Free Republic

In order to challenge the status quo on Houston's sanctuary policy and require the use of E-Verify for City contracts, we will need volunteers to help us collect signatures. Early Voting will run for 12 days starting May 14.The name of the game is 20,000 City of Houston voters signing both petitions. We will provide training for you and equipment. Please e-mail: volunteer@stopthemagnet.com to sign up. our scheduler will work with you on a suitable schedule and location. Thanks for stepping up to the plate.

Candidate for Senate Dan Liljenquist (left) pledged to The New American that should he be elected to the U.S. Senate he will offer legislation explicitly repealing the indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In a press conference held on April 24 at 2:00 p.m. (MDT), the former Utah State Senator and current GOP challenger to six-term Senator Orrin Hatch described the indefinite detention provisions of the NDAA as “an overreach and a violation of the Bill of Rights.” He said that had he been in office when Congress voted to pass the NDAA he would have...

Petition drive under way in Houston to stop sanctuary policy and institute E-Verify for City of Houston contracts using taxpayer dollars. Stop the Magnet needs 20,000 registered City of Houston voters in short order.Please visit www.stopthemagnet.com and download,print,sign and mail in your petitions.We also need help gathering signatures at a variety of civic events. Let's take back our country one city at a time!

A billboard "welcoming" illegal aliens to Florida and sarcastically thanking Gov. Rick Scott appeared on Interstate 75 Wednesday. Produced by Floridians for Immigration Enforcement, the billboard calls out Scott for the state's failure to adopt an E-Verify law. "This is a wake-up call for Governor Scott, who promised Floridians he would work to get mandatory E-Verify in the state to protect our legal workers," said Jack Oliver, legislative director of the group that goes by the name FLIMEN. The 40-foot-by-10-foot illuminated billboard is along I-75's southbound lanes between the Georgia border and I-10. Georgia, along with neighboring Alabama and South...

If you walk up to a barn, you might say, “Something stinks in there.” If you talk to today’s teenagers, you might hear, “Hey dude, what smells?” In Shakespeare’s time, “Something is rotten in Denmark.” Hamlet Act 1, scene 4, 87–91: The character Marcellus, and not Hamlet, is the one who coined the phrase. There's a reason he said the "State of Denmark" rather than just Denmark: the fish are rotting from the head down—all is not well at the top of the political hierarchy. In 2012, you might say, “Something is rotten in the U.S. Congress.” At this time,...

In the upcoming presidential election, two issues are more important than any others: repealing Obamacare and halting illegal immigration. If we fail at either one, the country will be changed permanently. Taxes can be raised and lowered. Regulations can be removed (though they rarely are). Attorneys general and Cabinet members can be fired. Laws can be repealed. Even Supreme Court justices eventually die. But capitulate on illegal immigration, and the entire country will have the electorate of California. There will be no turning back. Similarly, if Obamacare isn't repealed in the next few years, it never will be.

This is not going to be a Merry Christmas for many of the workers at Pacific Steel. After a recent crackdown by the Department of Homeland Security, 200 workers who could not provide a valid social security number are being laid off. Those let go from the third largest foundry in the United States include many highly skilled workers who have been at the company for decades. “It’s very sad,” said spokeswoman Elisabeth Jewel from the firm Aroner, Jewel & Ellis Partners. “The employees who are being terminated now have the most seniority. Many have been there 20 to 30...

Unemployment rates have fallen in Alabama amid new legal pressure on companies to comply with a popular immigration reform law. September was the first full month that the reform was in force, and the unemployment rate fell from 9.8 percent in September to 9.3 percent in October, according to a Nov. 18 report from the state government. The rates fell from 9.9 percent to 9 percent in Etowah County, from 8.8 percent to 8.1 percent in Marshall county, and from 11.6 percent to 10.6 percent in DeKalb county. “The latest fall in unemployment numbers is proof that American citizens will...

Lawmakers in several states have vowed to pass undocumented employer sanction laws after the Supreme Court upheld Arizona's this year. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has drummed up some support to pass a federal version in Congress that would require all employers to use the government's E-Verify database to ensure their employees are authorized to work--or risk losing their business license. Arizona provides a case study for the effects of a tough E-Verify law on the labor market. According to a study released this year by the Public Policy Institute of California, about 92,000 or 17 percent of the Hispanic non-citizen...

