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28 February, 2023

Migrant children labor in dire conditions for well-known US brands

A New York Times investigation found top U.S. brands are relying on the exploitation of migrant children, largely from Central America, to work some of the country’s most grueling jobs.

The COVID-19 pandemic fueled an increase in unaccompanied children who entered the country looking for work to send money back home to their families.

In 2022, the number of unaccompanied children entering the United States reached a high of 130,000, nearly three times what it was in 2017, according to the Times.

Carolina Yoc, 15, came to the U.S. to live with a relative she had never met and works early hours packing Cheerios bags into boxes. The work is fast-paced and there have been instances of workers who have had fingers torn off and a woman whose scalp was ripped open, according to the REPORT.

Girls as young as 13 wash hotel sheets in Virginia, roofers as young as 12 work in Florida and Tennessee and other underage workers are employed by slaughterhouses in Delaware, Mississippi and North Carolina. Even middle schoolers are employed, making Fruit of the Loom socks in Alabama and auto parts used by Ford and General Motors in Michigan.

Valeria Lindsay, a language arts teacher at Homestead Middle School near Miami, told the Times it is common for children to leave school and immediately head off to long night shifts. Lindsay estimates that for the past three years, almost every eighth grader in her English learner program was also carrying an adult workload.

The report found the federal government is aware that these children are in the country because the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for ensuring sponsors support, and not exploit them. However, caseworkers told the Times they often rush through the vetting process to find these children sponsors to meet the Biden administration’s requests to move children quickly out of the shelters due to high influxes.

An HHS spokeswoman, Kamara Jones, said the agency was not compromising safety by quickly releasing the children.

"There are numerous places along the process to continually ensure that a placement is in the best interest of the child," Jones told the Times.

HHS does check in on all minors, calling them about a month after they have begun living with their sponsors. However, the Times found over the past two years, the agency could not get in contact with more than 85,000 children.

Companies that employ migrant child workers often turn a blind eye to their age, instead focusing only on finding workers who can fill the laborious jobs.

Federal law prohibits 14 and 15-year-olds from working in hazardous jobs such as manufacturing, construction, mining and processing and prohibits them from working over 8 hours a day, or, more than three hours on a school day.

Minors are also not allowed to work before 7 am or after 7 pm, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Rick Angstman, a social studies teacher at Union High School in Grand Rapids, told the Times he sees the effects of children working long hours in the classroom. Some often pass out due to exhaustion and others are forced to drop out.

He recalled a former 15-year-old student who was hospitalized twice and passed out from fatigue in his classroom.

"She disappeared into oblivion," Angstman said. "It’s the new child labor. You’re taking children from another country and putting them in almost indentured servitude."

https://www.foxnews.com/media/migrant-children-labor-dire-conditions-well-known-us-brands-report

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27 February, 2023

Immigration Is the Solution to America’s Coming Demographic Challenge

But illegal immigration is not

Newspapers have been reporting on the demographic challenges in Asian nations like China, Japan and South Korea. Some expect China’s population, for example, to be cut in half by 2100.

If current trends continue, some of the same problems will sooner or later hit the United States, and they won’t be fixed with family-style entitlement policies that cost huge amounts of money and distort the economy without increasing fertility.

A far better priority would be immigration reform that lets more people in alongside regulatory reforms to boost housing, energy and food production.

Let’s first review some of the challenges of aging populations. The New York Times recently reported data on Asia’s demographic struggles. It sums up the problem this way: “A growing percentage of people in Japan, South Korea and China are over 65, and those countries’ economies are suffering because of a lack of available workers. Governments are struggling to find the money to support retirees.”

A shrinking workforce is a big deal. Having fewer laborers means that working hours per capita will be longer — including longer hours for older, manual-labor employees. It will also spur a further decline in productivity. Eventually wages and innovation will decline — a decline that will be even steeper if the government and labor unions continue to resist productivity-enhancing automation and free trade.

Politicians’ go-to answers are not the fix. Productivity is likely to fall further if the American government implements policies like universal and generous child tax credits, subsidized child care, federal paid leave or “baby bonuses.”

These are known for creating disincentives to work without much impact on fertility. They’re also expensive. That, in turn, increases the likelihood of future tax hikes. The result will be slower economic growth and worsening opportunities for our children and grandchildren.

And forget about boosting education to produce more highly skilled employees in industries such as tech and health care if that means pouring more money into the same public schools that are failing today’s children.

Innovation will also be lessened if government officials continue to punish the necessary investments with higher taxes on capital and more stringent regulations that mean fewer factories, machines or housing.

I’ve already hinted at many of the policies that would better address the demographic challenge. These also include deregulating energy, zoning and land use and agriculture as well as freeing capital to more creatively finance private-sector innovation. But even under the best policy regime, the size of the population matters.

For one thing, while market-friendly policies will not artificially tamp down population, they alone may not increase population and, hence, the size of the future workforce.

Failing to increase America’s working-age population will make it challenging to sustain programs like Social Security. Shortly after the program was created in 1935, there were 42 Americans working per retiree. Today this ratio is 3-to-1 and heading toward 2-to-1. Good luck to those two working Americans who will be crushed under the weight of their taxes without much hope of benefits.

Birth rates have been dropping since the end of the postwar baby boom in the late 1950s. While we Americans still have enough children to replace ourselves, we don’t have enough to grow the population.

We leave this growth to immigrants, who tend to have more kids than do native-born Americans. Restrictionist immigration policies would reverse this trend while expansionist policies would make everything easier for us. It would certainly make paying for older folks’ retirements and medical care easier.

Maybe most importantly, more people mean more brains. That translates into more innovation followed by more growth. A few years ago, Alec Stapp and Jeremy Neufeld wrote that “Despite making up just 14 percent of the population, immigrants are responsible for 30 percent of U.S. patents and 38 percent of U.S. Nobel Prizes in science.”

They add that “A team of Stanford economists recently estimated that nearly three quarters of all U.S. innovation since 1976 can be attributed to high-skilled immigration.”

We could certainly use many more immigrant doctors, nurses, engineers and other professionals, but lower-skilled immigrants are also vital. Let’s not forget that these employees kept the economy going during the pandemic as the computer class worked from home. Immigrants’ children have also been proven to be upwardly mobile. So, we should let them in, too.

The bottom line is that we need more immigrants, and we need them now. If we wait until we’re in the dire straits now suffered by China and Japan, it will be too late.

https://www.nysun.com/article/immigration-is-the-solution-to-americas-coming-demographic-challenge



26 February, 2023

Biden’s Misleading New Asylum Rule Is a Gimmick Atop a Shell Game

The Biden administration’s proposed new asylum rule, “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways,” is an erroneously named gimmick on top of a shell game to cover up bad optics on surging illegal immigration.

The Left is wrong to complain about the rule, and the Right is wrong to praise it. President Joe Biden may be happy with those reactions as he prepares to announce his reelection campaign, but for everyone else, some explanation is sorely needed about the compounded mess his administration is creating.

For two years, the Biden administration has denied there was a border crisis despite monthly record numbers of illegal alien crossings at our southern border. However, when the December numbers hit yet another new high of nearly 252,000 encounters just between the ports of entry on the southern border, the administration tried a new tactic.

It wasn’t a long overdue enforcement effort, mind you. It’s a shell game.

In January, the Department of Homeland Security directed future illegal aliens to use the “CBP One” mobile app to make an appointment with Customs and Border Protection to be processed through a port of entry and paroled into the U.S., where they may or may not apply for asylum, but they can get work authorization and remain for two years.

Failure to do so might get you deported, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas warned would-be illegal migrants.

Message received, illegal aliens followed the secretary’s direction and shifted to the ports of entry. Before January was even over, DHS exclaimed, “Look! The encounters on the southwest border are down!” while citing only the Border Patrol encounters between the ports of entry.

The department didn’t cite the growing number of inadmissible aliens CBP has been encountering at the ports of entry. The administration labels this made-up visa-like program a “lawful pathway.” But labeling an unconstitutional program “lawful” does not make it, nor the aliens who use it, “legal.”

Now, in anticipation of even higher numbers of illegal alien encounters with the coming termination of the Title 42 public health authority used to expel migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic, the departments of  Homeland Security and Justice have proposed a joint rule to avoid more bad optics. In it, the departments “encourage” illegal aliens to “avail themselves of [the] lawful, safe, and orderly pathways” the Biden administration created, or “seek asylum or other protection in countries through which they travel.”

This sounds like the “third-country transit bar” rule that the Trump administration finalized in 2020 (but was preliminarily enjoined by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California), in which DHS and DOJ adopted a bar to asylum for those illegal aliens who failed to apply for protection while in a third country through which they transited en route to the U.S.

Proposing a rule that sounds like a Trump rule that the Left stopped in court has caused the Left to criticize Biden’s new rule, and some on the Right to react pleasantly surprised. But both sides need to read further into the 48-page proposed rule to recognize it is a gimmick.

The rule would create a rebuttable presumption that an illegal alien is ineligible for asylum in the U.S. if they traveled through a third country unless one of several exceptions apply: DHS gave the alien approval to travel to the U.S. to seek parole through a DHS-approved parole process; the alien presented at a port of entry after using the CBP mobile app to schedule their port appointment, or demonstrate that it was not possible to access the mobile app because the alien does not have a mobile phone, the CBP app was not functioning properly, or the alien is illiterate; the alien is an unaccompanied minor; or the alien sought asylum or other protection in a country through which the alien traveled and received a final decision denying the application.

In addition to those broad exceptions, an illegal alien would also rebut the asylum-ineligibility presumption if the alien or family member has an acute medical emergency, faced an imminent and extreme threat to life or safety, is a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons, of has “other exceptionally compelling circumstances” that convince an asylum officer.

