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Barack Obama has declared that immigration reform is an economic imperative, and is promising to do his best to get an immigration bill pushed through Congress this year. But will legalizing all of the illegal immigration that has taken place over the last several decades improve the struggling U.S. economy or will it actually make our economic problems worse? One of the favorite tricks of top politicians is to promise that the economy is going to improve if we just support what it is that they are currently pushing. Hopefully the Americans people will not buy the nonsense that Obama is spewing. The truth is that Barack Obama is wrong about the economic impact of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants dont do jobs that Americans dont want to do. A million Americans recently showed up to apply for a job at McDonalds. That is how desperate Americans are for work these days. Please dont try to tell me that there arent millions of Americans out there that would not pick fruit for minimum wage. The millions upon millions of illegal immigrants in this country are stealing jobs, they are depressing wages in a whole host of industries and they are a huge factor in the erosion of the middle class. Millions of middle class American families cant afford to provide for their families anymore and are losing their homes, drowning in debt or going bankrupt. Rather than what Barack Obama is proposing (which is to essentially legalize illegal immigration), we need an immigration policy that makes sense and that protects American jobs.

Before we go any further, it is important for me to make a few points. It is not a bad thing that people want to come to this nation from another country. A lot of people that want to come to the United States are really hard working and have really solid character. This nation has a long tradition of immigrants arriving to build a better life here. At different times this country will need different levels of immigration, but we will always need new immigrants. People on one side of a border are not more valuable than people on another side of a border. There is a reason why our founding fathers believed that all men are created equal. In every nation on earth there are really wonderful people. We should love all men, women and children no matter where they were born and no matter what they look like. God created us all and He loves us all dearly.

The reason I went into all that is because of the way politics is played in America in 2011. The moment that anyone suggests that there might be a problem with illegal immigration they are immediately branded with all kinds of horrible labels. To put a horrible label on someone that is completely and totally untrue just to score political points is absolutely despicable.

The funny thing is that some of the organizations that denounce others the loudest should actually be examining themselves. For example, one of the largest pro-illegal immigration organizations is called La Raza, which literally means The Race (as if we all couldnt figure it out). Perhaps it is time for them to come up with a new name.

Look, we all have to start learning to love each other. If not, our society is going to continue to break down.

A majority of the American people (yes, that is what the polls show) are not against illegal immigration because they hate another group of people. Rather, they just want all immigrants to go through the front door and they want the government to be sensitive to changing economic conditions.

The sad truth is that the U.S. government has absolutely refused to secure the U.S. border with Mexico for decades, and this has allowed millions upon millions of criminals, drug dealers and gang members to cross freely into the United States. In addition, by refusing to secure the border we have allowed new diseases to spread unchecked into this country.

Meanwhile, the law abiding people that would like to get into this country legally are put through absolute hell. I used to practice law and I have filled out immigration forms. The process is a complete and total nightmare.

So we have been making it really easy for law breakers to sneak in the back door of our country and we have been making it really hard for law abiding people to get in the front door.

What in the world could be wrong about wanting to fix that?

Once many illegal immigrants arrive in the United States they either try to make a living legally (by directly competing with blue collar American workers for jobs and driving their wages down) or illegally by selling drugs or being involved in other kinds of criminal activity.

Apparently Barack Obama believes that this kind of behavior should be rewarded with a path to citizenship.

The vast majority of illegal immigrants pay absolutely nofederal or state income taxes and they never intend to. At the same time, they seem more thanhappy to take advantage of the free social services and benefits offered to them. In fact,stories of how good life in America isjust encourages more and moreimmigrants to come to the United States illegally.

We need an immigration policy that insists that everyone come in through the front door.

Is there anyone out there that cannot agree with that?

We also need to set immigration levels that our economy can handle.

Right now our economy is struggling. Millions upon millions of Americans are out of work. 44 million Americans are on food stamps. 47 million Americans are living in poverty. We just cant take in a whole lot of extra workers right now.

