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Dreamers are children and young adults who aspire to the American dream: to get an education, to work, and to do well for themselves and their families. They deserve the chance to do so.

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Dorothy Lifka, Des Moines, Letter to the Editor 6:22 p.m. CT May 3, 2017

Drake student Kenia Ornelas of Des Moines, a DREAMer and undocumented immigrant, leads a group of protesters in a chant Friday, Aug. 5, 2016, outside of a rally for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines.(Photo: Michael Zamora/The Register)Buy Photo

The editorial board of the Des Moines Register has it right: Congress should finally pass immigration reform. And a good place to start would be with the "Dreamers" or children and young adults registered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivalsprogram.

Editorial: Congress should finally pass immigration reform

Because the Dreamers were brought to the United States as children (before they could make such a decision on their own), they, themselves, broke no law coming here. As part of registering for DACA, they voluntarily revealed their undocumented status; and to qualify for DACA status, they have to be in school, have completed high school or have participated in the U.S. Armed Forces; and they can't have been convicted of committing any felonies or significant or multiple misdemeanors.

In other words, these are children and young adults who aspire to the American dream: to get an education, to work, and to do well for themselves and their families. They deserve the chance to do so.

Dorothy Lifka, Des Moines

Read or Share this story: http://dmreg.co/2oZazsn

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Immigration reform should start with Dreamers - DesMoinesRegister.com

CBP horse patrol on the border with Mexico John Gastaldo/ZUMA

After several months of speculation, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday that Julie Kirchner, the former executive director of the hardline anti-immigrant group Federation for American Immigration Reform, will take a top spot at US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Kirchner's appointment as ombudsman at USCISwhich processes visa and naturalization petitions, as well as asylum and refugee applicationsis yet another move signaling that the Trump administration won't be relaxing its crackdown on immigrants anytime soon.

In August 2015, Kirchner left FAIR, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as a "hate group," to work as an immigration adviser on the Trump campaign. She later served "a temporary political appointment"atCustoms and Border Protection shortly after the election. Since then, the White House has rolled out its "Muslim ban," requested bids for the border wall with Mexico, and clamped down on immigration of all kinds.

According to the DHS press release, as ombudsman Kirchner will be responsible for "improving the quality of citizenship and immigration services" and "making recommendations to improve the administration of immigration benefits." The release states that "theOmbudsman is an impartial and confidential resource that is independent of USCIS." As I reported in February when rumors circulated that Kirchner would be appointed as chief of staff of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), she has a long history of promoting an anti-immigrant agenda:

Like Trump, Kirchner has characterized immigrants and refugees as dangerous and costly.Last September, Breitbart published parts of a statement written by Kirchner, who was then working as an adviser to the Trump campaign. "Before President Obama's failed presidency comes to an end, he is trying to force Americans to accept 30 percent more refugeesproviding ISIS a path for their terrorists to enter the country," she claimed. "In recent years, hundreds of foreign born terrorists have been apprehended in the United States alone." She also wrote that "instead of providing free healthcare to millions of refugees, we must focus on rebuilding our inner cities and bringing jobs back to America."

Kirchner joined FAIR in 2005 as its director of government relations. In 2007, she became the organization's executive director. During her tenure, FAIR launched aninitiativeto end the 14th Amendment's birthright citizenship provision, which grants citizenship to all children born on American soil, regardless of whether their parents are legal residents. In 2010, FAIR's legal arm, the Immigration Reform Law Institute,had a hand incraftingArizona Senate Bill 1070, which required police to detain individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants and made it a misdemeanor for immigrants not to carry their immigration papers. (The Supreme Court subsequently foundmostof SB 1070's provisions unconstitutional.)

Kirchner is one of several anti-immigrant hardliners to join the administration since the election. John Feere, formerly of the Center for Immigration Studies, now works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Stephen Miller, who worked to defeat immigration reform as a Senate staffer to current Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is now a White House senior adviser. And former Breitbart reporter Julia Hahnwhom Weekly Standard editor-at-large William Kristol called "Bannon's Bannon"is now a special assistant to the president.

