NTF issue paper: illegal16.doc. 3-21.
NEBRASKA TAXPAYERS FOR FREEDOM ISSUE PAPER:
BIDEN REGIME PROPOSES MASS ILLEGAL ALIEN AMNESTY.
BACKGROUND. The Biden-Harris Regime upon assuming control of the White House immediately began an initiative to offer amnesty to millions of illegal aliens in order to sign up additional Socialist Democrat voters and load the welfare system with millions who will become dependent upon federal government largesse. The Regime coordinated with leftist Sen. Bob Menendez to introduce legislation that is the largest amnesty bill proposed in U.S. history. Several radical immigration groups press Biden to go even further and implement immediate moratoriums on deportations, detentions, and new arrests.
THE BILL. S. 348, the U.S. Citizenship Act sponsored by Sen. Menendez (N.J.) and 25 other liberal senators, fulfills the Biden promise to provide citizenship for every illegal alien in the U.S. It regrettably would fundamentally degrade our entire immigration system in the midst of a pandemic and economic downturn. This 353-page bill has 5 sections, none of which mention better border security, asylum reform, or use of the E-Verify system. There is no need for added enforcement mechanisms, a senior White House official said. No Republican senators support the bill. It literally will open our southern border to millions of aliens worldwide. Under Senate rules, the bill would need 60 votes for cloture, if a senator filibusters the legislation. Senate Democrats have an uphill battle, because they must secure at least 10 Republican votes, but Menendez has started conversations to sway liberal Republican colleagues. Socialist Democrats would consider all alternatives to accomplish immigration change, including using a procedural move to pass a bill in the Senate with only 51 votes, preventing a filibuster. Sen. Menendez was a member of the “Gang of Six” that crafted a bipartisan DACA bill to provide Dreamers with a pathway to citizenship. It garnered 54 votes in the Senate, after President Bush refused to support it. In 2013, Menendez was also a member of the “Gang of Eight” that passed bipartisan, comprehensive immigration amnesty by a majority in the Senate, only blocked by Republican leaders from coming to a vote in the House. S. 348 currently is in the Senate Judiciary Committee, awaiting advancement to the full Senate.
AMNESTY. This bill offers over 14.5 million illegal aliens a 3-8-year path to citizenship, including those having multiple violent felony convictions. In 5 years, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, illegal alien farm workers, and essential workers all can obtain green work cards. Essential workers is a category that will include everyone from roofers to professionals. DACA recipients who received employment authorization no longer barred from federal employment, even in Congress, on the basis of their non-citizenship. TPS is a humanitarian protection allowing individuals who were present when an armed conflict or disaster occurred in their home countries to remain and work in the U.S. legally until the triggering conditions subside. The bill would provide TPS beneficiaries and those under Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), a similar humanitarian program, with the ability to obtain permanent residence for themselves, their spouses, and their children, if they resided in the U.S. continuously since January 1, 2017 and were eligible for TPS or DED on that date. Illegals could merely claim residence in the U.S. to apply for amnesty. After permanent residency established, illegals then could apply for citizenship after a waiting period and civic knowledge requirements met. They will receive Social Security numbers and benefits.
AG WORKERS. Migrant farm workers also eligible for a streamlined process, if they worked at least 2,300 hours or 400 work days in agriculture during the preceding 5-year period. An illegal alien, including those who worked lawfully under the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program, may become a permanent resident if meeting other general requirements, agricultural labor or services as defined under the H2-A program or the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act of 1983. An individual spouse and children need not meet the work requirement themselves for ag amnesty.
VISA CHANGES. The diversity visa lottery system would expand from 50,000 to 80,000 annually, offering illegals in this visa backlog green work cards. This substantial increase will boost the number of immigrants from nations that otherwise have low levels of immigration to America. S. 348 also exempts spouses and children from visa cap numbers and rolls over these unused visas to the next fiscal year allotment. The bill prevents children from aging out of the visa system. Under current law, children whose parents were awaiting a green card would have no legal status on their own upon reaching the age of 21; that would change. Those awaiting family visas could join their family members in the U.S. while they await their green card priority date. The bill adds the number of unused family-sponsored immigrant visas from FYs 1992-2020 to the annual ceiling for the admission of family-sponsored immigrants. The bill would increase visa preferences for homosexual and lesbian “families” and allow in their “partners.” More immigrant visas for other worker categories. One section would increase the number of immigrant visas in the employment-based third preference category of “other workers” from 10,000 to 40,000. This section would expand the benefit of work authorization for H-4 visa holders to include both spouses and children. The current regulations only allow H-4 spouses to hold such work authorization, if the spouse in H-1B visa status has reached specific milestones in the green card process. Employment-based visas jump under the legislation from 140,000 to 170,000. Authorization of 1-year extensions of work authorization for those in F-1, H-1B, L, and O status, if their immigrant visa petition or labor certification authorization has pended for more than one year. The bill triples the number of visas available to those who are victims of specific crimes, including domestic violence, upping the number from 10,000 to 30,000. It would create a pilot program allowing county or municipal officials to sponsor up to 10,000 illegal aliens annually for visas in occupations in which there are supposedly shortages of U.S. workers.