You would think that would just be common sense.

But instead, Barack Obama wants to grant amnesty to all of the illegal immigrants that are already here and put them on a path to citizenship.

Wow do you think that might embolden millions more illegal immigrants to come flooding in?

Barack Obama is against a border fence. He says we dont need it.

Meanwhile, thousands more illegal immigrants pour into this country every single day.

Barack Obama supports all of the sanctuary cities that have openly declared that they are not going to enforce our immigration laws.

So where do you think illegal immigrants are going to flock to? The truth is that word about these sanctuary cities gets around really fast. If you live in one of these cities, then you probably know all about it.

If Barack Obama gets his way, nobody will be breaking our immigration laws because essentially there will not be any more immigration laws.

Not that George W. Bush was any better. He was an absolute disaster on immigration as well.

The truth is that our immigration policy has been slowly eroding the U.S. middle class for many decades.

But according to Barack Obama, we desperately need to implement his immigration reform plan for the good of the middle class.

One way to strengthen the middle class in America is to reform the immigration system, so that there is no longer a massive underground economy that exploits a cheap source of labor while depressing wages for everybody else.

What a joke. The reality is that illegal immigration hurts that U.S. middle class and it is severely damaging to the U.S. economy. Because of illegal immigration, every single day wages are lost, taxes dont get collected, hospitals provide free health care for which they are never paid, huge criminal gangs of foreigners are roaming our streets and the cost of providing social services to illegal aliens is slowly bankrupting state and local governments.

The following are 18 facts which prove that illegal immigration is an absolute nightmare for the U.S. economy.

#1 Illegal immigrants take jobs away from American citizens. According to a review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data, legal and illegal immigrants gained over a million additional jobs between 2008 and 2010 even as millions of American citizens were losing their jobs during that same time period.

#2 The majority of our immigrants now sneak in through the back door that the federal government purposely leaves open. Thanks to the negligence of the federal government, far more people move into the United States illegally than come in through the legal immigration process. This has got to change.

#3 Illegal immigrants generally dont pay taxes. The vast majority of illegal aliens would never even dream of paying income taxes, but Mexicans living in America send billions upon billions of dollars out of the United States and back to Mexico every single year.

#4 Although illegal aliens pay next to nothing in taxes, they have no problem receiving tens of billions of dollars worth of free education benefits, free health care benefits, free housing assistance and free food stamp benefits. Many communities in the United States now openly advertise that they will help illegal aliens with these things.

#5 The cost of educating the children of illegal immigrants is staggering. It is estimated that U.S. taxpayers spend $12,000,000,000 a year on primary and secondary school education for the children of illegal immigrants.

#6 Thanks to illegal immigration, Californias overstretched health care system is on the verge of collapse. Dozens of California hospitals and emergency rooms have shut downover the last decade because theycould not afford to stay open after being endlesslyswampedby illegalimmigrants who were simply not able to pay for the services that they were receiving. As a result, the remainder of the health care system in the state of Californiais now beyond overloaded. This had led to brutally long waits, diverted ambulances and even unnecessary patient deaths. Sadly, the state of California now ranks dead last out of all 50 states in the number of emergency rooms per million people.

#7 It was estimated that there were approximately 7.7 million illegal aliens employed by U.S. employers during 2008. How much better would our economy look if all of those jobs were being filled by American workers?

#8 The region along the U.S./Mexico border is now an open war zone. Just across the U.S. border, the city of Juarez, Mexico is considered to be one of the most dangerous cities on the entire planet because of the brutal drug war being waged there. In fact, Juarez has now become the murder capital of the western hemisphere. Much of that violence has begun to spill over into areas of the southwestern United States.

For example, a while back NPR described one incident in the Juarez Valley that involved American citizens.

A couple of weeks ago, gunmen in the Juarez Valley killed the Mexican relative of a Fort Hancock high school student. When the students family in Fort Hancock heard about it, they crossed the border at 10 a.m. to see the body, and took the student with them.

