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Vandals targeting ICE agents stepped over the line when they desecrated the units flag outside the agencys Burlington field office, a top immigration official told the Herald.

The federal Department of Homeland Security flag at the site was altered to read ICE KILLS and Free Them All.

Unfortunately, this is typical of those who think they can overturn the rule of law by criminal acts, said Todd M. Lyons, acting field office director of enforcement and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Boston.

A crisis is no time to stop enforcing the law, Lyons said Thursday.

ICE agents have worked during the pandemic targeting illegal immigrant drug dealers and murderers from other countries, officials said. But theyve been doing so while the country is locked in a debate over incarceration during the coronavirus outbreak.

Prisons both in Massachusetts and across the nation have struggled to deal with close quarters in lockups while trying not to set dangerous criminals free.

The vandalism of the units flag was circulated on social media by groups who have been targeting ICE officers and calling for jails to let detainees go.

Spotted today at ICEs Boston Field Office to kick off our #FreeThemAll National Day of Action. Done anonymously, the new flag reads: ICE Kills. Free Them All. #FreeThemAll, tweeted one supporter.

Lyons said keeping city streets safe, from Boston to Lawrence and all over New England, has to come first.

Our ICE officers, who are first responders who have never stopped doing their work of protecting our communities from violent criminal aliens during this pandemic, will not be intimidated or dissuaded from protecting the communities of the commonwealth, Lyons said.

As to their message, were already seeing on our streets, especially in Boston, the dangerous impacts that come from the idea of taking advantage of a health crisis by letting everyone out of all detention centers, he added.

Boston Police Commissioner William Gross Thursday lashed out at gunplay in the city by a few criminals and gang members.

Violent offenders should not be released to the neighborhoods. Theyre coming back without a re-entry program, Gross said.

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who houses some illegal immigrant detainees at the Bristol County House of Correction, said setting offenders free is backfiring. He said detainees released by a federal judge over coronavirus concerns are flouting house arrest orders by leaving their homes.

Read more:
ICE flag vandalism sparks outrage from top federal immigration agent - Boston Herald

The vandals who desecrated the federal Department of Homeland Security flag outside the ICE field office in Burlington had to have put some planning into their juvenile effort, but clearly, very little thought.

Spotted today at ICEs Boston Field Office to kick off our #FreeThemAll National Day of Action. Done anonymously, the new flag reads: ICE Kills. Free Them All. #FreeThemAll, one supporter tweeted as the vandalized flag was circulated on social media by groups that have been calling for jails to let detainees go.

Heres what kills: fentanyl and heroin, two drugs at the heart of the opioid crisis sweeping Massachusetts and the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 69,029 people died of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. between 2018-2019.

Heres what the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency does: bust drug traffickers and take their poison off the streets.

Last August, ICE arrested 19 people throughout the state during a four-day operation, targeting illegal immigrants convicted or charged with fentanyl, heroin and other drug trafficking crimes. Many of them had been released from local law enforcement custody into local communities with no notification to ICE.

That was just one of several sweeps netting lethal drugs headed for sale in the region.

One must ask these social justice warriors espousing free them all are deaths from fentanyl and heroin trafficked by illegal immigrants collateral damage in the culture war for open borders?

The blame for the puerile prank doesnt rest only with the flag defacers. It must be shared by the virtue-signalling sanctuary cities, who broadcast the notion that its OK to break the law. In doing so, they imperil their own communities, and the men and women who work to keep them safe.

Unfortunately, this is typical of those who think they can overturn the rule of law by criminal acts, said Todd M. Lyons, acting field office director of enforcement and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Boston.

During the coronavirus pandemic, ICE agents continue to go after drug dealers and murderers from other countries, officials said.

They deserve our gratitude for doing so.

But the progressive set has called for detainee releases in the name of coronavirus safety amid crowded lockup conditions.

Were already seeing on our streets, especially in Boston, the dangerous impacts that come from the idea of taking advantage of a health crisis by letting everyone out of all detention centers, Lyons said.

