Mediaboss Marketing

Immigrant rights advocates are urging a federal judge to close out a court case before Texas can use it to nix the Obama-era amnesty thats currently protecting nearly 800,000 illegal immigrant Dreamers.

While the Trump administration is still trying to decide what to do about the Obama amnesty, known in Washington as DACA, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has taken up the case.

MALDEF told Judge Andrew S. Hanen that even though he has ruled against a broader amnesty, implemented by President Obama in 2014 and known as DAPA, he cannot now expand the case to include the original DACA amnesty, created in 2012.

DACA was in place over two years before the 2014 DAPA memorandum [was] issued. Plaintiffs could have challenged it when they filed suit in December 2014, yet they instead chose to file suit only against the DAPA memorandum, MALDEF said in its latest filing.

The original 2012 DACA itself is not at issue here, the groups lawyers said.

They said both Judge Hanen and Texas repeatedly agreed during two years of legal argument that the case only tangentially dealt with Dreamers.

They pointed to a Jan. 15, 2015, statement by Texas lawyer, who said flatly that the state was not challenging the DACA program.

Judge Hanen in 2015 ruled the broader DAPA amnesty a violation of federal procedural laws. An appeals court upheld his injunction, ruling DAPA also broke immigration law.

The Supreme Court last year deadlocked 4-4 on the case, leaving the injunction in place.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has now said that if DAPA is illegal, so is DACA, which rests on the same basic legal claims of executive flexibility in enforcing immigration law. He has given the Trump administration until early September to phase out the program, or else he said he will ask Judge Hanen to invalidate it.

The DAPA program would have applied to perhaps 4 million illegal immigrant parents with U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident children. It would have offered a temporary year stay of deportation and granted work permits, entitling illegal immigrants to Social Security numbers, drivers licenses and some taxpayer benefits.

The DACA program offered the same benefits but to some 800,000 young adult illegal immigrants, known as Dreamers, who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Homeland Security has revoked the DAPA policy, but has said it would keep the DACA policy in place though Secretary John F. Kelly has said legal experts told him the policy is likely to be found illegal should the issue reach the decision stage in court.

Activists have struggled to refute the legal questions, but insist Mr. Trump should fight to preserve the program anyway for the sake of Dreamers.

The rest is here:
Activists decry latest attempt to force out the Dreamers - Washington Times

An illegal immigrant who had been previously deported 20 times was arrested recently after having allegedly sexually assaulted two women and stolen a car. The man had been previously arrested by a sanctuary county in Oregon in 2016 and released by police, who refused to notify immigration officials that they had him in custody.

Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, was arrested in Portland, Oregon, on Monday. Police say hes been accused of breaking into the home of and sexually assaulting a 65-year-old woman, stealing the womans car, and then sexually assaulting a second woman, according to a report by KGW-TV.

KGW-TV also reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that handles deportations, claims despite Ramirezs long history of violating local and federal laws, Multnomah County police released Ramirez in 2016 without notifying ICE, which had filed an immigration detainer requesting authorities notify the agency before releasing Ramirez.

Multnomah County is a sanctuary county, which means it refuses to work with federal immigration officials to deport people illegally in the country, even if those people have a violent history and have continuously refused to adhere to U.S. immigration laws.

In December 2016, commissioners in Multnomah County approved a measure officially making the county a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. At the time the resolution was passed, Loretta Smith, a commissioner in the county, said she had no idea what the repercussions of the decision would be, but that it was the right thing and good for the community.

I have no idea what the repercussions are, but when you are standing for the right thing, and to do the good thing for your community, you always are on the right side of policy, and politics, as well, Smith said, according to a separate report by KGW-TV.

We are not holding folks for ICE, Smith added. We dont police for our immigration departments. We are a safety net government thats here to help the people. We want to make sure that they know we have their back and we are going to help them as best we can, Smith said.

