New from the Center for Immigration Studies, 4/10/17
New from the Center for Immigration Studies, 4/10/17
What’s Happening at the Center
In his piece in Foreign Affairs, Director of Research Steven Camarota argues that federal immigration policy has not served the country well for the last five decades. He explains that policymakers and opinion leaders have consistently overstated the benefits of mass immigration while ignoring the costs. After detailing those costs, he makes the case for enforcement of existing laws and a change in the legal admittance system. Foreign Affairs is the ultimate establishment journal so it’s a sign of real progress that they’re at least allowing such a critique to appear in their pages.
Recent Activities
Commentary
1. The Case Against Immigration: Why the United States Should Look Out for Itself
Blogs
2. Politicizing Use of the Word “Police” in the Cause of Open Borders
3. News on Sanctuaries and Remittances
4. As Enforcement Tightens, Hondurans Find Alternative Destinations
5. Chinese Americans, Again, Fleece Mainland Chinese in $50M EB-5 Scam
6. Selective Constitutionality under the Obama Justice Department
7. Pepsi – and ICE
8 Kill the Filibuster to Fix Immigration
9. Is the H-4 Rule on Its Way Out?
10. More Evidence of Charlie Beck’s and Eric Garcetti’s Disingenuousness
11. H-1B Disclosure Data Show Employer’s Wage Savings
12. Absurd Responses from Sanctuary Jurisdiction Leaders after DHS Meeting
13. Tsunami of UACs May Be Nearing an End
14. Big Missed Opportunity, but Don’t Panic on H-1B – Yet
1.
The Case Against Immigration: Why the United States Should Look Out for Itself
By Steven Camarota
Foreign Affairs, March 31, 2017
http://cis.org/a/case-against-
Excerpt: In the United States, there is strong evidence that the national interest has not been well served by the country’s immigration policy over the last five decades. Even as levels of immigration have approached historic highs, debate on the topic has been subdued, and policymakers and opinion leaders in both parties have tended to overstate the benefits and understate or ignore the costs of immigration. It would make a great deal of sense for the country to reform its immigration policies by more vigorously enforcing existing laws, and by moving away from the current system, which primarily admits immigrants based on family relationships, toward one based on the interests of Americans.
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2.
Politicizing Use of the Word “Police” in the Cause of Open Borders
By Dan Cadman
CIS Blog, April 7, 2017
http://cis.org/cadman/
Excerpt: here are a million kinds of stupid, and sometimes I think that our political leaders, one by one, are bound and determined to show the American people each and every one of them. The latest example comes to us courtesy of Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.).
CNN tells us that “A bill introduced Thursday [by Velazquez] aims to thwart Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from wearing clothing labeled with the words ‘police,’ arguing the practice is deceiving.”
Velazquez’s bill comes on the heels of whining by certain open borders and pro-sanctuary groups about federal agents wearing protective vests and other clothing identifying them as both “ICE” (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and “POLICE”. Some allege to be worried that it may lead to confusion.
Personally I doubt it; it seems to me that they are faux-concerned, and that this is just another chance to make mischief in the larger war against renewed efforts to enforce immigration laws after the many dysfunctional years of the Obama administration in which all too often they got their way.
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3.
News on Sanctuaries and Remittances
By Dan Cadman
CIS Blog, April 7, 2017
http://cis.org/cadman/news-
Excerpt: I would only note, though, that the problem of remittances is a large one — billions of dollars yearly leave our economy never to be seen again, and not just to Central and South American countries. It’s worth remembering that nearly half of the aliens illegally in the United States entered legally via visas (or the visa waiver program) and then simply chose to stay and melt into communities all across the nation. They, too, send part of their unlawfully earned salaries home as remittances.
If I were King of the Forest and could alter this valuable bill, it would be to tax all remittances. The resulting monies could be put into a special immigration enforcement fund, and apportioned out in three pieces according to some kind of formula — a portion for the border barrier, a portion to help pay the salaries of the 5,000 new Border Patrol agents the president has demanded, and the third portion to help pay the salaries of the 10,000 new interior ICE agents. There is a certain symmetric justice, I think, in using the proceeds from illegal aliens’ remittances to help fund the agents whose job is to ferret them out.
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4.
As Enforcement Tightens, Hondurans Find Alternative Destinations
By Kausha Luna
CIS Blog, April 6, 2017
http://cis.org/luna/
Excerpt: Honduran migrants may also be turning their eyes back home as it becomes more difficult to reach the United States. A Mexican newspaper article details the story of a Honduran family stripped of all their money and belongings and abandoned by a coyote at Mexico’s northern border. Unable to reach the United States, the family travelled to southern Mexico, where they are preparing to return to Honduras. Per the article, the family plans to return home, but to a town more removed from violence. They will close their businesses, an electric company and a restaurant, with the intention to start a new life in a new town.
