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On December 9, a Saudi national opened fire at a naval air station in Pensacola, Florida, killing three people and injuring eight others. The shooter, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was in the United States as part of a military program that allows some foreign military members to train inside the United States.

Just prior to the attacks, Alshamrani wrote on Twitter that he hated Americans for committing crimes not only against Muslims but also humanity. He also blasted Washington for supporting the State of Israel.

While the case is currently being treated as an act of terrorism, the FBI has yet to officially label it as such. We are looking very hard at uncovering his motive and I would ask for patience so we can get this right, said Rachel Rojas, who is the special agent in charge of the case.

While the FBI is exercisingcaution, mass-immigration proponent and self-proclaimed elitist, AlexNowrasteh, director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, wantsAmericans to believe that this horrific attack is no reason for even mildconcern.

On the day of the shooting, Nowrasteh wrote a blog suggesting that this incident doesnt make a case for stricter immigration measures. In the blog, he promotes a recent study of his that called acts of terrorism in the United States committed by foreign-born individuals a manageable threat given the huge economic benefits of immigration and the relatively smaller costs of terrorism.

Thats right, when three Americansare murdered and eight others wounded, Nowrasteh wants us to remember that itssimply a relatively small cost that should not factor into discussions regardingimmigration reform.

Besides the tone-deaf timing and appallinginsensitivity, his blog and study are fatally flawed as well. In the report,Nowrasteh does several things to make the threat of terrorism look smaller thanit actually is:

The about 1 in 4 million per yearnumber that Nowrasteh pushes is the purported likelihood that a person iskilled in the U.S. by a foreign-born terrorist in a particular year. This isproblematic because it only considers a very limited period of time, not apersons entire life. The lifetime probability that a person might be killed,based on Nowrastehs figures, is actually closer to about 1 in 50,000. Thatnumber is considerably more alarming.

Furthermore, Nowrastehs figuresdont include those who die from conditions developed later in life as a resultof a foreign-born terrorist attack, such as cancer and chronic respiratoryconditions stemming from exposure to toxic rubble and ash produced on 9/11.

According to Dr. Michael Caine, Medical Director of the World Trade Center Health Program at Mount Sinai Hospital, since the attacks, more than 2,000 deaths have been attributed to 9/11 illnesses. These people should be considered victims of terrorism. Nowrasteh also excludes the thousands who suffer non-fatal injuries during attacks committed by foreign-born terrorists on American soil, as well as those who develop non-fatal health conditions later on like asthma or post-traumatic stress.

Trying to predict the exact likelihoodof a person dying in a terrorist attack of any kind is ultimately an impossibleart since the threat of terrorism constantly changes due to a large number offactors. But what we can conclude empirically is that the statistics looselytossed around by the Cato Institute are designed to make the threat of foreign-bornterrorism in the U.S. appear much lower than it actually is.

We owe it to those brave police,firefighters, first responders, and other everyday Americans who have sufferedand/or died due to terrorist attacks to craft immigration policies that preventknown, suspected or potential foreign-born terrorists from entering the UnitedStates. Nothing about the price they have paid is small.

NOTE: This isnt the first time that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has called out the Cato Institute for publishing false or misleading statistics regarding immigration. In March of 2019, FAIR noted that Nowrasteh and the Cato Institute vastly underestimated the rate at which illegal aliens commit crimes. As in this case, the incorrect statistics were used to promote irresponsible mass-immigration policies.

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The Cato Institutes Factually Flawed Attitude Toward Terrorism is Disturbing - ImmigrationReform.com

Utahs secret sauce when it comes to economic growth, job creation, and security for our families has been the collaboration between the public and private sectorsparticularly when it comes to our legislators at home and in Washington, DC. With that in mind, we have formally requested the assistance of Utahs federal delegation and expertise in advancing common-sense legislation on key priorities that are important to our business community. They are namely, immigration, trade, healthcare, and infrastructure.

As a nation built by immigrants, the United States should always be a place that welcomes people of goodwill who want to contribute to our communities. Immigration is a key component of keeping our economy strong, strengthening our communities, and ensuring a bright and prosperous future for our children, but our current broken immigration system will lead to economic uncertainty. We urge Utahs federal delegation to lead the way in advancing comprehensive immigration reform consistent with the principles included in the Utah Compact.

