from the AP and FAIR:
Drug war sends bullets whizzing across the border
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EmailPrint.. AP – FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2010 file photo, federal police officers stand next to one of their vehicles … .By ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press Writer Alicia A. Caldwell, Associated Press Writer – Tue Aug 24, 8:37 pm ET
EL PASO, Texas – The first bullets struck El Paso's city hall at the end of a work day. The next ones hit a university building and closed a major highway. Shootouts in the drug war along the U.S.-Mexico border are sending bullets whizzing across the Rio Grande into one of the nation's safest cities, where authorities worry it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt or killed.
At least eight bullets have been fired into El Paso in the last few weeks from the rising violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, one of the world's most dangerous places. And all American police can do is shrug because they cannot legally intervene in a war in another country. The best they can do is warn people to stay inside.
"There's really not a lot you can do right now," El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles said. "Those gun battles are breaking out everywhere, and some are breaking out right along the border."
Police say the rounds were not intentionally fired into the U.S. But wildly aimed gunfire has become common in Juarez, a sprawling city of shanty neighborhoods that once boomed with manufacturing plants. It's ground zero in Mexico's relentless drug war.
More than 6,000 people have been killed there since 2008, when the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels started battling each other and Mexican authorities for control of the city and smuggling routes into the U.S. Nationwide, more than 28,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched his offensive against the cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.
Until now, communities on the U.S. side of the border have been largely shielded from the violence raging just across the river. But the recent incidents are the first time that live ammunition has landed in American territory.
On Saturday, as gunmen and Mexican authorities exchanged gunfire in Juarez, police in El Paso shut down several miles of border highway. Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said his agency asked for the closure — a first since the drug war erupted — "in the interest of public safety."
No one was injured on the U.S. side, but one bullet came across the Rio Grande, crashed through a window and lodged in an office door frame at the University of Texas at El Paso. Police are also investigating reports that another errant round shattered a window in a passing car. Witnesses at a nearby charity said at least one bullet hit their building, too.
El Paso police spokesman Darrel Petry said authorities have only confirmed the single bullet found at the university, but it is possible that several other shots flew across the border.
"As a local municipality, we are doing everything we can," Petry said. "Looking where we're at, the community we live in, that's all we've got. It's the reality of life here in El Paso for right now."
Officers say the types of bullets used in the drug war can travel more than a mile before falling to the ground.
In Saturday's shooting, the bullet that hit the campus building may have flown just under a mile before lodging in a door jam. Back in June, at least seven shots fired from Juarez flew more than half a mile before hitting City Hall.
In some places, El Paso is separated from Juarez by little more than a few yards of riverbed.
Andrew Kunert was napping Saturday when police started banging on his door at an apartment building just feet from the border. He said officers with high-powered rifles slung across their chests warned him to stay inside and away from windows until the shooting stopped.
The rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire to the south is nothing new, but bullets coming north is a worrisome new development, Kunert said.
"About once a week, you can hear gunfire," he said. He worries about the children who live at the Old Fort Bliss apartment building and routinely play outside when gunmen are trading shots across the river.
At the Rescue Mission of El Paso, kitchen manager Bill Cox said several bullets hit a pair of old silos on the charity's property, which is down a hillside from the university campus. Volunteers and homeless people coming to the mission for food or other help could easily be in the line of fire, he said.
"Someone can be walking down the street out here and be hit," Cox said.
In a letter to President Barack Obama after the City Hall shooting, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said it was "good fortune" that no one was injured and insisted the shooting was evidence of the need for more border security.
"Luck and good fortune are not effective border enforcement policies," Abbott wrote. "The shocking reality of cross-border gunfire proves the cold reality: American lives are at risk."
And Monday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued a statement demanding more security.
"It's time for Washington to stop the rhetoric and immediately deploy a significant force of personnel and resources to the border to protect our homeland," Perry said.
Katherine Cesinger, a Perry spokeswoman, said the governor believes that more security — in the form of federal agents and even troops — could all but shut down the border to smuggling and help put Mexico's warring cartels out of business.
The only way cartels "are being successful is by being able to operate on both sides of the border," Cesinger said. "If you shut down that border, they are out of business. They are not able to continue."