It remains to be seen if these patterns will further develop as the Trump administration moves forward with its immigration agenda, and if migrants from the other Northern Triangle countries (El Salvador and Guatemala) will follow suit.
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5.
Chinese Americans, Again, Fleece Mainland Chinese in $50M EB-5 Scam
By David North
CIS Blog, April 6,2017
http://cis.org/north/chinese-
Excerpt: With two exceptions, this scandal followed the recipe of so many others: It happened in California; the 100 or so victims were people from Mainland China, presumably both nervous and careless businessmen who wanted a set of green cards for their families; the fraudsters were a China-born operator, Tat Chan, and his daughter, Victoria (a lawyer whose immigration status is not immediately clear); the Chans said that they were creating a business/residential complex (but no construction had started); and the Chans used much of the money to pay off an earlier round of investors, and to buy presumably attractive mansions for themselves.
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6.
Selective Constitutionality under the Obama Justice Department
By Dan Cadman
CIS Blog, April 7,2017
http://cis.org/cadman/
Excerpt: The Washington Post is reporting that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered senior Department of Justice (DOJ) officials to review all police reform agreements signed, or initiated and yet pending, between DOJ and some 25 police departments nationwide.
According to the article, Sessions wants to ensure that the agreements — all of them initiated by the Obama administration, and most under the pressure of lawsuits — don’t work against the goals of promoting officer safety and morale while fighting violent crime. I have nothing much to say about all of that, other than it sounds reasonable enough, because it’s outside the scope of immigration matters.
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7.
Pepsi – and ICE
By Andrew Arthur
CIS Blog, April 5, 2017
http://cis.org/arthur/pepsi-
Excerpt: The problem is that this is contrary to everything that we believe about the role of the police generally, and certainly the role of police at a protest. Other people make the laws, other people set the rules, and the police are there to enforce the rules, fairly and dispassionately. In this commercial, the cop taking the Pepsi is not the issue — rather, his signaling of appreciation of the product places him on the side of the protestors. That is not his role.
Which brings me to ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm of the Department of Homeland Security. Last Tuesday, I testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security on “Restoring Enforcement of our Nation’s Immigration Laws”. Many of the statements directed to the panel (which also included the Center’s Jessica Vaughan) actually had to do with non-enforcement of our immigration laws, and questioned whether ICE agents should arrest non-criminal aliens (particularly those with families), or whether they should do so in given contexts. Implicit in those statements was the sentiment that ICE officers should not arrest given individuals, even if they are otherwise removable.
Those statements reflected a sentiment that has been expressed by others: that ICE officers should focus solely on aliens who have committed criminal offenses in the United States, and not on aliens who are only removable because they entered, or remained, illegally. Implicit in that sentiment is the idea that ICE officers have acted improperly in arresting such individuals, thereby encouraging those agents not to arrest aliens whose only crime is illegal entry. This sentiment is most succinctly stated by the Baltimore City councilman who compared aliens who had been arrested to Holocaust survivors.
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8.
Kill the Filibuster to Fix Immigration
By Dan Cadman
CIS Blog, April 6, 2017
http://cis.org/cadman/kill-
Excerpt: And after elimination of the filibuster for the confirmation process? Maybe the spotlight will begin to shine on the Senate’s inactivity on so many worthy bills that have languished for years in that body. Maybe that was okay during the prior presidency, since Mr. Obama would almost certainly have vetoed them, which would have brought us back to the necessity of a 60-vote majority to overcome the veto. But a 60-vote majority simply to do the business of the Senate, which is to pass laws, is not okay now, when the president is a member of the majority party who has promised to deliver on important immigration reforms.
Certainly some of those reforms can and should be done legitimately by executive order. But we are already seeing what obstreperous state and local officials can do to forestall such orders and, in any case, have we not already seen enough of abusive pen-and-phone “executive actions” to last us a lifetime? In which case, isn’t it time for the august upper chamber of Congress to begin doing its job?
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9.
Is the H-4 Rule on Its Way Out?
By John Miano
CIS Blog, April 6, 2017
http://cis.org/miano/h-4-rule-
Excerpt: Like a child with a brand new toy, Obama took many administrative actions authorizing aliens to be employed where there is no statutory authorization. The most famous of these are DAPA and DACA. The rule at issue in the H-4 case authorized certain spouses of H-1B workers to be employed, even though there is no statute authorizing such employment. The scope of presidential power in such cases is defined by what Congress delegates; not by what it withholds.
Save Jobs USA, a group of American citizens who were replaced by H-1B workers at Southern California Edison, filed a lawsuit challenging this work authorization because it was in excess of DHS’s statutory authority.