Sen. John Boozman is co-sponsoring a bill that would require every employer in the country to use the E-Verify program to screen for illegal workers - but until earlier this month, the senator himself wasn’t signed up for the system, thus violating a 1996 law that makes its use mandatory for all congressional offices. The Arkansas Republican wasn’t alone. As of the beginning of this month, seven Senate offices were not signed up to use the system, which lets employers check would-be workers’ Social Security numbers against a government database to determine whether they are in the country legally. After...

For years, activists against illegal immigration pushed cities across California to adopt ordinances ordering businesses to verify that their employees were eligible to work in the U.S. snip But those victories appear to have been wiped out this month with legislation signed into law that prohibits the state, cities and counties from mandating that private employers use E-Verify. snip Those who sought the state law in reaction to the growing number of localities adopting mandatory E-Verify rules said such moves were a distraction from a larger problem. "As a nation, we are in such desperate need of immigration reform," said...

Rick Perry can't get out of his own way. During the presidential debates, he has reviled three immigration issues that Republicans hold dear: passing mandatory E-Verify legislation, rejecting federal and state versions of the DREAM Act, and building a border fence.

September 24th, 2011 To: Barack H. Obama 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500 RE: Social Security Administration Notice of Mismatch Letter Dear. Mr. Obama, Currently, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) require employers, by law, to establish that their employees are eligible to work in the United States. The Form I-9 was developed for verifying that persons are eligible to work in the United States. Employers are required by law to have employees hired after November 6, 1986 fill out Section 1 of the Form I-9 when they start to work. Section 1 of Form I-9 asks for...

Opponents of a border fence (e.g. Rick Perry) say we shouldn’t build it because what’s needed is a program to turn off the “jobs magnet” that encourages illegal immigrants to try to cross the border in the first place. OK. It turns out there is at least one such program–it’s called E-Verify, and it checks the info supplied by job applicants against a national database of Social Security numbers, etc. , alerting employers if they are about to hire someone who seems to be in the country illegally. Needless to say, the same people who oppose a border fence also...

House Republicans on Wednesday jump-started the immigration debate, pushing through the Judiciary Committee a key immigration-enforcement measure to require businesses to check new employees’ work status against a government database — (The) bill would invalidate those (however, those state and local) laws, which prompted Democrats to accuse Republicans of overriding states’ rights. “Until we step up and do the job, I don’t think we should be pre-empting anybody trying to deal with this issue,”

Representatives of almost 30 conservative, Tea Party and limited government groups, representing millions, will affirm their opposition to the bill that would make E-Verify mandatory for all workers and businesses, according to Kathryn Serkes of Take Back Washington. Last week, the group launched a media campaign and sent a letter to Congress outlining their concerns. Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/21/3927076/e-verify-news-conference-today.html#ixzz1Ybi2lzpE

Illegal immigration has become a heads-we-win / tails-you-lose proposition in this country. If the supporters of amnesty and open borders could get that codified into law, they would. Since they can't, they support comprehensive illegal immigration reform, with the idea being that the amnesty will occur, but they'll stall and slow-walk the security measures into oblivion. Since the people are onto that ploy and have demanded security first, the latest tactic is just to refuse to enforce the law. We can pass a bill that says we're putting a fence on our southern border, but we can't get the fence...

With legislation pending both in the U.S. Congress and the Michigan House of Representatives to require employers to use a new federal immigration database, even conservative and Tea Party groups are speaking out against the idea.

View this short video. Pathetic, isn't it?

September 14, 2011 This is a clarion call. A call to Americans of every creed and race to resist the flagrant violation of our Constitution and the rule of law by Barack Obama and all of those who are complicit with him. The people charged with the authority and responsibility to uphold the law and defend the Constitution are missing in action. Cleary it is up to "we the people". We could have stopped it at the ballot box (well...maybe) but this is the mess we are in now and we have to deal with it. After three years I...

The House Judiciary Committee will mark up a bill from Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) on Thursday morning that would require all U.S. employers to use E-Verify, the Department of Homeland Security system that checks whether new hires are eligible to work in the United States. Smith called on President Obama to make E-Verify part of his jobs plan on Monday, arguing the law could open up millions of jobs for legal residents as the unemployment remains above 9 percent. The program checks candidates' Social Security numbers against a federal database to verify they are allowed to work in the...

E-Verify is an Internet-based system operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). E-Verify is currently free to employers and is available in all 50 states. E-Verify provides an automated link to federal databases to help employers determine employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security numbers. If you were an employer and entered Barack Hussein Obama’s social security number 042-68-4425 into the data base to verify that he was eligible for employment in the United States you could not legally hire him. Here is what e-verify would tell you about...