Immigrants make up one in nine members of our states workforce, and limiting legal immigration would reduce Utahs GDP growth by $686 million in 2028. Immigration reform will ensure that our business community has the skilled workforce necessary to compete. As such, we urge Utahs federal delegation to advance comprehensive immigration reform consistent with the Utah Compact principles and to advance the H1-B Visa reform legislation.

With more than 3,500 Utah companies competing in the global market, trade is critical to Utahs economy and essential to the success of our states small businesses. Exports contributed 8 percent to Utahs GDP in 2018 and supported 22 percent of all Utah jobs. Global trade does more than just create and support jobs; it also helps retain a skilled workforce through competitively higher wages.

Utah businesses need free markets and fair trading practices built on balanced agreements that sustain economic growth through stable and predictable relationships. We ask Congress to ratify the United States, Mexico, and Canada trade agreement and use its available means to accelerate the development of trade agreements with the European Union and China, among others.

Currently, our healthcare systems and entitlement programs are falling short when it comes to providing simple, affordable, accessible, and high-quality services to Americans. High costs and low health market options undermine an employers ability to strengthen their workforce, expand the economy, plan for the future, and create long-term fiscal stability. They hinder the ability of our families to be self-reliant and secure from accidents or illnesses. As part of our federal priorities, we call upon Congress to revise our entitlement and healthcare programs to provide equitable, efficient services to those who need them most, and to address our nations prevalent opioid epidemic.

Nine years ago, as part of the Affordable Care Act, Congress enacted a 2.3 percent excise tax on all medical devices. While lawmakers have voted to suspend the tax since that time, it is slated to go back into effect at the end of the year, creating considerable uncertainty in a sector that has supported strong economic and job growth across our state and the nation. Enacting a permanent repeal of the medical device tax will ensure that Utah can continue to be a hub of medical innovations and economic opportunity.

Additionally, we urge Congress to carry out its responsibilities and put a federal legal framework into place to allow for timely and responsible medical cannabis treatment. We need federal guidelines that allow us to safeguard the public interest, address potential consequences to the business community, as well as guard against an impaired workforce or other negative outcomes.

Infrastructure is the backbone of the American economy. It gets us to work and school while powering our homes and businesses, and makes transporting goods and services possible. Attending to Americas infrastructure should be an issue with strong bipartisan support. Unfortunately, much of our nations infrastructure hasnt been fully funded in decades. Long-term transportation and infrastructure investment are required to sustain our economic growth and competitiveness.

We urge Congress to enact and fund a bipartisan plan for infrastructure modernization, as well as provide a long-term, stable funding source for infrastructure that states across America can rely upon to plan for the future. We are grateful for our federal delegations support and the efforts they make to move their colleagues in the Senate and House of Representatives forward on these issues.

Utahs economy benefits from a delegation that is business-friendly and committed to improving our nation and state. We encourage them to utilize the secret sauce of collaboration and work across the aisle to find solutions to these pressing challenges.

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Collaboration On Capitol Hill Is The Key To Success - Utah Business

Arguing that Americas two-party political system has failed, a Northeast Ohio group is pushing to elect more third-party candidates. And its starting next year at the local level.

The local branch of the non-profit Labor and Community Campaign for an Independent Party met over the weekend in Middleburg Heights, discussing how Democrats and Republicans have failed to address issues like climate change and immigration reform.

One presenter was Alan Benjamin, who spent 25 years on the executive board of the San Francisco Labor Council. He was previously involved with an attempt to organize a national labor party in the mid-1990s.

Now, he says the focus will be slightly different.

We needed to begin running candidates for local office," Benjamin said. "Were not at a point where we can run and have a real solid base to win elections at the statewide level or congressional level, let alone the Presidency.

Benjamin adds that social media has made it easier for workers to connect and make their voices heard, both to the public and to labor leaders. And he hopes that will create more grass-roots support for third-party candidates.

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Political Group Plans To Organize Third-Party Candidates In Northeast Ohio - WOSU

The Ninth-Circuit Court of Appeals, which has routinely blocked Trump administration rule changes, gave the administration a win when it lifted two injunctions blocking implementation of the administrations changes to the public charge rule.

The administration's changes limit the number of foreign nationals receiving taxpayer-funded welfare benefits by clarifying the definition of the law and enforcing it.

By a vote of 2-1 Thursday, the Ninth Circuit lifted injunctions issued by federal judges in California and Washington.

