Wednesday, February 3, 2016

LA RAZA BORDER PATROL AGENT JOEL LUNA - BEHEADINGS, AND THE MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS ON AMERICA'S OPEN and UNDEFENDED BORDERS

YOU REALLY WANT TO HAND 40 MILLION MEXICANS AMNESTY?


Indicted Border Patrol Agent Has Two Birth Certificates

http://www.texastribune.org/2016/02/02/indicted-border-patrol-agents-nationality-question/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections&mc_cid=580a871fec&mc_eid=3ccf90ee68




Bordering on Insecurity LogoThe Texas Tribune is taking a yearlong look at the issues of border security and immigration, reporting on the reality and rhetoric around these topics. Sign up to get story alerts.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with new statements from U.S. Customs & Border Protection and Joel Luna's lawyer.

BROWNSVILLE — Federal immigration authorities are treating Joel Luna, a Border Patrol Agent accused last month of capital murder and drug cartel ties in deep South Texas, as a potential foreign national subject to deportation, The Texas Tribune has learned.

In an unusual move, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has targeted the federal agent with a “detainer” — basically a civil arrest warrant filed against non-citizens — at the Cameron County jail. As a matter of law, ICE has no civil immigration enforcement authority to arrest or detain a U.S. citizen.

The detainer adds a surprising twist to a case that has already generated national headlines and focused attention on U.S. law enforcement corruption along the southern border.

Luna, two of his brothers and two other South Texas men have been indicted on capital murder and other charges stemming from the murder and beheading of a Honduran national, whose body was found during spring break last year near South Padre Island. Investigators say the men had ties to the powerful Gulf Cartel.

After Luna was arrested last year, the Cameron County sheriff's office said investigators found more than a kilo of cocaine, $90,000 in cash, firearms and Luna’s Border Patrol badge in a safe at the home of his mother-in-law.

The five men are scheduled to be arraigned in state district court in Brownsville on Wednesday. Garcia said Joel Luna will plead not guilty on all charges and ask for a jury trial.
Now a new wrinkle has emerged in this case: Luna has two birth certificates, one from Hidalgo County, Texas, the other from Reynosa, Mexico — right across the Rio Grande River.

ICE did not immediately return phone calls, but Luna’s lawyer, Carlos A. Garcia, said he has no doubt that his client is a U.S. citizen, an ironclad requirement for employment as a Border Patrol agent. Garcia also denied a statement from U.S. Customs & Border Protection asserting that Luna had been "arrested on False Claim To United States Citizenship" on Nov. 12, when the agent was already in state custody in South Texas.

He said any federal arrest would trigger an appearance before a magistrate within 48 hours and notification to him as Luna's lawyer — and "none of that occurred," Garcia told the Tribune.
“He worked for the federal government. No one had ever questioned his citizenship before — until his arrest,” Garcia said. “I don’t put much value in whoever it was that made that determination. You have one person that decided that, you know what, this is worth a second look.”

Garcia said Luna attended elementary school in Mexico, which has stiff paperwork requirements for children who want to enter the public school system there. He said it’s not uncommon for parents or other relatives to fraudulently obtain Mexican birth certificates.

“Mexicans who live along the border can purchase a birth certificate by just showing up one day and saying, 'Hey, my kid was born on this date in this place,'” he said.

In Luna’s case, the U.S. birth certificate was filed two days after his birth on May 20, 1985. The Mexican birth certificate was issued in August of 1988, a little over three years after his birth was reported in San Juan, Texas.

The Texas Tribune has obtained both documents. The Mexican one came from authorities in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the state of Tamaulipas, where birth certificates are considered public records. Garcia provided the Tribune his American birth certificate. The existence of the Mexican birth certificate potentially suggests that Luna has dual citizenship.

Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna, indicted for capital murder, has two birth certificates, one saying he was born in Mexico, the other saying he was born in Texas. Luna's lawyer says he was born in Texas.
Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna, indicted for capital murder, has two birth certificates, one saying he was born in Mexico, the other saying he was born in Texas. Luna's lawyer says he was born in Texas.
“I don’t know whether or not my client has Mexican citizenship per se, but there is a Mexican birth certificate out there,” Garcia said. "He left Mexico a long, long time ago when he was very young. It’s unfortunate that we have this little wrinkle, but it's there."

It's at least the second recent case involving a federal border agent holding both Mexican and U.S. birth certificates. In another case of alleged law enforcement corruption at the border, the Monitor newspaper of McAllen reported Tuesday that a Customs and Border Protection agent accused of taking a bribe also has competing birth claims on both sides of the border.

As Feds Plan to Cut Border Monitoring, Texas Officials Ask Why

A Customs and Border Protection vehicle patrols on the Texas border near the Rio Grande, Thursday, July 24, 2014, in Mission, Texas. Texas is spending $1.3 million a week for a bigger DPS presence along the border.
A Customs and Border Protection vehicle patrols on the Texas border near the Rio Grande, Thursday, July 24, 2014, in Mission, Texas. Texas is spending $1.3 million a week for a bigger DPS presence along the border.
Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, pressed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday to explain why the agency plans to reduce its aerial surveillance on the Texas-Mexico border.
In a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, the lawmakers said the cut to a requested 3,850 hours of aerial detection and monitoring in 2016 amounts to 50 percent less coverage than recent years.
“Given the recent surge of migrants from Central America and Cuba along the southern border, we believe DHS should request more surveillance and security resources, not fewer,” Abbott and Cuellar wrote in a letter.
The pair also reminded Johnson that in September, Abbott’s office asked the DHS for more aerial resources and U.S. Border Patrol agents but that the request was never acknowledged.
A DHS spokesperson said the agency would respond "directly" to the governor and the congressman.
The El Paso sector also saw 1,030 unaccompanied minors, an increase of almost 300 percent.
In Monday’s letter, the pair also requested a detailed breakdown of how the DHS determined the reduction in aerial surveillance was warranted and information on how staffing and operation levels would be affected.
While Abbott has spoken extensively about illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America, the letter marked the first time Abbott has referenced a recent surge of Cubans coming into Texas.
Abbott visited the island nation last year to explore expanding trade between Cuba and Texas. During that trip, he spoke about the current trade embargo but not the migrant issue.
During the 2015 fiscal year, about 28,400 Cubans entered Texas through U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Laredo field office, which extends from Del Rio to Brownsville. That’s compared to about 15,600 in 2014.
The surge came after the Obama administration announced in 2014 its plans to re-establish ties with Cuba, leaving many Cubans fearing they will lose a special designation that allows them to apply for legal residency status, or a “green card,” after living in the country for a year. Cuellar and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, have called for the repeal of that designation.


Another Surge of Illegal Immigrants Along the Southwest Border: Is this the Obama Administration’s New Normal?

House Committee on the Judiciary
9:00 a.m., Thursday, February 4, 2016
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

http://judiciary.house.gov/index.cfm/hearings?ID=9AC016C4-D7CD-44D7-8172-9B81E587D2BD

Witnesses:

Brandon Judd, U.S. Border Patrol Agent and the President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National Border Patrol Council

Steven McCraw, Director, Texas Department of Public Safety

Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies, Center for immigration Studies



Houston Slayings Fueled Border Security Debate


Dan Golvach, father of Spencer Golvach,  at his son's grave in Houston Tuesday, October 20, 2015.
Dan Golvach, father of Spencer Golvach, at his son's grave in Houston Tuesday, October 20, 2015.
Bordering on Insecurity LogoThe Texas Tribune is taking a yearlong look at the issues of border security and immigration, reporting on the reality and rhetoric around these topics. Sign up to get story alerts.
HOUSTON — Julie Golvach remembers that something felt “off” the night she lost her only child.
It was exactly one year ago today, a few minutes before 1 a.m. Standing in the driveway of her Houston home, waving goodbye to her sister under a clear winter sky, something didn't feel right. The stars didn’t look the same.
Golvach tossed and turned in bed for a while but was sound asleep when a knock on the door came at 6 a.m.
“I jumped up and I knew,” she said.
She stopped by her son’s boyhood bedroom, the one with the window looking out onto the driveway. He’d slept there a week earlier, the evening they went to see "American Sniper" together. She slipped past the picture of him and his best childhood friend on the wall, skirting the bed with the stuffed toy lamb — a baby shower relic — lying on top.
Out the window, Golvach saw three people — two uniformed police officers and a woman wearing a shirt that read “chaplain.” Her chest pounded as she made her way to the front door and opened it.
“Is it Spencer?” she asked.
The second those words tumbled out of her mouth, she knew the answer, just as she had known when she uttered that exact phrase the day he was born, before anyone told her if the baby was a boy or a girl. She just knew.
It was Spencer.
One night off
Spencer Golvach grew up in the sprawl of northwest Houston, surrounded by guitars and destined for a career in music, his father’s passion.
When he turned 16 in 2005 and got his driver’s license, the easygoing musician started working at a local guitar store in a strip mall not far from Jersey Village High School, where he excelled in shop class and anything he could do with his hands.
He had always fiddled with his dad’s guitars, and he developed a knack for fixing and rebuilding them at the store. A few years later, when the shop owner announced his retirement, Spencer decided to buy the Cy-Fair area business.
Spencer Golvach, at the age of three, pictured with a guitar. Authorities say Golvach was killed by Victor Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, during a random shooting spree in January 2015.
Spencer Golvach, at the age of three, pictured with a guitar. Authorities say Golvach was killed by Victor Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, during a random shooting spree in January 2015.
With nine employees and a soft economy, life as an entrepreneur proved tough sledding. He struggled to turn a profit, and he took a second full-time job as a receiving lead and forklift operator at a local warehouse.
Even that wasn’t enough to cover the bills. By early 2015, Spencer was preparing to move into a smaller — and cheaper — space in the same shopping mall. He could hardly wait for Saturday, Jan. 31 to arrive, the day the slimmed-down version of Spencer’s Guitar Shop was set to open. Between giving guitar lessons, working an 8-to-5 day job, building out the new store and playing bass in his band — The Dead Revolt — Spencer needed a break.
“The guy was burning the candle at both ends for a long time,” recalled Dan Golvach, his father. “He takes one night off, to go take his girlfriend out for her birthday. That was Jan. 30. And he drops her off ... and 15 minutes later he pulls up to that red light.”
Less than a mile from his apartment, Spencer steered into the left turn lane at 18th Street and Mangum Road and waited for the green light. The details of what happened next are captured in the records of two police agencies, more than a dozen news articles and the unceasing nightmares of Spencer’s parents and loved ones.
An undocumented Mexican national named Victor Reyes, a native of Reynosa along the Texas-Mexico border, pulled up next to Spencer's beloved white Toyota pickup. He pointed a pistol at Spencer’s head and pulled the trigger.
The bullet went through the passenger side window and into Spencer’s skull, at the top of his right ear.
“I choose to believe it killed him instantly,” his father said in an interview months later. “I think he was just there and then it’s like someone turned the lights off. I don’t think he suffered.”
But the Golvach family’s suffering — compounded by the feeling that Spencer’s death could have been prevented — was just beginning.
Houston police, their report indicates, found 25-year-old Spencer dead in his truck at 12:56 a.m. — right around the moment Julie Golvach, waving goodbye to her sister, couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
A few hours later, she was phoning her ex-husband to break the news.
“I couldn’t make out what she was saying and I finally just said, ‘is my son dead?’”— Dan Golvach
“She was just inconsolable,” he recalled. “I couldn’t make out what she was saying and I finally just said, ‘is my son dead?’ She said, ‘yes.’ Then of course I started. I joined the chorus.”
More than a thousand people attended Spencer’s memorial service, a tribute to his fun-loving nature and penchant for making friends across generational, ethnic and gender lines.
Those who knew Spencer universally describe him as fun-loving and strikingly calm. After he died, a family friend ordered up a batch of commemorative rubber bracelets emblazoned with his laid-back motto: “Chill Don’t Freeze."

