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The author, Dickinson College professor Crispin Sartwell, paints an idyllic image of the vibrant, intersectional culture of York Springs, Pa., where the streets are purportedly lined with Mexican food trucks and children playing ftbol and a bona-fide real estate revival is well underway thanks to townspeople [fixing] up old houses.

That is, until Donald Trump was elected president.

According to the author, stringent enforcement of immigration law by the Trump administration has precipitated the destruction of a rich, new rural culture and has sent York Springs spiral[ing] into a local depression that is personal, cultural and economic. He cites only 15 documented cases of immigration enforcement in the area but assures readers there have been many more.

Central to his narrative is the fact that Adams County is a national leader in apple production, and that York Springs 70-percent Hispanic population plays an essential role in the growth and harvest of Galas and Granny Smiths.

The thesis of Mr. Sartwells narrative, of course, is that the lawful detainment of unlawful migrant workers will devastate the local economy, to the detriment of all residents, legal and illegal. Sartwell goes on to explain how the devastation transcends economics:

This is separating families, and people are living in fear, he writes. Children arent playing out in the yard any longer. Parents are afraid to leave their homes ... the food truck is gone, and its been a while since I heard Mexican pop music.

Unsurprisingly, the narrative propagated by Mr. Sartwell aligns closely with the left-wing orthodoxy on this topic. It is rooted in the common misconception that American agriculture cannot function without illegal immigrant labor and that the concerted enforcement of federal immigration law will result in the collapse of the farming industry altogether.

According to the Pew Research Center, the U.S. civilian workforce includes 8 million unauthorized immigrants, but only 4 percent of that population is employed in agricultural jobs like farming, fishing, and forestry.

While illegal immigrants do comprise a larger share of the agricultural labor force compared to other industries, the vast majority of the American farming workforce is comprised of legal workers, foreign and native-born.

This fact alone calls into question Mr. Sartwells assertion that the removal of unauthorized immigrant labor (not to be confused with legal immigrant labor) will have an adverse impact on the domestic farming economy.

It also goes far in discrediting the leftist clich that illegal immigrants are needed to perform the dirty, blue collar jobs American citizens are allegedly unwilling to do.

Sure, labor-intensive fruit-and-vegetable farming does attract illegal immigrant workers, but those commodities constitute a relatively small part of the overall U.S. farm economy. Bigger crops wheat, cotton, and corn, for example account for a far greater share of total agricultural output. The production of these major crops is largely automated and can be performed with minimal human inputs.

Bottom line: the modern agriculture economy is diverse and dynamic. Most farmhands are working legally and agribusiness in general is becoming less reliant on manual labor. The enforcement of federal immigration law will never stop Americans from engaging in one of the oldest forms of organized economic activity known to the human race.

Mr. Sartwell, and others who share his worldview, use scary rhetoric about vanishing children and food trucks to obfuscate economic reality and perpetuate the wink-and-nod immigration policies of the Barack Obama administration. In doing so, they defend a broken system which has bankrupted taxpayers and endangered American communities.

Laissez-faire immigration enforcement has resulted in dramatic population growth, not only in our cities but in rural pockets of America like York Springs. Costs in public education, healthcare, social welfare programs, and the criminal justice system all borne by American taxpayers have increased correspondingly.

The American opioid epidemic, which claims the lives of 10 Pennsylvanians each day, has been fueled in part by the unmitigated trafficking of heroin across the porous southern border.

Sartwell observes in his column that the migrant labor community of York Springs has been quick to adopt rural American values ... which are instinctively traditional and oriented toward family and hard work.

Before authoring opinion pieces which decry the enforcement of federal immigration law, he should be reminded that an abiding respect for the rule of law is another value rural Americans hold dear.

Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.

Sen. Mike Regan is a member of the PA Senate Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee and previously served as U.S. Marshal in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

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Guest Editorial: Ag economy will survive illegal immigration crackdown - The Sentinel

Forbes

An Expensive Escape Hatch For U.S. Illegal Immigrants Fearing ... Forbes What to do when staying in the U.S. is no longer assured but your home country is war-torn or an economic basket case? For illegal immigrants with the money, ... Obama Voters Switched to Trump over Immigration, Says PollBreitbart News ICE chief says illegal aliens should have fear of being deportedGOPUSA Business pushes Rauner to sign bill to protect immigrantsChicago Tribune Albany Times Union -Washington Times -Jewish Link of New Jersey all 32 news articles »

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An Expensive Escape Hatch For U.S. Illegal Immigrants Fearing ... - Forbes

