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There are signs that fewer immigrants in the U.S. illegally are filing taxes than in previous years. Ronnie Kaufman/Getty Images hide caption

There are signs that fewer immigrants in the U.S. illegally are filing taxes than in previous years.

Millions of taxpayers are rushing to complete their federal and state filings before the April 18 deadline. Among them are several million people in this country illegally, and there are signs that fewer such immigrants are filing than in years past.

There is a common belief that immigrants in this country without authorization don't file or pay taxes. But the IRS says that last year nearly 4.5 million people across the country who don't have Social Security numbers filed federal tax returns and many are in this country illegally.

At the Unity Council, an East Oakland, Calif., community-based organization offering free tax preparation for low-income people, about a dozen clients and IRS-certified volunteer tax preparers spent a recent afternoon hunched over rows of aging computers.

"We'll help everyone," says Clarissa Johnson, who directs the clinic. "We don't ask them about their immigration status. That is between them and the tax preparer and that is confidential."

Many of these people use Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, or ITINs. Many ITIN holders are foreign investors or students. But it's generally understood that most tax filers using an ITIN are in this country illegally like 36-year-old Axel, who asked that we not use his last name because of his immigration status. He came to the U.S. from Guatemala several years ago. In his native Spanish, he said he has no hesitation about filing his tax returns.

"First, because it's my responsibility, I want to do things the correct way," he says.

Axel says a few years ago a shady tax preparer made mistakes on his return and he wound up getting fined several thousand dollars.

"I don't like to create problems for myself," he says.

There is an obvious incentive to file: a chance to get a refund. Johnson says another reason is that if a person winds up in immigration court, a record of having filed taxes is considered evidence of "good moral character."

"And especially if they are working toward their citizenship, it's something that can show that they're here for the long haul. They're here each year paying their taxes," she says.

According to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an office of the IRS, ITIN filers last year paid almost $24 billion in federal taxes.

Yet as the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration, there's some anecdotal evidence that fewer immigrants using ITINs are choosing to file their taxes this year.

"Many of our clients are telling us that in years past they felt more hope and more of an ability to have a pathway toward citizenship and lately there's a lot less hope," says Max Moy-Borgen, who runs the tax program at the Mission Economic Development Agency in San Francisco. It's one of the largest free tax preparation programs in the country..

Sending in a tax return with your current address and information is very unnerving to a population that wants to comply with the law and is actually leaving significant refunds on the table by not filing tax returns.

Francine Lipman of the University of Nevada

Overall, tax service providers in the San Francisco Bay Area say there's about a 20 percent decline in the number of people filing with ITINs. There are similar reports from service providers in other areas of the country, according to Francine Lipman, who teaches tax law at the University of Nevada.

"Sending in a tax return with your current address and information is very unnerving to a population that wants to comply with the law and is actually leaving significant refunds on the table by not filing tax returns," she says.

Still, the IRS is barred from sharing its information with other government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security except under limited circumstances.

But Lipman says many ITIN filers have to decide whether to trust that firewall.

See more here:
Tax Filings Seen Dipping Amid Trump Crackdown On Illegal ... - NPR - NPR

Arrests of illegal immigrants are reportedly up by one-third in the early weeks of the Trump administration, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) making more than 21,000 arrests.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that the total, from January 20 through mid-March, jumped 32.6 percent from the same period one year ago, when there were more than 16,000 arrests.

The report stated that most of the arrests were of convicted criminals, but noted that there were 5,441 arrests of non-criminal aliens, more than double the total from last year.

Adam Housley reported this morning that ICE detainers - requests to local authorities to hold criminal aliens - are up 75 percent, to more than 22,000.

In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," DHS Secretary John Kelly said the definition of "criminal" has not changed, "but where on the spectrum of criminality we operate has changed."

For example, he said ICE agents may move to deport an individual with multiple DUI offenses. He said in the past, those individuals would have been "unlikely" to be deported.

"The law deports people. Secretary Kelly doesn't. ICE doesn't. It's the United States criminal justice system that deports people," he said.

Watch Housley's report above and see the interview with Gen. Kelly below.

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Link:
Report: Arrests of Illegal Immigrants Jumped 32% in Trump's First Months - Fox News Insider

YAOUNDE

The Italian coast guard says it has rescued nearly 6,000 migrants on the Mediterranean since Friday, underscoring the continued flow of people along this dangerous route. A group of Africans living in Europe visited Cameroon this week to launch a campaign against illegal migration.