By 10:30, they had stabbed the relatives that went with him, which included his grandparents, with an ice pick, says school superintendent Jose Franco. My understanding is that the gentleman is like 90 years old, and they poked his eyes out with an ice pick. I believe those people are still in intensive care here in a hospital in the U.S.

#9 A substantial percentage of young illegal immigrants end up in gangs. U.S.authorities say that there are now over 1 million members of criminal gangs operating inside the United States. According to federal statistics, these 1 million gang members are responsible for up to 80% of the violent crimes committed inthe U.S.each year. Latino gangs made up primarily of illegal aliens are responsible for much of this violence.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, some of the most notorious gangs in the country are made up almost entirely of illegal immigrants.

Gang investigators in Virginia estimate that 90% of the members of MS-13, the most notorious immigrant gang, are illegal immigrants.

#10 The 18th Street Gang is certainly giving MS-13 a run for their money. It is believed that the 18th Street Gang has thousands of members in the city of Los Angeles alone. In fact, the gang has become so notorious that there are even rumors that some police officers in Los Angeles simply will not venture into the areas most heavily controlled by the 18th Street gang.

The following is what Wikipedia says about the 18th Street Gang.

A US Justice Department report from 2009 estimates that the 18th Street gang has a membership of some 30,000 to 50,000 with 80% of them being illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America and is active in 44 cities in 20 states. Its main source of income is street-level distribution of cocaine and marijuana and, to a lesser extent, heroin and methamphetamine. Gang members also commit assault, auto theft, carjacking, drive-by shootings, extortion, homicide, identification fraud, and robbery.

#11 The drug war in northern Mexico is one gigantic bloodbath. The Mexican government says that as many as 28,000 people have been slaughtered by the drug cartels since 2007. A very significant percentage of those deaths have happened in areas right along the U.S. border, and yet our federal government still sees no reason to get serious about border security.

#12 It is an open secret that Mexican drug cartels are openly conducting military operations inside the United States. The handful of border patrol agents that we have guarding the border are massively outgunned and outmanned.

Oneagent who patrols theborder and whoaskedto remain anonymoustold Fox News the following.

To say that this area is out of control is an understatement.

A different federal agent put it this way in an email to Fox News.

Every night were getting beaten like a pinata at a birthday party by drug, alien smugglers.

#13 Federalborder officials say that Mexican drug cartels have not only set up shop on U.S. soil, but they are actually maintaining lookout bases in strategic locations in the hills of southern Arizona. If you go to Arizona today, there are actually signs that have been put up by the federal government warning American citizens not to venture into certain wilderness routes that are used by Mexican drug cartels to bring in drugs.

#14 The drug war being waged on both sides of the border is so violent that it is almost unimaginable. For example, one very prominent Mexican assassin known as the soupmaker has confessed that he made approximately 300 bodies disappear by dissolving them in acid baths. But right now there is essentially nothing that is preventing the next soupmaker from crossing the U.S. border and moving into your neighborhood.

#15 Arizonapolice are being openly warned by the Mexican drug cartels that if they try to interfere with the drug traffic in their area that they will be taken outby drug cartel snipers.

#16 While the U.S. military endlessly hunts for members of al-Qaeda in the caves of Afghanistan and on the streets of Iraqi cities, a very real threat has been building just south of the border. Over the past 15 to 20 years, Hezbollah has set up operations all over Mexico, Central America and South America. Hezbollah is reportedly making a lot of money in the drug trade and in trafficking illegal aliens. Sadly, our government is largely ignoring this.

#17 Each year, it costs the states billions of dollars to incarcerate illegal immigrant criminals that should have never been allowed into the country in the first place. It is estimated that illegal aliens make up approximately 30 percent of the population in federal, state and local prisons and that the total cost of incarcerating them is more than $1.6 billion annually.

#18 The drug cartels and the gangs always seem to be a couple steps ahead of our agents along the border. Approximately 75 tunnels along the U.S. border with Mexico have been discovered by law enforcement authorities in the last four years alone.