Obama has ordered about 1,200 National Guard troops to the border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to help the Border Patrol and officials from Customs and Border Protection.
But the federal government has insisted that the troops will only help federal agents with intelligence, surveillance and other duties that do not involve actually arresting anyone.
Sheriff Wiles says more security in El Paso won't solve the problem because the war is in another country.
"Juarez is experiencing a major wave of violence, and we are feeling some of that," Wiles said. "I don't know of any way around that. Until that issue is resolved in Juarez, we are going to be dealing these kinds of things."
A Nation In Distress
Friday, August 27, 2010
Company Audits Up, But Illegal Alien Arrests Down Since 2008
From FOX News and FAIR:
Company Audits Up, Illegal Worker Arrests Way Down Since 2008
Published August 23, 2010
FoxNews.com
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Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, stand guard at the entrance of the Swift & Company meat processing plant in Greeley, Colo., during a December 2006 immigration raid.
The Obama administration said it would focus its enforcement of illegal immigration laws by targeting workplace activities, but a recent report shows that while audits of employers are slightly up over the Bush administration, worker arrests are down drastically since the end of 2008.
Under Obama, employer audits are up 50 percent, fines have tripled to almost $3 million and the number of executives arrested is slightly up over the Bush administration.
But under President Obama, the numbers of arrests and deportations of illegals taken into custody at work sites plummeted by more than 80 percent from the last year of the Bush administration. In the current fiscal year 2010, which ends Sept. 30, ICE has arrested 900 workers.
That compares to immigration agents under Bush raiding hundreds of businesses from factory to farm -- and arresting and deporting more than 6,000 illegal immigrants in raids in 2008 -- more than 5,000 simply for being in the country illegally.
Current Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton reinforced claims of a tough stand by the Obama administration against illegal workers, telling Fox News recently that his agency has deported more illegal aliens -- and criminal illegals -- than at any other time.
June 25: People look on as authorities raid an Arizona business as part of an identity theft investigation.
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INTERESTED IN
Analyst: Citigroup Is Cooking the BooksTen Worst Places to LiveBernanke?s Message: We Can Get Out of This HoleHow to Transform a Good Credit Score to GreatDow Dips Below 10000 as Gloom Persists"No administration in the history of this nation removed more illegal immigrants from the country than we did last year and I expect the records to continue. We're serious about enforcement. We're going to go out and we're just going to do it," he said.
But while both administrations agree that jobs are the magnet that attracts illegal immigrants to the United States, critics say it makes no sense to allow employees known to use fake or stolen identification to go free to duplicate the fraud again.
"When ICE is not following up on those aliens you have them going down the street to obtain another job and that is just moving the problem," said Julie Myers, an ICE director under Bush
Myers said while she agrees with the Obama administration's approach of targeting employers, "when I was at ICE, we didn't think we could ignore the aliens we encountered."
"It is tough when you have law enforcement turning a blind eye to entire categories of aliens -- and that is what is happening here -- it is a de facto amnesty," she said.
Marshall Fitz, director of immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, defended the administration's policy, saying that "rather than high-profile raids that target workers and let employers off the hook this administration has decided to focus on criminal and bad actor employers."
"No one is talking about giving a free pass for fraud, or ID theft is to be taken lightly, but we know the vast majority of the workforce did not commit any crime," Fitz said.
Employment is the driving force behind illegal immigration, which is why experts say work site enforcement is important. Bush aides say their high profile raids acted as a deterrent to both employer and employee, and punished both for breaking the law.
But others say the raids did little more than upset Latino communities, and advocates of Obama's approach say paper audits of employers -- not raids -- does more to turn off the job magnet.
Fox News' Nicole Busch contributed to this report.
Company Audits Up, Illegal Worker Arrests Way Down Since 2008
Published August 23, 2010
FoxNews.com
Print Email Share Comments (446) Text Size
Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, stand guard at the entrance of the Swift & Company meat processing plant in Greeley, Colo., during a December 2006 immigration raid.
The Obama administration said it would focus its enforcement of illegal immigration laws by targeting workplace activities, but a recent report shows that while audits of employers are slightly up over the Bush administration, worker arrests are down drastically since the end of 2008.