The phrase [public charge] is subject to multiple interpretations, it in fact has been interpreted differently, and the Executive Branch has been afforded the discretion to interpret it, wrote Judges Jay Bybee and Sandra Ikuta in their decision. Whether the change in policy results from changing circumstances or a change in administrations, the wisdom of the policy is not a question we can review.

Judge John Owens dissented.

The judges chastised Congress for not reforming immigration laws, which could have avoided wasting the courts time.

We have seen case after case come through our courts, serious and earnest efforts, even as they are controversial, to address the nations immigration challenges, Bybee wrote. Yet we have seen little engagement and no actual legislation from Congress. It matters not to me as a judge whether Congress embraces or disapproves of the administrations actions, but it is time for a feckless Congress to come to the table and grapple with these issues.

The Justice Department and White House applauded the ruling.

"The Ninth Circuit has rightly recognized the administration's authority to adopt an interpretation of the 'public charge' restriction more faithful to and consistent with the scope of the statute passed by Congress, the White House said in a statement.

"[The court] held that the Trump administration should be able to enforce a regulation implementing a statute passed by Congress that has declared for over a century that any alien who 'is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible.'"

According to an analysis of the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), 63 percent of non-citizen households access welfare programs. That's compared to 35 percent of native-headed households.

Among the non-citizens, according to Census Bureau data, roughly half are illegal immigrants, the report states. The other half includes long-term temporary visitors such as guest workers and foreign students, and permanent residents who have not naturalized and are green cards.

Despite the fact that there are barriers designed to prevent welfare use for all of these non-citizen populations, the data shows that, overall, non-citizen households access the welfare system at high rates, often receiving benefits on behalf of U.S.-born children, the authors of the CIS report, Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler, wrote.

Existing law stipulates that immigrants "within the Nations borders not depend on public resources to meet their needs, but rather rely on their own capabilities and the resources of their families, their sponsors, and private organizations. This is intended to ensure that the availability of public benefits not constitute an incentive for immigration to the United States.

This news follows the all-too-common pattern of how activist judges have been slapped down by superior courts," Mike Howell, Heritage Foundation senior adviser for executive branch relations and former DHS oversight counsel, told The Center Square. "First, a judge will overstep his or her authority by declaring a sprawling injunction on a policy with which he or she disagrees. Then, either an appeals court or the Supreme Court will step in and overturn the judicial overreach. But those declaring the injunctions can still claim some victory in the delay, litigation costs, and distraction inherent to the process, which is unfortunate given the Trump administrations attempt to enact common-sense immigration policy that protects American interests and re-affirms the rule of law.

The rule remains blocked by courts in Maryland and New York, whose injunctions fall under different appellate jurisdiction. The Justice Department continues to appeal the injunctions, arguing the courts have overstepped their authority.

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Ninth Circuit lifts injunctions on Trump rule change, chastises feckless Congress for failing to address immigration reform - MDJOnline.com

Meet Carlos Aguilar. Hes a fan of spoken word poetry. He played soccer in high school.

And he was a young undocumented immigrant, or Dreamer, who obtained protections under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and is now pursuing his doctorate at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The third detail comes up often at rallies and news conferences, usually as politicians introduce Aguilar to make the case for giving Dreamers a path to citizenship. How could the U.S. not offer green cards to someone like him, they often ask, how could the country turn away an Ivy League scholar?

He hates it.

My story is more than education. My story is more than going to Harvard, the 28-year-old Mexican native said at a recent news conference. My story is the reflection of my parents dreams and my parents sacrificios to be here.

While the Trump administration argues against letting Dreamers and their parents remain in the U.S., Aguilar and other DACA recipients grapple with how theyre being portrayed in their fight for permanent legal status. Immigration hardliners describe them as criminals and job stealers, while advocates and politicians paint a picture of Ivy League scholars and geniuses often ignoring Dreamers and undocumented parents who do not fit the stereotype but, Aguilar argues, deserve legal status as much as anyone else.

Its difficult because with every action that I make, I kind of reinforce those narratives, Aguilar told MassLive. Other than Harvard, Im no one. No one cares about me. They just know that I go to Harvard, and now they treat me well.

President Barack Obama announced DACA in the summer of 2012 after failed attempts at immigration reform and protests from immigrant activists. Under his executive order, the federal government offered work permits and protection from deportation to eligible immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and had no legal status.