How much do you think all of this crime, gang violence and drug cartel activity is costing our economy?

Why wont the federal government do what the Constitution requires and secure the border?

Oh, but Barack Obama says that he has a plan.

He says that he is going to save the day.

The following is how Barack Obama describes his plan

We are not going to ship back 12 million people, were not going to do it as a practical matter. We would have to take all our law enforcement that we have available and we would have to use it and put people on buses, and rip families apart, and thats not who we are, thats not what America is about. So what Ive proposed is you say were going to bring these folks out of the shadows. Were going to make them pay a fine, they are going to have to learn English, they are going to have to go to the back of the linebut they will have a pathway to citizenship over the course of 10 years.

So how many illegal immigrants do you think are going to step forward to pay a fine?

One percent?

How many of them do you think are going to show up for English classes?

Who is going to make them do it?

Obama?

Are we going to have law enforcement officials running around trying to collect fines from illegal immigrants and trying to get them to attend their English lessons?

According to Obama, the millions upon millions of illegal immigrants that are in this country are going to be glad to willingly do the following.

1) Admit they broke the law

2) Pay back taxes and a fine

3) Learn English

4) Be willing to undergo background checks before starting the legalization process

Those four points are taken directly from Obamas plan.

So what are illegal immigrants going to do when this plan is passed?

99 percent of them are going to laugh and they are just going to keep on doing what they have been doing.

Large numbers of illegal immigrants are already enjoying the high life in the dozens of sanctuary cities across the United States.

The following is how the Ohio Jobs & Justice PAC defines sanctuary cities.

Generally, sanctuary policies instruct city employees not to notify the federal government of the presence of illegal aliens living in their communities. The policies also end the distinction between legal resident aliens and illegal aliensso illegal aliens often benefit from taxpayer funded government services and programs too.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

Can I sign up for that plan?

After all, who wouldnt want to earn all income tax-free and yet enjoy unlimited government services?

Today we are being told that we need to make life as comfortable as possible for the waves of illegal immigrants that are coming in. In fact, Barack Obama says that all of us need to make sure that our kids are learning how to speak Spanish.

I dont understand when people are going around worrying about, we need to have English only. They want to pass a law, we just, we want English onlyNow, I agree that immigrants should learn English, I agree with this. But understand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, theyll learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.

All of this is utter insanity.

The cold, hard reality of the matter is that we have tightly secured the border between South Korea and North Korea for over 50 years and we could secure our own borders if we really wanted to.

But instead, we continue to leave our border with Mexico completely wide open. Thousands of criminals, gang members and drug pushers continue to come in completely unchecked every single day.

Meanwhile, the rest of us have to subject ourselves to some of the most humiliating security measures imaginable before we are even allowed to get on to an airplane.

It doesnt make a whole lot of sense, does it?

 

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Barack Obama Is Wrong: 18 Facts Which Prove That Illegal ...

Illegal Immigration and illegal immigrant are terms that have recently come under severe attack by the Associated Press and other groups and publications that seek to destroy the terms. These authoritarians hope to control minds and beliefs by dictating what language people can and cannot use in America.

Sure, you can still say the words illegal alien or illegal immigrant, but the Associated Press will no longer carry articles by journalists who refuse to adhere to their 'Newspeak' dictates in the AP 'Style Book'.

Illegal immigration, illegal immigrant, and illegal aliens are the predominant terms that most Americans and lawmakers use to describe people who are in America but should not be.

Half of America's illegal immigrants overstay their visas, demonstrating to us all that they are not trustworthy. The other half of the illegal immigration invasion of America are people who paid the murderous drug and illegal immigrant smuggling gangs and cartels thousands of dollars to sneak them into America under cover of darkness, while evading our law enforcement agents!