Boston Police Commissioner William Gross has spoken out at the increase in gunplay in the city.

Violent offenders should not be released to the neighborhoods. Theyre coming back without a re-entry program, Gross said.

But the free them all proponents dont think about the end result what happens should drug traffickers, rapists, murders, gang members and domestic abusers be let back into the community.

The move to release offenders to keep them safe from the coronavirus is backfiring, according to Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, He said detainees from the Bristol County House of Correction who were released by a federal judge over coronavirus concerns are ignoring house arrest orders.

The flag defacers may think theyve scored some victory they havent but if they paused to think about the crucial role ICE plays in their own safety, they should feel ashamed.

See the article here:
Flag defacers bite hand that protects them - Boston Herald

My colleagues and I have written extensively about the immigration restrictions that the president has implemented in response to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic and in particular in response to the massive shutdown of the economy that the states and federal government have imposed in response to the disease as well as the steps he could yet take. An underlying point that all of these actions and proposals underscore is the fact that, as my colleague Steven Camarota stated on Thursday: "Immigration is fundamentally a labor issue."

This is not a new idea, but it is one that gets lost in debates over immigration, which generally focus on slightly more lofty and intangible themes like the idea that the United States is a "nation of immigrants", the immigrant experiences of the narrators' (and their opponents') forebears, and citations to the poem attached to the Statue of Liberty. Generally, these points are raised to cover the true agenda of those who want more immigration (political gain or cheaper labor, depending on the source), and are all really little more than sophistic and fallacious tu quoque talking points.

For those of you not familiar with the tu quoque (which literally means "you too" in Latin, but is more properly defined as "but what about you?") fallacy, ThoughtCo describes it as: "An ad hominem argument in which the accused becomes the accuser."

Think that immigrants who come to the United States should be able to support themselves, without government handouts? Expect a response along the lines of "but we are a nation of immigrants", or "your (or my) ancestors came to America with nothing and look at how successful you (or I) am" or "what about 'Give me your tired, your poor'?" The original policy is sound and logical, so the opponent has to turn to questionable visceral appeals in response.

But what proof do I have that immigration to the United States is fundamentally about labor? Well, appeal to authority for one. Professor Vernon Briggs, Jr. of Cornell University, in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in 2006, quoted "America's most influential labor leader, Samuel Gompers" first president of the American Federation of Labor (the forerunner to the AFL-CIO) who "observed in his autobiography: Immigration is, in all of its fundamental aspects ... a labor problem."

And history, for another. Long before there was a Department of Homeland Security (and long before the Department of Justice had authority over immigration adjudications and enforcement), the responsibility for immigration enforcement rested with the then-Department of Commerce and Labor (beginning in February 1903). As U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has explained, the reason why that department handled immigration was "[b]ecause most immigration laws of the time sought to protect American workers and wages." Significantly, when the Department of Labor was founded in 1913, the responsibility for control of immigration enforcement went with it.

"Most immigration laws" still seek to protect American workers and wages. For example, section 212(a)(5)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) explicitly states:

Any alien who seeks to enter the United States for the purpose of performing skilled or unskilled labor is inadmissible, unless the Secretary of Labor has determined and certified to the Secretary of State and the Attorney General that-

(I) there are not sufficient workers who are able, willing, qualified (or equally qualified in the case of an alien described in clause (ii)) and available at the time of application for a visa and admission to the United States and at the place where the alien is to perform such skilled or unskilled labor, and

(II) the employment of such alien will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed. [Emphasis added.]

That provision is bolstered by sections 212(a)(6) ("Illegal Entrants and Immigration Violators") and 212(a)(7) ("Documentation Requirements") of the INA.

This bedrock principle was undermined, to some degree, by the Immigration Act of 1965, which repealed the irrational national-origins quotas that had been in the law for decades (good) but also replaced it with, in the words of the Migration Policy Institute, "a preference system based on immigrants' family relationships with U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents and, to a lesser degree, their skills" (not so good). As the Center explained in 1995: "For the first time, [the 1965 Immigration Act] gave higher preference to the relatives of American citizens and permanent resident aliens than to applicants with special job skills." One's familial ties, not the skills that the newcomer could offer to grow the American economy and provide jobs to other Americans, were now paramount.

