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BY: Madeleine Weast March 20, 2017 3:06 pm

Organizers of Philadelphia's largest Cinco de Mayo celebration, El Carnaval de Puebla, have canceled the event because of fears that participants will be arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a federal crackdown on illegal immigration.

The annual parade takes place through South Philadelphia in late April or early May. As many as 15,000 people attend El Carnaval de Puebla from places as far as New England and Chicago, according to Edgar Ramirez, one of the event organizers.

Ramirez was sad to cancel the celebration but said Friday it was "responsible" in the midst of "the severe conditions affecting the immigrant community," according to NBC10 Philadelphia.

Last week, ICE said that 248 people were in federal custody awaiting deportation in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia after a two-week sweep.

The six organizers of the Cinco De Mayo celebration decided to cancel the event unanimously.

"Everyone is offended by the actions of ICE. They did not feel comfortable holding the event," Ramirez told NBC10.

An ICE official defended the agency's ramped up arrests of illegal immigrants in an email to NBC10.

"ICE's enforcement actions are targeted and lead driven. ICE does not conduct sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately," said Khaalid Walls,an ICE officer.

Carlos Torres, a spokesman with the Mexican Consulate in Philadelphia, is aware of the canceled event and has established a Center for Legal Defense for anyone who needs immigration advice.

When asked about holding the Cinco de Mayo celebration next year, Ramirez said the answer is up in the air.

"Let's see how things are next year," he said.

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Philadelphia Cancels Cinco de Mayo Parade Over Fears of Illegal Immigration Crackdown - Washington Free Beacon

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An immigration raid Saturday in Detroit led to the arrest of 50 people and the seizure of about 100 chickens.

Around 150 law enforcement personnel were involved, from organizations ranging from the ICE, Homeland Security, and Detroit police, MLive reports.

The animals arebelieved to be used for cockfighting and illegal gambling, according to ICE spokesmanKhaalid H. Waals. The birds have been humanely euthanized, MLive reported.

Immigration raids have received heightened media attention since Donald Trump has assumed office as president and signed executive orders giving ICE and local law enforcement more authority to go after illegal aliens.

Reports show increased morale among ICE agents who now feel more able to do their job. (RELATED:Under Trump, ICE Agents Actually Feel Free To Do Their Jobs)

Last month, ICE raids deported nearly 700 illegal immigrants, a majority of whom were convicted criminals.

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Originally posted here:
Huge Raid In Detroit On Illegal Immigrants, Cockfighting Ring - Daily Caller

Donna Locke Published 10:02 a.m. CT March 18, 2017 | Updated 20 hours ago

City leaders pledge to keep immigration-friendly policies despite threats to pull funding Time

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Jason recounts a conversation that he had with one mom whose kids fear parents' deportation after election. Jason Gonzales, Kyleah Starling / The Tennessean

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Zacnite Vargas speaks about her concerns, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. Vargas is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) nursing student at Belmont University and is taking general education classes at Trevecca. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean

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The president-elect appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes" to talk about promises made throughout the campaign season. Newsy

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Three organizations held a "March Against Hate" through the "heart of Nashville's immigrant and refugee community" on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016, to protest Donald Trump winning the 2016 presidential election. Tom Stanford / For The Tennessean

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A look at the socioeconomic and environmental impact of a 2,000-mile long wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to deport about two to three million undocumented immigrants, speaking in a pre-taped interview that will air Sunday night. Time

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The number of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. remains steady at 11.1 million. USA TODAY

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How mayors across the U.S. are defying Donald Trump on immigration

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Number of undocumented immigrants in U.S. stays same for 6th year

Immigration(Photo: Aleksandar Stojanov, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Many of us are outraged by lawbreaking, not by law enforcement. Sob stories go both ways.

Most of our illegal immigration comes from Latin America, mainly Mexico. The Mexican government has long interfered in our country's affairs and has pushedto get millions of Mexicans into our country in a blatant money and power grab.