A bloody rampage
More than once since the funeral, Julie Golvach has found herself wishing that her son’s attacker had gotten to know Spencer. She’s convinced he never would have pulled the trigger. But the official evidence of the crime, while scant, suggests Spencer was chosen randomly. And he wasn’t the only victim.
Police say Reyes shot a man in the face, wounding him, in the suburban city of Jersey Village minutes before killing Spencer, and they connected him to at least two more random shootings shortly thereafter. All told, Reyes shot two dead and wounded three others before a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy took him down after a violent shootout, officials say.
John Weston, 67, says he’s lucky to be alive after encountering Reyes on the Hempstead Highway near Pinemont, about 10 minutes north of where Spencer had just been killed. He remembers seeing a big, dark truck driving aggressively behind him. When he got to the stoplight, it pulled up alongside him.
“All of a sudden I hear this ungodly noise,” Weston recalled. “I don’t know if you can imagine how fast your mind works, but I saw a shattered window and I saw a bullet hole in my window. My mind is thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, somebody’s shooting at me and this guy at this light.’”
He pressed his foot to the accelerator to get out of the line of fire, but not soon enough. He heard the second shot, and its impact felt like someone “hauled off and hit you upside the head,” he said.
Weston realized the truck's driver was the gunman. “I saw blood everywhere,” he said. His hands were covered in it, so he could only manage to re-dial on his cell phone. He finally reached his wife, who told him to go to the nearest toll booth. An ambulance was called. Doctors found that a bullet had entered his left cheek and stuck in the other side of his mouth.
A year later, after reconstructive surgery to replace a badly shattered jaw, his mouth remains completely numb below the tongue. With his health woes and lost time at work, he’s struggling to keep his printing business afloat.
“Everything I do now is a little more difficult, but considering I’m here talking, I’m blessed to be here,” Weston said. “It’s scarred me forever. I don’t break down and cry, but I think about it all the time.”
Had Reyes been a homegrown criminal, the story might have ended in the empty field where the deputy shot him — chalked up as another random act of violence in a city and nation all too used to them.
But as word spread about Reyes’ long criminal record and multiple deportations, the case was thrust into the volatile debate over illegal immigration and control of the southern border: first in local news stories, then at the Capitol in Austin and most recently on the presidential campaign trail on a stage in mid-November with GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump in Beaumont, where Dan Golvach spoke out and held up a poster of Spencer along with others killed by undocumented immigrants.
Gunman's long record
According to the Houston office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Reyes had been removed from the country four times between 2003 and 2010, but little is publicly known about what he was doing in Houston prior to terrorizing its northwest environs — or why he did it.
His criminal and illegal entry records stretch back at least to 2002 when, at age 18, he was convicted of burglarizing a building in Hidalgo County, across the border from Reynosa, which he told police was his place of birth. He spent a month and a half in jail before a state court sentenced him to three years' probation, ordered him to pay an $850 fine and mandated 120 hours of community service.

Victor Reyes, shown in 2001 jail mug shot from Hidalgo County. Authorities say Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, went on a January 2015 shooting spree in Harris County that killed two and wounded three.
Victor Reyes, shown in 2001 jail mug shot from Hidalgo County. Authorities say Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, went on a January 2015 shooting spree in Harris County that killed two and wounded three.
A year later, he was back in the Hidalgo County Jail for breaking a beer bottle over a man’s head at the Tejano Saloon in Pharr. He was sent back to Mexico after serving about a month in the local jail, but he came back. By then, his previous probation had been revoked, and he served several months in a state jail in Raymondville.
Deported again on Jan. 20, 2004, Reyes was caught trying to cross the border the next day, triggering a 90-day sentence in federal prison and yet another deportation — his third.
A few months later, on Aug. 10, he was caught again, in McAllen, and received a one-year federal prison sentence for his fourth known illegal re-entry. His crimes didn’t end there. A few weeks before his prison release date, Reyes beat up a fellow inmate — described by his lawyer as a rival gang member — cutting and fracturing his face, according to federal court records.
Two new assault charges made Reyes eligible for 20 years behind bars. Despite his history of violence, burglary and repeat illegal crossings, federal prosecutors offered Reyes a deal: In exchange for a guilty plea on one of the counts, and in recognition of his “truthful testimony” and “acceptance of responsibility,” they promised to give him a sentence “at the lowest end of the applicable guidelines” on a single charge, court papers show. Under the plea bargain, Reyes' sentence was 63 months, a quarter of the maximum he faced under the two counts.
That’s a few more spoonfuls of salt in the wound for Dan and Julie Golvach. Had Reyes been given even half of his possible sentence on the two assault counts, he would have been in prison instead of at that traffic light killing their son.
“The people who agreed to this deal need to be held accountable,” Julie Golvach said. “The result was the horrific murder of my son.”
The prosecutor who signed the plea agreement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Hammer, declined to talk about the case, referring questions to U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Angela Dodge in Houston.
Dodge sent The Texas Tribune a boilerplate description of plea deals, saying they “ensure a resolution of the case and that someone is convicted of the crime(s) we believe they committed without going through the time and expense of a trial,” while providing “justice for all.” She declined to say whether prosecutors took Reyes' previous crimes into account, or if they frequently offer plea deals to convicted criminals who commit additional crimes behind bars.
It’s another official secret in a case with no shortage of them.
Family still seeking answers
The Houston Police Department, using its own discretion under the Public Information Act, blocked release of all but a few details on the Golvach and Weston shootings. The department cited a provision allowing it to withhold criminal records absent a final disposition, such as a conviction or deferred adjudication. Since Reyes is dead and the city’s case is otherwise closed, that means Houston police likely can withhold the information indefinitely.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office declined to release its investigative files, but for an entirely different reason: After every officer-involved shooting — in this case, a deputy ended Reyes’ deadly rampage — the Harris County district attorney’s office presents the case to a grand jury even if no one complains. That happened last week, just days before the one-year anniversary of the shooting spree.
The federal government holds onto its files with a tight grip, too, citing the 1974 U.S. Privacy Act. The act covers only U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement has decreed that its protections apply to federal immigration detention records, even those related to undocumented immigrants convicted of horrific crimes. The agency voluntarily released a narrative of its multiple encounters with Reyes, but the Tribune has not yet heard back from ICE or U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services on its written request for his entire immigration file. 

The secrecy across local and federal agencies that came into contact with Reyes confounded and frustrated the people touched by his violence. Weston said his wife became “very disillusioned” about their quest for even the simplest answers.
Dan Golvach, father of Spencer Golvach, in Houston Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at the intersection where his son was killed by an undocumented immigrant in January.
Dan Golvach, father of Spencer Golvach, in Houston Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at the intersection where his son was killed by an undocumented immigrant in January.
“I mean, we asked them, ‘Who was the guy?’” Weston said. “We had to fill out paperwork and all that kind of stuff, but we never got any satisfactory answer. It was almost like it was top secret information.”
Hoping to break through the bureaucratic walls and get some answers about who killed their son and why, the Golvaches eventually hired a former investigative reporter, ex-KTRK-TV newsman Wayne Dolcefino. In a letter last year to then-Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, Dolcefino said the sheriff’s office was “doing a disservice to this crime victim by not responding to this request in a proper manner.” The local investigative files remained sealed as of late last week, but the Harris County Sheriff's Office asked the Tribune to resubmit its request for the records and promised a quick turnaround.
Even with new information beginning to trickle out, the victims and their families still don't know where Reyes lived or if he had a job, who owned the truck he was driving that night or — least of all — the motive for his deadly rampage.
According to Harris County Assistant District Attorney Heyward Carter, some elements of the senseless crime may never be known.
Carter, who handled a single aspect of the case — the officer-involved shooting — was able to speak about the case for the first time last week. He revealed that Reyes was "extremely intoxicated" and had a "significant amount of cocaine" in his system. He also identified the weapon, a .380 caliber pistol, that he said was legally purchased at one point, but authorities haven't determined how a convicted felon and undocumented immigrant, barred from buying or possessing firearms, obtained it.
“We live in an age of mass shootings, and even though this one didn’t get a whole lot of publicity, that’s what this is."
— Heyward Carter, Harris County Assistant District Attorney
Carter also provided details about the actions of the Harris County deputy sheriff, Javier Rojas, who finally put an end to the deadly rampage. By chance, Rojas was patrolling the area and heard shots being fired. He saw the truck of Reyes' final victim, identified by police as Juan Garcia, in obvious distress, weaving randomly at an intersection. Garcia later died from his wounds, and a woman in the car with him was slightly injured from the broken glass.
Rojas chased after Reyes, who crashed his truck through a barrier at the end of a dead end street and went another 200 yards or so into an empty field. Rojas continued the pursuit on foot and found Reyes crouching behind the truck. He ordered the suspect to drop his weapon but Reyes stood and fired at the officer instead. Rojas returned fire and struck him in the chest. When authorities photographed the body his hand was still gripping the pistol "with his finger on the trigger," Carter said.
In terms of a motive, authorities can only speculate based on a conversation Reyes had with a supposed girlfriend about three hours before the shooting spree began. He wanted her to go out to a bar or nightclub with him, and she turned him down. Authorities speculate he may have been taking out his rage on couples: It's possible he saw Spencer Golvach dropping off his girlfriend shortly before shooting him at the red light and then targeted Garcia after seeing he had a woman in his vehicle.
But it's just a theory.
“We live in an age of mass shootings, and even though this one didn’t get a whole lot of publicity, that’s what this is," Carter said. "I don’t understand why he was doing it.”
Carter did confirm what the families had learned from detectives in the immediate aftermath of the shootings: Reyes still had plenty of ammunition left in his truck — suggesting that he was planning a more extensive shooting spree. There were at least 20 live rounds left in the vehicle, and he appeared to be reloading while driving near the scene of his final attack.
“Had this officer not been there just coincidentally ... there were plenty of roads for him to go down. He had plenty of ammo, and it didn't seem like he was stopping, that's for sure," Carter said. "As horrible as this situation was, it could have been way worse.”
After the facts were presented to grand jury last Wednesday, the panel decided not to proceed with any further action related to the incident. The Golvach family calls Rojas' response heroic.
"Why was he allowed to be here?"
Julie Golvach burst out into tears again last week after hearing for the first time some of the details of the crime that took her son's life. 
“I really feel I deserve to know what brought them together at that point in time, what caused him to shoot my son,” she said. “I think we deserve to know why he was even here — why he was allowed to be here.”
It’s a common refrain among those who have been victimized by people in the country illegally. They weren’t supposed to be here in the first place, and the government's inability to keep them from crossing the southern border after they’ve been deported — and prevent them from committing crimes — provokes a unique brand of helplessness and outrage.
Even Weston, a lifelong Democrat who attended both of Barack Obama’s inaugurations and favors allowing otherwise law-abiding immigrants into the United States to work and seek a better life, said he had to fight the urge to call Donald Trump and tell him he was “dead-on” with his focus on foreigners who commit crimes here.
“Somebody’s got to do something about it,” he said. In the same breath, Weston emphasized that he doesn’t support Trump for president and said keeping dangerous felons from crossing the border or entering the vast illegal workforce defied simplistic solutions.
“If there’s some way to filter out the ones that intend to harm people, I would be in support of that,” he said. “It may prevent something like this from happening to somebody else.”
Dan Golvach is more blunt and outspoken. A few weeks after his son’s murder, he was at the state Capitol testifying in favor of 2015 state legislation — ultimately doomed — that would have prohibited local law enforcement authorities in Texas from adopting “sanctuary” policies that keep police out of immigration matters.
Then late last year, he appeared with Trump at a campaign rally in Beaumont, saying his son died as “the result of politically correct politics” — namely, bipartisan policies that he believes go too easy on undocumented immigrants and the people who hire them.
“When you lose the thing you love the most, you’re not that worried about being PC,” Golvach said in an interview. “If you’re going to come here, you need to do it legally on our terms, not your terms.”
Golvach readily admits that anger over his son’s killing sometimes hits “toxic” levels. He says he’s still haunted by the image of Spencer in a hastily chosen coffin, still upset he was killed right next to the stadium where he used to watch baseball as a kid, still mad as hell that the government won’t cough up the records they have on his son’s killer.
It would be worse without all the good memories of his son, and without the certainty that if Spencer were alive today he would say to him: “chill don’t freeze.”
“He’d tell me, ‘Don’t have a heart attack. You know, clear your mind and keep it cool,'” he said. “He would tell me not to hate anybody