On June 29, the House of Representatives approved Kates Law, an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act. Kates Law would allow courts to impose a prison sentence for up to two years for any non-criminal alien who has been denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed, or who has departed the United States while an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding, and subsequently enters, attempts to enter, crosses the border to, attempts to cross the border to, or is at any time found in the United States.

Kates law would also impose severe prison sentences on aliens who commit crimes while in the United States and then illegally return to the country.

The Senate has yet to vote on the amendment, but on Saturday, President Donald Trump, who supports Kates Law, said the Senate should change its rules so that it could pass the measure, as well as implement health care reform and other legislation.

Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they dont go to a 51 vote majority NOW, Trump wrote on Twitter. They look like fools and are just wasting time. 8 Dems totally control the U.S. Senate. Many great Republican bills will never pass, like Kates Law and complete Healthcare. Get smart!

More here:
Illegal alien deported 20 times arrested in Oregon what happened next will make your blood boil - TheBlaze.com

Vice President Mike Pence said he hopes his trip in Eastern Europe shows the Baltic States the United States stands with them.

"President Trump sent me to Europe with a very simple message. And that is that America first doesn't mean America alone," he said in an interview with Fox News during a stop in Tallinn, Estonia

"Our message to the Baltic states, my message when we visit Georgia and Montenegro, will be the same: To our allies here in Eastern Europe, we are with you, we stand with you on behalf of freedoms. It's a great honor to be with you," Pence added.

Pence and second lady Karen Pence arrived in in Eastern Europe on Sunday afternoon, part of a three-country visit to Estonia, Georgia, and Montenegro.

The vice president's visit comes amid tensions between NATO and Russia.

In a statement, Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas said cooperation between the U.S. and the Baltic States is "vital."

"The contribution of the US to the security of the Baltic States and also the whole of Europe is vital, and I certainly wish to thank the vice president for that. Besides that, we plan to speak about the Estonian digital solutions that are of interest to the US, and developing cooperation in cyber defense at our meeting. Another important topic that will be on the table, is the cooperation between the [European Union] and the US," Ratas said in a statement.

Pence tweeted early Sunday morning he had arrived and was ready to talk about "security and prosperity" with the Baltic States' leaders.

When asked if the Trump administration is "committed" to defending the Baltic States, Pence responded affirmatively.

"Well, the president has made it very clear that Russia's destabilizing activities, its support for rogue regimes, its activities in Ukraine, are unacceptable. The president made very clear that very soon he will sign the sanctions from the Congress of the United States to reinforce that. But at the same time, as we make our intentions clear, we expect Russian behavior to change," he said.

Trump is expected to soon sign legislation imposing new sanctions on Russia, which has caused President Vladimir Putin to retaliate and pull U.S. diplomats from Moscow.

See the original post:
Mike Pence tells Eastern Europe: 'We are with you' - Washington Examiner

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), one of the three votes that sank Senate Republicans latest attempt to repeal Obamacare, said on Sunday that she got most input on the matterfrom Vice President Mike Pence, not his boss.

Most of the input Ive had from the White House has been from the vice president and from the administrator of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, Collins said on NBC News Meet the Press.

Collinscited two meetings she attended at the White House, one seated beside President Donald Trump, to discuss health care.

I do want to make clear that the president invited me to the two meetings, she said. That was a few weeks ago.

Collinssaid on CNNs State of the Union that Pence approached her on the Senate floor Friday night before the vote and tapped her on the shoulder.

Boy, are you tough, Pence told her, according to Collins. She added, But he softened that by putting his arm around me.

More:
Collins Says She Got Most Input On O'Care Repeal From Pence, Not Trump - TPM

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Donald Trump Deepens GOP Divide Wall Street Journal (subscription) WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump's tumultuous past week has widened rifts in his party, between those who vocally support the president's combative style and others who bridle at it, according to interviews with GOP officials and supporters across ...

Continue reading here:
Donald Trump Deepens GOP Divide - Wall Street Journal (subscription)