Free Republic

Mark Zuckerberg and Marco Rubio have become amnesty’s two indistinguishable amigos. They have morphed into Marco Zuckerberg and Mark Rubio. You’ve heard the radio spots and seen the television ads featuring Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio talking about the dire need to do something about the “immigration problem” not “illegal immigration” but immigration. During a minute’s worth of huffing and puffing Rubio tries to bulldoze past any logical objections to erasing our borders with faux tough talk designed to impress us with his credentials as an “insider’ who KNOWS more than we do. Rubio’s media crusade is funded by liberal...

Among the criticisms leveled at the new Senate immigration bill is the secretive manner in which it was written. And given the details, it's hardly any wonder that the eight senators overseeing the proceedings - the "Gang of Eight" - refused to hold hearings or debate until after the bill's release. Tucked away in the measure are two sections that would route a combined $150 million or more to "public or private, non-profit organizations" that are "community, faith-based or other immigrant-serving." Recipient groups could use funds to aid potentially tens of millions of illegal immigrants and family members to obtain...

A bipartisan group in the House working on an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws reached a deal in principle Thursday evening, aides said. The group plans to introduce its bill in June. Details of the compromise were not released, but, much like a bill introduced in the Senate, the House legislation will include a path to legalization for the 11 million undocumented workers already in the country, as well as increased border security measures. The House version, though, is expected to be more conservative in its approach to granting illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, among a number of...

An idea so crazy it just might … Opponents and supporters of “comprehensive immigration reform” (i.e. amnesty) agree it doesn’t do well on the front burner of public debate. Excessive attention exposes flaws and contradictions in the legislation and focuses the anger of opponents. Back in March, I didn’t see how the Obama team, however brilliant, was going to protect its amnesty bill from this threat of publicity, given that the mainstream press was “commmitted to overcovering this issue.” Now we know the answer! In its most fiendish strategem yet, Team Obama has launched a series of not-quite-devastating but press-obsessing...

A bipartisan group of House negotiators said Thursday it has reached an “agreement in principle” on comprehensive immigration reform legislation. “We have an agreement in principle,” Rep. John Carter (R-Tex.) said as he and five other members of the group emerged from a two-hour meeting late Thursday afternoon.

The latest Public Policy Polling data bears sobering news for Senator Marco Rubio, showing his support among conservatives has substantially decreased since last month. When asked for their preferred GOP candidate, only 17% of “very conservative” respondents favored Rubio, while only 18% of “somewhat conservative” respondents favored Rubio. This is a steep decline from the same poll’s findings in April, when Rubio’s support was 26% among the“very conservative” and 22% among the “somewhat conservative.” The survey was conducted between May 6–9th. The survey released in April was conducted between March 27–30th. The "Gang of 8" bill, spearheaded by Senator Rubio,...

SC Sen. Lindsey Graham's blatant treachery against the conservative movement, along with that of John McCain and Marco Rubio- often aided and abetted by the corrupt Republican establishment, no less- had gone well beyond the Pale long before today. So conservatives throughout South Carolina have rightfully begun organizing to back a conservative opponent, most likely Lee Bright, to take Graham in the primaries for the 2014 Senate elections. But now Graham has exceeded even his own sickening standards for treason and betrayal. As has become clear over the last last week, Obama has been embroiled in perhaps the most disgusting...

Politico is discussing the prospects of Barack Obama's remaining agenda in light of the trifecta of scandals exploding around him. While the authors of the piece, Jake Sherman, Ginger Gibson and Seung Min Kim speculate that various of the items on the President's 'to-do list' are to one degree or another, in jeapordy - they seem to see a Silver lining for 'Immigration Reform amidst all the general gloom. But the scandal trifecta — including Benghazi, the IRS probe of conservative groups and the Justice Department’s seizure of reporters’ records — presents a new challenge for the House GOP: how...

