is a mistake when attacks by white supremacist and other hate groups are on the rise, said Erroll Southers, a former F.B.I. agent who is the director of a program at the University of Southern California that studies homegrown extremism.

You cant just focus on threats by ISIS or other groups, although its important, he said, referring to the Islamic State. But there are real threats here at home that have to be addressed.

Mr. Hoffman, the Homeland Security spokesman, said that the agencys critics were misguided and that their criticism did not reflect the day-to-day operation of the department.

We're not out there talking about cybersecurity, T.S.A., FEMA and other issues every day, but the focus is on it every day, he said. All the components and agencies are sufficiently funded to do their jobs.

Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, a frequent critic of the department, said the White House bore a large share of the blame for what she considered the agencys overemphasis on targeting immigrants who were in the country illegally but posed little threat.

But she said Mr. Kelly should also be held accountable for the agencys immigration priorities. Ms. Harris was one of nearly a dozen Democratic senators who did not vote to confirm him.

During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Kelly came across as this person who would be a moderating voice in the Trump administration, someone who would speak truth to power, said Ms. Harris, a member of the Homeland Security Committee. But thats not what were seeing from him as secretary of Homeland Security. Under him, this agency has seemed eager to carry out the destructive immigration policies of this administration.

Leon E. Panetta, a former director of the C.I.A. and secretary of defense, said Mr. Kelly was simply following orders.

John Kelly is being a good Marine, Mr. Panetta said. He was loyal to me, and hes loyal to his commander in chief. I dont think some of the things the department is doing reflect the views of John Kelly.

Get politics and Washington news updates via Facebook, Twitter and in the Morning Briefing newsletter.

A version of this article appears in print on July 14, 2017, on Page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Single-Minded at Homeland Security.

View original post here:
Job One at Homeland Security Under Trump: Immigration - New York Times

Victims of Illegal Immigration Urge the Senate to Pass Legislation to Save American Lives

On Wednesday June 28, 2017, President Donald J. Trump met with American families whose loved ones were killed by illegal aliens. Many of these illegal aliens had extensive criminal records and had been repeatedly deported. During their meeting with the President, these American families urged the passage of two critical pieces of legislation that the President campaigned on. Both Kates Law and the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act easily passed the House with bipartisan support. If enacted, the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act will cut federal grant money to cities that prevent law enforcement officers from turning over dangerous criminal aliens to federal authorities and Kates Law will enhance criminal penalties for those who repeatedly reenter the country illegally. The President is now calling on the Senate to act swiftly to take up these bills, pass them, and send them to his desk for signature.

Compilation Video

Juan Pina's Story

Every year, far too many Americans are victimized, assaulted, and killed by illegal aliens who have been removed from the country multiple times. Sanctuary cities are releasing violent criminals, including members of the bloodthirsty MS-13 gang, back onto our streets every single day. Innocent Americans are suffering unthinkable violence as a result of reckless policies. It is time for these tragedies to end.

Excerpts from personal stories told at the roundtable discussion:

Laura Wilkerson: My son Joshua was eighteen years old and in November 2010, he was systematically tortured, brutally beaten, murdered, and then his body set on fire after death [by] somebody who shouldnt have been in this country. Josh was a good kid. This is not about politics. This is about safety. Thats all its about. Both parties should be on board with this. There shouldnt be any objection to it. We dont want [any] other families to have to endure this. Its about public safety.

Julie Golvach: [O]ur son, was the second of four shot that night and weve lost everything. He was my only child. I want some action. If this ha[d] been done years ago, my son would still be here. I want action. I want some action so nobody else has to go through the loss that we feel.

Dan Golvach: This is what some politicians in the country ha[ve] decided is acceptable for us. Its not acceptable. While these politicians are sitting at home on the holidays, all warm and cozy with their families, most of us [at this table] are at the cemetery. And its just not acceptable.

Mary Ann Mendoza: Im tired of our politicians not caring about their fellow Americans. Why? When did it ever become more important to our elected officials to protect illegal criminals in our country and not care about us?