OTHER NEGATIVES. The bill greatly expands chain migration, to allow thousands more relatives into the U.S. Expanded birthright citizenship will encourage additional pregnant female illegals to sneak across the border to give birth here. Elimination of per-country caps for family-based immigration. The nations most favored by Menendez per-country limits on family visas are Mexico and Philippines. It would reinstate the Central American Minors Program and create a new Central American Family Reunification program to allow quicker reunification for those with approved family petitions. Amnesty for dependents of H-1B visa holders. Federal funding for state and local governments, nonprofits, and leftist community organizations to conduct programs and make naturalization resources available to immigrant communities to promote integration and inclusion of illegals. Illegals applying under the new programs could obtain advance parole that allows them to travel while their application is pending, an invitation to disappear anywhere in America. They would become eligible to purchase health insurance under Obama Care but would not receive tax credits for insurance premiums or other Obama Care benefits.
CRIMINALS REWARDED. The bill repeals the 3-10 year bar for residing here illegally. S. 348 exempts from inadmissibility and deportability grounds illegals who have falsely claimed U.S. citizenship. This clause would benefit illegals who intentionally overstayed their visas. It will allow previously deported immigrants to apply to return for humanitarian reasons. The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a 100-day pause on deportations for specific illegals. Illegal aliens with up to 3 misdemeanor convictions will automatically qualify for amnesty and citizenship, and an illegal who committed more crimes than that could apply for a waiver. The 3- misdemeanor limit would apply only to crimes committed inside the U.S. No crime connected to illegal entry counted against them. The federal government also could give American citizenship to illegal aliens with a felony or 4+ misdemeanor convictions, if amnesty is “for humanitarian purposes, family unity, or otherwise in the public interest.” The Trump Administration deported over 900,000 illegal aliens with criminal records. The bill would welcome them all back and put them on “probation,” so they could work towards becoming American citizens. The bill would order DHS to invest in “community programs” that can serve as “alternatives to detention.” When thousands more illegal aliens cross the border in search of amnesty, they would not go into detention, only released into the interior n parole. Oftentimes when illegal aliens caught committing a crime, Democrat district attorneys will allow them to plead to lesser charges to avoid deportation. Felony identity theft pled down to misdemeanor possession of forged documents. Felony drug dealing pled down to misdemeanor possession. Felony weapons charges reduced to misdemeanor unlawful firearm possession. Felony assault pled down to a misdemeanor. In several states, vehicular manslaughter charged as a misdemeanor. The result is that there are many illegal aliens here with misdemeanor convictions who should have faced felony charges but received special treatment from pro-illegal immigration district attorneys.
HOUSE BILL. Leftist Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA.) and 80 Socialist Democrats co-sponsor HR 1177, a companion bill in the House.
EASY ASYLUM. S. 348 eliminates the 1-year deadline for filing asylum claims and reduces application backlogs. It would create Designated Processing Centers throughout Central America, allowing displaced persons to apply for asylum in the U.S. The bill increases protections for U visa, T visa, and Violence Against Women Act asylum applicants. An increase in the refugee cap to 125,000, after Trump cut it to a historic low of 15,000.
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. The bill forces all government agencies to replace the words “illegal alien” with the word “noncitizen.” Breitbart News reported that DHS is blocking use of the terms “illegal alien” and “assimilation.” In recent years, the words “illegal alien” wiped from the California Labor Code and the Library of Congress following leftist pressure. The term “illegal alien” still found in federal law and regularly referenced in the immigration system and in court rulings to describe those not U.S. citizens.
MORE MUSLIMS. The bill lifts the ban imposed by Pres. Trump in Executive Order 13769, popularly labeled the “Muslim Ban,” which prohibited unvetted Muslims from emigrating from nations labeled terrorist nations. Unvetted Muslim radicals from several countries now will roam freely across America, creating terror and mayhem.
FOREIGN AID. The bill would appropriate $4 billion over 4 years to aid nations from which most illegal aliens come, like Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, a sum much too small to address the root causes of migration, which include endemic violence, corruption, and socialist economic policies.
THE BORDER. The Menendez bill creates a new committee to investigate misconduct by Border Patrol agents. No funding for the border wall and little appropriated for other border defensive devices and strategies.
MORE WELFARE. DACA illegals will benefit from federal housing programs, including FHA mortgage insurance, the Rural Housing Service, and Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae. Many of the amnestied illegals will become eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
EDUCATION. State universities and colleges could not deny resident tuition status to illegal aliens. S. 348 exempts doctoral degree graduates in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields from U.S.-accredited universities from the numerical limits on green cards. This section would make it easier for STEM doctoral graduates to remain in the U.S. while they search for employment in competition with American workers.