One of the most frustrating aspects of the immigration monologue that’s unfolded over the past few years is the inability of one side-representing those who are committed to open borders and an uninterrupted stream of mass immigration-to acknowledge the legitimacy of the concerns expressed by their opponents, despite the fact that they constitute a significant majority of the American public. Perhaps the lack of a powerful, eloquent advocate for American interests who is a minority-yet is also liberal and has access to influential media and political circles within Washington D.C.-is responsible for this disconnect between reality as experienced by most...

The mere thought of granting amnesty to 11 -- 20 million illegal immigrants should frighten any common sense American citizen. Amnesty means that wannabe tyrants like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Michael Bloomberg, and Barack Obama will achieve their "dream of a permanent Democratic majority" in the U.S. The entire political, cultural, social, and economic landscape created by our Founding Fathers will be destroyed by amnesty. Concerned citizens must engage in the democratic process to stop the current immigration "reform" madness. This article provides them with all the tools they need to do so by clicking here. Please take action NOW...

1. They must pay back taxes Jon Feere is the legal policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies. Despite claims from amnesty advocates, the bill does not contain a requirement that illegal immigrants pay back taxes for the many years they have been working off the books. The only requirement in the bill is that illegal immigrants must iron out any existing problems they may have with the IRS. If the IRS has ever audited the illegal immigrant and requested payment of unpaid taxes, they would be required to pay them before receiving amnesty. The reality is that the...

Ok Rush is on WMAL, and out of the blue I hear a "Conservative" group(didn't catch the name) advertizing for "comprehensive" immigration reform. It included quotes from Rubio. The implication is that "conservatives" are behind Rubio. It was pure BS propaganda.

Two radically different theories are raging across the conservative movement about amnesty for illegal aliens and its effect on our economy. How could the same movement grounded on the same conceptual principles come to two totally different conclusions? I was honored to interview Derrick Morgan, Vice President of the Heritage Foundation, on May 8 as a co-host of the Conservative Commandos radio show. I asked Derrick Morgan these questions, and the Heritage vice president made the entire issue crystal-clear. So, would immigration reform under the "Gang of Eight's" proposal cause our economy to expand, increase wages for everyone, and more...

Tuesday, May 07, 2013 The Road to Nowhere Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog The Heritage Institute report estimates that under amnesty the average legalized illegal household will take in $43,900 in benefits while paying a little over a third of that in taxes. Those numbers are grim from the standpoint of a tottering economy being asked to take on an even bigger pile of debt and they reveal an even grimmer view of the future. Set aside the political debates, the tensions over multiculturalism, entitlements and the great political divide, and those numbers reek of a...

I have worked on the issue of immigration’s fiscal impact for a long time, having presented my first academic paper on the subject at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association almost two decades ago. I can thus say with confidence that the Heritage Foundation’s recent report on the fiscal cost of illegal immigrants is the most detailed and exhaustive ever done on this topic. The report’s lead author is Robert Rector, intellectual godfather of welfare reform. Rector finds that illegal-immigrant households use about $55 billion more in services than they pay in taxes each year. Under the...

Executive Summary Unlawful immigration and amnesty for current unlawful immigrants can pose large fiscal costs for U.S. taxpayers. Government provides four types of benefits and services that are relevant to this issue: Direct benefits. These include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation.Means-tested welfare benefits. There are over 80 of these programs which, at a cost of nearly $900 billion per year, provide cash, food, housing, medical, and other services to roughly 100 million low-income Americans. Major programs include Medicaid, food stamps, the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit, public housing, Supplemental Security Income, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.Public...

Vice-President Joe Biden hit back at those criticizing the current immigration reform bill as a grant of amnesty to lawbreakers. “Considering everything these people have already suffered through, granting them amnesty is the least we ought to be doing for them,” he argued. “Think about it,” Biden demanded. “A person in this country illegally had to cross hundreds of miles of baking desert, dodging INS officers along the way. Many had to pay Mexican criminals for the right to pass through their drug territories unscathed. Once here they had to take on menial jobs at low pay while eluding detection...