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants nationwide obtained those protections, re-applying to renew those benefits every two years.

AP

President Barack Obama, center, and Vice President Joe Biden, right, listen as Diana Calderon, a student who has benefited from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, speaks at a reception in the White House Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015, for Hispanic Heritage Month.

From the beginning, the announcement stirred controversy. Republican lawmakers called the move a form of amnesty. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the DACA announcement a classic Barack Obama move of choosing politics over leadership," CNN reported at the time.

Today, more than 661,000 people have DACA protections across the country, including 5,600 in Massachusetts.

To qualify, immigrants must have entered the U.S. before age 16, lived in the U.S. continuously since Jan. 1, 2007 and been born since June 15, 1981. Applicants must also pass a background check and submit their fingerprints. Applicants convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor or multiple misdemeanors were not eligible for DACA.

In 2012, Aguilar was about to graduate with a psychology degree from Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas. He was working under the table as a busboy in Central Texas.

As Aguilar saw it, he couldnt not work. Looking back, he said, the U.S. for decades has criticized immigrants as job takers without addressing the companies that see them as cheap labor.

They want people to get legalized, but at the same time they dont want to provide legalization channels because the economic structure that we have rely on communities having a cheapened, disposable labor force," he said.

Thats how I paid for my masters," he added. "I saved up at least the first year, then I continued working three jobs during my masters.

Once he obtained DACA, Aguilar got on the payroll of the Mexican restaurant back in Kerrville, taking on more responsibility at the business. He started paying taxes. He pursued a masters in sociology at the University of Texas at San Antonio, while juggling a job at a law firm, a second job as a research assistant and a third at the restaurant.

Aguilars restaurant experience and public school background may not seem as impressive as fellow Dreamers who became startup founders and hotshot lawyers, but experts say it reflects the lives that the average DACA recipients and their families lead.

A Migration Policy Institute report from 2017 stated that about 382,400 DACA recipients, or 55% of that population, at the time were employed. About 62% who were not in the labor force were enrolled in school. And one out of three DACA recipients who were enrolled in school also worked, similar to the U.S. young adult populations rate.

The majority worked in food preparation, office and administrative support, construction trades and sales, while smaller numbers of Dreamers worked in the military, computer and mathematics fields, agriculture and law.

Not everyone is a Harvard scholar ... but they shouldnt be discounted because they are a really good example of this country in that theres a good cross-section of people from all types of industries and walks of life," said Mo Goldman, an immigration attorney who works with DACA recipients in Arizona.

Meanwhile, DACA recipients are facing scrutiny over their background as President Donald Trump characterizes them as hardened criminals. His comment, made in a series of tweets, came days after the Supreme Court heard arguments over whether his administration broke the law by ending DACA.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released data earlier in November showing the arrest records of DACA recipients, listing a series of offenses such as assault, battery, rape and murder. Of the nearly 686,000 approved for DACA, 54,500 have had an arrest.

As DACA continues to be the subject of both public discourse and ongoing litigation, USCIS remains committed to ensuring transparency and that the American people are informed about those receiving DACA, USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli said in a statement. This agency is obligated to continue accepting DACA requests from illegal aliens as a direct result of the previous administrations decision to circumvent the laws as passed by Congress."

But more than half of those arrests involved a charge related to a nonviolent offense or a civil immigration violation. The agency did not separate the charges from convictions in its report.

Using data on arrests and apprehensions, again, are not convictions, Goldman said. We live in a country where youre not guilty until found so by a court of law, and so I dont think that we should put a whole lot of weight to these records.

READ MORE: Supreme Court takes up DACA, case that affects thousands in Massachusetts

Aguilar never dreamed of becoming a researcher at Harvard University. Growing up in Guanajuato, Mexico, he saw education as a way to escape poverty.

His mother and grandparents had a small plot of land where they harvested food. His mother sold clothing in flea markets to pay the bills.

In Mexico, we were poor, but I never knew it because my mom always worked really hard, he recalled.

His family reminded him to work hard in school, and he enjoyed learning about math and history. At least, that is, until he moved to the U.S.

Aguilar was 14 years old when he and his mother arrived in Kerrville, Texas, without immigration papers. He jumped right into a ninth-grade classroom without knowing the English language.

I would see what they were working on, and I knew it, he said. I just didnt know how to say it.