 RASMUSSEN:

Republican Debate Shows Where Comprehensive Immigration Is Headed: Nowhere

House Appropriations Boss Initiates Crackdown on Sanctuaries

By Jessica Vaughan, February 1, 2016
Today the chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee in charge of funding the Department of Justice, John Culberson (R-Texas), put the Obama administration on notice that it must take steps to rein in sanctuary jurisdictions or risk problems getting approval for its own budget requests. In addition, Culberson announced that he will begin requiring local jurisdictions to follow federal law and stop obstructing communication with immigration agencies as a condition for receiving certain federal law enforcement funding.

BLOG: LIKE ALL OF OBAMA'S CABINET, ONE MUST FIRST BE CONNECTED TO THE BANKSTER SECTOR AND SECONDLY BE AN ADVOCATE FOR OPEN BORDERS, SABOTAGE E-VERIFY AND PROMOTE THE INTERESTS OF LA RAZA ABOVE LEGALS. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT LORETTA LYNCH HAS AND WILL DO.


In a sternly worded letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Culberson said that he has a responsibility to ensure that state and local law enforcement agencies are following federal law before they can get federal grants. He said that sanctuary policies restricting communication between local and federal officials are a clear violation of Section 1373 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Among the jurisdictions that have imposed such policies are San Francisco, Cook County, Ill., and New York City. In addition to prohibiting local officers from communicating with immigration authorities, these jurisdictions bar federal officers from coming into jails to interview or arrest deportable criminals.

State and local sanctuary policies obstruct immigration enforcement and cause the release of criminal aliens back to the streets of American communities. According to ICE records that the Center obtained in a FOIA request, in 2014 more than 9,000 criminal aliens that ICE was seeking to deport were instead released. More than 2,300 of these criminal aliens went on to commit additional crimes within just a few months.

The three law enforcement funding programs that could become off-limits to sanctuaries currently dispense more than $1 billion a year to state and local agencies.
Mr. Culberson contacted the Center shortly after the publication of this information in July, saying that he had long sought concrete information on the extent of this problem and that he was determined to use his authority to address it. The Center has compiled a list of over 300 cities, counties, and states that have laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions, policies, or other practices that protect criminal aliens from deportation — either by refusing to or prohibiting agencies from complying with ICE detainers, imposing unreasonable conditions on detainer acceptance, or otherwise impeding open communication and information exchanges between their employees or officers and federal immigration officers. These jurisdictions are noted on a map here.
Culberson's letter outlines several steps he expects the Justice Department to take:
  1. Beginning this year, amend the grant application forms for the Byrne/Justice Assistance Grants (JAG), Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants, and State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) reimbursement program to require agencies seeking these funds to swear that they do not have policies that violate Section 1373; and
  2. Work with sanctuary jurisdictions to change their policies, and if they do not, take legal action to compel their compliance with federal law;
  3. Deny funding to any non-compliant sanctuary jurisdictions.
In addition, he asks the attorney general to look at whether jurisdictions that release criminal aliens sought by ICE are in violation of 8 USC 1324, the federal felony statute that prohibits anyone from shielding illegal aliens from detection. After all, these jurisdictions have been notified in writing by the detainers (federal Form I-247) that the aliens' identities and status have been confirmed by biometric fingerprint matching, and that federal agents wish to take custody of the aliens, and/or to be notified of the date, time, and place of release — so the sanctuaries are knowingly releasing deportable aliens sought by ICE. He said that he will consider applying this section of the law next year to block funding to jurisdictions that release criminal aliens sought by ICE. This action could affect the hundreds of agencies that fail to comply with or accept ICE detainers, for example.

Culberson warned that if the administration stubbornly continues to tolerate sanctuaries, he will find it hard to look favorably on any spending requests from DOJ in the coming appropriations season: "I hope the attorney general will do the right thing here so that I am not compelled to object to relevant portions of the Department's spending plan and reprogramming requests. Any refusal by the Department to comply with these reasonable and timely requests will factor heavily in my consideration of their 2017 budget requests."

Even following public outcry over a series of cases of murders committed by criminal aliens after release by sanctuaries, including the killing of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, the Obama administration has resisted calls for action to discourage or punish the jurisdictions that obstruct immigration enforcement. Instead, it has pressed ahead in implementing the so-called Priority Enforcement Program, which explicitly allows sanctuary policies that violate federal law. It's clear that the administration is more interested in protecting criminal aliens than in protecting the public from their acts; now we'll see if the Department of Justice is willing to jeopardize its own funding to spare sanctuaries from being sanctioned, and if the sanctuaries are willing to sacrifice federal funding in order to protect criminal aliens.



Surge in Illegal Aliens, 500% Increase in Some U.S. Ports of Entry

Judicial Watch Corruption Chronicles, December 30, 2015

The agency’s own statistics certainly contradict that, showing that the southern border region is as porous and vulnerable as ever. Other entry ports that saw large hikes in Central American illegal immigrants during the first two months of this fiscal year include Del Rio, Texas (269%), El Centro, California (216%) and Rio Grande Valley, Texas (154%). The Border Patrol breaks the stats down by “family unit” and illegal immigrants under the age of 18, referred to as “Unaccompanied Alien Children” or UAC. The Rio Grande Valley port of entry topped the list in both categories with 8,537 family units and 6,465 UACs during the two-month period. In all, the nation’s nine southern border crossings saw an average of 173% increase in family units and a 106% increase in minors during the short period considered.

Some of the illegal immigrants are Mexican nationals, but the overwhelming majority comes from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The government records show that somehow 4,450 family units from El Salvador evaded our topnotch border security and entered the United States in a period of only two months. Guatemala and Honduras had 3,934 and 3,203 respectively. Mexico had 538 family units. Of interesting note is that, during this period, the Border Patrol reports 35,234 apprehensions in the region of foreigners labeled by the government as “Other Than Mexican” or OTM. This is a term used by federal authorities to refer to nationals of countries that represent a terrorist threat to the U.S.
. . .
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/12/surge-in-illegal-aliens-500-increase-in-some-u-s-ports-of-entry/






Houston Slayings Fueled Border Security Debate


Dan Golvach, father of Spencer Golvach,  at his son's grave in Houston Tuesday, October 20, 2015.
Dan Golvach, father of Spencer Golvach, at his son's grave in Houston Tuesday, October 20, 2015.
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HOUSTON — Julie Golvach remembers that something felt “off” the night she lost her only child.
It was exactly one year ago today, a few minutes before 1 a.m. Standing in the driveway of her Houston home, waving goodbye to her sister under a clear winter sky, something didn't feel right. The stars didn’t look the same.
Golvach tossed and turned in bed for a while but was sound asleep when a knock on the door came at 6 a.m.
“I jumped up and I knew,” she said.
She stopped by her son’s boyhood bedroom, the one with the window looking out onto the driveway. He’d slept there a week earlier, the evening they went to see "American Sniper" together. She slipped past the picture of him and his best childhood friend on the wall, skirting the bed with the stuffed toy lamb — a baby shower relic — lying on top.
Out the window, Golvach saw three people — two uniformed police officers and a woman wearing a shirt that read “chaplain.” Her chest pounded as she made her way to the front door and opened it.
“Is it Spencer?” she asked.
The second those words tumbled out of her mouth, she knew the answer, just as she had known when she uttered that exact phrase the day he was born, before anyone told her if the baby was a boy or a girl. She just knew.
It was Spencer.
One night off
Spencer Golvach grew up in the sprawl of northwest Houston, surrounded by guitars and destined for a career in music, his father’s passion.
When he turned 16 in 2005 and got his driver’s license, the easygoing musician started working at a local guitar store in a strip mall not far from Jersey Village High School, where he excelled in shop class and anything he could do with his hands.
He had always fiddled with his dad’s guitars, and he developed a knack for fixing and rebuilding them at the store. A few years later, when the shop owner announced his retirement, Spencer decided to buy the Cy-Fair area business.
Spencer Golvach, at the age of three, pictured with a guitar. Authorities say Golvach was killed by Victor Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, during a random shooting spree in January 2015.
Spencer Golvach, at the age of three, pictured with a guitar. Authorities say Golvach was killed by Victor Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, during a random shooting spree in January 2015.
With nine employees and a soft economy, life as an entrepreneur proved tough sledding. He struggled to turn a profit, and he took a second full-time job as a receiving lead and forklift operator at a local warehouse.
Even that wasn’t enough to cover the bills. By early 2015, Spencer was preparing to move into a smaller — and cheaper — space in the same shopping mall. He could hardly wait for Saturday, Jan. 31 to arrive, the day the slimmed-down version of Spencer’s Guitar Shop was set to open. Between giving guitar lessons, working an 8-to-5 day job, building out the new store and playing bass in his band — The Dead Revolt — Spencer needed a break.
“The guy was burning the candle at both ends for a long time,” recalled Dan Golvach, his father. “He takes one night off, to go take his girlfriend out for her birthday. That was Jan. 30. And he drops her off ... and 15 minutes later he pulls up to that red light.”
Less than a mile from his apartment, Spencer steered into the left turn lane at 18th Street and Mangum Road and waited for the green light. The details of what happened next are captured in the records of two police agencies, more than a dozen news articles and the unceasing nightmares of Spencer’s parents and loved ones.
An undocumented Mexican national named Victor Reyes, a native of Reynosa along the Texas-Mexico border, pulled up next to Spencer's beloved white Toyota pickup. He pointed a pistol at Spencer’s head and pulled the trigger.
The bullet went through the passenger side window and into Spencer’s skull, at the top of his right ear.
“I choose to believe it killed him instantly,” his father said in an interview months later. “I think he was just there and then it’s like someone turned the lights off. I don’t think he suffered.”
But the Golvach family’s suffering — compounded by the feeling that Spencer’s death could have been prevented — was just beginning.
Houston police, their report indicates, found 25-year-old Spencer dead in his truck at 12:56 a.m. — right around the moment Julie Golvach, waving goodbye to her sister, couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
A few hours later, she was phoning her ex-husband to break the news.
“I couldn’t make out what she was saying and I finally just said, ‘is my son dead?’”— Dan Golvach
“She was just inconsolable,” he recalled. “I couldn’t make out what she was saying and I finally just said, ‘is my son dead?’ She said, ‘yes.’ Then of course I started. I joined the chorus.”
More than a thousand people attended Spencer’s memorial service, a tribute to his fun-loving nature and penchant for making friends across generational, ethnic and gender lines.
Those who knew Spencer universally describe him as fun-loving and strikingly calm. After he died, a family friend ordered up a batch of commemorative rubber bracelets emblazoned with his laid-back motto: “Chill Don’t Freeze."

