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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland is facing backlash from some conservative groups because they are creating an undocumented student coordinator position.

Advocates for strict enforcement of immigration laws say the universitys move is putting politics ahead of the law and at the taxpayers expense.

The decision follows a campus group, ProtectUMD, who issued 64 demands of university officials. One of those demands calls for "a full-time undocumented student coordinator to advocate for, advise, represent, and protect undocumented students." In the 2017 debate over immigration reform, one person's undocumented immigrant is another person's illegal immigrant.

Bob Dane, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, says Marylands move is about advancing a political agenda on campus and one that is opposed to the reforms the Trump administration wants.

It's about politics and this protest isn't legitimate. A university can disagree with the law, but that doesn't give them the right to aid and abet and harbor illegal immigration, which is really what all of these sanctuary policies and those at the University of Maryland are all about," said Dane.

The University of Maryland released a statement saying, the undocumented student office is part of the university's ongoing commitment to undocumented students and we continue to consider ways to offer support.

Continued here:
University of Maryland helping illegal immigrant students - Story ... - FOX 5 DC

Island Packet (blog)

The illegal immigration conundrum is not about Tanner. It's not even ... Island Packet (blog) We can talk for hours about Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner's intractable demeanor, his disappointing use of partisan rhetoric or his seeming eagerness to ... and more »

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The illegal immigration conundrum is not about Tanner. It's not even ... - Island Packet (blog)

President Trump lauded the contribution of Irish immigrants Thursday during St. Patricks Day festivities in Washington, but he and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny also wrestled with thorny questions about the administrations crackdown on illegal immigration.

Mr. Kenny has been pressing U.S. officials for special treatment for the estimated 50,000 Irish illegal immigrants in America, most of whom overstayed visas and remain in the country for years.

They dont suffer the same stigma as Hispanic illegal immigrants but face the same peril of deportation or being barred from returning to the U.S. if they travel home, and pressure on them has intensified under Mr. Trumps get-tough policies.

Were here today to celebrate Americas commitment to Ireland and the tremendous contributions, and I know it well, the Irish immigrants and their descendants have made right here in the United States and throughout the world, Mr. Trump said at the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon at the Capitol, a St. Patricks Day tradition in Washington since the 1950s.

In his remarks at the luncheon, Mr. Kenny, whose Irish title is Taoiseach, broached the issue of illegal immigration.

On this day when we remember St. Patrick, himself an immigrant twice over to our shores, I urge you to look sympathetically at this issue, he said in remarks at the luncheon. We would like this to be sorted. It would remove a burden of so many people that they can stand out in the light and say, Now I am free to contribute to America as I know I can. And thats what people want.

Mr. Trump, who declared Mr. Kenny was his new friend, appeared sympathetic.

Mr. Kenny also raised the plight of Irish illegal immigrants at a bilateral meeting with the president earlier in the Oval Office.

Afterwards, Mr. Kenny said the president was surprised to learn that there were 50,000 Irish illegal immigrants in the U.S.

I think he might have felt that that might have been a higher figure, he told reporters at the White House.

The push to accommodate the Irish is a small wrinkle in the illegal immigration mess that Mr. Trump has promised to clean up.

Irish make up a tiny fraction of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S.

They also are less likely to face deportation. In 2014, 33 Irish were deported, compared to 177,000 Mexicans, according to government statistics compiled by Irish Central.

Mr. Trumps strong stance on illegal immigration has stoked fears on both sides of the Atlantic.

There is fear and there is concern about this president and what is he going to do, said Caro Kinsella, an immigration lawyer based in Florida who has duel citizenship in the U.S. and Ireland. A lot of these people have families and friends in Ireland, so it is a wider-ranging problem. Its not just the 50,000 in the states.

She said that Mr. Trumps executive orders that target for deportation illegal immigrants who commit serious crime also threaten people who overstay visas, putting many of the Irish illegal immigrants in jeopardy.

Irish illegal immigrants are not seeking amnesty, said Ms. Kinsell, but hope for leniency that would allow them to pay a fine and get on a path to legal status.

At the luncheon Mr. Trump vowed that the bonds between the two countries would endure.

The president recited an Irish proverb: Always remember to forget the friends who proved untrue, but never forget to remember those who have stuck by you.

He said the quote was particularly true in politics.

The people of the United States and the people of Ireland have stuck together, he said.

Mr. Kenny was the first European Union leader to meet with Mr. Trump after British Prime Minister Theresa May. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to visit the White House on Friday.

Originally posted here:
Trump touts success of Irish immigrants at St. Patrick's Day luncheon - Washington Times

posted at 10:41 am on March 16, 2017 by Jazz Shaw

One of the more popular verbal tricks employed by open border advocates in debates over immigration reform is to say that its, not a crime to be in the United States illegally. Weve seen this trope trotted out before many times but its popped up once again at Politifact this week. This bit of fact checking was spurred by a debate in the Florida State House of Representatives over new penalties for illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes. As part of that discussion, one of the Democrats involved made a point of declaring that those in the country illegally are not guilty of committing a crime, but rather a civil violation.

This truly is the type of linguistic gymnastics which liberals always fall back on when attempting to obfuscate the obvious and cloud the issue. The Politifact team summons up a couple of experts to immediately support this assertion.

[Ingrid M.] Delgado said, Unlawful presence is not a crime. It is a civil violation.

