Monday, December 10, 2018

VIDEO: CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE TALKS IMMIGRATION AS THE HORDES INVADE AND VOTE DEMOCRAT FOR MORE

Simultaneously, illegal immigration next year is on track to soar to the highest level in a decade, with a potential 600,000 border crossers expected.
“More than 750 million people want to migrate to another country permanently, according to Gallup research published Monday, as 150 world leaders sign up to the controversial UN global compact which critics say makes migration a human right.”  VIRGINIA HALE


Washington, D.C. (December 10, 2018) - Video and transcript are now available from the Center for Immigration Studies' recent Immigration Newsmaker conversation with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) at the National Press Club. Chairman Goodlatte, who is retiring from Congress, discussed his 25 years in the House working on immigration policy, what he feels is necessary for a functioning immigration system that serves United States interests, and his predictions for the next Congress when the Democrats take over the House. The conversation was moderated by Jessica Vaughan, the Center's director of policy studies.

Highlights:
The Goodlatte bill ("Secure America's Future Act") 
"I thought it was a great bill. It's not comprehensive immigration reform, but it touched on all three of the areas of immigration reform hat need to be addressed – enforcement, legal immigration reform, and doing something about people who are not lawfully in the present . . . it got 193 votes. I think if it had been the only bill offered it might have passed. And if it had been worked hard by the – by the leadership organization to get the votes to pass it."
"Democrats, unfortunately, decided to pass on either one[Goodlatte bill and Rep. Ryan's compromise bill, Goodlatte-lite], which to me is telling about what their view of respect for the rule of law and enforcement of the law is, and what we might see from them in a – in a Democratic House."
E-Verify:
"E-Verify is very good right now . . . It's more than 99 percent accurate. It addressed the concern employers have of the 'Catch-22' situation they're in now, where if they refuse to hire somebody and it turns out the person is lawfully present in the United States, they can be sued for discrimination. On the other hand, if they decided to hire somebody and they find out they're not lawfully here, because they presented forged documents or whatever, they can be charged with violating our immigration laws."
"E-Verify is very inexpensive. It can be done in a minute or two on your smartphone. And it's very effective, but only for the 7(00,000) or 800,000 businesses in the United States that use it. And of course, most large employers, most major employers use it . . . And it should be made mandatory, so that everyone has to participate."
"The most effective tool to make people abide by our laws – whether they enter the country illegally or enter it illegally and overstay – is to cut off the number-one magnet that draws them here."
Funding the wall:
"I think that the president is well-served by insisting on this funding being provided. We're certainly prepared to do that in the House."
Asylum:
We should raise the initial threshold for credible fear determination . . . . "If you didn't meet that, then you would be immediately deportable again, whereas now the threshold for that initial process to get through to a hearing before an immigration judge is a very low bar. And then the waiting list to get to the judge is so long that the government is basically forced to allow people into the interior of the country, even given work authorization. And a high percentage of the people who get into that situation never come back for the asylum hearing."
Immigration policies being blocked by federal judges:
"I've introduced legislation to say that a district court judge cannot issue a nationwide injunction. I mean, to me, it's ridiculous that a judge in Hawaii would issue a nationwide injunction regarding the enforcement of any immigration law, particularly one that involves entering or leaving the country illegally, because his injunction worked perfectly fine for Hawaii. And beyond that, it's, in my opinion, none of his business. I mean, we don't have people swimming to Hawaii from anywhere else to enter Hawaii illegally."
" . . . this is, to me, very wrong. But it's also not something that the Congress ever created. This is entirely court-made law . . . But by not challenging some nationwide injunctions in previous administrations, and by higher courts giving the nod to that, we have essentially evolved into a situation where any judge anywhere can issue a nationwide injunction . . . the courts started it, and the courts can fix it.
Immigration priorities for the Democrats when they take over the House:
"They say they want to do immigration. I hope they take up the issue. But I am dubious, since when they were in the majority previously in the House for four years from 2006 to 2010 they did virtually nothing in the immigration area. And in part that was because of the unfortunate position taken by some members on the Democratic side that unless they could do everything they weren't going to do anything."
Guestworker programs:
"If you couple E-Verify with a legal guestworker program, I think you would find that we could stabilize that problem. But what's happened is people have said, well, you know, if they're working in agriculture, why not come over here and work in construction, or in hotels, or whatever. The difference is, that we can't import a house from another country like you can import apples or wheat or beef or poultry. And you can't import a hotel. So those areas of the law, I would argue, you need to have the requirement that they comply with the law. And if they aren't getting the workers that they need in compliance with the law, they might have to raise their wages. Wouldn't that be something, right? (Laughter.) And help deal with the fact that when you have illegal workers going into those sectors of the economy, you're depressing the entire workforce."
Entry-Exit:
We need an entry-exit visa system, "so that when people enter legally – we should know whether or not they've left the country. And if they haven't, then we could develop, you know, a more focused way of looking for specific people when they apply for jobs and so on. You shouldn't just get turned down because the Social Security number you presented happens to not be a legitimate Social Security number and therefore didn't work in the E-Verify system. The next step should be, well, now here you are. We know where you are. You entered the country legally, but we're going to require you to leave the country now."
An ideal immigration policy:
". . . if I were able to write these laws myself and I didn't have to go through a House, and the Senate, and the president, I would have our immigration programs fluctuate with the economy and the labor demands, because it constantly fluctuates. So I would be happy to see things go down when there's an abundance of workers and go up when there isn't. But part of that is driven by the fact that people enter the country illegally – even in the Trump administration – in huge numbers."  
"We are also a nation of laws. And losing respect for the rule of law is what is at stake here. And it's not just respect for immigration laws. You can flout these laws, as so many people – both people in this country and people trying to enter this country are doing cooperatively, like we're seeing right now at the border. If you can flout those laws, you're going to flout other laws as well."
Present high levels of immigration:
"But, yes, that definitely concerns me. So eliminate chain migration, focusing on employment-based legal immigration and the immediate nuclear family. I think anybody who wants to marry somebody from anywhere in the world, wants to bring them to the United States, our law allows that and should continue to allow it, as long as it's not fraudulent. And their children, of course. But that's the kind of reform that I think would be good for immigration policy."

What’s Happening at the Center

As part of our Immigration Newsmaker series, we sat down with retiring Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), current chair of the House Judiciary Committee. For the last 25 years, Mr. Goodlatte has been a strong advocate for border and interior enforcement, and sponsored a number of important reform bills, most recently including asylum reform, a national E-Verify mandate, ending the visa lottery and reducing chain migration, measures to streamline the deportation of criminal aliens, and penalties for sanctuary jurisdictions. In addition, Mr. Goodlatte conducted vital oversight over executive branch policies such as the controversial prosecutorial discretion scheme implemented by the Obama administration and the government’s handling of the recent influx of unaccompanied minors and family units. The conversation was moderated by Jessica Vaughan and covered prospects for immigration legislation and the challenges the country will face in upcoming years.



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