If you are planning to call the Department of Homeland Security to report illegals, report illegal immigrants, or report illegal aliens then we have to warn you the chances are less than 1% they will respond to your call for help. Even if you have solid evidence of a company hiring illegals, our Homeland Security Department under Barack Obama and Janet Napolitano is more interested in helping illegals instead of you! Barack Obama is supporting illegal immigration and amnesty for illegals!

Numerous scientific polls show us the true facts and statistics about illegal immigration. These polls and surveys show us that large majorities of Americans want our borders secured and existing immigration laws enforced instead of any form of Amnesty that would only encourage more illegal immigration.

Despite these facts and statistics, our American lawmakers and government refuse to protect our states and innocent citizens from this deadly and destructive illegal immigration invasion!

Here at ALIPAC you can learn more about the history of illegal immigration in America and the history of our fight against illegal immigration. We have built and continue to create the world's largest archive of information in existence on the topics of illegal immigration, illegal immigrants, Barack Obama and George Bush on immigration issues as well as the history of illegal immigration, facts, statistics, polls, surveys, activism, problems with illegal immigration and much more.

If you are tired of illegal immigration, Amnesty attempts, illegal aliens marching in our streets, stealing jobs from Americans, depreciating wages, and stealing billions of dollars of our taxpayer resources each year, then please join the fight against illegal immigration here at ALIPAC (Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee).

By joining our email alerts using the box on the left, you can volunteer and donate to our national organization's efforts to stop illegal immigration, illegal immigrants, and Amnesty.

Your volunteerism and donations here at ALIPAC help make our accomplishments, articles, releases and activism announcements, campaign endorsements, and fight to stop many of the problems caused by illegal immigration possible!

Welcome to the fight against illegal immigration here at ALIPAC!

Sincerely,

William GheenPresident of Americans for Legal Immigration PACwww.alipac.us

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Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration in Canada is the act of a non-Canadian individual entering Canada without the approval of the Government of Canada.

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, established in 2003 outlines the ruling, laws, and procedures associated with immigrants within Canada. It provides officers of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) with the authority to detain permanent residents and foreign nationals if any of the individuals have violated the rulings of the Act. Roughly 12,600 individuals who were living in Canada including 1,900 criminals who violated this Act and either posed a high risk to Canada or were illegal immigrants who were deported in the year of 2006-07.[1]

Canada has an immigration program which is established for every migrant wishing to emigrate to Canada. This program seeks individuals who will have the highest chances of providing positive input into the Canadian economy. By example, the New Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) measures the capabilities of individuals who are required to meet a passing mark, in order to have their application accepted. The passing mark currently is 67 out of a 100 in six categories: education, work experience, language, age, arranged employment, and adaptability (such as any previous work or education acquired within Canada).[2]

In 2017, the only legal options through which you can migrate to Canada are as follows:[disputed discuss]

The last audit of the Canadian population was performed in 2004 that indicated approximately 36,000 more individuals over a span of 6 years became illegal residents within Canada.[1] These statistics are considered inaccurate because, Canada does not record the information of illegal individuals leaving the country, but it is the last authentic value provided. Estimates made by the federal government account for 100,000 illegal immigrants who are still residing in Canada.[3] In the 1980s large numbers of Brazilians were arriving in Canada claiming refugee statuses. They would then reside until the end of their refugee process which allowed them to study, work, and collect social benefits. Canada noticed the large trend and imposed a requirement in 1987 of Brazilians needing to attain a visa in order to arrive in Canada, making it a little more difficult for many to immigrate.[4] During their stay, the Brazilians would develop the skills to pass the Canadian immigration tests, and become Canadian legal citizens. The ones that would not pass the citizenship tests would either leave back to Brazil, or continue to live as illegal citizens. Auditor General Sheila Fraser who worked for a 10-year period in the office of the Auditor General of Canada stated in 2008 that Canadas border agency has lost track of 41,000 individuals who have been ordered to be deported.[5] Canadas border agency is removing illegal immigrants in Canada regularly in a respectful, safe, and effective manner. Although in some cases individuals can be removed immediately, or allowed a temporary access into Canada with a Temporary Resident Permit as long as they do not pose a threat to Canadians. The Temporary Resident Permit can be issued by the Canada Border Agency or a border service officer for a cost of $200 per permit; the Canada Border Agency issued 13,412 permits in 2006. Permits are issued based on technical, criminal history, or medical reasons that allow legal residency for a period ranging from one day to three years. During this time period, the legal documents are gathered for individuals to be deported back to the country they emigrated from. This procedure at times could create challenges such as retrieving the legal documentation for deporting, hence the Temporary Resident Permits are provided enough time for such obstacles to be overcome efficient and effectively.