The group is called No More Death in the Desert or on the Sea. Its mission is simple: to educate youth in Africa about the harsh realities of illegal migration.

"We want to tell them that all the information people give them before they start their journey are wrong," said Nantcha.

The groups leader Sylvie Nantcha was born in Cameroon. She has lived in the German town of Freiburg for 25 years. She arrived as a student and rose to become the town's first councilor of African descent.

I made a lot of interviews last year with Africans and they told me that when they started their journey, they thought that the journey will take them may be just two weeks, but they were one year or two years or three years on their way to Europe and they spent more than 10,000 euros," she said. "They had other wrong information like if you arrive we will give you a job, and they arrive in Italy in Spain or in Germany and they don't have a job."

Of course, those are the migrants who survived the crossing. The International Organization for Migration reported that more than 5,000 people died in 2016 in the Mediterranean. That's a 35 percent increase from deaths the previous year. (LINK FOR WEB: https://missingmigrants.iom.int/)

Nantcha joined forces with nine other Africans living across Europe to tackle the trend. They plan to visit Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Niger, Algeria and Libya by the end of this year to screen a film based on Nantchas interviews with migrants.

Hundreds of people gathered at each of the three screenings in Yaounde this week.

The goal of the film is to deter illegal migration. But youth at the event told VOA they know the risks already. Some of them said a lack of jobs and Europes restrictive immigration policies leave few options.

24-year old Nguenang Bruno says films alone will not stop Africans who believe that the only way for them to make it in the future is to sacrifice and cross the desert and sea to Europe. He says the will to leave is strong and it will take work to change that.

The young people in the audience cited stories of people they know who made it to Europe illegally. But in Yaounde it is not hard to find other Cameroonians who failed.

29-year old Robert Alain Lipoti cleans dishes in his restaurant at Etoudi neighborhood. His uncle loaned him the money to start his business after Alain returned from his sad adventure across the desert trying to make it to the Mediterranean.

He says he ran short of food and water when he spent three weeks trekking in the Sahara desert. He says he saw people dying by him and there was nothing he could do to help. He says while in the town of Damara in Algeria, he had to escape police and then he trekked many kilometers to Morocco where he couldnt go out in public or work because his stay was illegal.

Despite the difficulties, VOA spoke to returnees who say they will try to migrate again.

Milingui Biya Paul, 35, made it to Algeria but was scammed out of his money. He had to take odd jobs to raise transport fare to go home.

He says Cameroon like other African countries buries young peoples talents. He says after finishing their studies, people still do not have jobs. He says why should he dream to stay in Cameroon when there are opportunities outside?

Paul hasn't ruled out trying to make the crossing again.

Excerpt from:
African Group Tries to Deter Illegal Immigration - VOA News - Voice of America

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly made clear Sunday that President Trump is unwavering in his commitments to close U.S. borders to illegal immigrants and remove those already in the county illegally but refuted the idea that the administration is assembling a so-called deportation force.

Kelly acknowledged the possibility of hiring as many as 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees and thousands more border patrol agents but said the bolstered effort is a law enforcement force.

There are a huge number, as you know, of illegal aliens or undocumented individuals that have to be dealt with in one way or another, Kelly told NBCs Meet the Press.

Most estimates show the countrys illegal immigrant population at about 11 million.

From the first day of his successful White House campaign, Trump has vowed to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the country, particularly criminals crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. In addition, Trump vowed to build a security wall along that border and has remained steadfast on the point amid criticism that hes flip-flopping on other key campaign issues such as supporting NATO and whether removing Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime is a top priority.

Kellys comments followed Attorney General Jeff Sessions' visit to the southern border last week. Sessions told Fox News again Saturday that the border is closed to illegal immigrants.

This border is not open, he said on Foxs Justice with Jeanine show. If you come to America, come lawfully. Dont come unlawfully.

Like Kelly, Sessions also made clear that stopping illegal immigration is only part of the solution and that removing people here unlawfully -- including those protected from deportation by so-called sanctuary cities -- is also a priority.

Sessions said hes hiring 125 new immigration judges, which could improve delays in the legal process for deportation.

The former Alabama senator also said removing immigrants connected to gangs such as MS-13 remain a priority.

