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My family was far from alone. In Boston, immigrants make up nearly one-third of our population. We welcome and cherish those who are fleeing persecution or simply seeking a better life. We know our success -- and our nation's success -- has always depended on the drive, talent, community and culture of newcomers. That's why I was so angered by the White House's executive orders this week, aiming to strip cities like Boston of their federal funding and shut the door to desperate refugees. They sent the message that America is rejecting its heritage as a nation of immigrants and giving up on its role as a beacon of hope in the world. More immediately for cities like Boston, these orders threaten to undermine public safety, sap our economic vitality and tear apart our families. My response has been swift and certain. I stood up -- joined by the dozens of Boston leaders who are first- and second-generation immigrants -- and said that we will not change our values or turn our back on immigrants. I will do everything lawful within my power to protect our immigrant neighbors, documented or not. If necessary, I will use City Hall itself to shelter and protect them from persecution. I'm hopeful that it won't come to that. The fact is, we have American values, common sense and the United States Constitution on our side. In the meantime, we'll continue to build trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities. For everyone's safety, both documented and undocumented immigrants need to know they can report crimes without fear of being targeted over civil issues or mere suspicions. The Boston Police Department has worked hard to build this trust while focusing its energies on serious crimes. Cities with "Trust Acts" are among the safest in the United States. We won't be intimidated by threats to our federal funding, either. The Supreme Court has ruled that federal funds may not be withdrawn over issues unrelated to the funding legislation's purposes. In any case, we won't place money ahead of our neighbors' safety and security. If we are concerned about economic impacts, we have to recognize how much we depend on immigrants. In Boston, immigrants reflect a significant amount of medical and life science workers; more than one-third of all business owners; and 22% of our university students. Immigrants also contributed $3.5 billion to our city's economy in consumer spending alone. Nationally, urban regions -- the gateways for immigrants -- account for 91% of America's economic output and total wages. And regarding this nonsense about a wall, let's be clear: Undocumented southern border crossings have fallen dramatically over the past eight years. A wall is a waste of money, a useless substitute for real reform and a dismal symbol of fear at a time when we need confidence. The federal government's energy and resources should be aimed instead at solving the serious challenges we face, from healthcare to education to retirement security. Consider what's possible with the White House as our partner. In response to a challenge by former First Lady Michelle Obama, Boston has housed more than 800 homeless veterans since 2014, ending chronic veteran homelessness in our city. Contrary to the narrative in Washington, for mayors across the country, immigration is an area of bipartisan agreement. At the United States Conference of Mayors last week, leaders from red states and blue states agreed: The actions the White House is threatening would wreak havoc on urban economies and communities.

Finally, and importantly, these measures cannot be defended by differentiating between documented and undocumented immigrants. First, we reject the cruelty of breaking up families and pulling students out of colleges. More generally, immigrant communities have long blended a variety of legal statuses, because federal immigration law has not kept up with our economy's need for talent and hard work from around the world.

What we need, and what mayors have called for over many years, is comprehensive immigration reform. If Washington continues to fail to deliver on that responsibility, cities will continue to step up. Far from ignoring the challenge, mayors are upholding America's most deeply held values every day.

Originally posted here:
Boston mayor: Why cities will protect immigrants - CNN

January 27, 2017 10:52 PM By Pat Warren

ANNAPOLIS, Md (WJZ) Marylanders gather in protest of executive orders signed by President Trump on immigration policies. Immigration advocates and religious leaders were joined by lawmakers in a rally in Annapolis.

Many of those attending todays rally feel targeted by Trumps enhanced enforcement of immigration laws. CASA, Jews for Justice, and the Council on Islamic Relations responded to President Trumps immigration reform announced Wednesday at a rally at Lawyers Mall in Annapolis.

The president says his reform cracks down on sanctuary cities, empowers ICE officers to target and remove those who pose a threat to public safety.

It also gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement broad discretion in determining who that is, sending a wave of concern through Marylands immigrant and Muslim population and those who support them.

Were here to say it loud and say it clear, immigrants are welcome here, says one rally speaker.