In 2017, after U.S. President Donald Trump took a hard-line against illegal immigration in the U.S., immigrants leaving the U.S. for Canada skyrocketed. Over 14,000 people were estimated to have left the U.S. for Canada since July, 2017 and Montreal had to re-purpose its Olympic Stadium to house the refugees.[6]

Canada welcomes refugees, but some have voiced strong opinions regarding immigrants within Canada. A poll conducted of 1,200 telephone interviews of adult Canadians gathered feedback on positive and negative opinions regarding immigrants settled in Canada.[7] Being a developed country, residents believe strongly that only individuals who migrate legally should be allowed to remain. A national poll revealed that two-thirds of Canadians believe that any resident of Canada who is illegal should be deported. Considering factors such as Quebec was the only province that reached a level of 70% where individuals stated that reasonable accommodations should be made for illegal immigrants rather than simply deporting them.[7]

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Illegal immigration to Canada - Wikipedia

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which defers deportation for about 700,000 illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, has been the topic of intense negotiations between President Trump and members of Congress this week. But this discussion is premature. Action to improve border security must come first.

The president wants to begin phasing out the existing DACA program in March though a federal judge this week temporarily blocked ending the program while a lawsuit is pending. The Trump administration is challenging that order. But the possible end to the program in coming weeks has driven Democrats to seek legislation to change the law to allow DACA recipients to stay in America.

Our country is filled with generous people. Each year we let over 1 million people legally immigrate to our country. More come legally for school and work. But at the same time, hundreds of thousands enter our country illegally by crossing our southern border.

It has been a longtime problem that, once again, became a huge campaign issue in 2016 elections. Republicans, led by President Trump, recommitted to building a wall along our southern border to stem the tide of illegal border crossings with its attendant problems. Democrats promised to grant legal status to DACA recipients and urged even broader changes to immigration laws leading to amnesty for the estimated 11 million illegal aliens in our country today.

We need to enforce our internal immigration laws and remove the incentives to enter and stay in America illegally. Only after all these things have been done should we start to debate further immigration reforms.

The American people elected Donald Trump as president and Republican majorities in the House and Senate. In keeping with the electoral outcome and the long-term health of America, we should not put the DACA cart before the build-a-wall horse.

Before Congress passes any legislation on DACA or a broader amnesty bill for those who are in the United States illegally, we must fund, start, and complete building of the border wall. Congress must also add additional infrastructure on the border to make sure it is as secure as possible.

We also need to enforce our internal immigration laws and remove the incentives to enter and stay in America illegally. Only after all these things have been done should we start to debate further immigration reforms.

In 1986, amnesty was granted to 3 million illegal aliens. We were promised secure borders, strong enforcement, and a host of other immigration reforms in exchange for what was billed as a one-time amnesty program. The amnesty was quickly given but we have been waiting for more than 30 years for the other promises to be delivered.

If there is one thing I have learned in my brief time in D.C., it is to make sure the other party upholds its promises before giving up the leverage I hold. Somehow, the other side is never capable of fulfilling its end of the bargain.

Today DACA delays the appropriate legal action against people who are in America illegally.

DACA has a plethora of problems, and most recipients arent the valedictorians that the media would like the public to believe. Pro-DACA sources admit that more than 20 percent of self-described DACA recipients have already dropped out of school.