The rule specifies that a circumstance that would lead to the separation of a family meets the above “exceptionally compelling circumstance” exception.

Over the decades, exceptions in immigration law have been expanded and abused to overcome their underlying rules, but this proposed rule starts with the exceptions swallowing the rule whole.

Lost in this is the purpose of asylum and the sound principle that if someone is truly fleeing for their safety, they request protection in the first safe place in which they arrive.

The administration pays lip service to migrants seeking safety in other Western Hemisphere countries in the proposed rule by describing how several Central and South American countries have taken in migrants and expanded their respective asylum programs (many of which were developed with U.S. taxpayer funds). But DHS and DOJ direct future illegal aliens to bypass all of that by simply using their unconstitutional “lawful pathway” to make an appointment at a port of entry and get paroled in.

Worse, the proposed rule would only have the “safe third country” rebuttable presumption last for two years, at which point the presumption would sunset when the illegal border-encounter numbers are lower.

This Biden rule is nothing more than a blatant cover-up of bad optics on illegal immigration. It makes a mockery of asylum. It deserves many strong public comments filed in opposition and should be rescinded—if not by the administration, by Congress.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/02/24/bidens-misleading-new-asylum-rule-is-a-gimmick-atop-a-shell-game/



24 February, 2023

Americans have Quietly Shifted on Immigration and Now Want Levels Reduced

Despite economic issues like inflation and job insecurity dominating as the second half of the Biden presidency begins, increasing dissatisfaction with the border crisis could make immigration as large of an issue as it was in 2015.

The border remains unsecured, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) noting over 156,000 “migrant encounters” with illegals entering the U.S. this January alone, up from 78,414 in January 2021 when Biden took office.   

The Biden Administration’s policies have been decidedly anti-citizen, and have instead interfered with ICE’s ability to deport illegals, undercut the wages of U.S. workers, expanded the labor pool at the expense of existing citizens, and released dangerous individuals into American cities.

At his State of the Union Address, Biden nagged Congress about creating a pathway to citizenship for illegals, something most Americans do not support. Biden also announced plans to increase the number of migrants allowed to enter the U.S. on work visas to 30,000 migrants a month, a position in direct conflict with what Americans say they want in polls.

Gallup polling shows a significant rise in dissatisfaction with immigration in the past two years, and the bulk of those who are dissatisfied say they want immigration curbed. Two-thirds (63%) of Americans are currently dissatisfied with immigration, the highest share in over a decade.   

The bulk of the dissatisfaction is driven by Americans who want the levels of immigration decreased, not those who want to want to expand immigration. According to Gallup, 40% of Americans are both dissatisfied with immigration and want the levels reduced. Far fewer are dissatisfied and want immigration levels increased.  Among those who are dissatisfied, a full 64% (which is equivalent to approximately 40% of Americans) want less immigration into the U.S., while just 8% want more, and 15% aren’t sure.

The share of Americans who want immigration decreased has more than doubled in just two years from 19% in early 2021 to 40% today.  

As is to be expected, there is a strong partisan lean among those who are dissatisfied and want immigration decreased, with 71% of Republicans saying they’re dissatisfied and want immigration levels decreased, up from 40% in 2021. Republicans’ satisfaction with immigration is now the lowest on record according to Gallup survey data, so low that more Republicans are now satisfied with the economy and the amount of federal taxes they pay than with immigration.

There has also been a sharp spike in the share of Democrats who are concerned with the levels of immigration into the United States. The share of Democrats who say immigration should be reduced has skyrocketed to nearly a fifth of Democrats (19%), from just 2% when Biden took office.  

Independent voters too, are increasingly concerned with the levels of immigration into the U.S., with 36% saying immigration levels should be curbed, up from 19% only two years ago.   

The immigration issue has a partisan divide, but an increasing share of Independents and even Democrats now say the levels of immigration into the United States are too high and openly want levels reduced, placing them at odds with the Biden Administration’s approach. Research conducted by Americans for Limited Government Foundation also shows younger Americans strongly support the rule of law when it comes to addressing the border crisis.  

Our research found young people have a rules-based approach to immigration. Eight in ten Zoomers say immigrants must follow the proper channels to become citizens even if the rules are hard.  Fifty-eight percent of Zoomers say it doesn’t matter if illegal immigrants are causing problems or not, if they came here illegally, they need to leave. Over two-thirds of young Whites (68) and half of young Blacks (52%) agree that immigrants who do not follow the law should leave the country. Close to 40% of young Hispanics agree.  

Rick Manning, President of Americans for Limited Government Foundation said, “Americans are finally cracking under the weight of illegal immigration, and many have had enough. The Biden Administration’s inaction over the last two years is making the case for immigration policy that puts citizens first better than anything else could.”

The modern left’s approach to immigration has been to fold under political pressure instead of standing up for American citizens. Biden continues to allow a dangerous Department of Labor (DOL) loophole to remain that allows corporations to undercut Americans’ wages by hiring H-2B visa workers and paying them poverty-level wages. Biden’s protection of sanctuary cities interferes with law enforcement’s ability to protect citizens and deport criminals. On top of that, the Center for Immigration Studies estimates illegals in the U.S. have cost taxpayers nearly $150 billion dollars so far.

Public sentiment is souring on 21st century immigration policy and far more Americans want immigration levels decreased than increased now. With economic issues dominating voters’ minds, the immigration issue may be a sleeping giant. Eventually, Americans are going to demand the political class adopt citizens-first immigration policy instead of bowing to corporate and foreign interests.

https://dailytorch.com/2023/02/americans-have-quietly-shifted-on-immigration-and-now-want-levels-reduced/



23 February, 2023

First Congressional Hearing at the Border Turns Up the Heat on the Biden Adminstration

YUMA, Ariz. -- The city council chamber was packed with local residents and sheriffs across the state on Thursday to listen to the House Judiciary Committee hearing about the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, marking the first of such a hearing to take place with the new GOP majority.

Yuma County Supervisor District 2 Jonathan Lines, Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot, and Dr. Robert Trenschel, president and CEO of Yuma Regional Medical Center, each testified how the influx of illegal immigrants and drugs coming into their area has strained the resources for this remote town.

Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have entered into the Yuma Sector, with many of them requiring some level of medical care. This has caused the Yuma Regional Medical Center to have $26 million in unpaid bills for services rendered to illegal immigrants. It has also caused care for U.S. citizens to be delayed or be sent all the way to Phoenix because their local hospital was full. Audience members nodded in agreement when Trenschel sorrowfully acknowledged the delay in care to U.S. citizens since they treat people based on who needs it the most.

Sheriff Wilmot testified the cartels that operate across the border in Mexico and within his jurisdiction have become much stronger due to the increase in cashflow from the thousands of people that are paying them to illegally enter the United States.  

Lines testified he was given new numbers from sources with U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealing Border Patrol was now seizing 48 percent of fentanyl being smuggled into the country, meaning between the ports of entry, because the recent decrease in illegal crossings allowed them to go back to patrolling the border. That number is significant since most of the fentanyl being seized was at a port of entry.

Perhaps the biggest round of applause from the audience was when Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said he supported the articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that have already been introduced in this session of the House. The purpose of the border hearings is to strengthen the GOP's case for impeachment against the Secretary.

None of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee decided to attend the official hearing. Their absence was brought up multiple times during hearing and it did not go unnoticed by the audience, even the liberal ones.

Yuma resident Manuel told Townhall he thought the Republicans were being hypocrites for saying they support law enforcement but have not shown their support for the Capitol police officers on January 6, but he still thought Democrats should have come to the city.

"I think there should've been a few, yeah, but unfortunately that's the state of politics right now. And I do fault them for it," said Manuel.

"I would hope [Democrats] would come here...We need them to come here, we need them to see it firsthand. More than just being angry, I think they really missed an opportunity to come and see firsthand what's going on here at the border," Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb told Townhall, noting he believes the GOP members were very sincere in their mission to hear what has been happening at the border and their resolve to fix the problem.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) promised more hearings will take place to further investigate how poorly the Biden administration has handled the issues of the border and immigration so legislative action can take place. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has stated impeachment for Mayorkas is not out of the question.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2023/02/24/first-hearing-at-the-border-turns-up-the-heat-on-biden-adminstration-n2619923



22 February, 2023

Illegal Immigrants Are Now Using the Northern Border, Too

America’s southern border is not the only one experiencing a dramatic increase in the number of illegal migrants attempting to cross into the country.

Customs and Border Protection reports record numbers of encounters with illegal migrants at America’s northern border with Canada.

“While the southern border garners most of the attention, both of America’s borders are wide open because of the failed policies of the Biden administration,” Robert Law, director of the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration with the America First Policy Institute, told The Daily Signal.  

So far in fiscal year 2023, which began Oct. 1, some 55,736 migrants have been encountered at the northern border, nearly as many as were encountered in 2020 and 2021 combined. If the trend continues, the northern border will experience a record number of encounters this year. In fiscal 2022, CBP reported 109,535 encounters at the northern border.   

“This administration is setting all the wrong records and exposing American communities to potential national security threats because of its refusal to defend the homeland,” Law said.  

Due to the surge of migrants at the southern border, some Border Patrol agents have been moved from the northern border to help in sectors along America’s border with Mexico.  

“Currently, U.S. Border Patrol has approximately 29 agents—all volunteers—supporting southwest border operations from northern border sectors,” a CBP spokesperson told The Daily Signal. “In 2022, at the peak of deployments, 464 agents were deployed from northern border sectors.”