A bloody rampage
More than once since the funeral, Julie Golvach has found herself wishing that her son’s attacker had gotten to know Spencer. She’s convinced he never would have pulled the trigger. But the official evidence of the crime, while scant, suggests Spencer was chosen randomly. And he wasn’t the only victim.
Police say Reyes shot a man in the face, wounding him, in the suburban city of Jersey Village minutes before killing Spencer, and they connected him to at least two more random shootings shortly thereafter. All told, Reyes shot two dead and wounded three others before a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy took him down after a violent shootout, officials say.
John Weston, 67, says he’s lucky to be alive after encountering Reyes on the Hempstead Highway near Pinemont, about 10 minutes north of where Spencer had just been killed. He remembers seeing a big, dark truck driving aggressively behind him. When he got to the stoplight, it pulled up alongside him.
“All of a sudden I hear this ungodly noise,” Weston recalled. “I don’t know if you can imagine how fast your mind works, but I saw a shattered window and I saw a bullet hole in my window. My mind is thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, somebody’s shooting at me and this guy at this light.’”
He pressed his foot to the accelerator to get out of the line of fire, but not soon enough. He heard the second shot, and its impact felt like someone “hauled off and hit you upside the head,” he said.
Weston realized the truck's driver was the gunman. “I saw blood everywhere,” he said. His hands were covered in it, so he could only manage to re-dial on his cell phone. He finally reached his wife, who told him to go to the nearest toll booth. An ambulance was called. Doctors found that a bullet had entered his left cheek and stuck in the other side of his mouth.
A year later, after reconstructive surgery to replace a badly shattered jaw, his mouth remains completely numb below the tongue. With his health woes and lost time at work, he’s struggling to keep his printing business afloat.
“Everything I do now is a little more difficult, but considering I’m here talking, I’m blessed to be here,” Weston said. “It’s scarred me forever. I don’t break down and cry, but I think about it all the time.”
Had Reyes been a homegrown criminal, the story might have ended in the empty field where the deputy shot him — chalked up as another random act of violence in a city and nation all too used to them.
But as word spread about Reyes’ long criminal record and multiple deportations, the case was thrust into the volatile debate over illegal immigration and control of the southern border: first in local news stories, then at the Capitol in Austin and most recently on the presidential campaign trail on a stage in mid-November with GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump in Beaumont, where Dan Golvach spoke out and held up a poster of Spencer along with others killed by undocumented immigrants.
Gunman's long record
According to the Houston office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Reyes had been removed from the country four times between 2003 and 2010, but little is publicly known about what he was doing in Houston prior to terrorizing its northwest environs — or why he did it.
His criminal and illegal entry records stretch back at least to 2002 when, at age 18, he was convicted of burglarizing a building in Hidalgo County, across the border from Reynosa, which he told police was his place of birth. He spent a month and a half in jail before a state court sentenced him to three years' probation, ordered him to pay an $850 fine and mandated 120 hours of community service.

Victor Reyes, shown in 2001 jail mug shot from Hidalgo County. Authorities say Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, went on a January 2015 shooting spree in Harris County that killed two and wounded three.
Victor Reyes, shown in 2001 jail mug shot from Hidalgo County. Authorities say Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, went on a January 2015 shooting spree in Harris County that killed two and wounded three.
A year later, he was back in the Hidalgo County Jail for breaking a beer bottle over a man’s head at the Tejano Saloon in Pharr. He was sent back to Mexico after serving about a month in the local jail, but he came back. By then, his previous probation had been revoked, and he served several months in a state jail in Raymondville.
Deported again on Jan. 20, 2004, Reyes was caught trying to cross the border the next day, triggering a 90-day sentence in federal prison and yet another deportation — his third.
A few months later, on Aug. 10, he was caught again, in McAllen, and received a one-year federal prison sentence for his fourth known illegal re-entry. His crimes didn’t end there. A few weeks before his prison release date, Reyes beat up a fellow inmate — described by his lawyer as a rival gang member — cutting and fracturing his face, according to federal court records.
Two new assault charges made Reyes eligible for 20 years behind bars. Despite his history of violence, burglary and repeat illegal crossings, federal prosecutors offered Reyes a deal: In exchange for a guilty plea on one of the counts, and in recognition of his “truthful testimony” and “acceptance of responsibility,” they promised to give him a sentence “at the lowest end of the applicable guidelines” on a single charge, court papers show. Under the plea bargain, Reyes' sentence was 63 months, a quarter of the maximum he faced under the two counts.
That’s a few more spoonfuls of salt in the wound for Dan and Julie Golvach. Had Reyes been given even half of his possible sentence on the two assault counts, he would have been in prison instead of at that traffic light killing their son.
“The people who agreed to this deal need to be held accountable,” Julie Golvach said. “The result was the horrific murder of my son.”
The prosecutor who signed the plea agreement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Hammer, declined to talk about the case, referring questions to U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Angela Dodge in Houston.
Dodge sent The Texas Tribune a boilerplate description of plea deals, saying they “ensure a resolution of the case and that someone is convicted of the crime(s) we believe they committed without going through the time and expense of a trial,” while providing “justice for all.” She declined to say whether prosecutors took Reyes' previous crimes into account, or if they frequently offer plea deals to convicted criminals who commit additional crimes behind bars.
It’s another official secret in a case with no shortage of them.
Family still seeking answers
The Houston Police Department, using its own discretion under the Public Information Act, blocked release of all but a few details on the Golvach and Weston shootings. The department cited a provision allowing it to withhold criminal records absent a final disposition, such as a conviction or deferred adjudication. Since Reyes is dead and the city’s case is otherwise closed, that means Houston police likely can withhold the information indefinitely.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office declined to release its investigative files, but for an entirely different reason: After every officer-involved shooting — in this case, a deputy ended Reyes’ deadly rampage — the Harris County district attorney’s office presents the case to a grand jury even if no one complains. That happened last week, just days before the one-year anniversary of the shooting spree.
The federal government holds onto its files with a tight grip, too, citing the 1974 U.S. Privacy Act. The act covers only U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement has decreed that its protections apply to federal immigration detention records, even those related to undocumented immigrants convicted of horrific crimes. The agency voluntarily released a narrative of its multiple encounters with Reyes, but the Tribune has not yet heard back from ICE or U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services on its written request for his entire immigration file. 

The secrecy across local and federal agencies that came into contact with Reyes confounded and frustrated the people touched by his violence. Weston said his wife became “very disillusioned” about their quest for even the simplest answers.
Dan Golvach, father of Spencer Golvach, in Houston Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at the intersection where his son was killed by an undocumented immigrant in January.
Dan Golvach, father of Spencer Golvach, in Houston Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at the intersection where his son was killed by an undocumented immigrant in January.
“I mean, we asked them, ‘Who was the guy?’” Weston said. “We had to fill out paperwork and all that kind of stuff, but we never got any satisfactory answer. It was almost like it was top secret information.”
Hoping to break through the bureaucratic walls and get some answers about who killed their son and why, the Golvaches eventually hired a former investigative reporter, ex-KTRK-TV newsman Wayne Dolcefino. In a letter last year to then-Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, Dolcefino said the sheriff’s office was “doing a disservice to this crime victim by not responding to this request in a proper manner.” The local investigative files remained sealed as of late last week, but the Harris County Sheriff's Office asked the Tribune to resubmit its request for the records and promised a quick turnaround.
Even with new information beginning to trickle out, the victims and their families still don't know where Reyes lived or if he had a job, who owned the truck he was driving that night or — least of all — the motive for his deadly rampage.
According to Harris County Assistant District Attorney Heyward Carter, some elements of the senseless crime may never be known.
Carter, who handled a single aspect of the case — the officer-involved shooting — was able to speak about the case for the first time last week. He revealed that Reyes was "extremely intoxicated" and had a "significant amount of cocaine" in his system. He also identified the weapon, a .380 caliber pistol, that he said was legally purchased at one point, but authorities haven't determined how a convicted felon and undocumented immigrant, barred from buying or possessing firearms, obtained it.
“We live in an age of mass shootings, and even though this one didn’t get a whole lot of publicity, that’s what this is."
— Heyward Carter, Harris County Assistant District Attorney
Carter also provided details about the actions of the Harris County deputy sheriff, Javier Rojas, who finally put an end to the deadly rampage. By chance, Rojas was patrolling the area and heard shots being fired. He saw the truck of Reyes' final victim, identified by police as Juan Garcia, in obvious distress, weaving randomly at an intersection. Garcia later died from his wounds, and a woman in the car with him was slightly injured from the broken glass.
Rojas chased after Reyes, who crashed his truck through a barrier at the end of a dead end street and went another 200 yards or so into an empty field. Rojas continued the pursuit on foot and found Reyes crouching behind the truck. He ordered the suspect to drop his weapon but Reyes stood and fired at the officer instead. Rojas returned fire and struck him in the chest. When authorities photographed the body his hand was still gripping the pistol "with his finger on the trigger," Carter said.
In terms of a motive, authorities can only speculate based on a conversation Reyes had with a supposed girlfriend about three hours before the shooting spree began. He wanted her to go out to a bar or nightclub with him, and she turned him down. Authorities speculate he may have been taking out his rage on couples: It's possible he saw Spencer Golvach dropping off his girlfriend shortly before shooting him at the red light and then targeted Garcia after seeing he had a woman in his vehicle.
But it's just a theory.
“We live in an age of mass shootings, and even though this one didn’t get a whole lot of publicity, that’s what this is," Carter said. "I don’t understand why he was doing it.”
Carter did confirm what the families had learned from detectives in the immediate aftermath of the shootings: Reyes still had plenty of ammunition left in his truck — suggesting that he was planning a more extensive shooting spree. There were at least 20 live rounds left in the vehicle, and he appeared to be reloading while driving near the scene of his final attack.
“Had this officer not been there just coincidentally ... there were plenty of roads for him to go down. He had plenty of ammo, and it didn't seem like he was stopping, that's for sure," Carter said. "As horrible as this situation was, it could have been way worse.”
After the facts were presented to grand jury last Wednesday, the panel decided not to proceed with any further action related to the incident. The Golvach family calls Rojas' response heroic.
"Why was he allowed to be here?"
Julie Golvach burst out into tears again last week after hearing for the first time some of the details of the crime that took her son's life. 
“I really feel I deserve to know what brought them together at that point in time, what caused him to shoot my son,” she said. “I think we deserve to know why he was even here — why he was allowed to be here.”
It’s a common refrain among those who have been victimized by people in the country illegally. They weren’t supposed to be here in the first place, and the government's inability to keep them from crossing the southern border after they’ve been deported — and prevent them from committing crimes — provokes a unique brand of helplessness and outrage.
Even Weston, a lifelong Democrat who attended both of Barack Obama’s inaugurations and favors allowing otherwise law-abiding immigrants into the United States to work and seek a better life, said he had to fight the urge to call Donald Trump and tell him he was “dead-on” with his focus on foreigners who commit crimes here.
“Somebody’s got to do something about it,” he said. In the same breath, Weston emphasized that he doesn’t support Trump for president and said keeping dangerous felons from crossing the border or entering the vast illegal workforce defied simplistic solutions.
“If there’s some way to filter out the ones that intend to harm people, I would be in support of that,” he said. “It may prevent something like this from happening to somebody else.”
Dan Golvach is more blunt and outspoken. A few weeks after his son’s murder, he was at the state Capitol testifying in favor of 2015 state legislation — ultimately doomed — that would have prohibited local law enforcement authorities in Texas from adopting “sanctuary” policies that keep police out of immigration matters.
Then late last year, he appeared with Trump at a campaign rally in Beaumont, saying his son died as “the result of politically correct politics” — namely, bipartisan policies that he believes go too easy on undocumented immigrants and the people who hire them.
“When you lose the thing you love the most, you’re not that worried about being PC,” Golvach said in an interview. “If you’re going to come here, you need to do it legally on our terms, not your terms.”
Golvach readily admits that anger over his son’s killing sometimes hits “toxic” levels. He says he’s still haunted by the image of Spencer in a hastily chosen coffin, still upset he was killed right next to the stadium where he used to watch baseball as a kid, still mad as hell that the government won’t cough up the records they have on his son’s killer.
It would be worse without all the good memories of his son, and without the certainty that if Spencer were alive today he would say to him: “chill don’t freeze.”
“He’d tell me, ‘Don’t have a heart attack. You know, clear your mind and keep it cool,'” he said. “He would tell me not to hate anybody.”

