Officials: Illegal Immigrant Became a Cop in Alaska

Fox News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – For years, the man known as Rafael Espinoza was widely respected as an exemplary police officer who was popular among his peers in Alaska's largest city.

All that ended this week when authorities discovered he was really Mexican national Rafael Mora-Lopez, who was in the U.S. illegally and stole another man's identity, officials charged.

"His reputation here is one of a hard-working officer, one who was very professional," Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew said Friday at a news conference announcing Mora-Lopez's arrest. "The problem, obviously, is he is not Rafael Espinoza."[Full Article]

Rep. Combs’ resolution supports Arizona on illegal immigration

Dayton Daily News

Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, has introduced legislation to show Ohio’s support for the state of Arizona in its legal battle with the federal government over Arizona’s efforts to control illegal immigration.

House Concurrent Resolution 11 says that the Ohio legislature supports Arizona’s assertion that the state’s effort to control illegal immigration is a necessary message to the federal government that current immigration policies don’t work...[Full Article]

Link to HRC 11

Dozens Rally At Muskingum County Courthouse
(Zanesville, Ohio - April 15, 2011)

It was a "Tax Day" rally Friday at the Muskingum County Courthouse.

Zanesville Patriots Organizer Kay Clymer says the focus of the rally was to bring attention to hot issues like Senate Bill 5, illegal immigration, Ohio's state budget as well as healthcare.

"There's all these things and people really do have to become aware. They cannot just sit there and hope somebody else will take care of it. They've got to get actively involved so that's what this is, to stimulate involvement," said Clymer...[Full Article]

Child Tax Credits for Illegal Immigrants

By Peter A. Schulkin
November 2010
Memorandums

Download a pdf of this Backgrounder

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Peter A. Schulkin received his PhD in economics from Harvard and is former Director of Research for the National Association of Real Estate Investor Trusts and former Senior Vice President of a real estate arm of Wells Fargo & Co. He has taught at several universities, including UCLA.

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Summary: The Treasury Department reports that illegal immigrants filing tax returns using the Individual Tax Identification Number are receiving more than $1.5 billion each year from the federal government through the Child Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit.

Many illegal immigrants are regularly accessing welfare benefits in the United States in different ways.¹ They may do so through those state and local governments that do not verify citizenship or that accept false proof of citizenship. In many cases, they access welfare benefits through their citizen children born in the United States. Additionally, and this is the focus of this report, there are ways illegal immigrants can obtain a form of federal welfare that is available to income tax filers. Since a significant percentage of illegal immigrants have low incomes, work “off the books,” or work with false names and Social Security numbers, it is likely that many report little or no income when applying for federal, state, or local benefits...[Full Article]

4 additional Ohio counties to benefit from ICE program to enhance identification and removal of aliens convicted of a crime

– Thu Apr 14, 2:00 am ET

On Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began using the Secure Communities program in Crawford, Miami, Shelby and Wayne counties to help federal immigration officials identify criminal aliens in state prisons and local jails by running their fingerprints against federal immigration databases when they are booked into the system.

Dayton, Ohio (Vocus/PRWEB) April 13, 2011

On Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began using the Secure Communities program in Crawford, Miami, Shelby and Wayne counties to help federal immigration officials identify criminal aliens in state prisons and local jails by running their fingerprints against federal immigration databases when they are booked into the system.

"Secure Communities enhances public safety by enabling ICE to identify and remove criminal aliens more efficiently and effectively from the United States," said Secure Communities Acting Assistant Director Marc Rapp. "As we expand ICE's use of biometric information sharing nationwide, we are helping to keep communities safe and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system."...[Full Article]

Illegal Aliens Get More Welfare Benefits Than Citizens

Whether or not illegal aliens are doing jobs Americans won’t do, they’re certainly getting benefits Americans don’t get. This is the finding of a Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) report stating that a whopping 70 percent of illegal-immigrant households with children receive handouts via a government program. The rate for immigrant households with children overall (both legal and illegal) is 57 percent, versus only 39 percent for such native households.

This puts the lie to open-border advocates’ claim that immigration is a net plus for our nation. While this might have been true prior to the nanny state’s rise, when immigrants had to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, today’s statist, entitlement culture has changed that equation. As pressing one for English and Mexican flags waved in street protests evidence, many today come here not to assimilate but because “America, land of the free” has come to mean free stuff for non-Americans...[Full Article]

Now we may know why border arrests are down…Arizona sheriff tells all

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever has told Fox News that over the last two years, U.S. Border Patrol officials have told him they were ordered on multiple occasions to reduce and even stop apprehending illegal aliens crossing the U.S./Mexican border.

Sheriff Dever says that as recently as March, Border Patrol supervisor informed him that the agency was ordered to keep the number of arrests down during specific reporting periods.

Dever said: “The senior supervisor agent is telling me about how their mission is now to scare people back. He said, ‘I had to go back to my guys and tell them not to catch anybody, that their job is to chase people away. … They were not to catch anyone, arrest anyone. Their job was to set up posture, to intimidate people, to get them to go back.’”