America’s northern border is composed of eight sectors. The Swanton Sector encompasses about 24,000 square miles in Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire. On Feb. 13, the Swanton Sector announced it experienced a record “367 apprehensions and encounters” in January, more than the combined total of every January of the previous 12 years, which total 344.

The record number of crossings took place in January, despite “temperatures reaching -4 degrees Fahrenheit,” according to Customs and Border Protection.  

“As we progress deeper into winter and continue to address the ongoing pace of illicit cross-border traffic, the level of concern for the lives and welfare of our Border Patrol agents and those we are encountering — particularly vulnerable populations — continues to climb,” Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia said in a statement.  

The influx of illegal migrants attempting to cross the northern border has led the Department of Homeland Security to ask Border Patrol agents to volunteer for a temporary deployment to the Swanton Sector, according to Ali Bradley, NewsNation border correspondent.

“Everyone focuses on the southern border, but the northern border should never be ignored, because it is bigger and has less infrastructure and personnel than the southern border — and the smugglers have noticed,” said Hannah Davis, a research assistant with The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., told The Daily Signal that the president’s “failure to secure the southern border has increased encounters of illegals along the northern border,” adding that the crisis is directly affecting the state of New York:

This is a direct result of him incentivizing illegal immigrants to pour into New York state. His historic southern border crisis forced our northern border patrol agents into no-notice deployments and left our northern border vulnerable.

Instead of securing the border to end the influx, the Biden administration shipped his problem to New York state by flying illegals in the dead of night to our communities. Now, taxpayer-funded bus rides of illegals from New York City to Canada are going right through my district.

Our upstate communities cannot bear this burden, and our taxpayers should not have to pay the price.

House Republicans are committed to a nation that is safe, and we will secure our border to end this crisis that has made every state a border state.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency in October after more than 17,000 illegal aliens were bused to the city.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told The Daily Signal his state is working to respond to the increase of encounters at the norther border as the “Biden administration has pulled back on northern border personnel and resources.”  

“We are requesting a formal ICE delegation agreement with the federal government that would empower and allow our state and local law enforcement the ability to enforce immigration laws and apprehend illegal border crossings at our northern border in the absence of federal support,” he said.  

Sununu has “proposed establishing the Northern Border Alliance Fund to make grants available to state, county, and local law enforcement agencies to reduce instances of crimes and illicit activity in close proximity to the Canadian border.” The proposal would cost “roughly [$1.5 million],” according to Sununu.

The spike in encounters at America’s southern border, a record 2.3 million in fiscal 2022 and already more than 870,000 so far this fiscal year, has garnered a great deal of attention from lawmakers and the press alike, but Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., agreed the crisis is not limited to the southern border.  

“We are seeing this crisis unfold not only at our southern border, but at our northern border, highlighting the impact the Biden administration’s open-border policies and rhetoric are having in every community,” Newhouse told The Daily Signal.  

“It has been made abundantly clear this administration has no clear solutions for our border crisis, so it is up to my colleagues and I to hold them accountable, provide sufficient resources and funding to our Border Patrol agents, stop the flow of illicit fentanyl pouring into our communities, and ensure our federal government will keep our citizens safe,” the congressman said.  

The Center for Immigration Studies reported last April that under Biden’s presidency, more than 756,000 illegal migrants had been released into America’s interior, not including more than 146,000 children and an estimated 620,000 got-aways.

“Whether it’s the southern border, northern border, or our airspace,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y. said, the latter referring to the unidentifed objects the military has recently shot down over U.S. airspace, “government’s top priority must be to protect our homeland.”  

“Biden’s open-border policy makes it clear,” Malliotakis, a member of the Northern Border Caucus, added, “his administration has abdicated its responsibility to keep the American people safe.”  

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/02/20/its-not-just-southern-border-anymore-northern-border-also-faces-explosion-of-illegal-immigration

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21 February, 2023

Shocking Cost of the Illegal Immigration Crisis to Americans

As record numbers of illegal aliens continue to flood across our southern border, they are being dispersed into every congressional district in the country, making every state a border state. We’re told they’re merely coming to seek a better life. And while that’s true for many, why do open-borders advocates ignore the enormous toll on Americans that comes in the form of higher taxes, overloaded emergency rooms, increased crime in their communities, and overcrowded classrooms for their children?

This is the first in a series of articles covering the heavy financial and human toll that illegal immigration is taking on the states and their citizens.

Annually, illegal immigration now costs taxpayers billions of dollars a year. For instance, in states far away from the southern border like Illinois, that cost was $4.59 billion in 2022. That’s $930 per household. Every year.

The far-reaching effects of the influx through our southern border are clear. Our communities bear the costs of illegal immigration caused by the Biden administration’s anti-enforcement and open border policies.

Border communities have long been overwhelmed under these policies. The crisis now costs California $21.76 billion and Texas $8.88 billion annually in education, health care, law enforcement and criminal justice system costs, welfare expenditures, and more. Border states are often the subject of shocking reports of epidemics of violent attacks, taxpayers footing the bill for illegal aliens’ health care costs, and increased property destruction.

However, there is more to the story. Considering the droves of illegal aliens the government is settling throughout the country and the sheer number already in the interior of the U.S.—an estimated 15.5 million in 2021—let’s consider a few examples of the specific, ever-increasing costs to communities and states all across the nation.

At a rate of $65,116 per alien, New York City Mayor Eric Adams estimates his city will need to spend $2.8 billion in the next fiscal year to deal with the rapid influx.

In 2023, New Jersey will spend $15 million just to provide health care benefits to illegal alien children.  

As of September 2022, Operation Lone Star—a statewide effort by Texas to decrease illegal crossings and crack down on human and drug trafficking—had cost Texas over $4 billion. That averages about $2.5 million per week.

As of July 2022, Colorado was on track to spend $12 million per year in state and local government benefits, professional licenses, and business permits for illegal aliens.

In March 2022, Oregon passed legislation establishing the Universal Representation Fund, providing $15 million in “free” legal services and representation for illegal aliens, primarily those facing deportation.

Even beyond the economic costs, there are sobering human costs associated with heightened crime levels.

After being on the decline for years, because of President Joe Biden’s open-border policies, crimes committed by illegal aliens have skyrocketed over the past two years in virtually every category, including homicide and manslaughter, robbery and theft, sexual offenses, and weapons and drug trafficking.

It is impossible to put a price tag on the devastation to families and communities that crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens bring. In 2022 alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested 1,142 illegal aliens who were convicted of assault, battery, or domestic violence; 1,614 who were convicted of driving under the influence; and 2,239 who were convicted of drug possession and trafficking. Additionally, CBP arrested 62 illegal aliens convicted of homicide or manslaughter and 365 convicted of sexual offenses.

In total in 2022, CBP arrested 12,028 illegal aliens who had been convicted for various crimes.  

The open border also has allowed Mexican drug cartels and many on the terrorist watchlist to cross into the country unimpeded.

Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that over 71,000 lives were lost to fentanyl overdoses in 2021, with all of that fentanyl coming from south of the border.  

The border crisis is unsustainable and dangerous. And these extraordinary financial and human costs are avoidable with a secure border.

Not only does the Biden administration refuse to change course, but it constantly finds more ways to deceive the public and escape responsibility as it knowingly, purposely perpetuates the crisis and allows a record high number of illegal entries every month.

From Day One in office, Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have all but eliminated border and interior immigration enforcement, doing away with 89 previously successful border policies within their first year in office and dropping the number of illegal aliens detained from 11,000 to 3,000 per month—the lowest number since 1999 (even as we see the highest numbers of aliens illegally entering the country ever recorded).

Instead, they have continually shifted resources to processing more and more illegal aliens to get them into the country. In this fiscal year’s budget, the administration added 300 Border Patrol agents at a cost of $65 million, with their assigned functions now often centering around processing and caring for illegal immigrants at the border rather than arresting and deporting them. They also added 300 Border Patrol processing coordinators at a cost of $23 million and a new Joint Processing Center on the border at a cost of $140 million.

As Mayorkas claims that they have “operational control” of the border and Vice President Kamala Harris says the “border is secure,” we have seen over 6 million known illegal crossing encounters and “gotaways” under the two years of this administration’s watch. While lying to the public, they turn around and pull stunts like a new parole shell game in an effort to hide the true number of illegal immigrants coming into the country.

In the end, when the federal government fails to secure our borders and jeopardizes our national security, the responsibility falls on states to protect themselves.

There is one piece of good news—by tightening state laws requiring proof of citizenship or proof of lawful status for things like receiving public benefits and employment, enabling law enforcement to more effectively protect communities, and more—states can legally and effectively disincentivize illegal immigration within their own borders to spare their citizens the human and economic toll that such immigration brings.

Rather than leaving states to fend entirely for themselves and drown in a crisis this president created, the Biden administration must also step up and take on its responsibility to safeguard our nation’s borders and the American people. We don’t have a country if we don’t have a border. And no nation can afford an open border and a welfare state.

As we continually watch the costs of illegal immigration for states, communities, and the American taxpayers rise, Congress and the American people must hold the Biden administration to account; defund its radical, open-border operations; and restore known, successful policies to secure our border and our country.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/02/15/shocking-cost-of-the-illegal-immigration-crisis-on-americans

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
    
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
 
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs



20 February, 2023

Democrats Expose Their End Game on Illegal Immigration

The current state of the nation's capital is an embarrassment of unrelenting chaos and filth.

Every day, a number of innocent victims are carjacked by teenagers illegally wielding guns and engaging in violence. The Washington D.C. City Council, made up entirely of Democrats and leftists, recently voted to reduce penalties for these crimes, ensuring the problem will only get worse — with no recourse for those being threatened and assaulted at the end of the barrel.

With crime raging and threatening the city's economic viability, what happened just a few months ago completely undermines the very same democracy Democrats have been screaming about protecting.