President Trump. I think he forgets that his ancestors were not born in the United States, says Cynthia Steer from Montgomery County, who came to the rally on Friday.

Take a moment to look around, look next to you because this is what democracy looks like. So tell me, tell me what democracy looks like? This is what democracy looks like, says a rally leader to the crowd.

Its a fundamental Maryland value and American value that were accepting of those that come here, looking for that better life. We should continue that and fight back against the hate weve seen against immigrants, says Del. Eric Ludke, from Montgomery County.

The President denies discriminating.

We want dignity and equality for everyone and I will be a president I promise you, for everyone, says President Trump.

Todays demonstrators have a hard time reconciling those words with recent actions.

The presidents immigration order also calls for 10,000 additional border patrol officers.

Pat Warren joined the Eyewitness News team in 1992. Pat came to WJZ from WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio where she had been a news anchor and general assignment reporter. Her desire to give back to the community keeps Pat involved with many...

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Marylanders Rally In Annapolis Against Immigration Reform - CBS Local

President Donald Trump has been criticized for adopting his "America first" campaign slogan because of its fraught historical implications. But it shouldn't be controversial that Trump wishes to shape his policies for the benefit of the country he leads.

That's at least as true on immigration as in on any other issue. Trump signed two executive orders Wednesday setting in motion the building of a wall on America's southern border. There are many border walls in the world and there is nothing inherently wrong with them. (Comparisons with the Berlin Wall are utterly inapt, for that edifice was built to keep people imprisoned within, rather than intended to keep people out).

The trouble with a wall is not that it does too much but that it does too little. A wall won't solve today's most pressing immigration problems.

"We are in the midst of a crisis on our southern border," Trump said at his appearance at the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday. However that may be in the intangible sense that the U.S. no longer controls its frontiers as it should, it is not so if Trump's words were intended to convey a flood of illegal aliens coming north into America.

Border crossings are way down. The Pew Research Center has found that the number of illegal immigrants coming from Mexico has decreased for the last nine years, and more Mexicans are leaving via our southern border than are trying to come in.

Most immigrants who arrive in America illegally aren't burrowing under fences or trying to evade border control agents. And most aren't the young male gang members of campaign imagery, but young mothers with small children fleeing mayhem and seeking shelter in the U.S. They approach the border hoping to be detained so they can get a hearing before an asylum judge. They are escaping gangs and poverty-ridden countries in Central America, specifically Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. About 80,000 Latin Americans sought asylum last year, up 900 percent in less than a decade.

An even bigger problem are people who enter the country legally then fail to leave once their visas run out. A recent estimate suggests this accounts for three-fifths of illegal immigrants. A Homeland Security Department study found that nearly half a million people were here illegally because of visa overstays in 2015, and that more than twice as many (93,000) came from Canada as from Mexico (42,000). Again, a wall will do nothing to address this problem.

A better approach would be to control which foreigners are granted residency. Immigration resonated with voters this year not merely as a security issue, but also as a jobs issue. Some critics overstate the negative effects of immigrants on the economy and ignore the benefits. But there are economic costs, and American workers have good reason to complain about mass immigration.

It drives down wages, the best recent research shows. Harvard economist George Borjas described his findings this way: "When the supply of workers goes up, the price that firms have to pay to hire workers goes down. Wage trends over the past half-century suggest that a 10 percent increase in the number of workers with a particular set of skills probably lowers the wage of that group by at least 3 percent."

The biggest victims are low-skilled workers.

Guest-worker programs aren't about helping the oppressed or welcoming new citizens. Their purpose is to provide lower-wage labor for businesses. Guest workers are less free to demand higher wages or better treatment, because "you're fired," also means "you're deported."

President Trump should end the low-skilled guest-worker program and reform the high-skilled program. White House adviser Stephen Miller has the good idea of allocating high-skilled guest-worker visas to the highest-paying jobs. Another good idea, as Washington Examiner columnist Michael Barone has noted, is to emulate Australia's skilled immigration points test, under which applicants must score a minimum number of points, based on age, skill, education, English language proficiency and other factors, to be granted residency.