Natalia Castro Guest Columnist President Trump has given victims a voice through VOICE the Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement office. This office acts at the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) first line of defense when an illegal immigrant commits a crime, and allows victims a place to find comfort and recovery. While this step by Trump was important to create an additional means of tracking illegal immigrant crimes, more must be done to prevent them from entering our country in the first place. President Trump made the creation of VOICE a major component of his immigration agenda since the State of the Union, proclaiming that this office would recognize those silenced by the media and special interests groups. Trump placed specific emphasis on those in law enforcement such as Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver and Detective Michael Davis, who were killed in the line of duty by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record and two deportations. VOICE, through the offices hotline, allows victims and their loved ones the opportunity to report crimes and receive custody information on their perpetrators to better understand the unique immigration process. VOICE also connects victims and victim families with local contacts to continue offering support services. But as seen with the slain members of law enforcement, when an illegal immigrant can easily reenter the country, these great programs do little to actually prevent crime. The Government Accountability Office reported in 2011 that criminal histories of a quarter million illegal immigrants showed they had committed close to three million criminal offenses. With 68 percent of those in federal prison and 66 percent of those in state prison being from Mexico. Their crimes ranged from homicide and kidnapping to drug possession and larceny. This problem is not getting better, with the GAO reporting that this is a 35 percent increase in the number of illegal immigrants in state and local prison systems since 2003. As the Heritage Foundations Hans Von Spokovsky explains in the Hill explains, The issue isnt non-citizens who are in this country legally, and who must abide by the law to avoid having their visas revoked or their application for citizenship refused. The real issue is the crimes committed by illegal aliens If there were a way to include all crimes committed by criminal aliens, the numbers would likely be higher since prosecutors often drop criminal charges against an illegal alien if immigration authorities will deport the alien. Aside from the domestic safety crisis this causes, these illegal immigrants place a high cost on the country as well. The Federation for American Immigration Reform reported that the federal government spent $1.5 billion on programs to combat illegal immigrant gun crimes and violent gangs from 2001 to 2007 alone. State and local law enforcements have had an administrative cost burden of $7.8 billion dollars annually in order to service criminal illegal immigrants. For Americans safety and fiscal responsibility, illegal immigrants cannot be able to continue entering this country. With an estimated 80 percent of Californias violent gang members being illegal immigrants from Mexico or Central America, border security must be a priority. After Trump discussed the necessity to protect victims of illegal immigrant crime, he reminded Americans of his most famous campaign promise at his February address to Congress, For that reason, we will soon begin the construction of a great, great wall along our southern border. As we speak tonight, we are removing gang members, drug dealers, and criminals that threaten our communities and prey on our very innocent citizens. Bad ones are going out as I speak, and as I promised throughout the campaign. And while deportation have increased, only a border wall can actually prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country. Former Border Patrol deputy chief, Donald Colburn and former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, David Aguilar both testified to the Senate Homeland Security Committee about their experiences with border walls. According to Fox News, Aguilar called physical barrier an integral part of an enforcement system. While Colburn explains that since a fence was put in place in spanning from southwestern Arizona to southeastern California, his patrol sector saw a decrease in violent border bandits gangs who sexually assault, rob, and murder Mexican migrants living near the border-from 200 attacks the year previously to zero. Building a wall and supporting the border patrol agents whose lives are being places at risk, is integral for the safety of the American people living in border states and across the country. President Trump has worked hard to keep this promise, now Congress must do the same. The funding for a wall and increased security on our Southern border has already been demanded by the American people and requested by President Trump, now Congress must prove to victims that their voices were actually heard, not just to react to crime but to prevent it. Natalia Castro is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.

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Congress needs to build the wallto protect victims of illegal immigration - Gardnernews.com

The Verify First Act by Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) would subsequently end American taxpayer-funded money going to illegal aliens in the form of healthcare insurance credits. The plan is being supported by NumbersUSA, a group which has staunchly advocated for Trumps America First agenda.

We applaud Rep. Lou Barletta for introducing the Verify First Act to ensure that illegal aliens cannot qualify for taxpayer-funded health insurance credits, NumbersUSA Peter Robbio said in a statement. We are grateful that the Ways and Means Committee and House Republican Leadership agreed to move this important bill forward.

Since Obamacares enactment, illegal immigrants received more than $700 million in healthcare insurance credits by 2015, according to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

In Barlettas plan, healthcare insurance recipients through the American Health Care Act (AHCA) would have their citizenship and immigration statuses verified by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Hard-working Americans and legal residents already are struggling to pay for their own health care, Robbio continued. There is simply no excuse for the Federal government to force them to subsidize health care for illegal aliens through taxpayer-funded credits.

The Verify First Act is one of the only immigration-related bills that seems to be moving forward through the Congress which is in-line with Trumps America First agenda.

For instance, Rep. Tom Cottons (R-AK) major legislation, the RAISE Act, which would cut legal immigration by 50 percent to reduce the foreign competition American workers often must compete with, has yet to even move through the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Similarly, Rep. Steve Kings (R-IA) Birthright Citizenship Act, which would end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, has yet to make it out of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at@JxhnBinder.