We are going after them, said Sessions, who also attributed record lows in illegal border crossings to Trumps election victory and his stern commitment to keeping campaign promises on immigration.

Kelly on Sunday also argued the countrys illegal immigration problem goes beyond enforcement and called on Congress for legislative solutions.

We have to straighten this out, he said. And I place that squarely on the United States Congress. It's a hugely complex series of laws, and I engage the Hill quite a bit and get an earful about what I should do and what I shouldn't do. But it all comes down to the law. I would hope that the Congress fixes a lot of these problems.

See more here:
DHS' Kelly defends more ICE, border hires; says illegal immigrants must be 'dealt with' - Fox News

Georgia Democratic congressional candidate Jon Ossoff speaks to volunteers in his Cobb County campaign office on March 11, 2017. (AP/Bill Barrow)

A day before a special election in Georgia to replace former U.S. Rep. Tom Price, President Donald Trump went on Twitter to criticize the top Democratic contender.

"The super Liberal Democrat in the Georgia Congressioal (sic) race tomorrow wants to protect criminals, allow illegal immigration and raise taxes!" Trump tweeted April 17.

Eighteen candidates from all parties are seeking Atlantas 6th Congressional District seat, which Republicans have held for decades and is now up for grabs after Price joined the Trump administration as secretary of Health and Human Services.

While Trump did not explicitly name Jon Ossoff in his tweet, the 30-year-old Democrat has emerged as the leading contender in the closely-watched race.

In his tweet, Trump inaccurately characterized Ossoffs immigration stance. The candidate has spoken in favor of securing the U.S. borders.

The White House did not provide comment.

Ossoff dismissed Trumps tweet.

"While Im glad the president is interested in the race, he is misinformed," Ossoff said in a statement.

At an April 9 candidate forum, Ossoff spoke in favor of securing the borders. He did, however, have harsh words for Trumps immigration promise to deport all undocumented immigrants.

"The notion that we are going to massively deport more than 11 million people is absurd. There is no way a program like that could be implemented constitutionally, in a way that is fiscally responsible or in a way that is humane," Ossoff said. "The only real solution is comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders and provides a path to legal status for non-felons who are here without proper documentation."

That message is also delivered in a civil rights and liberties section on his campaign website.

"America needs a strong border policy that protects American citizens and American jobs," the section said. "We should welcome those strivers who, like our own forebears, seek the opportunity to work hard, play by the rules, and build better lives in America."

Ossoff also scoffed at another idea Trump floated during the presidential campaign. Ossoffs campaign website says he believes "its unconstitutional to ban anyone from entering our country on religious grounds."

Trumps executive orders to temporarily stop the entry of individuals from certain countries have been criticized by immigrant advocates and Democrats as a "Muslim ban." (Those orders have been halted by courts.)

NumbersUSA, an advocacy group that promotes reduced immigration, rates candidates on a wide range of issues, such as their position on amnesty, ending birthright citizenship and border security.

On whether Ossoff is on the side to secure the border, NumbersUSA gave Ossoff a "Yes" rating.

NumbersUSA said it bases its ratings on responses to its survey or on candidate statements on campaign websites and in news reports.

Trumps tweet called out Ossoff for wanting to "protect criminals" and "raise taxes." But those characterizations also misrepresent the facts.

Ossoffs campaign website said he would work to empower law enforcement with tools and resources needed to bring down organized criminals, but would also seek to reduce mass incarceration of nonviolent offenders. Ossoff also said he would work to "reduce the tax burden on small businesses and simplify small business tax filing."

Our ruling

In a tweet alluding to Ossoff, Trump tweeted that Ossoff wants to "allow illegal immigration."

Trumps vague attack mischaracterizes Ossoffs stance.

Unlike Trumps plan, Ossoffs approach to immigration includes a path to citizenship or legal status for immigrants here without permission. Ossoff has also criticized Trumps one-time promise to deport all immigrants in the country illegally as not feasible.

Trump neglects that Ossoff supports strong border security to prevent illegal immigration.

We rate Trumps statement Mostly False.

Share the Facts

2017-04-17 20:00:58 UTC

4

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7

Mostly False

Says Jon Ossoff wants to "allow illegal immigration."

Donald Trump

President of the United States

in a tweet

Monday, April 17, 2017

2017-04-17

Continue reading here:
Says Jon Ossoff wants to "allow illegal immigration." - PolitiFact