Insiders warn that there is a severe lack of vetting within the program. Further, a person receiving DACA benefits can be a criminal, committing up to two crimes without being disqualified, and can be up to age 36 when applying!

DACA distracts the public and fails to meet the objectives the American people expressed support for in the voting booth. Voters indicated the desire for a border wall or fence and other border security measures. Thats a big reason many Americans made Donald Trump president.

Moreover, permanent DACA status does not satisfy the DACA recipients I have talked to. Why? Because it is, ostensibly, only a benefit for these illegal aliens and is not citizenship.

Instead, DACA recipients want a pathway to citizenship full amnesty and all the benefits that come along with it for themselves, their parents (who brought them here illegally in the first place), and the entire group of people in the chain migration scheme a long list of extended family members, their spouses and children.

As a result, the movement to provide a fix for DACA recipients has morphed into the passage of the clean DREAM Act a plan to allow millions of illegal aliens to remain in the United States. DACA recipients have been dubbed Dreamers.

Even if Congress extends or makes permanent the DACA program, Democrats and Dreamers wont rest until they achieve full amnesty with passage of the DREAM Act. They want illegal aliens to move ahead of the millions of people have been waiting to enter the country legally or who have been here legally for many years on temporary visas.

I cant help but think of the many friends I have who have become naturalized American citizens. Most have taken 10 to 12 years. They did it the right way. Is it humane to reward people who broke the law over those who have waited years and followed all the rules?

Extending DACA or passing a larger amnesty bill before we build the promised border wall, before we take other actions to improve border security, before we beef up internal enforcement of our immigration laws, and before we remove the incentives to come and stay in America illegally would be a colossal mistake.

President Trump has said it would only take a year to complete the wall, though others estimate it would take longer. Lets take that year or more of construction and complete the wall before we discuss DACA and immigration reforms. I will do all I can to keep the commitments to uphold the law that I made to my constituents on the immigration issue.

Republican Andy Biggs represents the 5th Congressional District of Arizona.

Read more here:
Mr. Trump, fund, start, and finish the wall before you ...

Its causing a lot of panic, said Oscar Renteria, the owner of Renteria Vineyard Management, which employs about 180 farmworkers who are now pruning grapevines in the Napa Valley.

When word of the raids spread, he received a frenzy of emails from his supervisors asking him what to do if immigration officers showed up at the fields. One sent a notice to farmhands warning them to stay away from 7-Eleven stores in the area.

Our work force frequently visits 7-Elevens, said Mr. Renteria. Theyre very nervous. Its another form of reminding them that theyre not welcome.

The Obama administration largely took a lower-profile approach to enforcement, auditing employers compliance in documenting their workers status without conducting many on-site investigations. A handful of employers faced prominent criminal cases in recent years, but most companies employing workers illegally avoid serious charges, because it is often impossible to prove that they knew someone had handed in fake documents.

The consequences are not that harsh, and the effect of the enforcement is less than it should be, said Jessica M. Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates tighter restrictions on immigration.

The law requires employers only to ensure that documents appear to be valid, and federal law prohibits them from requiring specific types of identification from workers.

Employers negotiate reduced administrative fines and sometimes put political pressure on local officials when they become targets, making the punishment for companies weaker than it should be, Ms. Vaughan said. There are employers for whom the penalties are just the cost of doing business.

The more lasting effect of raids is to spread fear among undocumented workers, who often end up bearing the brunt of enforcement action at the workplace.

Having some semblance of a fear of workers being arrested will have a behavioral shift, said William Riley, who spent 20 years as an ICE special agent, under both Bush presidencies and the Clinton and Obama administrations, and is now a consultant at Guidepost Solutions, working on corporate compliance. Mr. Riley said that under the last administration, people were more lax about working illegally, assuming they wouldnt be arrested.

There was slightly more complacency when it was pretty well known that there wasnt a fear of being arrested in your workplace, Mr. Riley said, nor much of a deterrent to using fake documents to get a job.