Concrete Evidence of the Continuing Plunge in Both Civil and Criminal Immigration Enforcement

By Dan Cadman

CIS Immigration Blog, January 23, 2016

Two recent reports from Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) reflect the continued erosion of immigration enforcement under the Obama administration.

On January 20, TRAC reported that criminal prosecution for immigration offenses fell 22.3 percent from November 2014 to November 2015, and more than 36 percent over the course of five years, excluding magistrate court (which deals exclusively with petty offenses).

The following day, TRAC announced that "ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Detainer Use Stabilizes Under Priority Enforcement Program". The Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) is the replacement to the Secure Communities Program mandated by Homeland Security Security Jeh Johnson as a part of the president's "executive actions" on immigration. It significantly restricts the ability of immigration agents to file detainers against aliens arrested by police on criminal charges.

I have no idea what TRAC means by "stabilizes". A quick look at Figure 1a of their report shows a more accurate state of affairs, if one considers the number of detainers being filed over the course of five years, from a high in April 2011, when Secure Communities became fully effective nationwide and kicked into high gear, versus October 2015. I would use other phrases: "plummeted" or "Dropped like a stone". Or, as my colleague Jessica Vaughan has noted, particularly in relation to detainers filed at county jails, where the lion's share of criminals of any stripes are held after being booked for offenses small and large: "a stunning free fall".

RASMUSSEN: 81% Think Federal Government is Corrupt - BUT WHAT TO PEOPLE THINK OF HILLARY CLINTON'S PHONY CHARITY FOUNDATION AND ALL THE BRIBES SHE SUCKS IN?

81% Think Federal Government is Corrupt



HILLARY CLINTON HAS PROMISED ILLEGALS 49 MORE MEXIFORNIAS!


Surge in Illegal Aliens, 500% Increase in Some U.S. Ports of Entry

Judicial Watch Corruption Chronicles, December 30, 2015

The agency’s own statistics certainly contradict that, showing that the southern border region is as porous and vulnerable as ever. Other entry ports that saw large hikes in Central American illegal immigrants during the first two months of this fiscal year include Del Rio, Texas (269%), El Centro, California (216%) and Rio Grande Valley, Texas (154%). The Border Patrol breaks the stats down by “family unit” and illegal immigrants under the age of 18, referred to as “Unaccompanied Alien Children” or UAC. The Rio Grande Valley port of entry topped the list in both categories with 8,537 family units and 6,465 UACs during the two-month period. In all, the nation’s nine southern border crossings saw an average of 173% increase in family units and a 106% increase in minors during the short period considered.

Some of the illegal immigrants are Mexican nationals, but the overwhelming majority comes from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The government records show that somehow 4,450 family units from El Salvador evaded our topnotch border security and entered the United States in a period of only two months. Guatemala and Honduras had 3,934 and 3,203 respectively. Mexico had 538 family units. Of interesting note is that, during this period, the Border Patrol reports 35,234 apprehensions in the region of foreigners labeled by the government as “Other Than Mexican” or OTM. This is a term used by federal authorities to refer to nationals of countries that represent a terrorist threat to the U.S.
. . .
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/12/surge-in-illegal-aliens-500-increase-in-some-u-s-ports-of-entry/

Sen. Jeff Sessions: Vote for Candidates in Favor of Pro-America Immigration System, Against TPP

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/29/sen-jeff-sessions-vote-for-candidate-in-favor-of-pro-america-immigration-system-against-tpp/


Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) urged primary voters Friday to vote for candidates who are opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal and who will fix the immigration system so that it serves American interests.

“Make sure — because this could be the last chance — that the votes you cast is for a person who is going to, with courage and steadfastness, fix the immigration system that’s so broken and is impacting adversely Americans’ safety, their wages, their hospitals, their schools, those kind of things,” Sessions said Friday during an appearance on the Howie Carr Show.

“And also we need to know with absolute clarity: are you for or against the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” he added.

Sessions said the presidential election will decide if the trade agreement passes and stressed that “It must not pass.” He added that this election could be the last one to decide the immigration question.
“This may be the last opportunity the American people will have to have their will imposed and create a lawful immigration system that serves the national interest,” he said.

The Alabamian acknowledged that there are other issues at play this cycle but argued immigration and TPP are the most consequential matters at stake this primary election.

“So I know we have to talk about the economy, national security, and the military, and the budget, and it’s hard to know who’s got the best idea,” Sessions said. “But on these two issues, I think the voters should say, ‘If you’re not going to be right on those, I’m not voting for you in this primary and I’m not going to vote for you as president.’ I really think it’s that important.”



Illegal Immigration's Third World Momentum

By Frosty Wooldridge, www.newswithviews.com

October 10, 2005

http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty86.htm
 


Part I: What It Is

Part II: What is Does

By Frosty Wooldridge

October 10, 2005 (now how bad is it?)


Writing about America’s immigration crisis week after week raises my blood pressure, level of depression and creates maddening frustration levels as I observe inaction by the majority of American citizens. All fifty state governors do nothing to stop it, won’t speak against it, and, in many cases encourage it. Governor Bill Owens of Colorado, Baldacci of Maine, Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Richardson from New Mexico assist it. Although, this summer, Napolitano and Richardson issued ‘states of emergency’ in their states as illegals overran them.


The majority of senators do nothing as well as the majority of the House of Representatives. Major and smaller city mayors and city councils harbor illegal aliens with sanctuary policies. Even Los Angeles, with more gangs and crime than you can imagine, continues Special Order 40 that allows killers, rapists, drug distributors, MS-13 members and other human grease to remain protected from arrest.


Have you ever wondered why Third World countries are SO desperate? Why people flee? Why most citizens are illiterate? Why corruption is standard operating procedure? Let’s compare the ‘Rule of Law’ in America to the ‘Dis-rule of Law’ in countries like Mexico.


In my book, “IMMIGRATION’S UNARMED INVASION: DEADLY CONSEQUENCES”—I wrote about Third World Momentum as seen from the seat of my bicycle as I traveled throughout the world on six continents. I saw first hand all aspects of Third World Momentum. That’s why it is SO frustrating that US citizens don’t ‘get it’ or ‘see it’ and our president and Congress ignore it on purpose as they become a part of the ‘Dis-rule of Law’ in America. But I’m here to tell you that we’re flushing ourselves down the toilet faster than a bullet train. What is happening in America is a ‘systemic’ or ‘endemic’ corrupt system from Bush right on down the federal system.


An example of it shows you the incompetence of Michael Brown at FEMA and his horrifically incompetent handling of Katrina. At the height of Rome's decay, emperors appointed unqualified candidates to high office. Caligula appointed his horse to the Senate, where the horse enjoyed the reputation as the wisest and least harmful of that “august” body.


Last week, a reader wrote the exact aspects of Third World Momentum. After his interview, you will be offered a half dozen stories from U.S. citizens that bring it home as to how fast this country is spiraling into Third World status.


Heath Boatwright, Athens, Georgia understands what I have been trying to convey to the American public for years.


“In the last few years, I have found myself in a world where many refuse to discuss openly and honestly the issues that the United States is facing,” Boatwright said. “Hearing you on Coast to Coast with George Noory was refreshing to say the least. Although, I will tell you that it did not make me sleep better, and in fact I had to wake up and ponder for a moment all that you had said.”


“When you discuss Third World Momentum I know first-hand what you are talking about,” Boatwright said. “However, sadly, few Americans can grasp what you are talking about. I attended college at The University of Georgia. I received a BA in history, with a focus on Latin American history and I speak fluent Portuguese. I have traveled to South America many times and visited some of the most destitute and impoverished people there. Unfortunately, when I discuss this issue with most people, they call me a xenophobe, a racist, a bigot, and an ignorant person who does not appreciate other cultures.”
“Yet, how can I fit this description if I have ventured out into the world, bothered to learn another language, and reached out an open hand to the poor in far away places?” he said. “Also, how can I be a racist if the very person I chose to marry is not even an American (my wife is from Brazil)? While my love for the people and the region of Latin America runs deep, I would not trade my fate for theirs. I would also not trade my fate for nearly anyone in the Middle East, China, India, and so on.”


“Why is it that in the United States, to appreciate a culture you must also want to live like it?” Boatwright said. “I have dedicated much study to that region of the world, and I can tell you flat out that there is another mentality that exists in most Third World nations, and that mentality is manifesting itself here in the United States, daily. Many say that Latin America is "laid back". I have pondered on this observation and realized that you could also put it another way. In Latin America, if it is good enough for today, it is good enough. In Latin America, if you want to get something done, you will have to circumvent law. This is the type of Third World Corruption that you speak of.”