On October 18, 2022, the same city council members voted to pass the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022. "Local residents" include illegal immigrants and adversarial foreign spies.

"Under the legislation, noncitizen residents could vote as long as they meet all other D.C. voting requirements: they are 18 or older and they have lived in the District of Columbia for at least 30 days," Local WTOP news reported at the time. "An estimated 51,000 residents in the District are noncitizens, according to the Migration Policy Institute."

This is, of course, outrageous, and it's happening in Democrat-run cities across the country. In 2021, New York City passed a measure allowing at least 800,000 illegal immigrants and other non-citizens to vote. It was struck down by a judge, and yet, Democrats in other cities — like D.C. — have pressed on with similar legislation.

"There is no statutory ability for the City of New York to issue inconsistent laws permitting noncitizens to vote and exceed the authority granted to it by the New York State Constitution," State Supreme Court Justice Ralph Porzio ruled last year, striking down the measure. "Though voting is a right that so many citizens take for granted, the City of New York cannot 'obviate' the restrictions imposed by the constitution."

Back in Washington, D.C., federally elected House Republicans voted to overturn the outrageous illegal voting bill that has yet to go through the court system.

"Today the House took the first step to prevent two of the D.C. Council's irresponsible and dangerous laws from going into effect. These misguided efforts would allow crime to run rampant and disenfranchise American citizens in our nation's capital," House Oversight Committee Chairman released in a statement about the move. "Our nation's capital city is in crisis, but the D.C. Council has prioritized radical bills that would embolden criminals to remain on the streets and allow noncitizens, including illegal immigrants, to vote in local elections. We must ensure that these terrible laws do not take effect. The Senate must take the next step so that we can protect the American people from the D.C. Council's path of destruction."

But while the Republican-controlled House voted to preserve the integrity of the vote by allowing only U.S. citizens to cast a ballot, the Democrat-controlled Senate is unlikely to do the same.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who introduced legislation last fall to block the D.C. law, is pointing out the absurdity of it all.

"The D.C. plan to let illegal immigrants vote is crazier than it sounds: Russian embassy staff will be able to vote in D.C. elections!" Cotton pointed out this week on Twitter. "And most Congressional Democrats support this."

They do support it, which is exactly why they support an open border with endless catch-and-release policies.

As the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border continues to rage, with thousands of illegal immigrants continuing to enter the country, falsely claiming asylum and enjoying a free, indefinite release into a U.S. community of their choice, Americans are asking why the Biden administration continues the damaging policy. We know why. They want these people voting – for Democrats.

Despite its current state, Washington, D.C., belongs to the American people — not to criminals, illegal immigrants and foreign spies. While Republicans are stepping up to return the city to its rightful owners, Democrats continue to embolden lawlessness in order to solidify their corrupt power and one-party rule. In the process, they're undermining the very "democracy" they claim to hold sacred.

https://townhall.com/columnists/katiepavlich/2023/02/17/dcs-voting-free-for-all-exposes-their-end-game-on-illegal-immigration-n2619705



19 February, 2023

Colorado To Extend Unemployment Benefits to Undocumented Immigrants

Following Denver’s lead, Colorado will become the first state to pay unemployment benefits to undocumented immigrants — a new front in the larger fight to extend monetary benefits and voting rights to those who are in the country illegally.

The Left Behind Workers Fund was a Denver pilot program that paid out unemployment benefits to individuals regardless of immigration status during the Covid pandemic, as undocumented immigrants were not eligible for federal benefits.

The city’s mayor, Michael Hancock, announced the program in 2020. “Unlike the federal government, we will not leave some of our friends, families and neighbors behind. We will support all members of our community,” he said in a statement.

Colorado is now moving forward with a similar program statewide, called the Benefit Recovery Fund. Last year, the legislature and Governor Polis approved a $600 million grant that would replenish the unemployment benefits trust fund, and included in the bill was a provision allowing undocumented immigrants to receive the money.

The bill has been criticized by Republicans in the state legislature. A state senator whom Colorado Public Radio called one of the chamber’s “most moderate members,” Don Coram, said Coloradans are already struggling financially and shouldn’t be burdened with covering unemployment benefits for undocumented immigrants.

“Let's take care of the people right now that need the benefits rather than import more,” Mr. Coram told CPR. He said his own naturalized constituents are having trouble receiving unemployment benefits.

“I talked to a lady today, she hasn’t got her checks she’s due. She’s worried that her car is going to be repossessed. She can’t pay the rent, and she doesn’t have groceries. So let’s fix those problems first,” he said.

The California and New York legislatures are currently considering similar expansions of unemployment benefits.

The liberal Century Foundation praised the Colorado program for providing what could amount to “economic stability” to undocumented workers. Federal unemployment programs “slammed the door on immigrants without work authorization at the very moment when so many members of the public were applauding in the streets,” the foundation wrote in a blog post.

The authors said it is especially important to expand these programs for undocumented workers who “continued through the height of the pandemic to make deliveries, stock grocery stores, and care for people who were sick.”

The program will be administered by the online payment firm AidKit, which specializes in unemployment benefits and community grants. The director of Colorado’s Office of New Americans, Dee Daniels, praised the firm in a statement released by AidKit.

“Undocumented workers play such a critical role in our community and our economy. The pandemic made it clear that without a safety net in place, the whole community suffers,” Ms. Daniels said. “I look forward to working with AidKit to create an accessible, effective and dignified Fund — one that can serve Coloradans for generations to come and serve as a model for the rest of the country.”

At the state and local level, voters are supporting expanded rights for undocumented immigrants, something advocates have described as equitable and inclusive.

Washington, D.C., lawmakers passed a measure to allow undocumented immigrants to vote in local elections, which is being challenged in Congress. New York City also implemented non-citizen voting in municipal elections last year, but the measure was struck down in court.

Last year, Arizona voters approved a measure that allows undocumented students to attend state universities at the same rate that in-state citizens pay. Before that ballot measure, undocumented immigrants had to pay 50 percent more than their American peers.

In the last three years, Virginia and Massachusetts approved legislation that allows undocumented immigrants to receive state driver’s licenses. Connecticut now pays for 100 percent of Medicaid coverage for undocumented pregnant women and new mothers.

https://www.nysun.com/article/colorado-to-extend-unemployment-benefits-to-undocumented-immigrants



17 February, 2023

Economy, Education and Election Security are the Focus of Latin-American citizens

The Hispanic vote is in flux, with the 2022 midterms delivering mixed results for both parties. On the one hand, Republicans fell short of lofty goals in Arizona and South Texas, where immigration dominated the political narrative last fall.

On the other hand, Hispanics voted in Historic margins for Republicans in Florida, and moved to the right by ten percentage points nationwide compared to 2018.

In the Florida Governor’s race, Hispanics shifted to the right by fourteen percentage points between 2018 and 2022. In the 2018 midterms, Democratic nominee for Governor Andrew Gillum won Hispanics 54% to Ron DeSantis’ 44%, but last year DeSantis earned a whopping 58% of the Hispanic vote to Charlie Crist’s 40%.

While Democrats have trumpeted the GOP’s perceived failures with the Latino vote in Arizona and Texas, the reality is Republicans did move the needle in these states, just not by as much as they could have.

In Arizona, GOP newcomer gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake increased her share of the Latino vote by three percentage points more than Gov. Doug Ducey in 2018.

So, what happened in Texas? Republicans set an aggressive goal, targeting three congressional seats in South Texas with a heavy law-enforcement message, and losing all but one. Still, Democrats saw their margins shrink compared to past elections. In the 34th Congressional District, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez beat Rep. Mayra Flores, a Republican, by just eight points. In the largest county in the district, Cameron County, Gonzalez won by only 3.6 points, while four years ago Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela won the region by 30 points.

However, with lofty goals and millions of dollars in funding poured into the region, it’s worth asking what Republicans could have done better. One implication is a mismatch in priorities, with illegal immigration dominating campaign messages but remaining less important to Latinos than economic issues.

The three Republican Latina candidates in South Texas made illegal immigration the focal point of their campaigns. All three candidates — Irene Armendariz-Jackson, Cassy Garcia and Rep. Mayra Flores — are women who are married to Border Patrol agents All three spoke frequently about illegal immigration and law enforcement issues, and gave less lip service to other concerns, namely economic issues.

While this law enforcement message was especially salient in border states, polling shows economic issues were the top concerns for Latinos leading up to the 2022 election and remain primary concerns today. Education, health care, and election integrity all trump immigration concerns for Latino Republicans, and it is Latino Democrats who are more concerned with immigration according to polls.

Pew Research conducted polling ahead of the midterms last year and showed the economy was the number one issue for Latin citizens by far. A full ninety percent of Latino Republicans cited the economy as very important to their midterm vote, followed by education (66%), voting policies (58%) and healthcare (54%). For Latino Democrats, 80% said healthcare was very important to their midterm vote, followed by the economy (75%), and education (72%). Notably, immigration was a more motivating issue to Latino Democrats than it was to Republicans. Two-thirds of Latino Democrats said immigration was very important to their vote, compared to just half of Republicans.    

Two-thirds of Latino Democrats said immigration was very important to their vote, compared to just half of Republicans.

By making illegal immigration a central issue, Republican candidates neglected to address the primary concern among right-leaning Hispanics: their pocketbooks. Latinos largely trust the GOP over Democrats to handle economic issues, which means the economy is a natural area to focus to continue making inroads.

Education also outranks immigration when it comes to Latino Republican priorities, and this is another opportunity for Republicans to earn Latino votes. YouGov polling shows Latinos hold moderate to conservative views on education and are wary of the state’s role in education, saying 48% to 35% state boards of education should have a little influence over curriculum. Even fewer say the state legislature should have much control over curriculum, with Latinos saying 24% to 44% the legislature should have little control.