Melissa Oliver-Storz: The man that murdered my father was deported twice previously and returned to our country illegally. This senseless crime has affected my family in many ways that are unexplainable. The pain is tremendous and its something well never get over. I think it is important that we focus on these laws and getting them passed. We need our law enforcement officers to have more information about these people that are in our country illegally, so we can go ahead and get them detained, and so this cant happen to another family.

Juan Pina: My daughter, Christy Sue Pina, she was murdered. She was strangled, stabbed, raped, [and] sodomized. Her nude body was thrown in an artichoke field in the winter. The person that did this had kidnapped another fourteen-year-old girl. He tortured her, got put in jail, he got out [on bail]. He went back to Mexico. This was in July of 87. In September, he came back. He kidnapped another one. Did the same thing. He got put in jail again. Went back to Mexico. Came back in 90. February 8th, they found my daughter out there in an artichoke field and he took off. They didnt catch him that time either. He left, but they had an idea who it was. A few months later, he came back [and] tried to kidnap a little twelve-year-old at seven oclock in the morning on her way to school. Im my daughters voice. [W]hat [the] President, here, is trying to do is the best thing ever. Im all for everything that youre doing. Americans first. Americans first.

Michelle Root: Why do we have to encounter any type of violence? And I'm sorry, but these laws that are trying to be passed? Most of them are common sense, and until this happened to me, I thought this is what was in place. And to find out it wasn't was terrifying to me.

Sabine Durden: Im a legal immigrant, and I did it the right way. I came here knowing I wanted to be here. I had to go through all the steps and Im proud to be a citizen now. And I had one son, Dominic. I brought him with me. Thats all I got. He was my only child Mr. President, since I had no family left, I wanted to commit suicide. I wanted to be with my son. And on June 16, when you came down the escalator, and you mentioned those words illegal immigration, I was walking through my living room and I dropped to my knees, because it was my little sign from God. And a month later, I met you personally in Los Angeles. You were the only one that ever met with us, and became our voice. So youre not only my hero, [and] my President, you are my lifesaver. I wouldnt be here without you.Thank you. And we need to pass these two laws. They need to be passed in [the] Senate Stop wasting time, sign these bills, please.

Steve Ronnebeck: My son was Grant Ronnebeck, 21 years old. He was killed January 22nd of 2015 by an illegal immigrant while he was working the overnight shift at his convenience store. Grant was killed because he wasnt counting change fast enough for a pack of cigarettes. Grant was just one of the kindest, nicest kids you will ever meet.... One thing that I think that you, Mr. President, realize [is] that every one of our childrens deaths has been preventable. All the deaths of our loved ones [were] preventable. And Mr. President, Chairman Goodlatte, I think you guys realize that and thats why youre doing what youre doing and I want to thank you both for what youre doing. Passing these laws is instrumental. I dont think that I would wish the devastation that weve felt everyday on anyone. [W]hen your childs death was preventable, its even harder than if they were to die from cancer or something like that. It justit rips part of you away that youll never get back.

See the rest here:
ICYMI: [VIDEO] Victims of Illegal Immigration Urge the Senate to ... - Whitehouse.gov (press release)

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden has intensified its crackdown on illegal immigrants after a failed asylum-seeker killed five people in Stockholm, but the move has raised concerns that more migrants will be driven underground to join a shadowy underclass.

In the past months, police have staged wider sweeps on workplaces to check papers, netting undocumented workers, sending a warning to employers and sparking heated debate in a nation that has been traditionally tolerant to migrants.

In May, police carried out their biggest raid so far when dozens of officers swooped on a constructions site in Stockholm. Nine were caught and sent to detention centers, while another 40 escaped by scrambling onto scaffolding and across roof tops.

Swedish authorities had already started to tighten up on illegal immigrants, but police stepped up their activities after Uzbek construction worker Rakhmat Akilov drove into Stockholm shoppers in April.

"We have an unlimited amount of work," said Jerk Wiberg, who leads the Stockholm police unit in charge of domestic border controls. A 22-year veteran who has caught thousands of illegal immigrants, Wiberg led the raid at the construction site in May.

After Akilov became another militant in Europe to use a truck as a weapon, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven made it clear that "no means no" for those whose asylum bids are rejected. Akilov, whose lawyer said he had admitted to committing the crime, had been in hiding after his asylum request was denied.