“So many in Latin America circumvent the law, that they rarely bother to realize that here, in the US, circumventing the law is the worst way to get things done,” he said. “Corruption is so rampant in those regions that it becomes a mechanism by which the society functions. This is why so many illegals come here--reproduce fake Social Security numbers, register their cars from one state to another to avoid mandatory auto insurance, go to the hospital using a fake name, buy items on credit using their brother's name is who now back in Mexico, refuse to learn English, and bear several children with no means of supporting them. They do this because they are modeling what they do in their culture.”


Boatwright continues, “Here is another fact about Latin America, and I believe most other Third World nations: those who reside there rarely bother to take accountability for their country’s problems. In Latin America, problems are blamed on corruption, foul government, and in certain intellectual circles-”past colonialism”. I have yet to encounter one single illegal person in the United States who is willing to admit that he is contributing to the detriment of my nation. In Latin America, you live side by side with abject poverty, illiteracy, hunger, and disease. You do this daily and it simply becomes part of the landscape. Latin America, and again most Third World countries, has a problem of what I call ‘mobilization.’”


“This is a situation where thousands mobilize and figure out methods to get things done, either by circumventing the law, or based on the current corrupt system they face, but few ever mobilize to truly resolve the issues they face,” Boatwright said. “I do not find it ironic at all that once one illegal alien discovered that he could come here to the US, work illegally, get healthcare, and generally avoid any type of legal prosecution, he later found himself surrounded by millions of his fellow countrymen. Again, this is my point: in Latin America, you have no problem getting people to mobilize in a way that ignores the current law, because people in that region do not live in fear of the law, it generally does not function anyway, and now they have seen that it also does not function in the United States.”


“Perhaps I sound harsh in my description, but I know exactly what I am talking about,” Boatwright said. “I know that region of the world well, I also know so well the manner of thinking that many bring with them when they enter the United States illegally. This manner of thinking, I believe, is the greatest threat that we face in the future. Finally, I have a deep interest in appreciating and understanding other cultures, but I also have an appreciation for my own. I want to let you know that I understand fully what you are talking about. I would like to ask you if you have ever considered going to our nation’s college campuses and discussing this issue. I mention college campuses because I do not know if you are aware that on the American campus it is virtually a universal opinion that illegal immigration is okay. Geography is a required course in most curriculums, and most people grasp the concept of overpopulation, but few can connect that to illegal immigration.”


If I could give you Heath Boatwright’s or my experiences up close and ugly, every single American today would call the White House, Senators and Congressmen as well as governors and mayors—and DEMAND our immigration laws be enforced and deportations begin immediately for 20 million illegal aliens. But if you don’t or won’t, part II of this series will show you Americans living with the consequences that reach into every sector of our country. This ‘thing’ is moving faster than most Americans realize, and once it’s imbedded, I fear that large scale civil violence will be the result.
If the signers of the 1965 Immigration Reform Act could see today what they rained down on America 40 years later, not one single senator or congressman would have signed it. But why won’t they rescind it? Why won’t they stop it? It’s their country and their children’s future, too.

(http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty87.htm)

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION’S THIRD WORLD MOMENTUM
Part II: What It Does 

By Frosty Wooldridge

How does Third World Momentum manifest itself in America? Again, let’s review Boatwright’s definition: “Corruption is so rampant in South America that it becomes a mechanism by which a society functions.”


Look at the corruption at the Federal level in the U.S. today. The majority of senators and congressmen refuse to uphold their oaths of office by aiding, abetting and assisting illegal aliens by the millions. Kennedy and McCain lie through their teeth with their latest guest worker amnesty bill for 20 million illegal aliens. Did Bush not lie about weapons of mass destruction to wage his cowboy war in Iraq? Has he not submitted a totally unqualified lawyer for a supreme court justice in Miers? Didn’t he learn from Michael Brown’s incompetence with Katrina? Congress supports the corruption of the H-1b, H-2b, L-1 visas affecting over one million American jobs. What about Congress’ complicity in corruption of outsourcing, insourcing and offshoring over three million American jobs? How about Bush’s blatant disregard for his oath office as he allows millions of illegal aliens to invade and remain in our country? Our own president is in violation of Federal law—USC 8, 1324—274, 275, 276, 277. Bush is not alone because both sides of the aisle assist him against American citizens.


At the state level, we’ve got governors like Bill Owens of Colorado endorsing a booklet in Spanish helping illegal aliens to imbed themselves into our welfare and workforce systems. All contrary to Federal law! Governor Baldacci of Maine, Napolitano of Arizona and Richardson of New Mexico do everything in their power to help illegals—contrary to their citizens. Most other state governors say nothing! Local mayors in Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Boulder, Detroit, New York, Miami and dozens of other cities support ‘sanctuary policies’ that allow illegals to work and live in America—CONTRARY TO FEDERAL LAW.


These actions typify Third World Momentum: When laws of a country are not enforced and lawlessness becomes the norm. The United States races toward Third World status because of this ongoing erosion of our once lawful society.


I could give you dozens of examples from my own experiences in Third World countries, but the following constitute American citizens writing letters describing it in their own communities—so you’ll see their responses to show you what’s happening in the United States.


Dane said, “I used to live in El Paso, Texas and the same thing has happened there. Unchecked border crossings, population uncontrolled, schools trashed and litter everywhere. El Paso used to be a city you could brag on, now it is just the opposite. I left, as many have done and do not intend to return. We are even looked down on if we can't speak Spanish. These people are taking over and crime rules the streets of El Paso. I also foresee a huge water shortage some day. Before long El Paso will hit one million for a population and by then the place should be a complete nightmare.”


Dirk of Nevada said, “Even more dangerous than the incoming disease, crime and even terrorism is the fact that most immigrants don’t have an appreciation for the freedoms outlined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Illegals are being taught in public schools with taxpayer money. The fact that Bush supports the illegal invasion; opening our country to possible terrorist attack, and NEVER remarks about the importance of learning the Bill of Rights, proves that he is a traitor.”


Guy of LeHigh, OK said, “I am NOT racist, so understand please, I am NOT knocking anyone, but I am stating FACTS.


“I live in southern rural Oklahoma, and I can say that even legal immigration is bad here. Local large scale companies have NO problem hiring illegal aliens at all. We have a plastics producing plant 40 miles from where I live, and they have been busted NUMEROUS times for employing over 50 percent of their workforce, who are illegal aliens from Mexico. The reason they were caught the last time was easy as this: The Social Security Administration noticed that the workers who were illegal were sharing social security numbers of dead residents near where I live.


“Oddly enough, the company (Solo Cup) somehow did NOT notice the 100 illegal aliens had the same social security numbers. You worked four twelve hour shifts a week, sometimes five days a week, and I got paid on the upper scale of a respectable $7.00 an hour. By allowing them to work there, the company kept their payroll wages down. Of course, almost NO ONE WANTS to work there anyway, a job of last resort one might say. Long hours, bad pay, no benefits. But then again, that is true for many Oklahoman communities now.


“For example, did you know that besides Arkansas, we have one of the lowest high school graduation rates? We have a very high teen pregnancy rate. And that in the county I live, we have the HIGHEST unemployment rates in the USA, coupled with the highest welfare rates. Not only that, not one but over five companies locally have left to go overseas because of the cheap labor, and one of the companies (Wrangler Jeans) up and left for Mexico.


“Why pay us $5.00 an hour when you can pay $5.00 a day in Mexico and India?


Mark from Ocean Shores, WA said, “As merchandiser I travel about in the coastal towns of Washington. I have seen first hand an intensification of illegals. They are taking the few jobs we have here in an already depressed economy--those that aren't roaming the streets in gangs. Now, Washington is a long ways from the Mexican border. I see the congress and senate as being totally corrupted. I can't help but feeling the golden era of the USA is over and done. However, we got to give them hell.”


George of Sacramento, CA said, “There are so many ways that we're being taken advantage of. When a lot of people come over here and become legal, they send for their parents who come here, haven’t worked a day in their lives here, and apply for SSI at $700 per month. So, just because Mom and Dad are seniors they make about $1400 per month together. And they laugh up their sleeves at us all the way to the bank! I know that some of them go back to their country of origin and because of their SSI being deposited directly into their bank accounts, they can spend that money from anywhere. I'm sick of it. Talk about Third World corruption in our own country!”


Shelli of Glendale, CA said, “I'm a payroll auditor who audits a lot of construction companies, ranging from sole proprietor to corporation. I see so much underground economy it makes me want to scream. Contractors are constantly using illegal immigrants for their slave labor. Contractors pocket all the money. For example, it's not unusual to see a business owner's wife on the payroll making more in a week than an illegal employee in their employ makes in a month.


“What angers me is when a business owner hems and haws about the high cost of workers compensation insurance, but then hires illegals and doesn't report their payroll. "They only worked for a day or two" or "They're not a regular employee, they only worked a few weeks." Yeah, a couple weeks like that and a hardworking LEGAL American could've used the money to help support his family. Let's talk about watering down wages! These guys are working for $10/hr in jobs that used to start at $18 -- and that was years ago.”


George of Fountain Hills, AZ said, “I have been teaching part time at both the Maricopa Community Colleges and Arizona State University for the past five years. The discipline that I teach is mathematics. For the past five years I have been telling students and friends that the United States is the new emerging third world nation. Few people understand what this nation faces. Fewer people care what is happening.


“What I would like to tell you is my experiences in the higher educational system here in Arizona. I can frame the whole attitude by the statement of Chuy Carreon, Mathematics chair of Mesa Community College. Chuy once said that MCCD is NOT here to educate, just here to give out information.


“It should be noted that the remedial courses represent about 50 per cent or more of all the mathematics courses taught at the community colleges here in Arizona.


Jack of Denver, Colorado said, “We have sanctuary cities in Denver and Boulder. Last spring, Officer Don Young was killed by an illegal alien, Raul Gomez, who had been stopped for three traffic violations. He had no license or insurance and was NEVER arrested, before he killed Young with a shot to the back of the officer’s head. It shows two levels of law enforcement and one is corrupt. Last month, an illegal alien, Francisco Montero of Boulder, driving on a revoked DUI license and having been arrested nine times with three phony ID cards, killed a Lafayette motorcyclist, Dale Englerth, by turning into the cyclist. Montero should have been deported long ago, but now, he’s killed a father and husband.”


You can multiply these examples of Third World Momentum by millions of cases of rape, fraud, burglaries, stealing jobs, loss of IRS income taxes, prison costs, judicial costs, schools bankrupting, language chaos, spreading diseases and worse. How can continued illegal alien migration serve this country when it creates so much harm?

Write for that 20-point action letter to stop this nation-destroying madness at (http://www.frostywooldridge.com.) Check out Mark Edwards’ "Wake Up America" talk show on 50,000 watt KDWN-Am-720 10:00 PM to midnight PT, or on the worldwide Internet at (http://www.thewakeupamericafoundation.com.) Also, check out (http://www.alipac.us) at 1 866 329 3999; (http://www.theamericanresistance.com) ; (http://www.numbersusa.com) ; (http://www.frostywooldridge.com) ; (http://www.ccir.net) ; (http://www.carryingcapacity.com) (http://www.teamamericapac.org) ; (http://www.projectusa.org) ; (http://www.unitedpatriotsofamerica.com) To order my CD report from the border: ‘ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION—OUR TROJAN HORSE’—PH. 1-800-248-3061
Read the complete article.

