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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

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in its review of the Trump administrations ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that has allowed nearly 800,000 young, known as Dreamers, to avoid deportation and remain in the U.S.

Regardless of which way the court rules, its likely 5-4 decision will add gasoline to an already burning forest fire of immigration policy debate at the height of the presidential campaign.

Unfortunately, as we have seen, that debate has deteriorated into a flurry of racial attacks against those who oppose open borders, want to stem the flood of illegal immigration, and enforce immigration laws.

As I have written in this space, illegal immigration hurts American low and unskilled workers and the biggest losers are low-skilled Black workers.

Once upon a time, such workers were courted and supported by the Democrat Party as a main constituency.

Not anymore!

The new favored constituency of progressives and Democrats are illegal immigrants.

Anyone who dares challenge that favoritism and defend our immigration laws are deemed to be racist since most of those coming across the Southern border are brown-skinned Hispanics as are many of the Dreamers.

They could care less about the unskilled black Americans who become competitors for jobs and entry into the workforce.

When all else fails, in immigration as in other areas, Democrats fall back on their old faithful standby, playing the race card!

A great example is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) who told a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors last year that the presidents immigration plan was a campaign to make America white again.

How disgusting! Pelosis message was the rallying cry for Democrats to discredit the men and women of the Border Patrol, and indeed all of those who are enforcing our immigration laws, as Nazis executing a white supremacist policy targeting illegals because they are nonwhite.

The most recent example of the lefts race-baiting attack on the presidents immigration reform and enforcement polices is Florida Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz.

At a House Committee hearing, she accused the Trump administration of pursuing a heinous White supremacist ideology through its immigration policies.

I guess Pelosi and Wasserman Schultz dont realize that 52% of Border Patrol agents are Hispanic!

They should read a March 16, 2018, Los Angeles Times article by Dave Seminara where he stated in part, Claims that immigration enforcement equals racism ignores the reality that the group most likely to benefit from a tougher approach to immigration enforcement is young black men, who often compete with recent immigrants for low-skilled jobs.

Seminara pointed to a Chicago example where 800 illegal immigrants lost their jobs in a bakery after an Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) audit forced the employer to hire new workers 80% to 90% of whom were African Americans at higher salaries.

He stated that in that case and many others the beneficiaries of immigration enforcement were working-class Blacks, who are often passed over for jobs by unscrupulous employers.

Do we hear any Black political and civil rights leaders or presidential candidates defending Black workers over illegal immigrants?

No!

Do they even raise the issue of illegal immigration hurting American unskilled workers who are major losers in the competition for low skilled jobs?

No!

They and their black and white progressive soul mates just dont seem to care.

At a time when the presidents economic and related policies have brought the unemployment rate for Blacks to historic lows, left-wing Democrat leaders and their socialist-leaning allies want to open the flood gates to even more illegal immigrants who will compete with Blacks and all Americans for low-skilled and blue-collar jobs and public benefits.

For example, Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said she is open to halting deportation of illegals in order to force Congress to enact immigration reform.

Her socialist colleague, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) goes even further.

Fox News reports Sanders would extend his Medicare-forall and College-for-all plans to illegals including free universal school meals breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.

Pelosi, Wasserman Schultz, Warren, Sanders, and their allies not only want to open the flood gates for illegal immigration and call those who disagree racists, they also do not exhibit any sympathy for the victims of the crimes of illegal immigrants.

Regardless of the Supreme Courts decision on DACA, at least it will be based on objective facts; and the law, not the racially-based partisan invective that characterizes the immigration debate.

The Dreamers and America deserve better.

Clarence V. McKee is a government, political and media relations consultant and president of McKee Communications, Inc., as well as a Newsmax.com contributor. This article originally appeared on Newsmax.com.

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Immigration enforcement and the impact on Black workers - Florida Courier

ImmigrationReform.com, a project of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), is a blog for people who want TRUE immigration reform in the American interest. Its a fast-moving place for an edgy, candid perspective on immigration issues facing the nation, generated by people interested in restoring America to the American interest in immigration policy. ImmigrationReform.com is real immigration reform for Americans who understand that the term immigration reform and comprehensive immigration reform have been appropriated of late by amnesty advocates and Wall Streets cheap labor interests.

FAIR is a non-partisan, public interest organization of concerned Americans, united in the belief that our immigration policies and laws should again serve the nations future needs. This means better border management, lower levels of overall immigration, and a greater focus on highly skilled immigrants. With a support base comprising nearly 50 private foundations and over 1.9 million diverse members and supporters, FAIR is free of party loyalties and special interest connections. FAIR evaluates policies, seeking out solutions that help reduce the negative impact of uncontrolled immigration on the nations security, economy, workforce, education, healthcare, and environment.

ImmigrationReform.com is an outlet for the most recent updates on the fight for true immigration reform written and maintained by the staff of FAIR.

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About FAIR | ImmigrationReform.com

In early September 2001, the presidents of the United States and Mexico joined together to announce a new policy framework regarding migration, proposing a sweeping comprehensive immigration reform plan that would increase border security, create a new temporary worker program, and provide legalization to unauthorized immigrants. Just days later, however, the framework was shelved as terrorists struck the United States and security became the dominant focus of immigration policy.

After the 9/11 attacks, Congress passed a series of measures to tighten border security, facilitate data collection and information sharing with respect to international travelers; and broaden the governments power to detain and deport immigrants.

This report for MPIs Regional Migration Study Group reviews the history of immigration legislation since 9/11, the new enforcement mandates that arose immediately afterward, and the unsuccessful efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform bills during the 109th and 110th Congresses. The report finds that this history, together with asymmetries in the political process that favor enforcement-oriented responses and the economic downturn, stack the deck against comprehensive reform of the U.S. immigration system.

Table of Contents

I. U.S. Immigration Policy in 2001: Demand for Reform, and the Whole Enchilada Framework

II. Response to the 9/11 AttacksA. Organizational ChangesB. Expanded Enforcement Powers within the United StatesC. Visa Security, Immigration, and Border Controls

III. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Debate

IV. Analysis: The Failure of Comprehensive Reform, 2006-10A. Asymmetries in the Immigration Debate: Enforcement as the Default Immigration PolicyB. Short-Term Political Considerations Have Discouraged Comprehensive Reform EffortsC. The Difficult Politics of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

V. Conclusion: The Future of Immigration Reform

Originally posted here:
U.S. Immigration Policy since 9/11: Understanding the ...