(CNSNews.com) The feral government spent more than $2 billion to provide Puerto Rico in food stamps in 2012, up to 25% of it is untraceable because it is distributed in cash and there is "no way to verify that funds are being spent on food" according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The funds are used to provide more than one-third of the population of Puerto Rico with food stamps

Por La Raza, Todo! Joe Biden in full pander mode, totally without shame.- by John HillStand With ArizonaFew can equal Vice President Joe Biden as a race-baiting panderer. And Joe is increasingly making his professed amor for "Hispanics" standard fare for his stump speeches pushing amnesty for illegal aliens. Biden never misses an opportunity to put Hispanics - and especially illegals - on a pedestal. In January, addressing a group of newly-elected Latino members of Congress, Biden insisted that "now the nation -- and I might add the hemisphere -- understands the Hispanic community must be courted. Must be courted....

American Enterprise Institute scholar Charles Murray suggested on Friday that former Heritage Foundation analyst Jason Richwine, whose doctoral dissertation at Harvard included evidence that Hispanic immigrants have lower IQs than non-Hispanic whites, had been railroaded and forced to resign by people without integrity or “balls.” Quote: Jason Richwine, guilty of crimethink, "resigns." The bashing from the right has been as mindless as from the left. Thank God I was working for Chris DeMuth and AEI, not Jim DeMint and Heritage, when The Bell Curve was published. Integrity. Loyalty. Balls.DeMuth was the president of AEI from 1986 to 2008. The Bell...

A co-author of a disputed Heritage Foundation report on a new immigration bill has resigned amid controversy over claims he made about immigrants having low IQs. A spokesman for the conservative think tank confirmed Jason Richwine's resignation Friday without offering details. Richwine was one of two authors of a report released Monday that said immigration legislation pending in the Senate would cost $6.3 trillion over 50 years as immigrants consumed federal benefits without making up for it in taxes. The report quickly came under attack as critics from the left and right said it didn't account for economic benefits from...

The night before Thursday's marathon committee markup, members of the Senate's Gang of Eight and their staffs huddled in a room in the Capitol to decide what amendments to their immigration bill they would let live—and what must die. As a comprehensive immigration overhaul advances through the Senate, its chief architects will remain firmly in control of its fate. This week's drama at the Senate Judiciary Committee provided a valuable test run for the group, which must protect their bill from changes that undermine the principles they agreed on but accept enough suggestions from their colleagues to garner at least...

Everytime I hear Marco Rubio pitching amnesty courtesy of Zuckerberg's fake, Trojan horse "Americans for a Conservative Dirction" I get madder and madder. I just heard another such radio spot with Rubio telling lie after lie about the 8 gangsters' amnesty bill. The ad says its the "toughest border measure in America's history", "border security on steroids", "bold, very conservative", etc., etc. ad nauseum. Any guy that can pitch for Zuckerberg like this, telling the most bald-faced lies imaginable, is no conservative. A FReeper (sorry, I can't remember to whom to give the credit) accurately called him "Marco Dupio" the...

How low will supporters of the Gang of Eight immigration bill go to get their way? This low: They've shamelessly branded an accomplished Ivy League-trained quantitative analyst a "racist" and will stop at nothing to destroy his career as they pave their legislative path to another massive illegal alien benefits bonanza. Jason Richwine works for the conservative Heritage Foundation. He's a Harvard University Ph.D. who co-authored a study that pegs the cost of the Ted Kennedy Memorial Open Borders Act 2.0 legislation at $6.3 trillion. Lead author Robert Rector is a senior research fellow at Heritage, a former United States...

Two-term Sen. Lindsey Graham expects a primary challenge from the right, making his starring role in immigration reform a confounding political vulnerability for the South Carolina Republican. Graham knows it, too. But he thinks he’s correct—on both the policy and the politics. Graham says his position on immigration is in line with voters’ evolving sentiment on the issue—namely, that voters in South Carolina oppose the “de facto amnesty” in place under the current “broken” system. And it has not gone unnoticed by Republican strategists that Graham enjoys some political cover created by conservative Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., stepping out front...