The same poll shows Hispanics think teachers and parents should retain the most control over curriculum, with 42% saying parents should have a lot of control over curriculum, and 44% saying teachers should.

Education is not frequently seen as a ‘Latino issue’, but it is an important issue when choosing which candidate to support to over two-thirds of Latino voters. The GOP cannot afford to ignore this issue.

Education is not frequently seen as a ‘Latino issue’, but it is an important issue when choosing which candidate to support to over two-thirds of Latino voters.

Voting policies are another issue that trumps immigration for Latinos, with 58% of Latino republicans citing voting policies as important to their midterm vote.

This is also an issue where Latinos largely align with the Republican Party. Polling shows Democrats’ attempt to weaken voter ID laws could be a wedge issue for Hispanics. YouGov found 64% of Hispanics support a voter ID requirement, compared to 23% who oppose such a requirement. What is more, less than a third of Hispanics would support ‘universal voting’.

Hispanics are also extremely critical of the outcome of the 2020 election. One poll early after Biden’s inauguration found 23% of Hispanics do not believe Biden won the presidency, and less than half (43%) were excited about Biden taking office.

Another poll found by a margin of 43% to 41% Hispanics believe either a lot or a little voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election. The same poll found 32% of Hispanics supported the protestors who entered the capitol to protest the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the Electoral College on January 6th.

Richard Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government stated, “The reality is illegal immigration is a pressing issue, especially near the border, but it was dwarfed by concerns about skyrocketing inflation, runaway school boards and voter fraud. If these issues had made more of a priority, it’s possible the scales would have tipped even further for conservatives.”  

Latinos are increasingly concerned about economic issues, and largely blame President Biden for their financial struggles. Biden’s polling numbers have sunk nearly twenty percentage points with Latinos since he took office. Meanwhile Trump’s favorability with Latinos has steadily risen and now sits sixteen percentage points higher than when he left office.  

Trump’s favorability with Latinos has steadily risen and now sits sixteen percentage points higher than when he left office.

YouGov polls show Latinos say 51% to 35% the country is off on the wrong track, and over half say the economy is in a recession and that inflation has personally impacted them a lot.  Hispanics also say by a three to one margin that inflation is a bigger issue than unemployment, something President Biden downplayed at his State of The Union Speech when trumpeting low unemployment numbers.

To solve these economic woes, many Latinos are looking back on the Trump presidency with fond memories. The share of Latinos who say Trump should run again is up 14 points since he left office going from 22% in January 2021 to 36% today. Hispanics are also largely sour on Biden running again, with just 28% saying he should run and a full 50% saying he should not.  

Trump is easily the first choice with Latinos for the GOP nominee, with 21% saying he is the best choice followed by DeSantis (16%) and Nikki Haley (10%).   

President Trump instigated a Latino shift back toward the right in 2016 and escalated that shift in 2020, but it was largely Trump’s focus on economic issues that motivated Latinos, not necessarily his immigration rhetoric. This isn’t to downplay the significance of the border crisis – but to place it in context. Like many other center-right voters, economic issues are the primary motivators for Latino voters, especially those who lean right.  As is becoming evident among other segments of the voting population, the economic polices of America First – a more populist agenda than the traditional GOP “free market” dogma – has the greatest pull.  As Biden  himself showed with his State of the Union address, economic populism will determine the outcome of upcoming elections.  And, if implemented, the future prosperity of the United States.

https://dailytorch.com/2023/02/economy-education-and-election-security-are-the-focus-of-latin-american-citizens/



16 February, 2023

American Veterans, 0; Illegal Migrants, Millions

Though more than 2 million Americans have served in harm's way since Desert Storm, there have been no national victory parades for those who won bloody battles in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and a dozen other dangerous places. Instead, they -- and we -- have been subjected to demoralizing events like the "Obama bugout" from Iraq in December 2011 and the disastrous, humiliating Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

And now, with the catastrophic invasion across what used to be our southern border, care for our veterans has been supplanted by the extraordinary cost of caring for illegal "migrants." A Jan. 31 article in the New York Post by Patrick Reilly describes how low we have sunk:

"A once-trendy Manhattan hotel has become a wild 'free-for-all' of sex, drugs, and violence after the city began housing migrants there, an employee claimed Tuesday."

"Over 43,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since the spring, with some 26,000 housed in the city's hotels, according to Mayor Eric Adams' office."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott decided "sanctuary cities" like NYC should share some of the burdens of housing and caring for these illegal "migrants." But as soon as the illegals started arriving, Mayor Adams started squealing about how the federal government had to help.

He's put them up in nice hotels and supplied them with their every basic need, including food, clothing, and medical care. And who's footing the bill? American taxpayers. And how are these migrants showing their gratitude? By turning the hosting hotels into third-world slums and abusing the employees.

Meanwhile, according to NYC Department of Homeless Services data, there are around 45,000 homeless people in the Big Apple. If national statistics hold, about 16% of those are likely former U.S. military personnel. That comes out to about 7,200 homeless veterans. The ongoing high suicide rate and less-than-stellar VA care should make any reasonable person question the prevailing priorities of the White House and Democrat politicians.

Add to that the decline in essential military recruitment and retention because of finally eliminated vaccine mandates, repulsive "woke" indoctrination, poor family housing, aging Department of Defense schools, and reduced medical care for dependents and we have the very definition of injustice. Worse still, personnel shortages reduce military readiness in an increasingly dangerous world.

In the U.S. Constitution, a copy of which I always keep within reach, I can't find any language authorizing our federal government to give deference to people illegally entering our country over current or former soldiers, sailors, airmen, Guardsmen, and Marines. Those who have volunteered to serve in our armed forces protecting the American people and our way of life deserve better.

The Republican majority in the 118th Congress is honor-bound to change the scorecard and place the needs of our armed forces and veterans ahead of illegal entrants.

https://townhall.com/columnists/olivernorth/2023/02/14/american-veterans-0-illegal-migrants-millions-n2619518



15 February, 2023

Elon Musk Takes a Hard Line on Immigration

Elon Musk is never afraid to touch on and get involved with sensitive subjects.

The billionaire entrepreneur, who in recent months has become one of the world's most influential personalities, believes that he must speak out on issues he thinks the world must confront. Musk's ambitions are enormous: He promises, for example, that it will be possible to live on Mars in 5 to 10 years.

Unlike many CEOs, the Tesla  (TSLA) - Get Free Report chief is unafraid to opine on hot topics, from the culture wars to guns in America to Russia's war in Ukraine. Musk is everywhere.

He has just weighed in on immigration, a subject that actually is often mentioned by other business leaders, particularly in the tech industry.

If the CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX is a proponent of legal immigration, there's a red line he won't cross.

Musk commented on an Washington Examiner article that talks about an increase in arrests of Chinese immigrants illegally entering the U.S. via the Mexican border.

The media outlet reports that in January 2022, Border Patrol agents stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border arrested 80 illegal immigrants who were citizens of China. A year later, 1,064 Chinese immigrants were apprehended there, 13 times the year-earlier figure.

The article does not specify why the number of Chinese immigrants has surged.

Other conservative media such as Fox have also recently reported on this phenomenon. Quoting data from a senior Customs and Border Protection source, the outlet reported that arrests of nationals from China are up 800% from the fiscal year earlier including January.

The official numbers have not been released yet. But Musk didn't wait to weigh in.

"I am very much in favor of hard-working people coming to America, but we can’t have de facto open borders with no screening," the billionaire commented on the Washington Examiner's article.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/elon-musk-takes-a-hard-line-on-immigration/ar-AA17ugB6

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14 February, 2023

New Report Tracks Illegal Immigrants After Arranged Travel – See Where They are Being Sent

There is a new report from the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project that gives details on how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have facilitated the last part of travel for illegal immigrants after they have successfully reached the United States. This has been significantly on the increase since Biden entered the White House.

The Oversight Project compiled the report by sampling about 30,000 mobile devices that were geofenced to several of these NGOs along the border. Here is the process, illegal immigrants hand themselves over to Border Patrol and then they are processed and released if Title 42 does not apply to their nationality.

Device pings were captured throughout the month of January 2022, in four different phases.

Phase One actually geofenced the physical location of the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Center and the Del Rio Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Station. There were around 400 devices ping at those sites.

Phase Two involved the geofencing of 20 NGO facilities in border states and there were approximately 22,000 devices pinged on-premises.

Phase Three involved geofencing 13 NGO locations located close to the border and there were 5,000 devices pinged on-premises.

Phase Four of the investigation focused on geofencing Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley which is located in San Juan, Texas. There were 3,400 devices pinged on the premises.

The bottom line is that this report shows that the most popular destination for these immigrants is the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Orlando.

“The investigation confirmed that a host of NGOs are actively facilitating the Biden border crisis. Overflow from Customs and Border Protection is being transferred to these organizations so that Border Patrol avoids overcrowded facilities. These organizations apply for, and receive, taxpayer money to provide processing and transportation services and infrastructure to facilitate the migration of illegal aliens into the interior of the country,” according to Mike Howell, director of the Oversight Project.

This investigation is the first ever to document the physical movement of illegal aliens into the interior of the country. They have uncovered a mass resettlement program in which the White House administration works hand-in-hand with NGOs.

https://patriotnewsfeed.com/new-report-tracks-illegal-immigrants-after-arranged-travel-see-where-they-are-being-sent/

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13 February, 2023

Cost of Joe Biden’s open borders: $200 billion, paid by you

A few years back, the Center for Immigration Studies used data from the National Academies of Sciences to estimate the lifetime net fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for each illegal immigrant, not counting their US-born children.

