By David North, CIS.org

[ACT NOW to stop immigration amnesty from destroying the American dream]

The manner in which the Gang of Eight’s S.744 reached the floor of the Senate included a mix of both open democracy and behind-the-doors secrecy.

Regardless of the merits of the omnibus immigration bill (which many find wanting) the procedures used to get the bill to, and through, the Senate Judiciary Committee were both interesting and uneven. I have been following the bill for weeks and watched many hours of the Committee’s mark-up, during which it considered, at least nominally, hundreds of amendments.

You might say that there were three phases of the bill’s history so far.

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by Daniel Pipes*

The gruesome murder yesterday of a soldier outside London by a Muslim convert, Michael Adebolajo, brings to mind that throat slitting and beheading are Islamically sanctioned forms of execution. Although these occur particularly often in the course of family-related crimes — think, for example, of the case of Aasiya Hassan in suburban Buffalo, N.Y., killed by her husband in 2009, stabbed with two hunting knives more than forty times in the face, back and chest, then beheaded — this monstrous form of violence is also used in non-family instances. Some of those that took place over the past decade in the West in chronological order include:

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By Stanley Renshon, CIS.org

[ACT NOW to stop immigration amnesty from destroying the American dream]

One of the most alarming effects of the Schumer-Rubio amnesty, if enacted in anything close to its current form, would be the legalization of tens of thousands of illegal aliens who have already been a public safety threat in their community. The eligibility criteria established for the amnesty and most of the new guestworker provisions excuse a wide variety of criminal behavior, including gang membership, drunk driving, vehicular manslaughter, identity theft, and immigration fraud (see this analysis). In addition, the bill offers amnesty to those who have repeatedly and flagrantly violated immigration laws.

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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 or read on before doing so. NOW is the time to act as:

… opponents are gearing up to flood Congress with calls condemning any legislation that allows illegal immigrants to gain legal status or citizenship.

The same tactic helped defeat immigration reform the last time lawmakers considered passing bills in 2006 and especially 2007, when a flood of angry calls shut down the switchboard in Congress. …

Most of you are the descendents of immigrants who came to this great nation legally, who built decent lives by living according to decent values, and passed those values unto you. Your ancestors assimilated. Most of you were raised to believe that the American dream is the chance — the opportunity — to achieve your full potential by working hard, being honest, treating people as you would have them treat you, believing in the common sense law of the land (based on the Constitution), having core values, and having faith, all to build a better life for yourself, your family, your friends, your community, your nation, and even the whole world. Your conscientious legal citizenship — your patriotism — is about to be thrown in the trash.

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By Stanley Renshon, CIS.org

Democrats and many Republicans view the current immigration legislation now being considered in Congress primarily through a political prism. For Democrats, the new legislation presents the opportunity to add many millions of new immigrants — sympathetic to their party’s perspective of larger and more “helpful” government — to the country’s voting rolls and thus help bring about their dream of a permanent Democratic majority.

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By Ronald W. Mortensen, CIS.org

am·nes·ty (am-nuh-stee) an act of forgiveness for past offenses, especially to a class of persons as a whole.

Synonym: par·don (pahr-dn) a release from the penalty of an offense; forgiveness of a serious offense or offender; to release (a person) from liability for an offense; to remit the penalty of (an offense)

Led by Senator Marco Rubio, the “Gang of Eight” is attempting to hide the fact that their “comprehensive immigration reform” bill would provide amnesty for illegal aliens and their employers.

Rubio argues that illegal aliens would not be forgiven of past, harmless infractions, but would be required to pay for them. However, a review of the bill shows that the token penalties, when they do exist, are not commensurate with the employment-related felonies committed by the vast majority of illegal aliens, nor are they commensurate with the benefits received by illegal aliens. The penalties are, therefore, no more than thinly veiled attempts to hide the amnesty provisions of S. 744.

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By W.D. Reasoner, CIS.org

I’ve been closely reading the Gang of Eight immigration reform bill introduced into the Senate (the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act”). And I have to admit the more I read, the more I feel sullied. To say it is deeply flawed is a sad understatement, like describing a catastrophic category-5 hurricane as a “bad storm”.

