Archive for the ‘Immigration Reform’ Category

Tillis to continue push for bipartisan immigration reform – Charlotte Observer


Charlotte Observer
Tillis to continue push for bipartisan immigration reform
Charlotte Observer
Thom Tillis said Saturday that he will continue to push for bipartisan reform to fix what he calls America's broken immigration system. You will never satisfy the far extremes on the left and the right, Tillis, R-N.C., told Fox News. His aim, he said ...

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Tillis to continue push for bipartisan immigration reform - Charlotte Observer

After ICE arrests, fear spreads among undocumented immigrants – CNN

Some don't answer knocks on their doors. They're taping bedsheets over windows and staying off social media. Nervous parents and their children constantly exchange text messages and phone calls.

From New York to Los Angeles, a series of immigration arrests this week have unleashed waves of fear and uncertainty across immigrant communities.

"There are people that I work with who essentially want to go dark," said Cesar Vargas, one of the first immigrants without legal status in New York state to be sworn in as a lawyer.

"They don't want to be public in any way whatsoever. They spend less time on the street. They go to work and go straight back home. They don't go on Facebook. They put curfews on themselves."

The arrests come amid court battles over Trump's proposed ban on immigrants from seven majority-Muslim nations. The president has also vowed to deport some 3 million undocumented immigrants who have criminal records and to build a wall across the porous US-Mexico border.

"There are teachers who told me they had students missing from school out of fear," said Greg Casar, a city council member in Austin, Texas.

"I was with a constituent, a single mother with kids -- good, hardworking everyday folks -- and she had duct-taped sheets up and down her windows. ICE had come and knocked on her door earlier in the day."

Casar, the son of Mexican immigrants, spoke on the phone Saturday from a meeting of about 100 teachers who gathered to discuss how to talk to children about ICE actions and assure them they're safe at school.

"Kids ... are clearly traumatized by this," he said. "Young people I've spoken to live in fear that their government is coming for them or coming for their parents. Where do you go?"

One ICE operation in the Los Angeles area this week targeted criminals and fugitives. The agency said the majority of those arrested had criminal histories.

ICE said Friday that about 160 foreign nationals were arrested during the week.

Of those, 150 had criminal histories, and of the remaining arrests, five had final orders of removal or were previously deported.

ICE said 95% of those arrested were male. By Saturday, 37 had been deported to Mexico, a Homeland Security official told CNN.

Supporters of the sweeps say they are surprised that actions enforcing US immigration laws are making the news.

"President Trump campaigned on the issue of enforcing the nation's laws, and that's exactly what is happening here," said Dave Ray, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a non-profit that fights for reduced immigration and tighter borders.

John Torres, a retired deputy director of ICE and longtime immigration agent, said the last time such a spike in enforcement occurred was during the Bush administration, from 2006 to 2008.

"What's different here is that you have a more robust agency than you had 10 years ago," Torres said. "And the expanded scope of priorities now, coupled with the fact that you have far more jurisdictions that are not cooperating with ICE, is forcing ICE agents to make those arrests out in the community."

While the Obama administration had clear guidance prioritizing deportation of high-level criminals, an executive order signed by Trump in his first week set up enforcement priorities that could include virtually any undocumented immigrant living in the United States.

Many of the largest cities in the country have vowed not to cooperate with federal law enforcement on immigration matters. They are known as "sanctuary" cities, a broad term applied to jurisdictions that have policies limiting cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions.

Cities, counties and some states have a range of laws and informal policies that qualify as "sanctuary" positions.

In New York's Staten Island, Vargas has been busy since Trump's inauguration advising members of a growing immigrant community.

Vargas, a Mexican-born lawyer and immigrant activist, has also been busy checking up on his mother, who is also undocumented. And she checks on him.

"My mom tells me, 'Don't travel here, don't travel there,'" said Vargas, who has benefited from federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

"I'm still undocumented. She's undocumented. I have DACA but she doesn't. I tell her not to open the door for anyone. Know your rights and give me a call right away."

Put in place by the Obama administration, the DACA program has helped roughly 750,000 young people -- known as DREAMers -- emerge from the shadows and obtain valid driver's licenses, enroll in college and legally secure jobs.

Trump has vowed to repeal the program.

"We're in major suspense with the Trump administration," said Vargas, who was 5 he crossed the border from Tijuana to San Diego.

"What is he going to do with DACA? The program can be taken away anytime at the discretion of Immigration. They can say, even if he has DACA, we're going to pick him up because he is undocumented."

Vargas has been working with undocumented veterans who joined the US military with hopes of getting US citizenship.

Some veterans -- green card holders who served in Iraq and Afghanistan -- did not go through the entire process of becoming citizens. Many returned to the United States with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Some got hooked on illegal drugs and ended up with felony drug convictions.