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Immigration Hawks Back Bill to End Health Care Credits for Illegal Aliens - Breitbart News

The state of Israel has apparently approved the largest settlement construction in Judea and Samaria (a.k.a. the West Bank) in 25 years. Of course, leftists continue to express outrage over Jewish communities existence in Judea and Samaria. The European Union went so far as to assert that Israels continued policy of settlement expansion is illegal under international law.

The so-called settlements arent illegal, but that view exposes leftist hypocrisy that reeks of anti-Semitism. Lets begin with a description of the problem.

Over the last few decades, hundreds of thousands of people from one country have illegally moved themselves into another countrys territory. They have settled the land, using its resources, creating cultural and ethnic enclaves, and changing (probably irrevocably) the demographics of the land into which theyve migrated.

Whats more, many of them regularly point out that the land theyve settled was once theirs and had been illegitimately taken from members of their nation in the past. On one side, these settlers supporters dont see anything wrong with what theyve done. On the other side, opponents call them illegal and demand their deportation. Every U.S. president in the last few decades has tried and failed to resolve this conflict.

Im thinking, of course, of Mexicans.

If the point isnt already clear, allow me to elaborate: Leftists are almost invariably opposed to Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, including East Jerusalem, where there have been Jews from time immemorial. They declare that Jewish settlements are both immoral and illegal. (Note leftists use the word illegal rather than undocumented.)

They demand that these Jews be deported back to Israel proper. They worry that Jews living in Judea and Samaria are a demographic threat to the Arabs. In summary, leftists are virulently against (allegedly) illegal Jewish immigration into lands once occupied and controlled by their ancestors and support their forced expulsion back to the country from which they emigrated.

Does that sound familiar? It should, for that position is indistinguishable from one of President Trumps positions on illegal Mexican immigration. And whats the leftist response to the presidents previous proposal of deportation? Racism! Bigotry!

If so, leftists also deserve these indictments, for they support the mass expulsion of (allegedly) illegal Jewish immigrants. If the fact that someone is here illegally isnt, by itself, sufficient to morally justify his expulsion from this country, then the mere fact that Jewish settlers are illegal isnt, by itself, sufficient to morally justify their expulsion. And if Jews can be permissibly expelled only because their presence in Judea and Samaria is illegal, then illegal aliens can be permissibly expelled only because their presence in the United States is illegal.

If the leftist wishes to have consistent beliefs, he must accept these propositions. He cant have his cake and eat it too.

Alas, the Lefts position is inconsistent. The Left is happy to see millions of illegal alien settlers set up their cultural enclaves with relative impunity. Illegals are fine so long as their descendants will vote for the Democrat Party, but if theyre Jews who want to live in their historic homeland and near their holiest sites, then the land must be cleansed of their presence, with force if necessary. This is rank hypocrisy.

Please dont misunderstand me. Im not claiming that opposing illegal Mexican immigration is analogous to opposing Jewish settlements. On the contrary, the latter is much more morally objectionable. The so-called settlements in Judea and Samaria are not illegal, whereas Mexican illegal immigrants are here illegally.

The piece of international law the Left cites in defense of their position is from Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, according to which [t]he Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.

The implicit premise connecting this text to the conclusion that the settlements are illegal must be that the state of Israel (i.e. the Occupying Power) has transferred hundreds of thousands of Jews into Judea and Samaria, a proposition that is manifestly false. Jews have, like many Mexicans, transferred themselves. If self-transfer is the same as state-transfer, then Trump was right after all about Mexico sending many of its criminals to the United States!

Also, dont lets forget about racism and anti-Semitism. Even supposing that opposing illegal immigration is bigoted (it isnt), moral opposition to the presence of Jews in Judea and Samaria is much more bigoted. (Opposition on the grounds that settlements are unwise is another matter.)

The idea that Judea and Samaria should be Judenrein, which is precisely what President Obama failed to oppose when he abstained from United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 and what leftists have consistently supported over the last few decades, is flagrantly anti-Semitic. Or, if it were neither anti-Semitic nor wrong, then it would be permissible for Israel to expropriate the property of and expel Israeli Arabs, for thats precisely what liquidating Jewish settlements would amount to. (Many of the settlements are on land sold to Jews by Arabs, a practice the Palestinian Authority has outlawed on pain of death.) Of course, both would be impermissible instances of ethnic cleansing.

Now imagine what would happen if Benjamin Netanyahu were to publicly express support for making Israel free of Arabs. Hed be crucified. Yet most react to the same policy against Jews in Judea and Samaria with relative equanimity. President Trump ought to change the United States longstanding policy and support Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

CZar Bernstein is a philosopher whose interests include topics in applied ethics, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of law. He has published essays in peer-reviewed philosophy journals on a variety of topics including the morality of abortion and gun rights. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a masters in philosophy and will begin as a law student at The George Washington University School of Law this August.

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The Left Loves Illegal Immigrants Until They're Israeli 'Settlers' - The Federalist