Biden: Amnesty for 11 Million Illegals is ‘Granting Them the Dignity & Respect They Deserve’. What does breaking the law – those identical to international regulations Americans are jailed for in Mexico and abroad – have to do with dignity and respect? If anything, these trespassers showed no respect for America or her citizens: both natural born or naturalized. In what other country are criminals, non-citizens at that, rewarded for breaking the law? The real problem is that a simple ...issue, applying for and obtaining citizenship, has been muddled and shamelessly exploited by unscrupulous politicians trying to maximize power. If...

The American Conservative Union has just released a statement in support of Sen. Marco Rubio’s bipartisan effort on immigration reform, suggesting that there was widespread conservative support for the bill. “It is an honor to bring together fellow conservatives who feel strongly that we need to act now to fix our broken immigration policies and our borders,” said ACU Chairman Al Cardenas in the statement. “I congratulate my friend Senator Marco Rubio for his leadership on this issue and believe that conservative support for his efforts is growing.” Cardenas clarified that the bill was “not perfect” but that Rubio was...

Handy guide to the Larger Issue: Justin Green, responding to the arguments over the Heritage Foundation’s estimate of the cost of immigration amnesty, says that what this debate is “really about� is whether we’re heading towardsa society where anything less than a college diploma is no longer sufficient to achieve the American Dream.In other words: Unchecked, or vastly expanded, immigration opens the remaining unskilled jobs that can’t be outsourced to global low-wage competition. Even if the result would be a larger American economy overall, it would also be an economy where those diligently performing basic labor, who don’t have much...

An amendment submitted by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley requiring the security of the Nation's borders before granting amnesty to more than 11 million illegal immigrants, has been voted down by the Senate Judiciary Committee 6-12. Every Democrat on the Committee voted against the amendment. The amendment: Purpose: To prohibit the granting of registered provisional immigrant status until the Secretary has maintained effective control of the borders for 6 months and to apply border security strategies to all border sectors. Gang of Eight Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham sit on the Committee and voted against the amendment. Democratic Sens....

Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that passing an immigration reform law that would give the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally a pathway to citizenship would be “granting them the dignity and respect they deserve.” Speaking at the Conference on the Americas on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Biden told attendees from countries throughout the Western Hemisphere that every nation has to make “tough choices.” “In the United States, it means reforming our immigration system and 11 million undocumented men, women and children being able to come out of the shadows and be full participants in American life,”...

Now, in a move to ramp up support for immigration reform, Pres. Obama has made the following declaration: “Unless you are one of the first Americans, unless you are a Native American, you came from someplace else. That’s why we’ve always defined ourselves as a nation of immigrants. And we’ve always been better off for it.” Liberals seems to forget history a little bit, well a lot bit. It doesn’t matter whether you were born here, or your family came last week, last year, one hundred years ago, or two thousand. Nobody’s ancestors are the original natives of this land....

The Amnesty bill allows 3 misdemeanors or one felony. Is it possible that these people did not look up what possible crimes that could be? It will allow multiple DUIs, identity fraud, social security fraud and the like. But what about gang membership, terrorist threats or assault? YES!!!!! Under the bill, all this stuff will be allowed. Lovely. Fla. Stat. 790.1615  Unlawful throwing, projecting, placing, or discharging of destructive device or bomb that results in injury to another; penalty.— (1) A person who perpetrates any unlawful throwing, projecting, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb that results in any...

Every few months since at least 2006, The New York Times takes time out from brow-beating Evangelicals to praise them for supporting amnesty for illegal aliens. Most of the "Evangelicals" the Times cites are liberal frauds, far from "unlikely allies" in amnesty, as alleged. It is a specialty of the left to pose as something they're not in order to create the impression of a zeitgeist. The only one I haven't seen quoted yet is the ACLU's minister, Barry Lynn. The Times keeps touting Evangelicals for Amnesty as evidence of a "shift," a "change of heart" and a "secret weapon."...