The Migration Agency estimated 10,000 asylum-seekers a year will choose to disappear rather than be deported. Up to 50,000 undocumented immigrants already work in hotels, transport, construction and restaurants, the agency said last year.

Migration Minister Morgan Johansson said that a "dual labor market ... where a growing group lives on the outside of society and remains in Sweden" after having been denied residency was unacceptable.

"It also increases the risk of them being exploited. We cannot have it that way," he said, adding: "One way is to go after the employers ... (using) expanded workplace checks."

While cheap migrant labor is welcomed by some small businesses, government officials and economists worry that the shadow economy undercuts Sweden's economic model, whose generous welfare provisions and high wages are built on high rates of productivity and one of the world's heaviest tax regimes.

Tough measures against immigrants go against the grain for many in Sweden, a country of 10 million which once called itself "a humanitarian superpower" that generously welcomed migrants fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

But attitudes appear to be changing and a 2017 study by Gothenburg University showed 52 percent favored taking fewer refugees into the country with 24 percent opposed. Two years ago 40 percent backed reducing refugee numbers with 37 opposed.

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats are now the second biggest party in polls with support of around a fifth of Swedes.

The Social Democrats, the country's biggest party in every election since 1917 and leader of the governing coalition with the Greens, has been forced to balance its traditional left-wing credentials with the need to enforce immigration laws.

Despite political support for the crackdown and tougher rules on immigration, police struggle to enforce deportations. Between January and April police deported just under 600 people, a third fewer than in the same period last year.

Some of those caught were freed because detention centers were full, while others cannot be deported as they don't have passports to prove their country of origin or their home countries refuse to take them.

The government never discloses how many are held in detention centers, saying there are about 360 beds and deportees are normally repatriated within three weeks. The government has told the migration agency to add another 100 beds.

An extra 800 million crowns ($95 million) has been added to the police budget this year to bolster the clampdown, but senior officers say this is not enough.

In 2016, police made about 1,100 unannounced workplace checks, almost three times more than in 2015, and caught 232 illegal immigrants. A further increase is expected in 2017 as the net widens.Illegal immigrants are also detained through checks at transport hubs, on vehicles or after committing crime.

Deportations made up a small fraction of the 20,000 rejected asylum seekers who left Sweden last year.

"We have been able to increase the number of people who leave Sweden substantially. But we're listening to the police and we have paved the way for more resources and wider powers," Johansson said in an interview, adding:

"We will have to increase that number further."

Expanded police powers include workplace checks without concrete suspicion of a crime, to be allowed from next year, with sharply higher fines for employing illegal immigrants.

Immigrants themselves have been unnerved. When police burst into a pizzeria in the southern city of Malmo where Ehsanulla Kajfar, a 38-year-old Afghan refugee, was working in May he said he thought they were looking for "terrorists or drug dealers".

He was surprised to be handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a police vehicle as tax officials scrutinized the restaurant's employee ledger. He was told his papers were not in order and was taken to a detention center.

"Sweden used to be a nice country, even when I was living underground," he told Reuters. "Now although I have a residence permit from Italy and I am registered at the tax agency in Sweden, I'm still locked in a detention center."

Nicaraguan Hugo Eduardo Somarriba Quintero, 37, said he was wrongly detained in the big raid in Stockholm in May due to an error by authorities and then released. Migration Agency records confirmed the details of his case.

"But I've lost my job the company where I was working was dropped from the construction site (because of irregularities in not checking work papers properly). Now I am looking for work and there is no job for me," he tearfully told Reuters, adding:

"Before there was a lot of tolerance for migrants. Now the laws are harder."

Muhammad, a 22-year old Afghan who declined to give his family name, has been in hiding for three years in Malmo since his asylum application was rejected.

He has moved three times this year and never stays in a place longer than three months. All his belongings are packed in a suitcase and two plastic bags if he needs to leave in a hurry.

Muhammad relies on food stamps from the church and leftover food from restaurants and grocery stores.

He has learned to avoid the city center when there is an increase in policing and gets help from other immigrants and volunteers who work for asylum-seekers' rights. They warn each other of police checks and raids through text messages.