In the district court, Save Jobs USA lost on two fronts: The court held they lacked standing and that the president has the unlimited authority to allow aliens to work in the United States.
Save Jobs USA then appealed to the D.C. Circuit. You are at a much better advantage in the appeals court when you win in the district court.
I have written before about standing.
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10.
More Evidence of Charlie Beck’s and Eric Garcetti’s Disingenuousness
By Dan Cadman
CIS Blog, April 5, 2017
http://cis.org/cadman/more-
Excerpt: A few days ago, I blogged about Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Charlie Beck’s specious claim that a short-term drop in domestic violence cases involving Hispanics was proof of the chilling effect of immigration enforcement efforts on local policing.
It was such an obvious case of cherry-picking statistical data that no serious observer of either policing or immigration enforcement could possibly take it seriously; it’s clear that Beck’s purpose was political, not an expression of interest in effective community policing. And, of course, he achieved that purpose by generating lots of publicity at a time when many Americans are starting to wake up to the dangers of sanctuary city policies in various parts of the country, including Los Angeles. Beck was engaged in a pushback effort to try to stave off the very real possibility that LAPD is going to lose federal funds as a result of its noncooperation policies.
The new administration’s seriousness about defunding sanctuaries is something Beck’s boss, Mayor Eric Garcetti, is beginning to understand as well. Coming out of a recent meeting with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly that no doubt involved a great deal of discussion about cooperation (or lack thereof) with federal immigration enforcement efforts, Garcetti made the incredible claim that LAPD had a great track record on such cooperation. I use the word “incredible” here in its most literal sense: not credible.
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11.
H-1B Disclosure Data Show Employer’s Wage Savings
By John Miano
CIS Blog, April 5, 2017
http://cis.org/miano/h-1b-
Excerpt: CNBC just posted a story in which the CEO of Vectra Networks promotes the H-1B visa program. He states that the company seeks to hire the “best and brightest” and the H-1B is a “crucial program”.
This is where the H-1B disclosure data ought to be the reporter’s best friend. Sadly very few in the media do such a check.
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12.
Absurd Responses from Sanctuary Jurisdiction Leaders after DHS Meeting
By Dan Cadman
CIS Blog, April 4, 2017
http://cis.org/cadman/absurd-
Excerpt: On March 29, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly held a meeting with various mayors, sheriffs, and municipal leaders to discuss the pressing problem of sanctuaries: state and local governments that, in one way or another, forbid or impede their law enforcement agencies from cooperating with immigration agents by refusing to honor detainers filed against alien criminals, by obstructing the flow of information about such aliens, by denying agents access to incarcerated aliens for purposes of interviews, or by declaring “safe zones” in which they will attempt to physically prevent agents from access.
Notably, the meeting follows a forthright declaration by Attorney General Jeff Sessions that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will no longer provide grants to such scofflaw jurisdictions, and there are some indications from House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Culberson that he may push DOJ to actually “claw back” past grants provided to them, which, given the amounts, would sting mightily.
Fox News, among other media outlets, reported on the outcome of the meeting, and captured quotations from several participants as they emerged. Some of the comments are absolutely astounding, and depart so far from reality as to be absurd.
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13.
Tsunami of UACs May Be Nearing an End
By Joseph Kolb
CIS Blog, April 3, 2017
http://cis.org/kolb/tsunami-
Excerpt: The crisis of unaccompanied minors (UACs) and family units being apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol is showing signs of going from a tsunami to a steady and more manageable flow, providing cause for cautious optimism and relief for communities inundated by unaccompanied minors and the horrific crimes that have recently occurred.
Recent data released by the Border Patrol shows what may be construed as a last ditch effort by UACs to cross the border and be placed in more than a hundred communities in the United States by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).
While the Border Patrol UAC apprehensions from December to February in FY 2017 were up by 595 from the previous year, 1,922 were apprehended in February (the first full month after the inauguration), the lowest February apprehension number in five years.
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14.
Big Missed Opportunity, but Don’t Panic on H-1B – Yet
By John Miano
CIS Blog, April 3, 2017
http://cis.org/miano/big-
Excerpt: Today is the start of this year’s H-1B season. Many groups that supported President Trump have been urging him to replace the purely random visa lottery with one that emphasizes wages and skills. A change in the lottery process could easily have been implemented before this year’s H-1B season and it would have demonstrated that the president intends to take action on the H-1B cesspool.
It is not clear that President Trump will do anything about the allocation of H-1B visas this year. This is a great disappointment. This is an issue the president campaigned on. It is an issue he won on. Doing something about the H-1B lottery would have been an easy win for the president. And the press is already mocking the president over this failure.
But I am not panicking — yet.
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