Woven into the fabric of our unique American culture is the timeless wisdom of founding father, Benjamin Franklin. Franklin, the author of the phrase, “An Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure”, would be appalled at much that is going on in American politics, but probably not shocked. Ambassador and Postmaster Franklin counted among his legendary ‘Thirteen Virtues’, Frugality, Justice and Moderation. He certainly would take exception with a move in Washington D.C., currently underway, in which an ill-concieved policy objective threatens to flood our country with economic refugees from such a corrupt and violent region as Mexico...

Buried deep in the colossal immigration bill that’s floating around Congress is an obscure little section that rewrites the current immigrant visa waiting list to allow millions to cut in front of the line via new categories of family-sponsored immigrants. As if it weren’t bad enough that the measure, known as the Schumer-Rubio bill after the New York Democrat and Florida Republican pushing it, already offers 11 million illegal aliens instant amnesty. A nonpartisan group dedicated to researching legal and illegal immigration into the U.S., discovered the provision in the course of dissecting the monstrous legislation, which at last count...

TWENTY YEARS ago the leaders of Europe agreed on a bold step: a new currency called the euro. They promised that the euro would improve life for everybody—and denounced all opposition as ignorant, xenophobic, and backward. Their words gained extra plausibility because many of the opponents of the euro really were ignorant, xenophobic, and backward. Yet the backward critics were right, and the enlightened proponents were wrong. And so it is with the immigration debate in the United States. Nothing unifies the American elite like immigration. From Barack Obama to Paul Ryan, from the editorial board of The New York...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a newly elected Republican with a penchant for making headlines, filed an amendment that would bar undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States from ever earning citizenship. There are an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally, and a bipartisan immigration reform measure would create a pathway to citizenship over the course of 13 years by requiring those people to pay penalties and back taxes, as well as learn English. Conservatives opposed to reform decry the path as amnesty, but Democrats say they will not support reform that does not cope with the...

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, proposed Tuesday using text messages to remind people who are inside the U.S. on visas when their visas are scheduled to run out. “You’ve got a month to go on your visa. You got two weeks to go. You got a week to go. You got a day to go, and the idea that people know that we know that they’re here, we know that their time is running out, and we’re watching them,” Carper said, describing ways the possible text messages that can be used to remind people...

The purpose of last Wednesday’s events, like the marches and rallies staged on Cinco de Mayo, was to pressure elected officials in Washington D.C. into repeating the same disastrous mistakes of the past. In this case, a wholesale amnesty which would cost upwards of six trillion dollars in the coming decades. While most of the people gathered in Union Square were open borders advocates of one sort or another, there was a spirited contingent of counter-protestors from New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement, a.k.a. NY ICE, whom I’ll get to in due time. There were several journalists eager to...

American Action Network is pimping Marco Rubio and amnesty. They spent $300,000 television advertising campaign to “end de facto amnesty.” The ad will only run on Fox News. Of course, the amnesty bill supported by Rubio, McCain, Lindsey Graham and Democrat is de facto amnesty. Of course American Action Network doesn’t want you to believe that. They tout Marco Rubio in an ad called ‘disaster’ ad that’s been on (especially on Hannity) the last few days. Watch out for American Action Network. They may try and appear to be conservative, but they are nothing more than a progressive action group....

Economic fallacies are being hurled at the Heritage Foundation to attack its study of amnesty for illegal immigrants. On May 6, Heritage released its study calculating a $6.3 trillion price tag for the “Gang of Eight” proposal. Amnesty promoters recall that a similar study by Heritage blocked amnesty in 2007. To implement the Gang of Eight’s “Muriel Boat Lift, The Sequel” amnesty advocates seek to discredit the study. So they accuse Heritage of ignoring the expansion of the U.S. economy that amnesty will cause. Therefore, they say, Heritage over-states the true cost of amnesty at $6.3 trillion. They offer no...

During a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday, Sen. Paul made a comparison between the Gang of Eight's proposed immigration bill and ObamaCare which, on its face, might be considered fightin’ words betwixt the circles of the GOP — but, he was really making a solid point about the intricacies and potential implementation pitfalls of massive legislative packages pushed hastily through Congress.CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO I, for one, am for immigration reform. … That being said, I’m worried that the bill before us won’t pass. May pass the Senate, may not pass the House. I...