In 2016, Mexico got more money from remittances its emigrants sent home, a record $26.9 billion, than it received from oil revenue. Mexicans aren't the only migrants doing this. Tennessee should place a fee on these remittances, as Oklahoma does.

Seventeen years ago, I viewed a tape recorded undercover by off-duty Latino officers of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in Georgia. Several INS officers there hadformed an immigration-control activist group that allied with a group I was in.

These immigration-enforcement officers were furious, and much of that anger was directed at our government, which was, and is, undermining its own citizens. Our government's policies have greatly increased the dangers immigration and local police officers face.

The Georgia tape showed a Mexican official instructing a room of Latino illegal aliens on how to evade U.S. laws and how to tap into our welfare system. When presidents talk about deporting only "criminal aliens," actually all adult illegal aliens are criminal aliens.

That's what those words should mean, not just murderers and rapists. Illegal aliens have to commit a number of crimes, such as fraud and driving without a license to remain in this country.

As for welfare, more immigrant households are getting it than are households headed by our native born, according to Census data and a study from the Center for Immigration Studies.

Our laws say that, except for refugees and asylum seekers, we're not to admit immigrants likely to become burdens on the American people. Well, that happens every day, and a profit-making industry is devoted to bringing in refugees, automatically eligible for welfare.

Assorted research indicates that immigrants who come here with modest levels of education cost us far more in services than they pay in taxes, especially if they have children. Our country is generous, but we can't save everyone.

The American Farm Bureau, among others, has lobbied for amnesty for illegal aliens and for bringing in more foreign workers. A documented "Latinization" of the fields was accomplished decades ago by systematically running American, primarily black, workers out of those jobs. This history was reported by Dr. Monica Heppel, a former director of research for the U.S. Commission on Agricultural Workers.

Sixteen years ago, the Tennessee Farm Bureau lobbied our legislature for driver's licenses for illegal aliens. That law was passed, then essentially repealed after the mess it caused in this state and after the terrorist attacks in 2001.

The H-2A visa program provides an unlimited supply of legal, temporary guest-workers to agriculture. The Farm Bureau isn't satisfied with that and wants amnesty that would legalize current illegal workers, freeing them to seek other jobs, meaning the Farm Bureau would then call for more foreign workers.

We've had amnesties. The trick one under President Reagan was supposed to be the last. It wasn't.

Visit the Center for Immigration Studies' Web site, cis.org, for the truth about what is happening to your country.

Donna Locke is an immigration-control advocate who lives in Columbia.

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Illegal immigration part of a 'money and power grab' - The Tennessean - The Tennessean

For all of the unprecedented elements of President Trumps federal budget plans, theres an item buried in the list of detailed spending cuts that has a familiar, contentious political legacy in California.

Trump has proposed canceling federal government subsidies to states that house prisoners and inmates who are in the U.S. illegally. Hes not the first president to try it, and undoubtedly will get an earful from states like California.

For sheer bravado, the award for defending that subsidy probably goes to former Gov. Pete Wilson. In a letter sent to federal officials in 1995, two days after Christmas, Wilson threatened to drop off one of the states undocumented prisoners in shackles, no less on the doorstep of a federal jail. (He never actually did it.)

The intent of federal law is unequivocal, Wilson wrote about the subsidy program. The federal government must either reimburse the state at a fair rate for the incarceration of any undocumented inmate which it identifies or take the burden of incarceration off the states hands.

Wilson had won a second term the year before, with a blistering campaign attacking illegal immigration. His time in office was also marked by persistent state budget problems, and the money mattered. The state never got as much as it wanted, though, and years of squabbles followed over the fate of the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, established as part of the sweeping immigration reforms of 1986.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did his fair share of complaining about skimpy SCAAP funding. In 2005, he and a bipartisan group of western U.S. governors demanded a boost in the program to a total of $850 million. That didnt happen.