SACRAMENTO - Assemblymember Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) today issued the following statement regarding the federal E-Verify mandate bill by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas): Assemblymember Fong: Rep. Smith's E-Verify mandate bill deeply concerns me. I do not support any flawed mandated system that costs jobs. E-verify was intended to be a voluntary process and requiring businesses to interview and hire in accordance with this faulty system is not in the best interest of businesses or workers. I've introduced a bill in the California Legislature, AB 1236 that addresses the problems with E-Verify. E-verify has mistakenly identified U.S. citizens as non-citizens which prevents...

Rick Perry’s record on immigration isn’t as bad as I thought. It’s worse! … It’s not just that he doesn’t want to build the border fence. Many fence opponents argue (though I disagree) that it’s far more important to take away the “jobs magnet” that lures illegals to try to cross the border in the first place. But Perry hasn’t supported the quickest, best way to take away the jobs magnet, which is to require all private employers to use the “E-Verify” electronic check of Social Security numbers. Perry wouldn’t even require his own state government to use E-Verify, let...

by John HillStand With ArizonaSheriff Joe and his deputies conducted a raid on 2 Mexican restaurants in Phoenix, arresting 7 illegal aliens for identity theft. It was Arpaio's 53rd such raid. "Stealing people's identity is a Class 4 felony, a very serious crime," Arpaio said. "With the unemployment problem, maybe they will hire legitimate U.S. citizens now to fill the five vacancies here and not hire those in this country illegally." Indeed that is what often exactly what happens after an Arpaio raid: jobs are liberated for legal Americans. We call it "Sheriff Joe's Jobs Program", and it is...

As he enters the Republican presidential race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is striking some red-meat notes on the subject of immigration. Border security, he says, is a federal responsibility -- and immigration reform will have to wait until the border is secured. Invoking his beloved 10th Amendment, he proposes that in the meantime states should have some latitude to set their own course on the subject. As for Texas, he suggests, unauthorized immigration will not be treated lightly; earlier this year he called for a state law to abolish sanctuary cities, although the bill never made it to his desk....

clip--- As governor of the state that shares the largest border with Mexico, Perry defended his record on immigration, including his support for allowing illegal immigrants to get in-state tuition rates at Texas universities but opposing such a law on a national level. "I'm a big believer in the 10th amendment," Perry said. "Whether they allow for tuition increases or decreases or whatever it might be in that state, it needs to be the states making that decisions." Perry wouldn't wade into a national immigration reform debate, deferring to his position that those decisions should be made on the state...

Law and BorderFrom the July 4, 2011, issue of NR. On May 26, for the first time in 35 years, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion on whether states may take action to stop illegal immigration. In Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting, the Supreme Court upheld the Legal Arizona Workers Act of 2007 against multiple challenges claiming that it was preempted by federal law. This act requires all employers in the state to use the E-Verify Internet system to check the work authorization of new hires, and it penalizes employers who knowingly hire unauthorized aliens by suspending their...

Georgia's Arizona-style immigration law HB87 takes effect today, July 1st. Although much of the focus has been on the two parts of the Georgia immigration law that were blocked by Judge Thomas Thrash on June 27th, there is still much to celebrate with 21 of the 23 sections remaining intact. Judge Thrash has enjoined the sections of the law that would have empowered law enforcement to investigate immigration status, if a suspect were involved in another crime, and also the provision criminalizing the "transporting or harboring" of illegal aliens. Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has vowed to push forward through the...

Republicans in Congress have launched a major offensive to force several million undocumented immigrants to leave the United States with a bill that would make it mandatory for U.S. employers to electronically verify workers’ legal status. It sounds like a reasonable idea, but the way they want to do it would hurt all involved. Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith , R-Texas, and 11 fellow Republicans introduced the so c-called E-Verify bill, which would require employers to use an existing Homeland Security Department database to check the legal status of newly hired employees. According to Congressional sources, it...

One way to judge the likely effectiveness of Chairman Lamar Smith's national mandatory E-Verify bill is the panic it has caused among the nation's biggest promoters of illegal immigration. They attack Rep. Smith's bill because they say it will take the incomes away from large swaths of America's illegal population. Well, I guess that's the point isn't it, because those incomes will now go to unemployed American citizens and legal immigrants who already are here. The big pro-amnesty coalition called Reform Immigration FOR America screamed in its mass email: Mass firings, mass deportations

One of the central points of focus for the illegal immigration debate recently has been the use by employers of the federal government’s E-Verify system for checking the immigration status of potential or existing employees. Now Lamar Smith, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has introduced a bill, H.R. 2164, which purports to mandate E-Verify use for all American employers. The merits of this legislation are pretty obvious, and have been cited by immigration enforcement and reform groups like FAIR in support of Smith’s bill. Getting corporations and businesses that have resisted the implementation of E-Verify for years to...