Link:
Another Anti-Immigrant Hardliner Scores a Key Administration Appointment - Mother Jones

The United States, indeed the whole world, wasnt quite sure what to expect when Donald Trump took the oath of office of perhaps the most powerful nation in the world. Now, with Trumps first few months in office behind him, the picture is becoming a little clearer.

Watch more from the series:

In this four-part series, the Beef Roundtable takes a look at some of the main issues that the Trump administration and the U.S. will face. In Part 4, we look at the contentious issue of immigration reform and what possible actions President Trump may take to fulfill his campaign promises.

To help analyze that question, our two guests share a lifetime of on-the-ground involvement in the Washington D.C. arena.

Our first guest is Steve Dittmer, who has nearly 30 years experience in management, marketing, and communications in the beef industry. Currently, Steve is the executive vice president of the Agribusiness Freedom Foundation, which provides information and analysis for food chain participants

Our second guest is Jay Truitt, a longtime Washington insider and principal in the organization Policy Solutions; Motley, Scher, Truitt, a bipartisan government relations and public affairs firm. Jay has served as vicepresident of government affairsfor the National Cattlemens BeefAssociation and CEO and executive vicepresident of the Missouri Cattlemens Associationand the Missouris Cattlemen Foundation.

The Beef Roundtable is a joint production of BEEF and the Animal Science Department at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. In addition to the BEEF website, the Beef Roundtable can be found on iTunes, YouTube and http://www.beefroundtable.com.

Go here to read the rest:
Beef Roundtable: Lofty promises, but could we actually see ... - Beef Magazine

Sacramento Bee

Who will veto the hecklers? Sacramento Bee Where local and state officials fail to protect the First Amendment right to speak, as on a public university campus, it's incumbent upon federal authorities to step in. Colleges and universities receive millions of dollars in federal aid, often with ...

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Who will veto the hecklers? - Sacramento Bee

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow told NBC's Seth Meyers that"its a dangerous time for the first amendment and the free press" under President Trump.

Theres never been a president who is more addicted to news about himself and whos more responsive to the news that he supposedly thinks is so worthless, said Maddow on "Late Night." So its a weird tension."

"Its a dangerous time for the First Amendment and the free press in this country," she continued. "At the same time, were oddly influential with the guy who wants to kill us.

I talked to him during the primaries. He was an announced candidate, said Maddow, who indicated Trump's handlers initiated the off-the-record call in advance of a possible on-the-record interview.

I had this conversation with him. Id sort of said he had good chances against his Republican primary opponents and we kind of dished dirt on all the things he thought was wrong with all his Republican primary opponents.

The Maddow interview with Trump never happened, as the candidate mostly did phone interviews on MSNBC with the "Morning Joe" team of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

Trump has not appeared on the network in any capacity since May of 2016 after a falling out with the early morning hosts.

A recent analysis conducted by The Intercept shows Maddow dedicated 53 percent of her highly rated program over a recent six-week stretch to Russia and possible ties to Trump.

Maddows Russia coverage has dwarfed the time devoted to other top issues, including Trumps escalating crackdown on undocumented immigrants (1.3 percent of coverage); ObamaCare repeal (3.8 percent); the legal battle over Trumps Muslim ban (5.6 percent), a surge of anti-GOP activism and town halls since Trump took office (5.8 percent), and Trump administration scandals and stumbles (11 percent)," the analysis reads.

The breakdown was conducted between Feb. 20 and Mar. 31.

During that stretch, "The Rachel Maddow Show" enjoyed its best ratings in nearly a decade, easily topping CNN and finishing at the top of all of cable news for four consecutive weeks throughout the month of March.

For the month of April, "The Rachel Maddow Show was the second-most-watched program in cable news, only behind the combined 8 p.m. ET programming of "The O'Reilly Factor," which went off the air on April 18, and "Tucker Carlson Tonight," which moved to 8 p.m. ET on April 24.

Overall, MSNBC was the second-most-watched network in basic cable for the third straight month, trailing only Fox News.

Go here to see the original:
Maddow: 'It's a dangerous time for the First Amendment' - The Hill