These are just a few examples of what can be done. Trump should think beyond the wall when it comes to reforming our broken immigration system.

More:
Immigration reform, beyond Trump's wall - Colorado Springs Gazette

Patch.com

Crackdown on Sanctuary States & Cities? Governor Says U.S. Needs Immigration Reform Patch.com Congress needs to come together in a bipartisan way, to pass comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders and creates a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants after they go to the end of the line, pay their taxes, and pass a ... and more »

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Crackdown on Sanctuary States & Cities? Governor Says U.S. Needs Immigration Reform - Patch.com

A number of enforcement and border security-type immigration bills may be introduced soon in the U.S. House as the Senate is busy considering cabinet appointments and a Supreme Court nominee, a former Bush administration official says.

Gregory Bull/Associated Press

In this Sept. 27, 2016 file photo, Haitians make their way towards the border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico. Observers say immigration reform bills likely will start soon in the U.S. House of Representatives.

ELLENSBURG, Wash. Immigration reform bills likely will start soon in the U.S. House of Representatives as the Senate will be busy considering President Donald Trumps Supreme Court nominee and cabinet appointments, a labor attorney and former Bush administration official says.

Leon Sequeira, assistant secretary of labor under President George W. Bush, spoke at the annual Workforce Summit of WAFLA, formerly the Washington Farm Labor Association, at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Jan. 26.

A comprehensive reform approach you can bet on not happening, Sequeira said, noting comprehensive efforts failed spectacularly in the Bush years in 2006 and 2007 and in 2013 during the presidency of Barack Obama who never lacked for self confidence.

A piecemeal approach of enforcement bills regarding a U.S.-Mexican border wall and security is likely to start soon followed by interior enforcement including mandatory E-verify (electronic verification of employment eligibility), he said.

Once they clear out immigration and enforcement issue theres a chance you could see some reforms of visa programs, particularly in agriculture because there is a well-documented shortage of workers, he said.

The shortage is well understood by legislators, he said.

However, Frank Gasperini Jr., executive vice president of National Council for Agricultural Employers, has said labor-intensive agriculture is very concerned that E-verify will devastate their workforce if not accompanied by guestworker reform and legal status for illegal domestic workers.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., will be the driving and controlling force and any H-2A (agricultural visa) reforms likely will follow his HR 1773 bill of two years ago, Sequeira said.

That bill moved administration of H-2A from the Department of Labor to the Department of Agriculture and changed the name to H-2C. It broadened the definition of agriculture to include processing and activities that are on the edge of eligibility.

It contained significant reforms to housing requirements and made the program more user-friendly so you dont have to hire a lawyer before you hire a farmworker, he said.

It also provided legal work status for illegals in the country without giving them citizenship, he said.

Allocating visas by state is being talked about and requiring electronic processing of applications by agencies, he said.

Dan Fazio, WAFLA director, said he doesnt think immigration reform will pass this year or next because Democrats want a comprehensive bill and Republicans dont. That leaves regulatory reform by agencies as the only relief, he said.

But Sequeira said Republicans have political pressure to act. He said they will pass something in the House and the only question will be whether it can make it past Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Trade associations are busy formulating their immigration approaches for the administration and Congress and a big part of what happens depends on who ends up in sub-cabinet secretary positions in key departments, Sequeira said. He said hes not looking for a position, being very busy with current clients.

The Trump administration likely will end Obamas extreme hostility to H-2A and deficiency notices on non-substantive issues, he said.

Its interesting, he said, that the federal government has programs like H-2A geared to alleviating farmworker shortages while it has other programs designed to help farmworkers find other employment.

Jim Koempel, a Wenatchee Valley grower, said hes in his third year of hiring H-2A workers through WAFLA and that its going well.

You dont wake up in the morning to find half your crew gone (like can happen with domestic workers), said his son-in-law Bill Summers.

Koempel said he supported Trump but is concerned about the unknown. I hope the wall has a slot in it big enough for a box of pears, he said, explaining he hopes any rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement doesnt harm pear and apple exports to Mexico.

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Immigration reform likely to be piecemeal effort - Capital Press