"Last time the police made a push to find immigrants, my friend stayed inside for 15 to 20 days," Muhammad said. "But I can't stay inside all the time, its too depressing."

Reporting by Johan Ahlander and Mansoor Yosufzai, additional reporting by Alister Doyle, editing by Peter Millership

Read the original:
Sweden intensifies crackdown on illegal immigrants - Reuters

The House of Representatives recently passed two laws to crack down on illegal immigrants in the United States Kates Law (H.R. 3004) and the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act (H.R. 3003). Both were prompted by the tragic 2015 murder of Kate Steinle by an illegal immigrant named Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, and by the perception that illegal immigrants have created a crime wave.

That perception is simply untrue.

Illegal immigrants are not all criminals, as most immigration offenses are civil violations and not criminal ones. Civil violations in immigration law are punished with deportation, while criminal violations are punished with jail time. The Center for Migration Studies estimates that 66 percent of illegal immigrants who entered in 2014 did so by overstaying a visa, which is not a crime. Its difficult to prove in court that the other 36 percent committed a crime by entering illegally.

Fear of an illegal immigrant crime wave is sparked by the fear that they are overwhelmingly murderers, rapists, and thieves. In reality, illegal immigrants have lower incarceration rates and live in places with lower crimes rates than native-born Americans.

Regardless, fear of an illegal immigrant crime wave is not sparked by the specter of people breaking administrative immigration rules, but by fear that they are overwhelmingly murderers, rapists, and thieves. In reality, illegal immigrants have lower incarceration rates and live in places with lower crimes rates than native-born Americans. Far from perpetrating a crime wave, immigrants actually decrease crime rates.

Those who think illegal immigrants are unusually crime-prone tend to make several errors when making their case. The most common is to only look at non-citizen incarcerations in federal prisons. First, that is a bad measurement because non-citizens includes illegal immigrants and also legal non-citizens, so it is an over count. Second, federal prisons only hold about 10 percent of all prisoners, with the other 90 percent incarcerated in state and local prisons and jails.

Federal prisons hold prisoners convicted of federal crimes or crimes committed while crossing a border, including immigration offenses and drug smuggling, which disproportionately lead to foreigners being imprisoned. In May 2017, the last month for which data are available, 46.3 percent of federal inmates were incarcerated for drug offenses and 8.2 percent for immigration crimes. Imprisonment of non-violent drug and immigration offenders is not the hallmark of a crime wave.

Looking at all incarcerated prisoners in state, federal, and local adult correctional facilities provides a more accurate picture of illegal immigrant criminality. Based on census data, the numbers show that illegal immigrants are about 44 percent less likely to be incarcerated than native-born Americans. Focusing on prisoners between the ages of 18 and 54, 1.53 percent of all native-born adults are incarcerated, compared with 0.85 percent of illegal immigrants in the same age range including those incarcerated for immigration crimes and in immigration detention. Excluding those particular crimes brings the illegal immigrant incarceration rate down to 0.50 percent one third of the native rate.

This holds true even when you take race into account. Whereas white, native-born Americans are incarcerated at a rate of 0.90 percent, illegal immigrants of every race and ethnicity are still less likely to be incarcerated, at a rate of 0.85 percent.

American cities with more illegal immigrants do not have higher crime rates. Even immigration restrictionists like Representative Steve King, R-Iowa,admit that legal immigrants are less crime-prone than natives, but they also live in the same cities as illegal immigrants. This makes it difficult to estimate how illegals affect crime rates on the local level.

However, the evidence strongly suggests that they at least dont worsen them. A study of recidivism rates in Los Angeles conducted by two RAND Corporation scholars discovered that there was no difference between rearrest rates over a 30-day period between illegal and legal immigrants. While not perfect, this study is still broadly consistent with the others.

Federal and state governments do not consistently record the number of incarcerated illegal immigrants they should start doing so immediately. Regardless, the available evidence overwhelmingly shows that illegal immigrants are incarcerated at lower rates than native-born Americans. As for the supposed illegal immigrant crime-wave, the evidence for that remains to be seen.

Alex Nowrasteh is the immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity.

Original post:
Illegal immigrant crime wave? Evidence is hard to find | Fox News - Fox News