They now face deportation.

"Yes, these people have committed crimes, but these are people who the government was supposed to take care of," Vargas said. "If Donald Trump is so worried about veterans, these are people he should be worried about."

In Brooklyn, New York, an undocumented immigrant named Antonio -- who asked that his full name not be used -- said it has been an emotional week for his partner and their two children, ages 3 and 8. His partner cries at the many news reports of separated immigrant families.

"People are not leaving the house to get a cup of coffee, to have dinner or take their children to the library," said Antonio, who came to the United States from Mexico 17 years ago.

"You don't know when the next roundup will be. You go to work. You come back home."

He says he is cautious on the street.

"I'm looking around all the time," he said. "It's not only (ICE) but the police as well. What if they stop you and ask you questions?"

A construction worker, Antonio said he has paid taxes for years. He was part of a small army of unauthorized immigrants who toiled in the reconstruction efforts in Queens and Staten Island after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

"We were among the first to respond during that catastrophe," he said.

"We helped rebuild homes and the owners still seek us out for work. But some people feel we're taking away (jobs). We take the jobs they don't want. So it's, 'Oh, you helped me rebuild my house but now I don't need you and you should go back to Mexico.'"

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After ICE arrests, fear spreads among undocumented immigrants - CNN

Rauner dodges on sanctuary state issue, Emanuel hosts Mexican mayors – Chicago Tribune

As some Illinois Democrats look to extend protections to immigrants in response to President Donald Trump, Gov. Bruce Rauner declined to take a position on the idea Friday.

Asked if he would support legislation to make it harder for federal authorities to access information about immigrants living in Illinois, Rauner didn't say yes or no, just that he is "very pro comprehensive immigration reform" and wants the state "to continue to be welcoming and diverse."

Legislation under consideration at the state Capitol would allow schools, medical facilities and places of worship to decline access to federal immigration authorities, and it would limit cooperation and communication between local police and immigration officials. The plans were introduced as part of a broader "sanctuary state" effort to extend statewide some protections like those in Chicago and Cook County, where local laws prohibit government workers and police officers from asking about residents' immigration status.

The legislation is sponsored by Democrats, and their party controls the General Assembly. Pressed to provide his position on the sanctuary state idea Friday, Rauner declined. "I've answered it," he said. "I've said what I'm going to say."

Previously, Rauner avoided directly discussing Chicago and other locations that have declared "sanctuary" status from immigration authorities in a meeting with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, but he made it clear he opposed it in the absence of comprehensive immigration changes.

"Emotion is guiding too much of the conversation," he said then. "The system is not working, and we shouldn't try to deal with it on a piecemeal basis."

The question-and-answer session with reporters came a day after a federal appeals court declined to reinstate Trump's executive order barring travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the U.S.

The travel ban, and the sanctuary state effort, could be tricky political issues for the Republican governor, who is looking ahead to a 2018 re-election campaign and some Democrats are have tried linking Rauner to Trump. Trump won the November election after saying he would crack down on illegal immigration.

Rauner was critical of Trump's travel ban, calling it "rash" and "overly broad" but has said the issue should be resolved by the courts.

"I hope that Congress and the federal government can come together and get comprehensive immigration reform," Rauner said Friday. "Our immigration system is broken, it's not working. And to deal with it piecemeal or small scale isn't the right way to do it. We should have comprehensive immigration reform."

Trump has threatened to withhold federal money from sanctuary governments, including cities, and the Illinois proposal joins efforts in California and New York trying to resist Trump's immigration policies by granting new protections to immigrants.

That's led Mayor Rahm Emanuel's to repeatedly reassure the city's Latinos that Chicago should remain a sanctuary city, particularly young Dreamers who benefited from former President Barack Obama's executive actions that offered legal protection to about 742,000 people nationwide who were brought to the U.S. as children and stayed here illegally.

Emanuel drew attention to the issue again Friday when he hosted the mayors of three major Mexican cities at City Hall Mexico City Mayor Miguel ngel Mancera, Guadalajara Mayor Enrique Alfaro and Juarez City Mayor Hctor Armando Cabada Alvdrez. The event presented Emanuel an opportunity to try to boost his bona fides with the city's Latinos as his three Mexican counterparts each called the mayor "courageous" in standing up for immigrants.

Collectively, Emanuel noted, the four mayors represent 15 million constituents who need to be served regardless of current international relations.

"As the politics of our national governments become more choppy, those relationships of what we refer to as building bridges, not walls, are even more important than ever before," said Emanuel, who did not refer to Trump by name during the 30-minute news conference. "We can't wait, respectfully, for our national governments. We can't determine our futures based on how the wind is blowing at any one given time on national politics, which is why we're here to reassert our friendship and the depth of that friendship."