The House of Representatives has noted: "The law capped the number of annual visas at 290,000, which included a restriction of 20,000 visas per country per year. But policymakers had vastly underestimated the number of immigrants who would take advantage of the family reunification clause." And how. In FY 2018, 1,096,611 aliens obtained lawful permanent resident status, which even then was actually well below the 1,826,595 aliens who received green cards in FY 1991 (the 200-year highpoint).

It is no wonder that Barbara Jordan, civil rights icon and then-Chairwoman of President Clinton's Commission on Immigration Reform, almost 25 years ago recommended a core admissions level of 550,000 per year and changes to the family-based immigration system to eliminate visas for all except the minor children, dependent children, spouses, and parents of U.S. citizens and the spouses, minor children, and dependent children of lawful permanent residents. As she stated:

Unless there is a compelling national interest to do otherwise, immigrants should be chosen on the basis of the skills they contribute to the U.S. economy. The Commission believes that admission of nuclear family members and refugees provide such a compelling national interest, even if they are low-skilled. Reunification of adult children and siblings of adult citizens solely because of their family relationship is not as compelling. [Emphasis added.]

While those reforms never came to pass, President Trump proposed a similar reordering of the U.S. immigration system to focus on skills-based immigration last year, explaining:

About 70 percent of immigrants who come to the United States today are admitted based on family relationships or through a random visa lottery a system that favors random chance over the skills our economy needs. Through a point-based merit system, the President's plan increases the number of legal immigrants selected based on skill or merit from 12 percent to 57 percent.

That proposal has gone nowhere, either, but the massive increase in the number of unemployed Americans resulting from Wuhan coronavirus shutdowns (Fortune estimates the real jobless rate at more like 23.9 percent) bolsters the president's position. There is no reason to be importing unskilled distant relatives into the American economy today.

Of course, none of the immigration numbers above include nonimmigrant (i.e., temporary) employment-based visas. In FY 2018, USCIS approved 332,358 H-1B (skilled worker) petitions, and in FY 2019, the Department of State issued 97,431 H-2B (temporary non-skilled) visas. It is beyond cavil that petitions were approved months ago for foreign nationals waiting to come into the United States to take a job for which there are scores of willing American workers today.

Again, as Jordan testified almost a quarter century ago: "Immigration policy must protect U.S. workers against unfair competition from foreign workers, with an appropriately higher level of protection to the most vulnerable in our society." That was true then, and even truer now because "the most vulnerable in our society" now include those who three months ago were able to provide for themselves and their families in workplaces that are now shuttered, many of which will never reopen (one estimate states that "42 percent of recent layoffs will result in permanent job loss").

I am not talking about the local restaurant or gym, either. In early May, CNN reported: "General Electric ... said Monday that it is cutting as many as 13,000 jobs in its jet engine business for good." That is one company in one industry. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that, even if the unemployment rate drops to 9.5 percent by the end of 2021 (a big "if"), "the labor force would have about 6 million fewer people" than under its earlier January 2020 forecast. Immigration policymakers must recognize that times have changed, for the worse.

I believe in immigration, and in the vibrancy and diversity that new populations add to our country. But at the end of the day, immigration has to first and foremost serve the American people. As Jordan stated:

If we cannot control illegal immigration, we cannot sustain our national interest in legal immigration. Those who come here illegally, and those who hire them, will destroy the credibility of our immigration policies and their implementation. In the course of that, I fear, they will destroy our commitment to immigration itself.

The same could be said today of legal immigration. But there are powerful forces who, for example, do not want the president to cut temporary guestworker visas, in order to protect short-term business interests. They may be successful, in the short run. In the long run, however, they will likely damage Americans' "commitment to immigration itself". We all lose then.