COMPETITION WITH U.S. WORKERS. Improved access to green cards for illegal workers in lower-wage industries. Work authorization for children of H-1B holders. S. 348 will benefit thousands of Indian and Red Chinese IT professionals in America, who compete with citizens. E-Verify, a system to check legal status, remains voluntary. The U.S. will become a magnet for cheap foreign labor from south of our border and from Asia.
ELECTIONS. Socialist Democrats want to add all of these illegal aliens to the voter rolls. They know that giving illegal aliens the right to vote would permanently lean Democrat states like North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Arizona. They know if this bill passes, they will permanently control Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court. New Jersey, represented by Sen. Menendez, has 475,000 illegal aliens, 5th highest among the 50 states, according to the Pew Research Center. He wants these votes.
BILL SUPPORTERS. The American Federation of Teachers president said the legislation advances much-needed reforms to our broken immigration system by prioritizing family reunification and embracing diversity. National Education Association President Becky Pringle declared that our strength as a country comes from our diverse population comprising people from all backgrounds and races. This teacher’s union believes S. 348 is a necessary and good step towards transforming our “inhumane immigration system” into one that is more humane, functional, and centered in racial justice, and respects all people, regardless of race, religion, or birthplace. Leftists tout this thoughtful and robust legislation as ensuring a path towards citizenship for illegal aliens, including DACA recipients. The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, which provides services to illegals and refugees, called the bill a good symbolic gesture. Business groups are pushing for an amnesty for about 5 million illegal alien employees who took jobs from Americans in the farm sector, food delivery, transportation, and hospitals.
CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION. Conservatives are sounding the alarm about the consequences and warning such policies hinder Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell called the bill a massive proposal for blanket amnesty that would gut enforcement of American laws while creating huge new incentives for people to rush here illegally at the same time. A mass amnesty with no safeguards and no strings attached is a nonstarter, said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Florida Sen. Rick Scott declared that granting amnesty to 11 million illegal aliens, on a timeline quicker than any major legislation offered in recent history, without including funding to enhance border security, is reckless and would fuel a continual cycle of illegal immigration. Sen. Marco Rubio stated that America should always welcome immigrants who want to become Americans but that we need laws that decide who and how many people can come here, that we must follow and enforce those laws. He continued, not only does it give illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship, but it includes illegals with multiple criminal convictions and ones already deported. Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.) stated that Biden was wasting no time trying to enact his radical immigration agenda. He called the bill total amnesty, with no regard for the health or security of Americans, and zero enforcement. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise rejects the bill, calling it mass amnesty for illegal immigrants that provides them all with access to a green card and a pathway to citizenship. He labels it an insult to the millions of legal immigrants who follow the proper immigration process and has sparked a rush of migrants trying to cross the southern border to gain amnesty. Rep. John Katko, the head Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, criticized the legislation, calling it an “unserious effort” that fails to secure U.S. borders or close loopholes in the legal immigration system. Rep. Jim Jordan (OH.), the ranking GOP member of the House Judiciary Committee, charged in a statement that the bill rewards those who broke the law and floods the labor market at a time when millions of Americans are unemployed. “Joe Biden’s unveiled immigration bill, the U.S. Citizenship Act – or rather, the ‘Aliens First, Americans Last Act’ – doesn’t just continue the reckless open-borders policies of his fledgling administration, but cements them for the rest of American history,” wrote Cong. Andy Biggs (AZ.). The Center for Immigration Studies commented that past proposals at least accepted the concept of turning off the faucet and mopping up the overflow; this bill is nothing but mopping up and letting the faucet continue to run.
CONSEQUENCES. President Joe Biden stated that the bill is a chance to “restore humanity and American values to our immigration system.” Actually, the bill literally will open our southern border to millions of aliens worldwide who seek easy amnesty. Criminal illegal aliens will roam freely in NE communities, committing atrocious crimes against our citizens. Thousands more in expenses for law enforcement and judicial costs. Increased costs for incarcerating criminal illegals. Thousands of illiterate families will overwhelm our welfare systems. NE medical facilities like hospitals and clinics will lose millions to care for unpaying illegals. NE public schools will bust at the seams with thousands of non-English speaking children, forcing local taxpayers to provide additional staff, services, and classrooms. Illegal aliens will take jobs for lower wages, jobs that Nebraskans could do with higher wages. 52 million more immigrants in the next few years because of the Biden amnesty and related policies.
TAKE ACTION NOW. Blanket amnesty will transform our state and country into a 3rd World cesspool and tax citizens to the breaking point. We will become strangers in our own land. Lobby Sen. Fischer today to vote NO on S. 348, using the information above. Lobby your representative to vote NO on HR 1177. Email netaxpayers@gmail.com to join our NTF Project Immigration.
Research, documentation, and analysis for this issue paper done by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom. This material copyrighted by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, with express prior permission granted for its use by other groups in the NE Conservative Coalition Network. 3-21. C