Interior Enforcement Disintegrates Further in 2015: Year-end deportation statistics show continuing drop in deportations

By CIS, December 2015

http://cis.org/Interior-Enforcement-2015-Deportations


Excerpt:The number of interior deportations is now less than one-third of what it was in 2011, before the Obama administration implemented policy changes that greatly restricted the types of cases that ICE officers and agents could pursue for deportation. The number of criminal alien deportations from the interior is less than half of what it was in 2011.
ICE Director Sarah Saldana said that she was "proud of the numbers" when she testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on December 2, 2015.

In a press release announcing the numbers today, DHS falsely says "the number of convicted criminals removed from the interior continued to increase." In fact, only the share of deportations that are of criminals has increased – the actual number has fallen, as noted above.

 
In September, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said, “We take seriously our obligation to secure our borders.” No one believes that — especially not Central Americans thinking about coming to the United States.


DHS’s Deportation Announcement Is ‘Fundamentally a Political Exercise’

By Mark Krikorian

 National Review Online, December 30, 2015
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/429112/deportation-announcement-political-exercise

This was the start of the lead story on the Washington Post’s Christmas Eve front page:

The Department of Homeland Security has begun preparing for a series of raids that would target for deportation hundreds of families who have flocked to the United States since the start of last year, according to people familiar with the operation.

As I told the reporter, I’ll believe it when I see it. A few further thoughts:

Why now? The surge of Central Americans across the border — both adults with kids in tow (who are the subjects of this latest leak) and the “unaccompanied” “minors” who got so much coverage — subsided after the summer of 2014 because the administration bribe-threatened Mexico into doing a better job of policing its own southern border. But now there’s a renewed surge, presumably because Mexico’s zeal is waning and because Central Americans see that the U.S. isn’t deporting many of those who came earlier. Heck, even deportations of criminals are dropping. Border Patrol statistics show the magnitude of this new surge. In the first two months of the current fiscal year (October and November), border apprehensions of unaccompanied minors were more than double those in the same period last year, and apprehensions of “family units” nearly triple. If the rate continues, the flow of minors will approach the 2014 peak, and the flow of families will exceed it.

In itself, the White House may not consider that a problem, given the administration’s implicit belief that these people have a right to come here. But there’s an election in about 10 months, and not many voters share the Obama crowd’s anti-borders views. That’s why my colleague Dan Cadman notes that “the plan is fundamentally a political exercise.” The Democrats will gather in Philadelphia in late July for Herself’s coronation, and it could prove awkward for her if a renewed surge of illegals across the border is still in the news. Herself’s silence in response to the news of the planned raids, contrasted with Sanders’s and O’Malley’s fulminations against them, suggests she’s in on the whole thing.

Making the border-surge story go away will be one of DHS’s main election-year priorities.

So why the leak? It might seem odd to announce the onset of “raids” that haven’t even been given final approval yet. It could be a trial balloon, a planned leak to gauge public reaction. But more plausible is the theory that I’ve heard from moles inside DHS: A senior official leaked the news specifically to outrage Obama’s leftist base in an effort to prevent the deportations from ever happening.

In immigration matters, the fox guards the henhouse in this administration, from former La Raza VP Cecilia Muñoz directing policy in the White House to former police chief of San Francisco — San Francisco — Heather Fong in charge of DHS dealings with state and local law enforcement (and on the short list to become the next head of the Border Patrol). It is perfectly plausible that one of the many anti-borders zealots appointed to jobs in DHS figured that stopping the deportation of illegal aliens is more important than giving Herself political cover going into the November election.Will it work? The short answer is “no.” The Post reports that the “number targeted is expected to be in the hundreds and possibly greater.” Hundreds? The illegal-alien families are coming across the border at a rate of about 200 per day, and more than 100,000 have come over the past couple of years. Even if these deportations actually happen, a few hundred is a drop in the bucket and isn’t going to make much of an impression on people in Central America debating whether to head out for the United States.

What does make in impression is news from friends and relatives that they’re all being allowed to stay. When illegals bringing kids with them are apprehended, almost all are released with a notice (which they call a “permiso” or permit to be in the U.S.) instructing them to present themselves on such-and-such a date. It should come as no surprise that few do so. Data from earlier this year show that the overwhelming majority of illegal-alien families just ignore their hearing dates (look for “Absconded from Proceedings“ in Table 1) — and get away with it.

Even the administration’s efforts to dissuade people from coming have backfired. DHS has been running public-service announcements in Central America warning people not to come because new arrivals are not eligible for Obama’s various unilateral amnesties. They advise that “there are no permits for the people trying to cross the border without papers” and warn of “immediate deportation of those trying to cross the border without documents.” But Hondurans et al. aren’t idiots — their friends and relatives in the U.S. have told them, accurately, that there are permits for people crossing without papers and that there’s no immediate deportation of people from their countries. The lack of credibility earned by such obvious lies means that it will be doubly hard to change the perceptions of prospective illegals.

What to do? There are steps we could take if we actually wanted to stop the surge, though there’s little chance Obama’s minions would even consider them. Congress has authorized “expedited removal” for illegals under certain circumstances, allowing them to be removed without having to go before an immigration judge. This would apply to most of the illegals in question, but Obama’s not using this authority.

Expedited removal doesn’t apply to illegals who seek to avoid deportation by claiming asylum. But even here there’s a first cut, called a “credible fear” determination, to weed out people who shouldn’t even be put in the pipeline for a full evaluation of their claims, allowing their expeditious removal. The problem is that under Obama almost everyone makes the first cut — and few are detained pending the resolution of their claims — so that all you need to say is “asylum,” and you get to stay.

Most basically, an administration could simply force Mexico to take back people who just minutes before crossed through their territory into ours. Mexico is cooperative in receiving back its own citizens who are arrested by the Border Patrol, but not with regard to OTMs (Other Than Mexicans). That means we have to either detain them or let them go and hope they show up for their hearings.

But Canada takes back non-Canadians trying to sneak across our border, and Mexico sends non-Guatemalan Central Americans back across its own southern border with Guatemala. A president interested in controlling illegal immigration would insist on this. Nor should an asylum claim preclude return across the border; genuine asylum seekers would ask for it in the first country they reach, meaning Central Americans should be required to apply in Mexico, not here.

In September, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said, “We take seriously our obligation to secure our borders.” No one believes that — especially not Central Americans thinking about coming to the United States.

326,000 Native-Born Americans Lost Their Job in November: Why This Remains the Most Important Jobs Chart

 By Tyler Durden

 ZeroHedge.com, December 5, 2015
. . .
We are confident that one can make the case that there are considerations on both the labor demand-side (whether US employers have a natural tendency to hire foreign-born workers is open to debate) as well as on the supply-side: it may be easier to obtain wage-equivalent welfare compensation for native-born Americans than for their foreign-born peers, forcing the latter group to be much more engaged and active in finding a wage-paying job.

However, the underlying economics of this trend are largely irrelevant: as the presidential primary race hits a crescendo all that will matter is the soundbite that over the past 8 years, 2.7 million foreign-born Americans have found a job compared to only 747,000 native-born. The result is a combustible mess that will lead to serious fireworks during each and every subsequent GOP primary debate, especially if Trump remains solidly in the lead.

 . . .
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-05/326000-native-born-americans-lost-their-job-november-why-remains-most-important-jobs

Placating Americans with Fake Immigration Law Enforcement

 How our leaders create fantasy 'solutions' for our immigration-related vulnerabilities.

 By Michael Cutler

 FrontPageMag.com, December 4, 2015
. . .
Therefore the Visa Waiver Program should have been terminated after the terror attacks of 9/11 yet it has continually been expanded.

It is clear that the overarching goal of a succession of administrations and many members of Congress, irrespective of political party affiliation, is to keep our borders open and take no meaningful action to stop that flow of aliens into the United States.
. . .
The obvious question is why the Visa Waiver Program is considered so sacrosanct that even though it defies the advice and findings of the 9/11 Commission no one has the moral fortitude to call for simply terminating this dangerous program.

The answer can be found in the incestuous relationship between the Chamber of Commerce and its subsidiary, the Corporation for Travel Promotion, now doing business as Brand USA.

The Chamber of Commerce has arguably been the strongest supporter of the Visa Waiver Program, which currently enables aliens from 38 countries to enter the United States without first obtaining a visa.

The U.S. State Department provides a thorough explanation of the Visa Waiver Program on its website.

Incredibly, the official State Department website also provides a link, “Discover America,” on that website which relates to the website of The Corporation for Travel Promotion, which is affiliated with the travel industries that are a part of the “Discover America Partnership.”
. . .
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261005/placating-americans-fake-immigration-law-michael-cutler

Immigration Enforcement as Political Football By Dan Cadman

CIS Immigration Blog, December 28, 2015
. . .
According to the story, the plan has been kicked around exhaustively in the upper echelons of the administration for some time, with no final decision being made. My own take is that the story was deliberately leaked by administration officials as a trial balloon to gauge public reaction to the proposal. And, although the media suggest that the idea emanated below, either at DHS or its subordinate agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which would undertake the raids, that idea is beyond laughable. The leaders at all levels of DHS and its subordinate agencies are minions selected by the White House for their pliability. If this plan emanated anywhere, it arose from politicos at the highest levels who have their eye on the upcoming presidential election.
. . .
But there's this pesky perception that Democrats are weak on immigration enforcement, something that has become increasingly unpalatable to the public in light of the now undeniable connection between immigration and matters of terrorism and national security, so disastrously highlighted in France and the rest of Europe with its runaway migrant crisis and infiltration by jihadists.

So what to do to win back the independents and centrists? "Hey! I've got an idea! Let's get tough on a tiny segment of the illegal population, one that will look like we're really doing something! Let's have some raids on those scofflaws we let in a year ago last summer who didn't even bother to go to their court hearings. They're expendable. Besides, it will send a message back to Central America that they still haven't gotten: no more surges! At least, not until after the election, for God's sake."

If one were to accept the idea that the plan is fundamentally a political exercise, and that it was floated by way of a leak to prepare the public (and the small but outraged base of open borders advocates) for what will follow, then the reactions of the other two significant Democratic candidates was what Louisianans would call "lagniappe" – that little extra something, the gravy on the rice, the icing on the cake. Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley, both of whom have irritated the DNC to no end with their accusations of favoritism, took the bait and immediately leapt into the rhetorical fray to denounce the proposed raids. By contrast, The Hill newspaper tells us, "Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who has been more cautious than Sanders or O'Malley with regard to immigration policy in general, has not commented on the reported deportation raids."
. . .
http://www.cis.org/cadman/immigration-enforcement-political-football


Cruz/Sessions Bill Would Stop Sneaky Obama Sabotage of Skilled U.S. Workers

By Michelle Malkin

MichelleMalkin.com

Heads-up, America.

President Obama is dropping a New Year’s Eve bomb on the nation’s best and brightest workers.
. . .
What can be done to stop this?