For the good of the millions of unemployed Americans, for the continued good of our legal immigration system, and for the good of their own reelection prospects, our leaders need to recognize the simple fact: "Immigration is fundamentally a labor issue." And act accordingly.

View original post here:
Immigration and Labor, One and Inseparable - Immigration Blog

As the dinghy entered British waters, we approached it. There were 13 people on board. I have to say that one or two of them were pretty aggressive towards us. The vast majority of passengers were young men of fighting age, leading me to conclude that a principal reason for their flight is that they are dodging conscription. It is also entirely possible that some of those arriving were part of the defeated ISIS caliphate army. A sobering thought. Before long, the Dover lifeboat and Border Force had arrived and they were then taxied back into Dover to begin their new life in England. The ease with which these people are welcomed into Britain as though they are in need, despite having left an equally safe European country an hour or two earlier, makes me so angry.

Although Britain has given France 61 million of taxpayers money since 2015 to stop this scam, the French continue to blame us for somehow creating this situation. The difference is, they are acting now in an even more underhand and deceitful way. Reports that the Home Office has contacted Roman Quaedvlieg, the former head of Australias border force, to consult him on potential measures to halt the illegal boats is a start. However, I would suggest going even further and asking Tony Abbott, the former Prime Minister of Australia, to come and help Priti Patel directly. Mr Abbott is well disposed towards this country and he knows from experience that crises such as this one are, in the end, down to political will. His experience in handling illegal immigration into Australia by sea would prove invaluable.

The traffickers are now using Brexit as their key selling point. If we do not, as I hope, extend the transition period beyond the end of 2020, I predict there will be a massive influx this summer. For this reason, our politicians cannot wait until the end of transition for new legislation. Priti Patel must act now.

The vast majority of Westminsters politicians and our mainstream media organisations may think this issue is unimportant. As my report from the Channel last week showed, however, the public care about this very deeply. Believe it or not, there are many sound and legitimate reasons for caring about ones own country, whatever myths the Islington elite chooses to peddle. Priti Patel must not forget this.

Read more here:
The French are now trying to cover up their collusion in this illegal immigration scam - Telegraph.co.uk

Republicans in Pennsylvanias 7th Congressional District will decide Tuesday who they want to run against U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, the incumbent Democrat who is seeking a second two-year term.

The GOP candidates, Lisa Scheller and Dean Browning, have had to wage unconventional campaigns as the threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus illness has all but nixed traditional ways to meet voters.

Theyre not going door to door because they dont want to be in contact with people, theyre not going to even like any spaghetti dinners or any firemens nights, said Lee Snover, chairwoman of the Northampton County Republican Committee. So no ones meeting them.

Both candidates spoke with lehighvalleylive.com this week for this look at who they are, their top concerns and what their goals would be if elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The PA-07 district covers Lehigh, Northampton and southern Monroe counties.

Scheller and Browning also touched on how they're getting their word out.

Browning, who fell short in the Lehigh Valley's 2018 congressional primary to Marty Nothstein before Wild went on to victory, said he had counted on "what I view as my strength, which is my ground game -- going door to door, going to events ... and of course toward the end of March all of that was put on hold."

He's turned to phone calls and "lit drops," where campaign staff wearing masks and socially distancing themselves have been dropping off literature about Browning at voters' homes.

"Certainly the pandemic has had an impact on campaigning," Scheller said, noting she misses the grassroots campaigning she's been involved in. She's been doing phone calls, as well as doing outreach with groups via Zoom, she said.

"It's made it very difficult," she said. "I do spend a lot of time on the phone calling people."

Both Scheller and Browning are former Lehigh County commissioners. Here is a closer look at their candidacies.

Lisa Scheller is running for the Republican nomination in Pennsylvania's June 2, 2020, primary election to face Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Susan Wild in November in the 7th Congressional District covering Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties.Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com

Scheller is coming into Tuesdays election as President Donald Trumps favorite in the race, having picked up his endorsement a week ago.