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By David North, CIS.org

Many people think that the only way to buy your way into legal presence in the United States is through the EB-5 (immigrant investor) program. Not so.

There are three different ways that an alien can buy his or her way into legal status; each pathway has a different price, sometimes involving more than just money; and each pathway has its own advantages and disadvantages. Here is a summary, more or less in the style of Consumer Reports, for the three routes to buy legal status:

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By Jerry Kammer, CIS.org

As I read news reports of congressional efforts to forge agreement on immigration reform, I have the queasy feeling that in their determination to get something done our elected representatives will repeat the mistakes of 1986.

That was the year when Congress passed the poorly named Immigration Reform and Control Act. Now, I fear, they will once again pass a law that will deliver sweeping legalization while failing to deliver credible worksite enforcement.

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By Steven A. Camarota, CIS.org

There were more births to Chinese tourists in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands last year than there were to the indigenous population, the Marianas Variety is reporting in its March 14 edition.

These islands, a U.S. territory just north of Guam in the Western Pacific, are known to be attractive to wealthy pregnant Chinese women wanting to give their babies U.S. citizenship — the ultimate birthday gift in their eyes — as we reported in a previous blog, but the full extent of the trend was not known until now.

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By Steven A. Camarota, CIS.org

A new poll using neutral language — and avoiding the false choice of conditional legalization vs. mass deportations — finds that most Americans want illegal immigrants to return to their home counties, rather than be given legal status. The findings also show a very large gap in intensity, with those who want illegal immigrants to head home feeling much stronger about that option than those who would like to see illegal immigrants receive legal status.

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By James R. Edwards Jr., CIS.org

Apparently, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is rolling in dough. It’s giving $800,000 more to propaganda efforts “aimed at mobilizing regular Catholics to push for the bishops’ immigration platforms”, i.e., mass legalization and open borders.

That comes on top of the $3.5 million the group has already spent to promote mass amnesty. For some wacky reason, this political money gets labeled “antipoverty” activity. That’s really bizarre. And it flies in the face of the facts.

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By Jessica Vaughan, CIS.org

Contrary to the claims of illegal alien advocacy groups, many of the detainees being released by ICE under the bogus pretext of sequestration-mandated budget cuts are in fact criminals, and hardly harmless, according to a variety of sources.

Here are some categories of detainees who were released from ICE detention over the last week:

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Polls show that 1) most Americans prefer making it harder for illegal aliens to enter the U.S., 2) most Americans oppose granting millions of illegals amnesty, and 3) most Americans believe that illegals place a great strain on the U.S. economy — especially during a time of tepid economic growth. Just look at a summary of 12 public opinion polls on immigration here and here. If readers want to wade through pages of polling information about Americans’ general opposition to opening the flood-gates to illegal immigration, click here. Given that public opinion is against illegal immigration, why have 4 Democrats and 4 Republicans — the so-called “Gang of 8″ — chosen to ignore the peoples’ will? Note that the Gang of 8 is a group of compromise-at-all-cost weasels, namely Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). If you oppose their disastrous proposed legislation for “immigration reform,” click on this link, fill in your email address, name, street address, zip code, and phone number, and the letter shown below will be faxed for free to President Obama and your two federal senators. You can select from a bunch of differently worded letters, too, making this tool all the more effective. This one-step marvel of activism is courtesy of NumbersUSA Action. Here’s one of the choices of faxes that can be sent:

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By David North, CIS.org

Those interested in or advocating “comprehensive immigration reform” should examine the thoroughly researched, well-documented findings of a federal commission that spent more than five years — and numerous hearings — dealing with exactly that subject.

This was the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, created by Congress as part of the Immigration Act of 1990.¹ The Commission had impressive credentials, access to millions in federal funds, and was served by a highly competent staff. It had four Democratic appointees and four Republican ones, and with three chairs who were, in turn, a then-member of the College of Cardinals, a former member of the U.S. House of Representative, and a former member of the president’s cabinet.

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