Emanuel repeatedly said he's had a friendship with Mancera that "pre-dates this moment in time in politics," and that the Mexico City mayor requested Friday's meeting which was focused on building business and cultural partnerships. Mancera has indicated he would like to run for president of Mexico in 2018, and he used Friday's news conference to voice his opposition to Trump's plan to build a wall along the Mexican border.

"We have a great amount of communication bridges that have been built between Mexico and the United States ... what the federal government would be doing is not building a wall, but rather destroying bridges that already exist," Mancera told reporters through a translator. "Today, we're making sure people who live here from Mexico and Mexico City understand that local governments are going to work together to make a difference, and that as long as understanding is not reached at the federal level, we can build very important agreements and understandings at the local level."

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Rauner dodges on sanctuary state issue, Emanuel hosts Mexican mayors - Chicago Tribune

Trump presses senators to work again on immigration reform – Washington Post

President Trump said Thursday that he was open to considering a comprehensive immigration reform plan if senators come up with a new one, but he said he opposes a 2013 proposalthat passed the U.S. Senate with bipartisan support.

The presidents brief comments on the issue came up during a White House lunch meeting with a group ofDemocratic and Republican senators that also touched on the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve on the Supreme Court and the nations opioid epidemic, according to participants.

On immigration, Trump said he was open to reviewing details of the 2013 immigration bill written bya bipartisan Gang of Eight senators, according to Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.)who recounted details of the lunch to reporters.

Hes open to reviewing the piece of legislation, Manchin said. He says,Well, youve got to start working on it again, and I says, Absolutely we will. And that was encouraging.

[Most unauthorized immigrants live in urban areas, study shows]

White House press secretary Sean Spicer later clarified thatTrump told the senators, If you guys want to get together to work on a solution, Im glad to listen. He said that Trumps comments on immigration were not specific to the Gang of Eight,' and that Trump opposes the2013 bill.

Spicer also said that earlier in the meeting Trump made clear to the senators that he considers the 2013 Gang of Eightbill to be amnesty.

That version of events is disputed slightly by Manchin. According to the West Virginia Democrat, when Trump noted that there is no current immigration legislation under consideration on Capitol Hill, another senator in attendance, Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), mentioned the 2013 bill.

Alexanderalso noted that the 2013 bill had passed with 68 votes, Manchin recalled.

Well, that sounds like something good and you all agreed, 68? What happened to it? Trump said, according to Manchin.

Ill tell you exactly what happened, Mr. President, Manchin said he told Trump. It went to the House and [Majority Leader] Eric Cantor gets defeated. Theyre crying Amnesty, amnesty, amnesty and [House Speaker] John Boehner could not bring it back up on the floor and get a vote thats exactly what happened.

At that point, Trump said, I want to see it, Manchin said. So he was very anxious to see it. He says, I know what amnesty is. And I said, Sir, I dont think youre going to find this [is] amnesty at all.

A spokesman for Alexander said in an email that the senator thinks it is appropriate to allow the President to characterize his own position. But the Senator did suggest that it is important to fix our immigration system and that the President is in a unique position to help do that.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), who also attended the lunch, confirmed that the group talked a little bit about immigration reform.

I think hes looking totry to find some way to broker deals where we can get things done, Cornyn said of Trump.

Several members of the House and Senate in both parties have introduced immigration or border security bills in the opening weeks of the year, but none of them is being reviewed by committees.

The 2013 immigration billcarrieda $50 billion price tag and would have doubledthe number of U.S. Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border and required the construction of 700 miles of fencing there. It also would have placed new obligations on employers, who would be required to check the legal status of all job applicants using the governments E-Verify system.

If enacted, the bill would have set millions of eligible immigrants on a 13-year course toward achieving permanent residency status or U.S. citizenship, but it would have required them to pay thousands of dollars in fines and back taxes.

Despite broad bipartisan support in the Senate, the measure wallowed for nearly two yearsin the GOP-controlled House, because as Manchin said of Cantors surprise defeat in a 2014 Republican primary race.

After more than a year of delay, Cantorwas preparing in June 2014 to meet with Democratic and Republican members to finalize plans for a House version of the immigration bill when he was defeated by a tea party-backed challenger, now-Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.). Nervous Republicans instantly seized on Cantors support for immigration reform as the reason for his defeat.

A key Senate sponsor, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), had also withdrawn his support for the bill just hours after it was defeated in 2013 nervous that any association with the bill would spoil his hopes of running for president in 2016.

Other issues discussed during the White House lunch included Gorsuchs nomination, the future of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Export-Import Bank and ideas on how to combat the nations prescription drug epidemic, according to Cornyn and Manchin.

Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.

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Trump presses senators to work again on immigration reform - Washington Post

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