Adjusted for inflation, the lifetime cost to taxpayers of each illegal immigrant is over $80,000. Under Biden’s orders, Homeland Security has released into the United States nearly 2 million illegal border-crossers (so far!), meaning their lifetime cost to taxpayers will be close to $150 billion.

Add in another 1 million got-aways — border infiltrators who were detected (by cameras or ground sensors or other means) but not apprehended because the Border Patrol had its hands’ full dealing with all the illegal immigrants turning themselves in knowing they’d be released — and the lifetime cost for taxpayers soars past $200 billion.

You might object that many of these are asylum-seekers awaiting their hearings and, if they lose, they’ll return home. You might also be interested in a bridge I have to sell you.

How big is $200 billion? It’s equal to:

The entire gross domestic product of New Zealand, or Greece, or Peru.

The budget of New York, a city of 8.5 million, for two years.

Five years of funding for NYC’s schools.

Roughly 41% of what the nation spends on welfare overall in a year.

Enough to buy every NFL team and still have $60 billion left over.

Notwithstanding the contemptible behavior of some “asylum-seekers” in Manhattan hotels, these huge costs for taxpayers are not generally the result of moral shortcomings on the part of the illegal immigrants.

There’s a wide body of research showing that illegal immigrants tend to be significantly less educated than legal ones or the native-born, just as you’d expect. While there are always exceptions, most illegal immigrants have no more than a high school education in their home countries, if that.

Less-educated people, whether they’re immigrants or native born, on average make less money and thus pay little in taxes, while making greater use of taxpayer-funded government services.

So the drain on government coffers created by illegal immigrants isn’t because they’re lazy or came here to get welfare (though that obviously does happen). Nor is it because they all work off the books and don’t pay taxes; we estimate that half or more of illegal immigrants work on the books, with fake or stolen Social Security numbers.

Just the fact, ma’am

It’s just that in a modern economy, less education equals less income equals less tax revenue and more government services. The math is unavoidable, and it’s why cities and states worry so much about losing their middle- and upper-income tax base; it’s those middle- and upper-income residents who pay most of the taxes — categories that do not include the average illegal immigrant.

Not that the costs to Americans of mass illegal immigration matter to the activists making immigration policy in the Biden administration. They have a deep ideological aversion to enforcing immigration laws, and if the resulting tsunami of arrivals costs taxpayers billions, so be it — it’s the price of moral rectitude.

But if the Biden administration expects us to bear the costs generated by the arrival of millions of poor people from abroad, it at least has an obligation to tell us how much it will cost.

https://nypost.com/2023/02/10/cost-of-joe-bidens-open-borders-200-billion-paid-by-you/



12 February, 2023

NYC’s price tag for migrant crisis now at $500 million — and could reach $4 billion

The Big Apple spent half a billion dollars on the migrant crisis since July — nearly a quarter of its total estimated cost, The Post has learned.

The city’s Office of Management and Budget said it has already spent $500 million “in costs associated with asylum seekers” between July 1, 2022 and Jan. 31, 2023, according to an estimate provided by City Hall on Friday.

That’s also half the $1 billion Mayor Eric Adams requested from President Joe Biden last year, thanks to an influx of over 44,000 asylum seekers that have flooded into the Big Apple since the spring.

But Adams recently revealed the total financial hit amounts to $4.2 billion over the next two years — and is expected to grow even larger.

Around 28,800 migrants are living in 86 taxpayer-funded emergency hotels and shelters as well as six “Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers,” including one at the cruise ship terminal in Brooklyn’s Red Hook.

The federal government also granted an additional $1 million to the city’s Department of Homeless Services, according to City Hall.

https://nypost.com/2023/02/10/nycs-price-tag-for-migrant-crisis-now-500-million-could-reach-4-billion/

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10 February, 2023

Another Critical Tool Border Patrol Needs to Secure the Border Is Going Away

The Biden administration is drastically reducing the number of surveillance blimps, aerostats, at the U.S.-Mexico border due to cost amid the ongoing crisis as illegal entries into the country remain at historic highs.

Aerostats are one of the surveillance tools used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to detect attempted gotaways, which are at all-time highs. One of the advantages aerostats have over helicopters and airplanes is the length of time they can stay in the air.

Fox News reports out of the 12 aerostats that were originally contracted out, only four will now remain in the Rio Grande Valley Sector:

The Department of Defense, which agreed to spend $52 million to continue operating aerostats through to the end of FY 2022, which ended in October, after the Department of Homeland Security cut funding for the program.

Last year, the Biden administration added a balloon in Nogales, Arizona. A CBP spokesman told local media that the technology has been used along the border since 2013, that the blimp in question has a range of 3,000 feet above ground level and allows Border Patrol to 'maintain visual awareness of border activity in the United States for longer periods of time.'

"The U.S. Border Patrol began reducing the number of Tactical Aerostats it deploys along the southwest border on January 1, 2023," A CBP spokesperson told Fox News. "Although the Border Patrol’s number of aerostats will be reduced, the Border Patrol will continue to use aerostats throughout FY 2023," adding they are looking at other pieces of surveillance technology for the land border while looking to expand aerostat usage along costal borders.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2023/02/09/another-critical-tool-border-patrol-needs-to-secure-the-border-is-going-away-n2619372

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9 February, 2023

Border patrol chiefs acknowledge that enough fentanyl was seized at the border so far this year to kill the U.S. population FIVE TIMES over

U.S. Border Patrol agents testifying before the Oversight Committee on Tuesday acknowledged that the amount of fentanyl seized at the southern border so far this year is enough to kill nearly five times the population of the U.S.

Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin noted that 700 pounds of fentanyl was seized in his area alone in 2022, which he noted was enough to kill half the population of the United States.

Committee member, GOP Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee explained that the heart-stopping amounts of the synthetic opioid caused the overdose deaths of the hundreds of citizens in his Tennessee district last year alone.

Burchett recited Department of Homeland Security (DHS) figures that show 9,400 pounds of fentanyl were seized in the country so far this year.

'And approximately 76 percent, or 7,200 pounds of that was seized coming through our southwest border,' he added.

When asking Modlin and fellow witness Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Floria Chavez whether they knew how many people that could kill, they admitted they did not but admitted they were aware it was a high number.

'I'll do the math for you,' Burchett said. 'It's 1.6 billion people, with a 'b'.'

'That's enough fentanyl to kill every American almost five times over,' he noted.

'And the bottom line is this country was on its way, I felt, to a secure border under President Trump,' the lawmaker said. 'But President Biden put an end to that on his first day in office. I believe Americans are dying as a result.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11723747/Border-chiefs-Fentanyl-seized-border-kill-5-times-population.html

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8 February, 2023

"Tremendous concern" that terrorists could be among 1.2 million million ‘gotaways’ that slipped into US

A Border Patrol chief admitted his “tremendous concern” terrorists and spies have infiltrated into the country through the porous US-Mexico border during a Congressional hearing Tuesday morning.

The stunning response was in answer to a question asked during a border security hearing in which two US Border Patrol chiefs assigned to different parts of the international boundary testified.

Republican Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona asked if terrorists or foreign agents could be among the 1.2 million “gotaways” — people Border Patrol have spotted on camera or by sight but been unable to stop getting into the country — since President Biden took office.

“To speculate who could possibly be in the ‘gotaways’ or the unknowns would just simply be speculation,” said Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin, who heads up the Tucson sector of the agency.

“All I can tell you is that it is a tremendous concern that anyone goes through the border undetected, but the reality is that we know that there are people getting by.”

In the fiscal year 2022, Customs and Border Protection apprehended 98 people whose names appeared on the terror watchlist trying to enter the US illegally. Since the new year started in October 2022, 38 people identified as known terrorists, suspected terrorists, or associates of both were stopped from attempting to cross into the US.

A record-shattering 2.4 million migrants were encountered by federal agents at the border in the fiscal year 2022 — the most ever. The second highest year was 2021 when 1.7 million attempts to cross the southern border were made, according to federal statistics.

“We went from what I would describe as ‘unprecedented’ to a point where I don’t have the correct adjective to describe what’s going on,” Modlin described of the strain on his department.

Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, blamed President Biden’s policies for the historic surge and asked immigration officials if they agreed.

“Interviewing [migrants] post-arrest, what became the most common response was that they believed that when the administration changed, the policy changed, and that there was an open border,” stated the Tucson chief.

However, Modlin added that while perception among those coming to the border may have shifted the law and policies did not. He said immigration agents are not enforcing the law differently than they did under previous administrations.

Like many Congressional hearings, Tuesday’s border hearing featured more political point-scoring than a discussion of how to fix problems. However, one lawmaker did ask the border chiefs what solutions they could offer to help end the border crisis.

Gloria Chavez, the chief of the Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas, said the men and woman on the front lines should be helping lawmakers to reform immigration policy.

“Whenever Congress is ready to put that team together, look at Border Patrol agents to come in and advise you,” Chavez stated. “If we don’t have the right policies or consequences, the world is watching us — we’re going to continue to see these large migration flows from around the world entering here at our southern border.”

https://nypost.com/2023/02/07/terrorists-could-be-among-1-2-million-million-us-border-gotaways/



7 February, 2023

No, more immigration won’t stem inflation

The rich and powerful keep telling us we need more foreign workers to hold down wages to check inflation. This, when labor-force participation is at a near-record low, wages aren’t keeping up with inflation, and the pay of the working class is almost certainly not what’s driving inflation.

The latest to sing the we-need-more-foreign-workers song is former Walmart CEO Bill Simon. The “problem is,” he told Fox Business, “wage inflation”: “Walmart announced they’re raising their minimum wage” to “$14 an hour,” he said. “We need workers, but we need workers we can employ that are in the country legally.”

Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark, who represents the nation’s richest companies, thinks the same thing: “We need more workers,” she said, arguing allowing more immigrants “would be anti-inflationary.”

Those calling for immigration to lower wages and stem inflation are completely out of touch with the reality of the US labor force. First, Simon claims the millions of illegal immigrants who have slipped past Border Patrol or been released by the administration cannot work. The reality is lack of work authorization is not a serious impediment to working, as the law barring the employment of illegal immigrants has been unenforced for decades.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly household survey shows explosive growth in the number of immigrants working since January 2021, when the border crisis started. (The survey does include illegal immigrants.) By November 2022, there were 1.9 million more immigrants working than in November 2019, before COVID. A significant share is recently arrived Latin Americans, many of whom are illegal immigrants.

Second, the number of US-born workers is down 2.1 million over the same period. Among the native-born, there’s been a decades-long decline in the labor-force-participation rate, meaning the share of working-age people working or at least looking for work. Yes, the official unemployment rate is low, but that includes only those who have looked for work in the prior four weeks, not those of working age entirely out of the labor force. We may never return to the participation rate of the 1960s, when virtually all working-age men were in the labor force, but we could still add 6.5 million workers if the participation rate among US-born ages 16 to 64 simply returned to its 2000 level.

The reasons for the long-term decline are complex and much debated. No doubt our welfare and disability systems have played a significant role, as have declining real wages for the non-college-educated. But there is no debate that the falloff is associated with a host of social problems such as substance abuse, welfare dependency, mental-health issues, crime and even early death.

Third, the premise wage increases are the primary driver of inflation, especially for relatively low-paying jobs such as those at Walmart, is false. The BLS reports inflation-adjusted wages in 2022’s fourth quarter were lower than in 2020’s. Congressional overspending, the Federal Reserve’s low interest rates, international supply-chain disruptions and pent-up demand during COVID are all almost certainly bigger inflation drivers than wage growth. Workers, particularly less-educated ones, account for far too small a share of economic output to play much role in inflation.

Nevertheless, business leaders are not the only ones pushing immigration as a solution to inflation. A bipartisan group of 35 senators has called for significantly increasing the number of low-skilled guest workers. The fact so much of the elite advocates using immigration to satisfy employers’ demands points to perhaps the biggest problem with tolerating mass illegal immigration and having such an expansive legal immigration system — it lets us ignore all the social pathologies of working-age people not working.

We should let wages rise to incentivize employment. We should also reform our welfare and disability programs to encourage work. What we should not do is allow ever-more immigration that lets us ignore the crime, social disorder, drug abuse and other social problems that come with having so many working-age people out of the labor force.

https://nypost.com/2023/02/02/no-more-immigration-wont-stem-inflation/

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6 February, 2023

NYC migrants are moving to Canada! Eric Adams is giving disgruntled asylum seekers free bus tickets to Canadian border

Migrants are getting fed up with the hustle and bustle of New York City, and are leaving for Canada on buses paid for with taxpayer money.

As migrants arrive in NYC, National Guard soldiers have been stationed in the Port Authority bus terminal to hand out free tickets for shuttles heading upstate towards the Canadian border.

City Hall sources said the move was part of a 're-ticketing' plan to help migrants work their way to Canada, according to The New York Post, where president Justin Trudeau has been outspoken about building a haven for people in need.

Some of the migrants taking the National Guardsmen up on their offer told The Post they were heading to Canada because they felt it would be more welcoming for them and provide better opportunities than the United States.

The news comes as a large group of migrants was publicly ousted from a ritzy midtown hotel they'd been housed in, and Mayor Eric Adams has been desperately trying to convince that the city's shelters are a safe and hospitable option.

NYC City Hall has been paying a number of organizations to assist in their re-ticketing program, according to The Post.

One such organization was Catholic Charities Community Services, which said it had helped 'thousands of new migrants' relocate out of NYC.

A spokesperson for Catholic Charities said some of those migrants 'reported their desire to relocate to other cities, and Catholic Charities provided some assistance for their travel expenses.'

One of those migrants participating in the re-ticketing plan was Raymond Peña, a Venezuelan who left NYC early Sunday morning.

'The military gave me and my family free bus tickets,' he told The Post. 'I am going to Canada for a better quality of life for my family.'

Those buses travel as far north as Plattsburgh - just shy of the Canadian border - where local van and taxi services bring them the rest of the way and drop them where Canadian police can gather them.

'There's gotta be 100 people a day,' driver Tyler Tambini, 23, told The Post. 'I do this all day. They get dropped off and I take them the rest of the way.'

The service Tambini drives for charges up to $50 to transport individuals, and families for $90.

Migrants get dropped steps from the Canadian border, where they cross and are apprehended by Canadian police.

Representatives from City Hall did not comment on how much the re-ticketing program cost, and instead said it was merely a part of its longstanding plan for migrants.

'As we have said since the beginning of this crisis, our goal is help connect asylum seekers who want to move to a different location with friends, family, and/or community and, if needed, re-ticket to help get people to their final destination, if not New York City,' a spokesperson said, according to The Post.

NY Governor Kathy Hochul's office confirmed the National Guard had been deployed to Port Authority, but did not say where funds for re-ticketing came from.

'At the request of the city, National Guard members have been deployed to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where they greet people upon arrival, answer questions and direct them to services, including transportation options that they seek,' a spokesperson said.

Numerous migrants traveling to Canada reported being disgusted by the conditions they faced in NYC, where they felt at risk from homeless people and drug users.

'I wanted to live in New York because I thought it would be a better future for my daughters,' said 33-year-old Peruvian Susy Sanchez Solzarno, who was traveling with her family. 'But as the days went by, I saw insecurity, many homeless people, many people who shout and are disrespectful, and many people on drugs.'

'I am going to Canada for the safety and future of my girls,' she told The Post. 'I only ask God that everything goes well and that Canada is not like the United States.'

Manuel Rodon, a 26-year-old from Venezuela, said he was kicked out of the Times Square hotel where he'd initially been housed and sent to a shelter where he felt unsafe.

'A lot of the Americans used drugs there,' Rodon said. 'I feel like Canada will be safer. It is a much quieter country than America.'

He said he knew eight other Venezuelans who had all successfully migrated to Canada. 'They all got free tickets, too. It was the same process,' he said. 'It took them three days through customs. They are all safe. They live in Montreal.'

He and others said they learned about the ease of migrating to Canada through social media.

Adams has been bullish on asking for federal help over the city's migrant crisis.

Washington has approved $800million in spending to aid the crisis but it will go to various cities across the country.

Even if it were all going to New York, the city will still spend more money on its own to help the migrants, according to ABC7.

However, Adams bragged Sunday that the migrants will live in better conditions than in other cities.  

'People are sleeping on the streets in El Paso,' Adams said at the rally. 'There sleeping in airports. I spoke to my colleague in Chicago, people are sleeping in the basement of libraries. No family is sleeping on our streets.'

He added that there are no plans for the city to stop taking in migrants but that they will need extra preparation if the Supreme Court lets Title 42 - the pandemic rule making it harder to seek asylum in the US - expire.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11717237/Disgruntled-NYC-asylum-seekers-looking-better-quality-life-Canada.html



5 February, 2023

Texas lawmakers want feds to reimburse states for the high cost of Biden’s border crisis

A group of Republicans from Texas is pushing for the federal government to reimburse states and border communities that are spending billions of dollars to secure the southwest U.S. border that they say President Biden has ignored for the last two years.

These lawmakers introduced two bills this week that would let border states and border towns recoup some of the local funding they’ve spent on border security – a step they say is increasingly necessary in light of Biden’s "failures" to increase border security.

The first bill, from Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, would require the federal government to pay back any state that has spent more than $2.5 billion on border security over the last decade. Crenshaw’s bill says that Texas qualifies, as it has spent more than $3.2 billion on the border since the 2008-2009 state budget was passed.

"Citizens of border States are being taxed twice for the same purpose," Crenshaw’s bill says. "States using their taxpayer dollars and allocating State budgets to meet public safety obligations, which fall under Federal responsibilities, imposes an undue burden on the State."

The bill said that reimbursement is needed due to the "failures of the federal government."

A second bill from Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, would create a grant program that the Department of Homeland Security could use to pay back communities that are overspending, to make up for the federal government’s failure to secure the border.

"For the past two years, the Biden administration’s failed border policies have left our border communities on their own to deal with the influx of illegal immigrants crossing our southern border,"  Jackson said. "Drug dealers, human traffickers, and cartel members are marching through these communities and devastating everything in their path, yet Biden is still silent."

"Our border communities should not be paying for Biden’s America-last agenda," he added.

Jackson’s bill would create a total grant pool of $25 million per year for the next decade and would let DHS distribute that money to border communities as needed. No community could receive more than $500,000 per year.

Under Jackson’s bill, grants would have to go to communities that are within 200 miles of the U.S.-Mexico land border, and sanctuary jurisdictions that protect illegal aliens from prosecution would be ineligible for the funding.

Both lawmakers sponsored both bills, and several Texas Republicans are cosponsors of the two measures.

The legislation was introduced in the wake of several moves by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to pressure Biden to pay attention to the growing border crisis. Abbott announced a state-wide border czar this week and has said that he supports efforts in Congress to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for ignoring his duty to secure the border.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-lawmakers-want-feds-reimburse-states-high-cost-bidens-border-crisis



3 February, 2023

Do we really need more immigrant workers?

Many commentators and media reports have called for more immigration to make up for the slowdown in new arrivals that occurred during the pandemic. Immigrant workers are supposedly “missing” from the job market, creating a labor “shortage.”