As I noted on Twitter two weeks ago, a new bill co-sponsored by longtime reformer Sen. Jeff Sessions and GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz would not only restore U.S. worker protections in the flawed H-1B program, but would also prevent “continued use of the non-statute-based Optional Practical Training (OPT) Program, and the creation and use of other similar programs, which have also been used to displace American workers under the guise of student training.”

Good to know there are at least two Senators on Capitol Hill who aren’t snoozing while President Obama tries to throw U.S. high-skilled workers and talented U.S. college grads under the bus in the dark of the last night of 2015.

What about the rest of the politicians in Washington on both sides of the aisle? Have they all hopelessly sold out?
. . .
http://michellemalkin.com/2015/12/31/cruzsessions-bill-would-stop-sneaky-obama-sabotage-of-skilled-u-s-workers/

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Obama Floods The U.S. Job Market With Foreign Competition

Investors Business Daily, December 31, 2015

Politics: Skirting Congress once again, President Obama seeks to admit another 100,000 foreigners to work here when jobs are few and labor-market participation is low. Whatever this is, it's not in the interest of U.S. workers.

This time, the president isn't seeking to flood the country with tens of thousands of indigent, border-surging migrants in search of bigger benefits packages.

Instead, he plans to award via executive order work permits to 100,000 foreign college grads (including deportable aliens) to compete with U.S. workers for jobs.
. . .
The move is especially nefarious not just because it stands as another example of executive overreach but also because foreign workers already have U.S. workers at a disadvantage.

For one thing, they're able to work cheaper. Unlike Americans, most have had free tuition rides from their sponsoring countries and carry no student loan debt. This enables them to tolerate lower wages than American grads saddled with high loan costs that can't be shirked even in bankruptcy court.

The foreigners are also exempt from ObamaCare rules that can add as much as $20,000 in costs per domestic worker for employers struggling to compete in the low-growth economy that Obama has overseen.

In short, Obama's move to bring in highly educated foreign labor hurts U.S. white-collar workers as much as the border surge undermined blue-collar workers.
. . .
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/123115-787723-obama-floods-the-us-job-market-with-foreign-competition.htm



Somali Charged in Terrorism Ring Worked at Major U.S. Airport

Judicial Watch Corruption Chronicles, December 30, 2015
. . .
The security lapse is astounding considering that a decade and a half ago Islamic terrorists used airplanes that had departed from major U.S. airports as weapons of mass destruction. The reality is however, that security is unbelievably lax for airport baggage handlers and other facility employees. The severity of the problem was highlighted earlier this year when the feds busted a huge, multistate operation in which baggage handlers at a northern California airport were transporting illegal drugs across the country. The baggage handlers circumvented six airport security measures and provided marijuana to outbound passengers for distribution in cities throughout the United States, according to the federal complaint which is largely redacted. Incredibly, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has determined that full screening of airport employees would not lower the risk to the public.

Around the same time that the alarming details in the Wasame case started trickling out, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the monstrous agency created to prevent a repeat of 9/11, launched a "review" of the visa program that permitted the San Bernardino terrorist to enter the U.S. In an announcement made public earlier this month, DHS reveals that it has formed a "working group to scrutinize each step" of the now famous K-1 "fiancé" visa process. The goal is to improve background checks and better scrutinize visa adjudication practices worldwide to "ensure that the highest level of consistent standards is being met."
. . .
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/12/somali-charged-in-terrorism-ring-worked-at-major-u-s-airport/


Suicidal Liberalism Will Never End Illegal Immigration

By Heather MacDonald
Frontpagemag.com, December 31, 2015
. . .
Why is the Secure Communities program and the opposition to it so significant? Its ultimate goal is to delegitimate deportation entirely as a response to illegal entry. Conservatives have let themselves get sort of hung up on the issue of the fence. They talk exclusively about we've got to build a fence and if you notice the Left doesn't really push back very hard against the fence. Why? Because the Left understands that far more important than the fence is this delegitimation of deportation because even if we build a fence there's always going to be people who get through. The issue is what happens next.

The Left is so confident that it is starting with the hardest case. It is saying, even an illegal alien criminal should not be deported. If you can't deport somebody in the country illegally, any formal immigration policy is an absolute nullity because the only penalty for illegal entry is deportation. It is the only penalty that actually responds to the law breaking.

I've never heard the Left actually disclose what it thinks should be an appropriate and legitimate response to illegal entry. But for the sake of argument, let's postulate that the Left would agree somebody's in the country illegally. There should be a penalty. The Left would say that penalty will be paying a fine. If that is the penalty, that is no deterrent at all. It just simply becomes the cost of illegal entry.
. . .
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261272/suicidal-liberalism-will-never-end-illegal-frontpagemagcom


What’s Driving the Latest Surge of Illegal Immigration From Central America

By Josh Siegel

The Daily Signal, December 29, 2015
. . .
Though the official could not comment on the nature of the compliance due to the ongoing litigation, Rosenblum and other immigration experts say the government is detaining families for less time, releasing them in three weeks or less to pursue their asylum claims in immigration court.

Chris Cabrera, the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for Border Patrol agents, told The Daily Signal that immigrants from Central America seem to be responding to the new detention procedures.

“I would say it’s a major reason we’re having the surge because people know we won’t detain them and are going to release them,” said Cabrera, who is a Border Patrol agent stationed in McAllen, Texas.

Cabrera said the women and children usually seek out the Border Patrol, rather than hide from them, to ask for asylum protection. He said nearly all of them are claiming they have a credible fear of returning to their home country.

Cabrera contends that the extra resources required to process the women and children leave officers without the manpower to secure the border, although the Texas National Guard is still patrolling the Rio Grande Valley in an extension of a mission that began last year.
. . .
http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/29/whats-driving-the-latest-surge-of-illegal-immigration-from-central-america/

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BARACK OBAMA AND PAUL RYAN PARTNER FOR OPEN BORDERS, NO CAPS ON FOREIGN INVADERS, AND NO LEGAL NEED APPLY.

KEEPING WAGES DEPRESSED WITH ENDLESS HORDES OF IMMIGRANTS KEEPS THEIR PAYMASTERS HAPPY AND PROFITABLE!

IT ALSO FINISHES OFF THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS!




DHS plans New Year's Eve present for millions of foreign workers

DHS plans New Year's Eve present for millions of foreign workers


Ryan defends raised visa caps in spending bill
Ryan defends raised visa caps in spending bill
Washington Examiner

Ryan defends raised visa caps in spending bill
Ryan defends raised visa caps in spending bill
Washington Examiner
The Federal Register will publish a new Department of Homeland Security regulation Thursday that instructs the State Department to give millions of employment authorization documents to aliens prior to authorizing green cards.
The new regulation was designed to override current visa caps outlined in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
"This is a backdoor plan to circumvent Congress and bust immigration caps, executed during a time of record immigration, lowering wages and eliminating jobs for Americans," an anonymous Senate staffer told the Washington Examiner.
The move comes after a discovery earlier this year that the Obama administration had printed up millions of work permits to issue to people who are in the country illegally.



"During the past year, the wealth of the world’s billionaires surged past $7 trillion and the top 1 percent now controls half of the world’s wealth."

Income inequality grows FOUR TIMES FASTER under Obama than Bush.

"In the sphere of world economy, any expectation of an upturn has given way to the reality of permanent crisis. In the United States, six years into the so-called economic “recovery,” real unemployment remains at near-record highs, wages are under attack, and health care and pensions for millions of Americans are being wiped out."


"The essential and intended consequence of government policy over the past seven years has been to vastly increase social inequality. During the past year, the wealth of the world’s billionaires surged past $7 trillion and the top 1 percent now controls half of the world’s wealth. In the US, the scale of social inequality—and therefore political inequality—is so great that one recent scientific study concluded that “the preferences of the vast majority of Americans appear to have essentially no impact on which policies the government does or doesn’t adopt."



On the threshold of the New Year

On the threshold of the New Year

31 December 2015
As the year 2015 ends, a general mood of fear and foreboding predominates in ruling circles. It is hard to find a trace of optimism. Commentators in the bourgeois media look back on the past year and recognize that it has been a year of deepening crisis. They look forward to 2016 with apprehension. The general sense in government offices and corporate boardrooms is that the coming year will be one of deep shocks, with unexpected consequences.

The Financial Times’ Gideon Rachman gives expression to this pervasive feeling in his end-of-the-year assessment published on Tuesday. “In 2015, a sense of unease and foreboding seemed to settle on all the world’s power centers,” he writes. “All the big players seem uncertain—even fearful.” China “feels much less stable.” In Europe, the mood is “bleak.” In the US, public sentiment is “sour.”
Significantly, Rachman singles out as the “biggest common factor” in the world situation “a bubbling anti-elite sentiment, combining anxiety about inequality and rage about corruption that is visible in countries as different as France, Brazil, China and the US.” This observation reflects a growing recognition within the corporate media that the coming period will be one of immense social upheavals.

Rachman’s comment and others like it that have appeared in recent days confirm the assessment made by the World Socialist Web Site during the first week of 2015. The intervals between the eruption of major geopolitical, economic and social crises have “become so short that they can hardly be described as intervals,” we wrote. Crises “appear not as isolated ‘episodes,’ but as more or less permanent features of contemporary reality. The pattern of perpetual crisis that characterized 2014—an essential indicator of the advanced state of global capitalist disequilibrium—will continue with even greater intensity in 2015.”

In defending its rule, the ruling class seeks to cover over the reality of capitalism beneath a mass of lies and hypocrisy. War is cloaked in the language of freedom and democracy; antisocial domestic policy is portrayed as the pursuit of equality and freedom. But—and this is characteristic of a period of crisis—more and more, the essential nature of capitalism—a system of exploitation, inequality, war and repression—comes into alignment with the everyday experiences of broad masses of people. Illusions are dispelled; the essence appears.

In the sphere of world economy, any expectation of an upturn has given way to the reality of permanent crisis. In the United States, six years into the so-called economic “recovery,” real unemployment remains at near-record highs, wages are under attack, and health care and pensions for millions of Americans are being wiped out. Europe is growing at less than 2 percent a year, and large parts of the European economy—including Greece, the target of brutal austerity measures demanded by the European banks—are in deep recession. China, presented as a possible engine of world economic growth, is slowing sharply. Brazil and much of Latin America are in deep slump. Russia is in recession.


BLOG: OBAMA'S CRONY BANKSTERS HAVE BEEN BUSY BEAVERS SINCE THE LAST MELTDOWN THEY CAUSED!

Meanwhile, the easy-money policy of the world’s central banks has produced a new wave of speculative investment, centered in junk bonds and other forms of debt, which is beginning to unravel in a process that parallels the crisis in subprime mortgages prior to 2008.

The essential and intended consequence of government policy over the past seven years has been to vastly increase social inequality. During the past year, the wealth of the world’s billionaires surged past $7 trillion and the top 1 percent now controls half of the world’s wealth. In the US, the scale of social inequality—and therefore political inequality—is so great that one recent scientific study concluded that “the preferences of the vast majority of Americans appear to have essentially no impact on which policies the government does or doesn’t adopt.”

Joseph Kishore