But we wanted to get to the bottom of whether undocumented immigrants were committing a crime by just being in the country.

According to legal experts, the answer is that most of the time, unlawful presence is not a crime.

When we checked with the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, Michele M. Taylor, the groups associate director for communications, pointed to the 2012 Supreme Court case Arizona vs. United States. The majority opinion found that as a general rule, it is not a crime for a removable alien to remain present in the United States.

Okay, so to a certain extent there is at least some truth found in these statements.If you find someone who is in the country illegally they may indeed be committing a civil violation (rather than a felony or misdemeanor) as youre looking at them, but if they crossed the borders without appropriate permission they were already guilty of an actual crime. FindLaw lays out the distinction between Unlawful Presence and Improper Entry.

To be clear, the most common crime associated with illegal immigration is likely improper entry. Under federal criminal law, it is misdemeanor for an alien (i.e., a non-citizen) to:

Enter or attempt to enter the United States at any time or place other than designated by immigration officers; Elude examination or inspection by immigration officers; or Attempt to enter or obtain entry to the United States by willfully concealing, falsifying, or misrepresenting material facts

But mere unlawful presence in the country is not a crime. It is a violation of federal immigration law to remain in the country without legal authorization, but this violation is punishable by civil penalties, not criminal. Chief among these civil penalties is deportation or removal, where an unlawful resident may be detained and removed from the country.

In other words, it all depends on how you arrived here. If you snuck in without permission you are guilty of Improper Entry (which is in fact a crime) as well as the aforementioned civil violation of Unlawful Presence. If, on the other hand, you came here on a visa and decided to stick around after it expired you may not technically be committing a crime but you are still in violation as the Department of State reminds us on their website.

But its also rather disingenuous to conflate the act of Unlawful Presence with other civil violations. Politifact calls on a quote from Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute to put forth precisely this line of deceptive thinking.

Not everything thats illegal meaning against the law or violating the law is a crime, Shapiro said. There are civil violations, like when you get a parking ticket. Unlawful presence is one of these. You dont go to jail or receive any other criminal punishment for being in the country illegally you get deported.

Lets stop and think about that for a moment. Weve just seen someone compare the condition of being an illegal alien with that of receiving a parking ticket. By strictly following the definitions that may be technically true, but illegal immigration is virtually unique in the broader world of civil violations. If you get a parking ticket (heck even if you get hundreds of parking tickets) nobody is going to throw you into a wagon, haul you off to a cell, march you in front of a judge and then put you on a bus and eject you from the nation. You wind up having a small fee to pay at worst in the case of almost all other civil violations. Just because the two things fall under the same broader definition, its hardly an example of fact checking or any form of truth telling to conflate the two as if they were even close to being the same thing.

This is a disingenuous dodge which the open borders crowd loves to keep bringing up over and over again. Sadly, I dont see any end to this practice on the horizon, but it should be called out whenever we find it.

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Politifact once again insists that illegal immigrants are not criminals - Hot Air

President Trumps proposed budget eliminatesthe federal governments funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The reduction signals whatOffice of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney calls the goal of ending federal involvement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

One interesting dimension to this goalis that in 2014, the Association of Public Television Stations gave itsChampion of Public Broadcasting award to one Indiana Governor MikePence.

In his acceptance speech for the award, Pence, now the Vice President,revealed hesa huge Downton Abbey fanthere is to be no discussion or tweeting among our children about what happens with Edith, what exactly Mr. Bates is up to, or whether Mary will pick a new suitor, he said. He also loves Ken Burns and spoke fondly of meeting the filmmaker at the Capitol Hill Club when he was a member of the House of Representatives: Had to take a picture of that, he enthused. He also noted thatSuper Why made an appearance duringhis inaugural events.

Pence saidhe saw inhis statethe huge role public broadcasting played in early childhood education as well: Frankly, when we were going line by line through our budget proposal, when came to deciding whether to include funding for public television in our budget, I want to tell you, it was an easy call. Public television, he continued, plays a vital role in educating all of the public, but most especially our children.

When RonaldReagan left office, Pence said, he talked about how the nation had a good feeling, but it wouldnt count for much, it last very long if it wasnt grounded in thoughtfulness and in knowledge. He called on the American people then to embrace again informed patriotism. Pence again cited Burns as emblematic of the kind of civic education he said public broadcasting was uniquely situated to provide: You more than anywhere else seem to be the place that most authentically tells the American story to the American people.

Some conservatives have dreamed for years of the government getting out of theBig Bird business and forcing public broadcasting to find other sources of funding. At NPR, CPB funding accounts for about 1 percent of the annualoperating budget. But as Ben Mullin reports at Poynter, it comprises about 9 percent of revenue for public radio stations across America, and dues from member stations provided about 39 percent of NPRs revenue from 2014 to 2016.

A2012 study by Booz & Companydone at Congress request found that there is simply no substitute for the federal investment to accomplish the public service mission that Congress has assigned to public broadcasters and that the American people overwhelmingly support. In a statement, PBS says the cost of public broadcasting is small, only $1.35 per citizen per year, and the benefits are tangible: increasing school readiness for kids 2-8, support for teachers and homeschoolers, lifelong learning, public safety communications and civil discourse. And, of course, Downton.

This story is brought to you by the letters S, H, A, R, and E.

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Mike Pence Loves Public Broadcasting - Washingtonian.com