Mr. Renteria said he expected raids on farms soon, because the industry is a big employer of people with complicated immigration status. More than half of Californias agriculture workers lack documents, according to a federal survey. Mr. Renteria worries that if agents home in on the Napa area, no one will stay to harvest the grapes.

They will start calling their cousins, aunts and uncles and finding the safest place where the work is, he said.

The last flurry of public, on-site investigations happened under President George W. Bush, who sent immigration agents to several meatpacking plants and other workplaces. Those raids led to hundreds of arrests of workers and prompted many other employees to stop reporting to work, according to local news reports. But they also enraged advocates for immigrants and drew complaints from business owners.

The Obama administration changed tack and pursued employers mainly by inspecting their paperwork. Such audits doubled from fiscal years 2009 to 2013, reaching 3,127, then declined sharply.

Law enforcement may welcome a more aggressive approach under the new administration. But sending armed agents to the doorsteps of American companies could prove politically uncomfortable for Mr. Trump, who has portrayed himself as an ally to business.

Doris Meissner learned how quickly local politicians can spring into action when their hometown industries feel threatened. As head of the agency that preceded ICE, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, from 1993 to 2000, Ms. Meissner tried to focus on holding employers accountable.

She approved the start of Operation Vanguard in the 1990s, in which the agency asked for employee records in several Nebraska meatpacking plants. When it came time to pursue charges against some employers, Ms. Meissner said, she started receiving frantic calls from Nebraskans on Capitol Hill.

The politics gets hot and heavy, Ms. Meissner said. These are communities that are heavily reliant on these industries. This is the major employer. These are the major consumers at the stores and the bowling alleys.

Ms. Meissner says work-site raids dont work in the long term because they fail to address the real magnet drawing people into the country: a need for laborers.

Cracking down on employers who violate the law is crucial, she said, and it isnt right to employ people who are here illegally. But without a visa system allowing unmet labor needs to be addressed with foreigners, she said, ICE shouldnt expect patchwork enforcement stings to persuade farms, hotels or meatpackers to stop employing unauthorized workers.

When your laws dont align with the market, then the market is always going to win, Ms. Meissner said.

Audits of employers were favored early in the Obama administration as an immigration enforcement tool, but their use then declined.

Advocates for immigrant workers said the raids were just the most recent source of a quiet terror reverberating across factory floors since Mr. Trump took office.

When you have such a public thing happening close to home, folks feel the presence of ICE constantly, said Mariela Martinez, the organizing director of the Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles. But her clients have families and children here, Ms. Martinez said, so they cant just pack their bags and go.

Its not motivating people to self-deport, she said. Its motivating people to not use their labor rights. Its causing people to distrust government agencies.

Ms. Martinez helps people in the garment industry file claims for back pay with the state when their employers pay them less than theyre owed. She said far fewer workers asked for restitution last year compared with 2016, partly because of concern that their bosses would call ICE if they spoke up.

That was the punishment one manufacturer meted out to Pablo, a 36-year-old sewing worker in Los Angeles who would not give his last name because he lacks papers and fears being identified by ICE. When he received a check for $92 after working three 11-hour days at a garment factory last month, Pablo insisted that he deserved more.

His boss responded by offering to pay him what he was owed, but only if Pablo offered up his home address. After signing another check, Pablo said, the factory owner said that he would call immigration officials and direct them to Pablos door.

You feel terrible. You feel uncomfortable, Pablo said. I was so scared. He called Ms. Martinez and they returned together the next day to tell the employer that the threat constituted illegal retaliation under California law. The employer backed down.

The 7-Eleven raids will give garment bosses even more control over their workers, Pablo said.

Now they know the president is on their side, he said, so they feel like they can intimidate people and treat them badly and they will never talk.

Still, Pablo has been here since he was 17, and has no plans to leave yet. He has bills to pay.

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Workplace Raids Signal Shifting Tactics in Immigration ...