Under Obama, employer audits are up 50 percent, fines have tripled to almost $3 million and the number of executives arrested is slightly up over the Bush administration.
But under President Obama, the numbers of arrests and deportations of illegals taken into custody at work sites plummeted by more than 80 percent from the last year of the Bush administration. In the current fiscal year 2010, which ends Sept. 30, ICE has arrested 900 workers.
That compares to immigration agents under Bush raiding hundreds of businesses from factory to farm -- and arresting and deporting more than 6,000 illegal immigrants in raids in 2008 -- more than 5,000 simply for being in the country illegally.
Current Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton reinforced claims of a tough stand by the Obama administration against illegal workers, telling Fox News recently that his agency has deported more illegal aliens -- and criminal illegals -- than at any other time.
June 25: People look on as authorities raid an Arizona business as part of an identity theft investigation.
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE
INTERESTED IN
Analyst: Citigroup Is Cooking the BooksTen Worst Places to LiveBernanke?s Message: We Can Get Out of This HoleHow to Transform a Good Credit Score to GreatDow Dips Below 10000 as Gloom Persists"No administration in the history of this nation removed more illegal immigrants from the country than we did last year and I expect the records to continue. We're serious about enforcement. We're going to go out and we're just going to do it," he said.
But while both administrations agree that jobs are the magnet that attracts illegal immigrants to the United States, critics say it makes no sense to allow employees known to use fake or stolen identification to go free to duplicate the fraud again.
"When ICE is not following up on those aliens you have them going down the street to obtain another job and that is just moving the problem," said Julie Myers, an ICE director under Bush
Myers said while she agrees with the Obama administration's approach of targeting employers, "when I was at ICE, we didn't think we could ignore the aliens we encountered."
"It is tough when you have law enforcement turning a blind eye to entire categories of aliens -- and that is what is happening here -- it is a de facto amnesty," she said.
Marshall Fitz, director of immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, defended the administration's policy, saying that "rather than high-profile raids that target workers and let employers off the hook this administration has decided to focus on criminal and bad actor employers."
"No one is talking about giving a free pass for fraud, or ID theft is to be taken lightly, but we know the vast majority of the workforce did not commit any crime," Fitz said.
Employment is the driving force behind illegal immigration, which is why experts say work site enforcement is important. Bush aides say their high profile raids acted as a deterrent to both employer and employee, and punished both for breaking the law.
But others say the raids did little more than upset Latino communities, and advocates of Obama's approach say paper audits of employers -- not raids -- does more to turn off the job magnet.
Fox News' Nicole Busch contributed to this report.
Feds Dismissing Many Deportation Cases
From The Houston Chronicle and FAIR:
Feds moving to dismiss some deportation cases
Critics assail the plan as a bid to create a kind of backdoor 'amnesty'
By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2010, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Aug. 24, 2010, 9:00PM
.
Billy Smith II Houston Chronicle
The scene at the Harris County lockup last summer. Culling the immigration court system dockets of noncriminals started in earnest in Houston about a month ago and has stunned immigration attorneys.
Share Del.icio.usDiggTwitterYahoo! BuzzFacebookStumbleUponEmail Close [X]Resources Immigration blog: Deaths on border in Arizona reach record levels Immigration blog: McCain's do-over on issue works just fine Immigration blog: the cost of illegal immigration The Department of Homeland Security is systematically reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against suspected illegal immigrants who have no serious criminal records, according to several sources familiar with the efforts.
Culling the immigration court system dockets of noncriminals started in earnest in Houston about a month ago and has stunned local immigration attorneys, who have reported coming to court anticipating clients' deportations only to learn that the government was dismissing their cases.
Richard Rocha, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, said Tuesday that the review is part of the agency's broader, nationwide strategy to prioritize the deportations of illegal immigrants who pose a threat to national security and public safety. Rocha declined to provide further details.
Critics assailed the plan as another sign that the Obama administration is trying to create a kind of backdoor "amnesty" program.
Raed Gonzalez, an immigration attorney who was briefed on the effort by Homeland Security's deputy chief counsel in Houston, said DHS confirmed that it's reviewing cases nationwide, though not yet to the pace of the local office. He said the others are expected to follow suit soon.