In reality, the latest data shows that the number of immigrant workers is well above pre-pandemic levels. To the extent that workers are “missing,” it is due to the decadeslong decline in the labor force participation rate — the share working or looking for work — of the U.S.-born. The decline is especially pronounced among less-educated men. This situation deprives the economy of workers and contributes to a host of social problems.

Of course, most working-age people not in the labor force are out of it for a good reason, including caring for children or attending school, but the long-term decline has little to do with such responsibilities. The falloff in labor force participation is associated with numerous undesirable outcomes such as substance abuse, welfare dependency, mental health issues, crime, family formation and early death.

Despite this decline and its associated pathologies, the media do not typically mention it when discussing the need for more workers, nor do Democratic and Republican politicians, who support allowing more immigrant workers in. They may be distracted by the deceptively low unemployment rate, which includes only those who are actively looking for work and not those who have dropped out of the labor force entirely. In any case, the willingness of elected officials to accept the argument that we need more immigrant workers illustrates an important fact: The availability of immigrant labor allows us to ignore the plight of all those on the economic sidelines.

We face a stark choice: Either we figure out how to get more working-age Americans back into jobs, or we allow more immigrants in and then try to deal with the social problems that low labor force participation exacerbates.

The latest data from November of this year shows that 2.1 million fewer U.S.-born workers were employed than in November 2019, before the pandemic. By contrast, the number of immigrants working, including those here illegally, was up 1.9 million over the same time period. If immigration has rebounded so much, why all the coverage of a supposed shortfall?

Part of the reason could be the much-published Census Bureau estimates showing migration was very low through mid-2021. But those figures are now out of date. Some media coverage also cites an analysis by UC-Davis economists Giovanni Peri and Reem Zaiour, who argue that the pandemic slowdown led to 1.7 million “missing” immigrant workers through June 2021. But their analysis focused on the working age in general, not actual workers, and their findings do not reflect the current reality. By November 2021, the number of immigrant workers was back to the 2019 level, and by November 2022, it greatly exceeded it.

Among the U.S.-born, labor force participation has not returned to pre-COVID levels. This is typical of past recessions in which the U.S.-born drop out of the labor force and do not fully return even when the economy strengthens. This long-term decline has been studied extensively, including by the Obama White House and the Federal Reserve. One of the best books on the subject is Nicolas Eberstadt’s “Men Without Work.”

In sum, the labor force participation rate of working-age men, excluding inmates, has declined steadily since the 1960s, particularly for those without a bachelor’s degree. This is true whether the working age is defined as 16 to 64, 20 to 64, or only those of “prime work-age,” 25 to 54. It has affected U.S.-born White, Black and Hispanic men. The rate for U.S.-born women generally increased until about 2000 but has declined since, again mainly among those without a bachelor’s degree.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jan/16/do-we-really-need-more-immigrant-workers/



2 February, 2023

Vermont Now Struggling With Illegal Immigration

Contrary to popular belief, the southern border is not the only area that’s having problems with illegal immigration. In Vermont, for example, illegal immigration has now started to take its toll, according to Red State.

From October 2022 to December 2022, Vermont saw its rate of illegal immigration increase by a notable 734%. On top of that, the state’s Border Patrol sector is warning of considerable risks that come along with unlawful crossings of this magnitude.

It leaves individuals susceptible to losing their lives after long-term exposure to winter weather. This is somewhat of a parrallel to the dangers of illegal immigration at the southern border as well.

While crippling cold temperatures aren’t a risk at the southern border, human smugglers, heat exhaustion, animals, and the elements are.

In the North, making the illegal journey from Canada to Vermont could cause the persons in question to freeze, die from frostbite, or otherwise run into serious problems.

Many people aren’t even aware that illegal immigration happens in the North. However, for the communities and officials who are forced to pick up the pieces, the reality is undeniable.

What’s Driving This?

So far, officials believe that Mexican cartels are largely faciliating illegal immigration in the North. This can be as simple as these cartels getting individuals to places like Quebec and then helping them make their way into Vermont.

Unlike many southern border states, Vermont is not set up with various barriers meant to defend against illegal immigration. For this reason, unlawful crossings at the North can fly under the radar more easily and occur to a greater extent.

However, now that there is some public awareness about illegal immigration in Vermont and the driving force behind it, it remains to be seen whether or not officials can employ greater preventative measures.

In the meantime, this should remind everyone that illegal immigration is not mutually exclusive to one area or community.

https://www.theconservativebrief.com/vermont-now-struggling-with-illegal-immigration



1 February, 2023

It’s the land of the freebies for NYC’s ‘entitled’ migrants

Say this for the migrants demanding more free stuff from City Hall: they’re fast learners about the new American ethos of endless entitlement.

Schooled and led by far-left activists, they arrive here within days of illegally crossing the southern border and claiming asylum, then start agitating for better accommodations in pricey neighborhoods.

Tents in The Bronx, barracks in Brooklyn or homeless shelters anywhere are not good enough. Only first-class Manhattan hotels, where the city pays upward of $500 a night per room, are acceptable.

The welcome wagon comes with free food, free cellphones, free transit passes, free school and free health care.

Unfortunately, the booty is not free for taxpayers, which brings us to the slow learners in the sad saga.

That would be the gang at City Hall that is hell-bent on proving once again that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The open-ended promises are a prime example of how Eric Adams missed key lessons at mayoral school.

His predecessors learned that if you say come and get it, people will come and get it, especially when it’s free. Adams apparently believed his election had changed human ­nature.

Recall that he loudly embraced New York’s status as a sanctuary city and urged the Democratic mayor of El Paso, Texas, to send 200 migrants a day to Gotham. In one of his many mixed messages, Adams opened that door even as he denounced Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for sending busloads of other migrants.

And he said nothing about the secret nighttime migrant flights to area airports arranged by the Biden White House. Are only migrants sent by Democrats welcome?

It was the exact wrong way to look at the problem. Abbott and other border state leaders, frustrated with being ignored by Biden as more than 5 million people have crossed the border, were legitimately trying to spread the pain in hopes of making Adams and other Dem mayors allies for securing the crossing points.

Nonetheless, by October, some 17,000 migrants had arrived here, with most living in crowded city shelters that already housed nearly 60,000 homeless people. With a clear change in tone, Adams suddenly declared a state of emergency and said the city had no more room at the inn.

“New Yorkers are angry,” he said. “I am angry too. We have not asked for this.”

Actually, he had. But he was also banking on fellow Dems in Albany and Washington delivering financial aid. First he said the cost would be $1 billion, then he said $2 billion.

No matter — the result was the same: zero. That’s how much help Adams has gotten from his friends even as the number of known migrants approaches 45,000.

Gov. Hochul also snubbed his modest request to scatter 500 around to upstate cities.

Meanwhile, Adams’ supposed allies on the City Council undercut him in a different way. They demanded he take down tent cities, put migrants in hotels and give them permanent housing.

So here we are, and the soaring cost is only part of the problem. There is an immediate impact on the city’s already-declining quality of life.

Take the mess at Midtown hotels, which The Post’s Tuesday front page smartly labeled “Inn-Sane!” The three-star Watson Hotel on West 57th Street would normally be a mecca for big-spending tourists, but instead the scene is chaotic with some migrant refuseniks pitching tents on the sidewalk in a bid to stay at the hotel instead of being shipped to a cruise ship terminal in Red Hook.

Never mind that the city filled the cavernous Brooklyn space with cots, pillows and blankets and provided large communal toilets and showers.

“The cruise ship terminal is not as good as the hotel,” a 42-year-old Venezuelan man told The Post.

There you have it — more entitlement than gratitude. In a heartbeat, that migrant’s mindset has gone from dreaming of freedom in America to demanding luxury accommodations in Manhattan — for free, of course.

The chaos is not limited to the Watson. The Post, acting on information and photos provided by a whistleblower employee, reported three weeks ago about the unfolding disaster at another Midtown hotel leased by the city for migrants, the Row Hotel on Eighth Avenue near Times Square.

“Nearly a ton of taxpayer-provided food gets tossed in the trash every day,” the paper said, because the migrants would “rather secretly cook their own meals on dangerous hot plates.”

The photos showed garbage bags full of unopened sandwiches and a room littered with empty beer cans.

The employee, Felipe Rodriguez, said there was a “dramatic” change when the city took over the hotel in October.

“There are some nice migrants in that hotel looking for that American dream, that second chance to make it in society,” he said. “But there are a lot of migrants there that are causing chaos. We have a lot of fights, a lot of drugs, a lot of sexual harassment abuse.”

He said there was no supervision for migrants who were supposed to be quarantined for COVID, chicken pox and other infectious diseases. An NYPD source confirmed to the paper that cops have responded to numerous incidents at the Row, formerly known as the Milford Plaza.

Obviously, the crime element is not something the city needed to import. It’s got more than enough of the home-grown variety and, while murder and shootings are down, too many streets and neighborhoods remain haunted by menace and violence.

To be clear, the migrants didn’t invent the entitlement approach. They are taught to demand what they want by open-border activists who won’t be satisfied until New York looks and feels like Caracas. Nor do the leaders care that the lack of serious vetting provides an open door for drug smugglers, gangbangers and sex traffickers.

Operating through lawyers and charities, and often with government funding, the activists denounce American society as racist, which is both outrageous and ironic. After all, the supposed racism doesn’t curb the desire of tens of millions of people from around the world to come here.

That’s small comfort for taxpayers, nor is it helping Adams look like the mayor he promised to be. On election night, he vowed to be the new face of his party and show America how to run a city.

If this is what he had in mind, heaven help New York.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/31/its-the-land-of-the-freebies-for-nycs-entitled-migrants/

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