History is threatening to re peat itself. Twenty-five years ago, Congress passed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act (better known among conservatives as the 1986 illegal-alien amnesty), which gave a path to citizenship to illegal aliens already here in exchange for prohibiting the hiring of illegal workers -- a provision that has been enforced only sporadically. It was a raw deal for conservatives. On Tuesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced a bill (HR 2164) to require nationwide use of the E-Verify system, which checks a job applicant's citizenship and immigration status, via the Internet, to see if he or she...

The errors in National Public Radio's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-3 decision to (uphold Arizona's E-Verify law) were so blatant and verifiable that the segment would have made a good candidate for one of NPR's famous April Fools Day reports. But the falsehoods that listeners heard in the (Top Court Upholds Arizona Employer Sanctions Law) are no joke. There has been no correction in the story online, which would indicate no one within the organization caught the errors. I don't believe that "All Things Considered" intentionally lied to listeners. Supporters of unchecked illegal immigration spend millions of dollars...

Alabama's new law cracking down on illegal immigrants will likely survive legal challenges from advocacy groups that say it is unconstitutional and racist, analysts told Fox News. The law, which takes effect Sept. 1, empowers police to arrest people suspected of being an illegal immigrant if they are stopped for another reason and requires businesses and schools to verify whether workers and students are in the country lawfully. It also makes it a crime to knowingly transport or shelter illegal immigrants. As soon as Republican Gov. Robert Bentley signed the bill into law Thursday, the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law...

Republican Governor Robert Bentley on Thursday signed into law a crackdown on illegal immigration in Alabama that both supporters and critics consider the toughest in the nation. Under the new measure, police must detain someone they suspect of being in the country illegally if the person cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason. It also will be a crime to knowingly transport or harbor someone who is in the country illegally. The law imposes penalties on businesses that knowingly employ someone without legal resident status. A company's business license could be suspended or revoked. The law requires Alabama...

A new poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports found that 82% of likely voters think businesses should be required to use E-Verify. The poll also found that 61% of likely voters would favor a state law that shuts down businesses that repeatedly hire illegal workers. The poll was conducted after the Supreme Court's ruling last week that upholds an Arizona law that suspends a company's business license if found repeatedly hiring illegal workers. Only 12% of likely voters would oppose a nationwide mandatory E-Verify law.

Alabama Passes Mandatory E-Verify & Immigration Enforcement Bill Friday, June 3, 2011, 1:25 PM EDT An Alabama House and Senate conference committee agreed on a new bill, which both chambers have already passed, that requires the use of E-Verify by all businesses in the state and includes several immigration enforcement provisions. Should Gov. Robert Bentley sign the bill into law, it would become one of the largest state crackdowns on illegal immigration in the country. The bill requires all businesses, public and private, to begin using E-Verify effective April 1, 2012. Businesses that do not comply face suspension of its...

After it passed a robust immigration-enforcement measure last year, Arizona was practically expelled from the union. The great and good denounced the state for its Gestapo tactics. The Obama administration sued it. The professionally outraged announced boycotts. Arizona stood condemned before the world, a byword for hatred and defiance of federal law. And yet the Supreme Court last week implicitly ratified Arizona’s leadership role on immigration enforcement. It’s everyone else who is out of line, not Arizona. The Supreme Court upheld the state’s requirement that businesses use the federal E-Verify system — a database accessible through the Internet — to...

Immigration: In a victory for states' rights, the Supreme Court has upheld the state law requiring businesses to verify immigration status of employees and revoking their business licenses if they knowingly hire illegal aliens. Yes, we can control our borders, and states do have the right to protect their citizens and their own borders. That was the meaning of a 5-3 decision last Thursday by the U.S. Supreme Court validating Arizona's 2007 law requiring businesses to use E-Verify, a voluntary federal program to determine if workers are eligible to work here. The Obama administration has argued that immigration and border...

COLUMBIA — Gov. Nikki Haley said today that two dozen of South Carolina's illegal immigration enforcement agents were blocked by the Obama administration from enforcing the state's law. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, part of President Barack Obama's Cabinet, told the state it could not use E-Verify documentation to enforce South Carolina's immigration law. But Thursday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a similar law in Arizona upheld a state's right to rely the online system that uses Social Security numbers to screens new workers to see if they are legally in the country. Haley said Obama is getting in...