The past two presidents, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, offered their own proposals to cancel the program. Trumps budget scores the possible savings at $210 million. His budget blueprint lampoons SCAAP as poorly targeted, and describes it as a program in which two-thirds of the funding primarily reimburses four states for housing felons who lack legal immigration status.

Want to take a guess which state gets the most? OK, thats an easy one.

Californias state government received $44.1 million in the 2015 federal budget year, according to Justice Department data. Add to that another $12.8 million that was paid directly to California counties, with the largest local subsidy being the $3 million paid to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department.

More than one-third of the entire program went to California. No other states share was even close. A win on this issue for the president would be particularly bitter for the state, where political animosity toward Trump is widespread.

Political Road Map: There's a $368 billion reason that California depends on Washington

In Gov. Jerry Browns budget unveiled last month, he assumed $50.6 million in federal help for prison costs related to felons in the U.S. illegally. A budget spokesman for Brown said the governor will ask for help from the states congressional delegation in saving the program. Still, its safe to say the estimate is now in doubt.

Roll back the clock, though, and take a look at how this political debate has changed. Wilsons legacy on illegal immigration cast a long shadow as candidate Trump promised to go after bad hombres who are illegally in the country. The presidents official plan, by most estimates, would go even further.

When President Obama tried to nix the subsidy, conservatives warned it would endanger public safety. So far, few are making the same case now that its coming from Trump a curious development, given Californias most famous illegal immigration critic once insisted the program was essential.

john.myers@latimes.com

Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast

ALSO:

Los Angeles County sheriff opposes legislation to create a sanctuary state in California

Gov. Jerry Brown projects a $1.6 billion deficit by the summer of 2018

Updates on California politics and state government

Go here to see the original:
Political Road Map: California has long depended on an illegal ... - Los Angeles Times

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Approximately 30 countries are refusing to accept the deportations of illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes in the U.S., according to Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar.

While these countries are refusing to accept the deportations of these criminals, the U.S. government is still issuing visas and student visas to citizens of those countries, according to the Texan congressman. There is already a law on the books which allows the U.S. to hold visas from a country that is not taking back its criminals, but according to Cuellar, the U.S. is not enforcing it.

Were not enforcing it, which is amazing. So now my intent is to go back to our committee on appropriations and affect their funding until they do that, Cuellar told Sharyl Attkisson, host of Full Measure, in an interview.

Cuellar, a Democratic member of the House Committee on Appropriations, told Attkisson that the Supreme Court has ruled that illegal immigrants arrested for criminal activity can only be held for a certain period of time before they must be released.

That means youre releasing criminals into our streets because those countries refuse to take back those criminal aliens, said Cuellar. Thats wrong. And especially I think its even worse that this is already on the books, and were still issuing business tourist visas and student visas to countries that refuse to take back their criminal aliens. Thats wrong, and were hoping to change that.

Cuellar has not been afraid to break with some of his party leadership on immigration issues in the past. He was known as one of former President Barack Obamas fiercest critics on illegal immigration. Cuellar teamed up with Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn in 2014 to help pass a bill that would speed up the deportation of unaccompanied minors. His stance disappointed his fellow Democrats, including Sen. Harry Reid.

There are many foreign countries that refuse to retake illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, according to the congressman, including Vietnam, Cuba and China. Cuellar said that diplomacy plays a factor in the governments refusal to enforce the law, as the Department of State and other federal agencies do not want to upset foreign partners.

But my response is, but we can upset our constituents, we can upset our way of life that we have here by allowing those criminals to be released? said Cuellar. And basically the response from the State Department is because you have to work with the State Department and Homeland Security. And the State Department, with all due respect, was focused on diplomacy.

Cuellar noted that he understands the importance of diplomacy in these situations, but that it also important to prevent convicted criminals from returning to American neighborhoods. He told Attkisson that he plans to push for the U.S. government to withhold visas from countries that refuse to take back their convicted criminals.

You can watch Cuellars entire interview with Attkisson at Full Measures websiteSunday at 9:30 a.m.

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