English language learners in Aguilars schools often traveled with a translator, but Aguilar didnt share many of the same classes with his peers. As he recalls, he learned English mostly on his own, often learning to standardized tests. He joined the soccer team, which he credits with motivating him to maintain good grades.

Aguilar and his mother found success in their own ways. His mother, who has since gotten married and obtained a green card, started working in school cafeterias in Central Texas. Students often tell her about their days and school officials often ask for her help at events.

Aguilar completed his masters degree in sociology at the UTSA, but he sought to study undocumented youth and the struggles they face. He applied and got into a fully funded doctorate program at Harvard.

For me, it was kind of like making sense of my own experiences because I struggled a lot, he said. I was reading research on undocumented communities and knowing that those theoretical frameworks were missing something.

DACA has faced renewed scrutiny under the Trump administration. Early in his presidency, Trump said he has great heart for Dreamers and wants to find a compassionate, but lawful solution with regard to their status. Nine months after Trump took office, then- Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the program was being repealed, punting to Congress to pass a fix for DACA holders.

As the efforts to phase out DACA come under judicial review, the Trump administration has stepped up its criticism of its recipients.

AP

In this Jan. 10, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump listens during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington.

The USCIS report that came days later doesnt say how many of the 54,500 applicants who successfully obtained DACA and had an arrest listed were actually convicted or may have had charges dismissed or otherwise resolved.

There were 54 DACA recipients with more than 10 arrests whose cases were approved as of October 2019, according to the data. The data also includes arrests for civil immigration violations and traffic offenses, separate from operating under the influence.

According to the report, 12,968 were immigration-related offenses. More than 25,000 were traffic offenses that did not involve operating a vehicle under the influence.

When it came to the offenses USCIS highlighted, 3,308 of people who obtained DACA had a prior arrest for assault, 3,421 had a prior arrest for battery, 62 had an arrest for rape and 259 were arrested for sexual abuse and statutory rape. Fifteen had been arrested on a murder charge.

READ MORE: House Democrats offer immigration bill to protect dreamers, TPS recipients

Goldman said he felt that the data was portraying an incomplete picture of DACA recipients. Some have made mistakes, he said, just like Americans across the country.

It feels like this data is just being weaponized against them in a way that it shouldnt be used, unfortunately, because its misleading, Goldman said.

Miguel Montalva Barba, an assistant sociology professor at Salem State University, said two extreme narratives about immigrants play out with every generation of newcomers to the U.S.

Either youre the villain or youre the super amazing, came-from-nothing, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps [character]," he said.

A former DACA recipient, Barba said he knows from experience. Before Obama announced DACA, he was part of a group of activists pushing the Democrat to even consider such protections for young undocumented immigrants.

Barba said he and his cohorts grappled with similar questions about what message theyre sending about so-called Dreamers, and whos getting left out. For example, he said he promoted the stories of queer undocumented people even though he knew it would offend some religious leaders who typically supported undocumented immigrants, but not LGBTQ rights.

Even from that moment, in those first organizing sessions, we knew we had to break away from the 'good immigrant narrative, he recalled.

READ MORE: Boston-area community leaders urge Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley to respond to Haitian political crisis

Aguilar, the doctoral candidate, dove into his doctoral studies in hopes of exploring underreported research on DACA. A report he contributed to, released earlier this month, suggests that DACA enabled recipients to obtain better-paying jobs and higher education, but that they could only help their family so much if they were the only one with legal status.

The report also states that DACA recipients have struggled with their mental health as they stress over their immigration status and the fate of their undocumented parents.

Yet outside of his research, Aguilar said, he often sees the immigration debates devolve to either superficial stereotypes about immigrants, both negative and positive.

When one national organization asked for information about him, Aguilar submitted details about how DACA helped him go from a busboy to a cashier at the Mexican restaurant where he once worked. He left out Harvard University entirely.

After that, they didnt contact me anymore, he said. I kind of knew that was a risk, but it was a risk I was willing to take.

When asked about his success story, Aguilar changes the subject from Harvard. Instead, he talks about the success of his mom, his peers and other recipients hes met along the way.

Most are going to community colleges, vocational training. Most have, relatively speaking, very happy lives with DACA. They were able to have great families because they have some sort of stability, he said. They were able to take a better-paying job than a busboy, all these gains that we dont think of as important, these are important for our communities."

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Who are the Dreamers? In the fight for legal status, DACA-protected immigrants grapple with how theyre per - MassLive.com