Conversely, you could say that the Chamber of Commerce and ACLU have lost, and lost big-time. Overall, it was a very good day for the Supreme Court of the United States, or as law nerds like to call it, SCOTUS. However, it was an even better day for Arizonans, and for those of us who sympathize with their struggle to combat illegal immigration almost single-handedly. Not only did the Supreme Court majority reject the specious arguments advanced by those who want to retain a class of indentured servants from foreign countries in perpetuity, it affirmed the right of state legislatures...

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Arizona’s 2007 law requiring all employers in the state to use the federal E-Verify system for screening out illegal aliens and revoking the business licenses of firms that knowingly hire them. The court split 5–3 along party lines: Breyer, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor (Kagan recused herself) ignored the plain meaning of the federal law empowering states to use their licensing power to address the employment of illegal workers. Chief Justice Roberts, on the other hand, found “no basis in law, fact, or logic” for the argument that Arizona should be stopped from doing so in...

(CNSNews.com) – In an early test of state immigration reform laws, the Supreme Court ruled on the side of enforcement regarding an Arizona immigration law that allows penalties up to revocation of business licenses for employers that knowingly hire illegal aliens. The Arizona law in question in this case required employers to use E-Verify, an electronic federal system that is currently voluntary that allows employers to determine the legal status of job applicants and employees. The court ruled 5-3, with Justice Elena Kagan not participating, to reject the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s argument that the Arizona law pre-empted federal control...

ATLANTA - Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has signed a bill that cracks down on illegal immigration by increasing some enforcement powers and requiring many employers to check the immigration status of new hires. Deal on Friday signed the bill that has some similarities to a controversial bill enacted last year in Arizona. Most parts of the Georgia law are set to enter into effect July 1. But opponents have said they plan to file lawsuits seeking to block it.

Indianapolis— Five students arrested at an immigration protest at the Indiana Statehouse Monday will not face deportation. Federal authorities lifted detention orders against the illegal immigrants Tuesday evening. The detention was lifted shortly after the five declared a hunger strike Tuesday. The students say the hunger strike will last until Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R) vetoes the immigration bill he has previously promised to sign. The students were part of a protest that went all the way to the front door of the governor's office. Senate Bill 590 would make illegal immigrants pay much higher tuitions. The cost would be...

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton won't revive a directive from his Republican predecessor requiring the state to participate in enforcing federal immigration law, a spokeswoman told The Associated Press Thursday. Spokeswoman Katie Tinucci said the Democratic governor decided against reviving the 2008 executive order from former Gov. Tim Pawlenty because it wasn't necessary. The directive, which expired last week, had required state cooperation with federal authorities in areas such as customs enforcement and fraudulent documents. Tinucci said the directive wasn't needed to enable state law enforcement agents to cooperate with federal authorities, so Dayton made a practical decision not to keep...

Dee Dee Garcia, president of Somos Republicans, told The Florida Independent her group does not support immigration-enforcement-only measures in Florida. The Florida Senate Judiciary committee will discuss the GOP’s immigration bill S.B. 2040 today. A Somos press release issued Friday states: SOMOS REPUBLICANS, the largest conservative Hispanic grassroots organization is a leader in advocating pro growth, pro business and pro immigrant ideas. We are not in support of SB 2040, an E-Verificiation Bill which is supported by Florida State Senator Anitere Flores. # We believe that small businesses are the economic engine of the United States, therefore, state lawmakers should...

St. Paul, Minn. — Gov. Mark Dayton has dropped a controversial check of work eligibility for state employees and large vendors doing business with the state. In 2008, Gov. Tim Pawlenty ordered the names of all new hires be run through a Department of Homeland Security database. The program known as E-Verify checks work eligibility in the United States. Vendors doing more than $50,000 worth of business with the state were also affected. A Dayton administration memo said while the state will continue to comply with federal immigration laws in its hiring, "the E-Verify process has been inefficient and yielded...

The federal government is requiring as many as 1,000 companies to turn over their employment records for inspection, part of an expanding crackdown on businesses suspected of hiring illegal immigrants, according to people close to the Department of Homeland Security. The audits, which the government is expected to make public in the next few days, represent the biggest such operation since 2009. At that time, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a DHS unit, conducted an auditing sweep of businesses working in public safety and national security.