She is chairwoman and president of Silberline Manufacturing, the business owned by her family where shes worked since 1987 and which she took control of following the death of her brother in 1998. The company has its global headquarters in Tamaqua in Schuylkill County, where Scheller grew up; it makes aluminum-based pigments for the automotive and other industries.

"The No. 1 issue facing Americans and facing Pennsylvanians in PA-07 right now is jobs and the economy," Scheller said. "As a business owner myself, I understand the struggle that people are going through with this coronavirus."

After the initial, necessary focus on keeping safe, Scheller said her first priority in office would be to work with the president to help put America back on track and back to work.

Since the coronavirus crisis began in March, Pennsylvanias unemployment rate has reached an unprecedented 15.1% and Lehigh and Northampton counties have seen nearly 80,000 people file initial claims for unemployment compensation.

Schellers other key issues, she said, are expanding education opportunities without financially burdening those who can least afford it, opposing abortion, supporting Second Amendment rights, securing the nations borders and opposing so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to assist in federal crackdowns on illegal immigration. With 38 years of continuing recovery from drug addiction, she also wants to take on opioid addiction, expanding on the Hope and Coffee shop she opened in Tamaqua with a mission of eliminating the stigma for those battling addiction.

"I'm running for U.S. Congress to be the voice of Pa.'s 7th District in Washington, and really to protect the American dream for generations to come," Scheller said.

That dream is threatened by government overreach, she said, pointing as an example to government attempts to manage health care through the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Obamacare, as its known, has been under attack throughout the Trump Administration. Moving to Medicare for All, as some Democrats advocate, would further impact costs and accessibility, Scheller says.

Scheller says she's not a politician, that she's an engineer and business owner who got involved in politics because she wanted to lower Lehigh County's taxes.

She is a divorced mother of two grown children, Leo and Zary, and lives in Allentown.

Dean Browning is running for the Republican nomination in Pennsylvania's June 2, 2020, primary election to face Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Susan Wild in November in the 7th Congressional District covering Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties.Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com

The very simple reason that Im running is I believe that America is a great country, and Im running to be an ally of Mr. Trump and be someone he can absolutely count on as he battles to keep America great, Browning said.

The candidate committed to helping to push Trumps agenda through Congress, working first to repair the economy from the impacts of the coronavirus fight. He says that damage is growing worse the longer the shutdown continues.

I understand the closing down to quote flatten the curve, Browning said, "... but my view is were well beyond that.

Browning said he supports a payroll tax holiday that would give workers a nearly 8% raise by suspending contributions of 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare/Medicaid, while saving employers a comparable amount on their own contributions.

"The second area that I want to work with and support the president on is reducing the critical threat from China," said Browning, who sees two avenues toward that objective. One is the military, for which he supports expanded investments in training and technology, and the second is the economy: "We need to start returning vital manufacturing back to the United States."

"They are not interested in being a responsible member of the world community," Browning said. "They are interested in being the dominant member of the world economy."

"The third area I want to work with the president on is finishing the wall," Browning said, going on to say he'd work to secure the southern border and eliminate federal funding for sanctuary cities and counties as part of a plan to reduce illegal immigration.

Returning to his support for the military, Browning called for an overhaul of the Veterans Administration that he says is using an antiquated system and suffering from a shortage of doctors. "A disgrace" is how he described the medical care afforded to veterans.

Brownings other main focus would be to make health care more affordable and put individuals and families in charge of their health care decisions, not insurance companies or the government. He sees the need for more competition through transparency, so patients know how the amount theyre paying for care compares to that being charged to someone on Medicare or Medicaid or who is uninsured. As for Medicare for All, he points to the VA system for an advanced look at what that would mean.

"To me, Medicare for All would just wind up being mediocre care for all," Browning said.

Browning, of South Whitehall Township, is retired from a career as an executive with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of the Lehigh Valley, Harvel Plastics and New World Aviation.

He and his wife, Cheryl, have been married 32 years. They own three German shorthaired pointers.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.

View original post here:
Its Trumps pick vs. Trump loyalist in bid to unseat the Lehigh Valleys congresswoman - lehighvalleylive.com