USBC News Wire- According to a study published by the Heritage Foundation, the shocking total cost of the controversial new amnesty program which was proposed by Democrats and liberal Republicans could reach as high as $6.3 trillion dollars. The entire federal budget for 2013 was for $3.8 trillion dollars...

Critics of a study the Heritage Foundation released yesterday looking at the costs of amnesty for illegal immigrants have done something strange — they’ve attacked us for not doing the study they wanted us to do. It is odd that so many politicians and outsiders feel that they should decide what an educational institution such as Heritage should and shouldn’t study. Proponents of amnesty have, for example, insisted that Heritage should have done “dynamic scoring.” Dynamic analysis takes into account how policy changes impact the economy, and how that changes individuals’ incomes and the government’s balance sheet. For example, consider...

ALLOWABLE MISDEMEANORS FOR ILLEGALS In Florida, for example, Assault, Fla. Stat. § 784.011; Assault on law enforcement officers, Fla. Stat. §784.07; Battery, Fla. Stat. § 784.03; Stalking, Fla. Stat. § 784.048; Human smuggling, Fla. Stat. § 787.07; Unlawful carrying of a chemical weapon or other deadly weapon (non-firearm), Fla. Stat. § 790.01; Unlawful placing or discharging of a bomb that results in any bodily harm, Fla. Stat. 790.1615; Unnatural and Lascivious Act, Fla. Stat. §800.02; and Exposure of Sexual Organs; Fla. Stat. § 800.03. Similarly, In Texas, misdemeanor crimes include: Public Lewdness, Texas Penal Code § 21.07; Indecent Exposure, Texas...

The Heritage Foundation has undertaken to back a plausible theory with numbers. The theory is that the amnesty contained in the immigration bill before Congress will cost taxpayers plenty; it is plausible because we have a large redistributive state, and many of the illegal immigrants to whom this bill will grant legal status — and the relatives their legal status will allow them to bring here — will be net recipients of government benefits. The Heritage researchers assess, in substantial detail, the current benefits received and taxes paid by illegal immigrants and what those numbers will look like after legalization...

ICE Agent Crane to Obama: "Mr. President, you've overstepped your boundaries. It's your job to enforce the law, it's Congress' job to enact the law."- Last week, ICE union chief Chris Crane won a stunning initial court victory in his lawsuit against the Obama Administration. As we reported, Federal Judge Federal Judge Reed O’Connor told the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that they had no power to refuse to deport illegal aliens, and that he was likely to strike down Obama’s virtual “DACA” amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. The ruling stunned Washington, and Crane’s lawsuit could derail Obama’s four-year...

MSNBC’s co-host of The Cycle, Touré, declared his support on Monday for “the open borders movement.” While he says that the Senate’s immigration reform plan is a welcome development, it will never go far enough in making it easier for immigrant labor to come to America. Touré added that, just as currency and employment are borderless, immigration should also be borderless. He noted that chronic poverty plaguing foreign nations and fueling terrorism would be alleviated by open borders. “The answer to our immigration issue is open borders,” Touré declared. “Tear down the fences. Rip up the red tape. Yup; I’m...

Granting amnesty to illegal immigrants would cost $6.3 trillion, according to a new report by the Heritage Foundation. … Not only would the federal deficit increase, but the cost of benefits and services to millions of newly minted citizens would reach nearly $10 trillion. …

Are snowboard instructors key to American immigration policy? Well, they're important enough to be specifically included in the Senate bipartisan Gang of Eight immigration reform bill. How did that happen? The original 844-page Gang of Eight bill, released in mid-April, granted a break to certain foreigners who come to the United States to work but do not wish to settle here. The Gang -- which includes Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet from the nation's skiing capital of Colorado -- gave one of those breaks to anyone who is "a ski instructor seeking to enter the United States temporarily to perform instructing...