Dever plans to report this incredible information to Congress next month when he testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs...[Full Article]

CLEAR Act
HELP LOCAL ENFORCEMENT: 3 More Bill Co-Sponsors (Jenkins, McKinley & Myrick)

Reps. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), David McKinley (R-W.V.), and Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) have co-sponsored H.R.100, the CLEAR Act, that was introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). The bill would provide the resources and training necessary to local police for enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Illegal aliens enter the United States in two distinct ways: approximately 60 percent cross a border illegally; and the remaining 40 percent overstay a legal visa. While the Border Patrol is responsible for preventing the first method of illegal entry, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is responsible for finding and removing visa overstays and individuals not apprehended by the border patrol...[Full Article]

STEIN: Obama punts as Utah grants amnesty to illegals
President tackles Arizona for upholding federal immigration law

Last April, when Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation authorizing Arizona to enforce federal immigration laws, President Obama stepped before the television cameras in the Rose Garden and threatened to take action to prevent the law from taking effect. Within weeks, his Justice Department filed suit against Arizona on the grounds that S.B. 1070 pre-empted the federal government's exclusive authority over immigration policy.

In contrast to Arizona’s effort to enforce immigration laws passed by Congress, the Utah legislature enacted legislation in March that creates a completely separate immigration policy for Utah. One of the bills signed by Gov. Gary Herbert would grant two-year work permits to illegal aliens who reside in Utah, provided they have no criminal records. Because federal law expressly forbids illegal aliens from working anywhere in the United States - including Utah - the law gives the governor until 2013 to negotiate a waiver with the federal government. Even if a waiver is not issued, Utah would begin issuing work permits to illegal aliens beginning in 2013...[Full Article]

Judicial Watch Files Two Lawsuits Against Obama Department of Homeland Security for Records Detailing Alleged "Stealth Amnesty" Plan

Obama Administration Reportedly Implementing Policies that Grant Legal Status to Illegal Aliens without Approval of Congress

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits against the Obama Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to obtain records detailing the Obama administration's alleged plan to grant legal status to illegal aliens without going through Congress, a strategy commonly known as "stealth amnesty." Specifically, Judicial Watch is investigating an alleged plan by the Obama administration to suspend deportations of illegal aliens who are in the country unlawfully. (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 11-604) and Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 11-606)).

On July 2, 2010, Judicial Watch sent a FOIA request to DHS seeking the following information: "Any and all records of communications between the Department of Homeland Security and any of the following entities, concerning 'deferred action' or 'parole' to suspend removal proceedings against a particular individual or group of individuals for a specific timeframe; as well as records of communications concerning 'selective reprieve' to the segment of the population holding expired visas: The White House; The Executive Office of the President; Any third parties." Judicial Watch sought internal DHS communications regarding "deferred action or parole" as well...[Full Article]

Immigration reform advocates hail Utah policy as model for the nation

When Utah recently passed a package of immigration bills that offered a guest worker program along with stricter enforcement of existing immigration laws, some hailed the package as a breath of fresh air–a vote for moderation in what all too often has become a very contentious debate.

Writing in the Sacramento Bee, Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a national federation of small-business owners advocating immigration reform, says the Utah package is all that and more.

She notes that while parts of the Utah package are unconstitutional on their face, they point the way to a new way of approaching the issue and, if adopted by other states, could provide the momentum needed to get the U.S. Congress to enact a similar package, which would be constitutional by virtue of being federal...[Full Article]

Mexican official speaks against American bill

An immigration enforcement activist is outraged that a member of the Mexican government was allowed to speak against a bill at a North Carolina legislative meeting. The proposed bill would stop government agencies from accepting bogus ID cards issued to illegal immigrants by the Mexican government.

For the first time since the Civil War, the North Carolina Legislature is controlled by Republicans. As a result, the Judicial Committee was able to pass H.B. 33, which forbids government officials from accepting the Matricula Consular cards. These cards are sold to illegal aliens by Mexican consulates in order to provide "official identification." The bill is now headed to a vote in the full North Carolina House...[Full Article]

Texas congressman: 84 percent of illegal immigrants apprehended are never prosecuted

Texas Rep. John Culberson says illegal immigrants apprehended by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency have an 84 percent chance of not being prosecuted.

The figures were submitted by Culberson, R-Houston, to a House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security hearing on March 17. (See the document in question at the bottom of this post.)

According to a report by CNSNews.com, a conservative web site, Culberson said that those in custody “had a chance of being home in time for dinner.”...[Full Article]

2 illegal immigrants plead in counterfeit case

PITTSBURGH – A second illegal immigrant has pleaded guilty to his role in a $39,000 counterfeiting case that unraveled when authorities say the men passed $1,500 in bogus bills at a Washington County department store last year.

Alejandro Ceron pleaded guilty Monday to possessing and passing the illegal currency at a Macy’s in Washington. His co-conspirator Israel Sanchez also pleaded guilty earlier in the day.

Because both men are illegal immigrants, they will be deported to Mexico following their sentence, which will be imposed Aug. 1 by a federal judge in Pittsburgh. Sentencing guidelines make it likely the men will each receive between 18 and 24 months in prison.

State-by-State Push for a Dream Act

Three states may not be a watershed, but passage in three states of Dream Act-like bills shows a growing momentum for a national bill that would put the children of illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship if they attend college...[Full Article]