Gonzalez, the liaison between the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which administers the immigration court system, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said DHS now has five attorneys assigned full time to reviewing all active cases in Houston's immigration court.
Gonzalez said DHS attorneys are conducting the reviews on a case-by-case basis. However, he said they are following general guidelines that allow for the dismissal of cases for defendants who have been in the country for two or more years and have no felony convictions.
In some instances, defendants can have one misdemeanor conviction, but it cannot involve a DWI, family violence or sexual crime, Gonzalez said.
Massive backlog of cases
Opponents of illegal immigration were critical of the dismissals.
"They've made clear that they have no interest in enforcing immigration laws against people who are not convicted criminals," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict controls.
"This situation is just another side effect of President Obama's failure to deliver on his campaign promise to make immigration reform a priority in his first year," said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "Until he does, state and local authorities are left with no choice but to pick up the slack for prosecuting and detaining criminal aliens."
Gonzalez called the dismissals a necessary step in unclogging a massive backlog in the immigration court system. In June, there were more than 248,000 cases pending in immigration courts across the country, including about 23,000 in Texas, according to data compiled by researchers at Syracuse University.
'Absolutely fantastic'
Gonzalez said he went into immigration court downtown on Monday and was given a court date in October 2011 for one client. But, he said, the government's attorney requested the dismissal of that case and those of two more of his clients, and the cases were dispatched by the judge.
The court "was terminating all of the cases that came up," Gonzalez said. "It was absolutely fantastic."
"We're all calling each other saying, 'Can you believe this?' " said John Nechman, another Houston immigration attorney, who had two cases dismissed.
Attorney Elizabeth Mendoza Macias, who has practiced in Houston for 17 years, said she had cases for several clients dismissed during the past month and eventually called DHS to find out what was going on. She said she was told by a DHS trial attorney that 2,500 cases were under review in Houston.
"I had five (dismissed) in one week, and two more that I just received," Mendoza said. "And I am expecting many more, many more, in the next month."
Her clients, all previously charged with being in the country illegally, included:
An El Salvadoran man married to a U.S. citizen who has two U.S.-born children. The client had a pending asylum case in the court system, but the case was not particularly strong. Now that his case is terminated, he will be eligible to obtain permanent residency through his wife, Mendoza said.
A woman from Cameroon, who was in removal proceedings after being caught by the U.S. Border Patrol, had her case terminated by the government. She meets the criteria of a trafficking victim, Mendoza said, and can now apply for a visa.
Memo outlines priorities
Immigrants who have had their cases terminated are frequently left in limbo, immigration attorneys said, and are not granted any form of legal status.
"It's very, very key to understand that these aliens are not being granted anything in court. They are still here illegally. They don't have work permits. They don't have Social Security numbers," Mendoza said. "ICE is just saying, 'At this particular moment, we are not going to proceed with trying to remove you from the United States.' "
In a June 30 memo, ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton outlined the agency's priorities, saying it had the capacity to remove about 400,000 illegal immigrants annually — about 4 percent of the estimated illegal immigrant population in the country. The memo outlines priorities for the detention and removal system, putting criminals and threats to national security at the top of the list.
Up to 17,000 cases
On Tuesday, ICE officials provided a copy of a new policy memo from Morton dated Aug. 20 that instructs government attorneys to review the court cases of people with pending applications to adjust status based on their relation to a U.S. citizen. Morton estimates in the memo that the effort could affect up to 17,000 cases.
Tre Rebsock, the ICE union representative in Houston, said even if the efforts involve only a fraction of the pending immigration cases, "that's going to make our officers feel even more powerless to enforce the laws."
susan.carroll@chron.com
Feds moving to dismiss some deportation cases
Critics assail the plan as a bid to create a kind of backdoor 'amnesty'
By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2010, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Aug. 24, 2010, 9:00PM
.
Billy Smith II Houston Chronicle
The scene at the Harris County lockup last summer. Culling the immigration court system dockets of noncriminals started in earnest in Houston about a month ago and has stunned immigration attorneys.
Share Del.icio.usDiggTwitterYahoo! BuzzFacebookStumbleUponEmail Close [X]Resources Immigration blog: Deaths on border in Arizona reach record levels Immigration blog: McCain's do-over on issue works just fine Immigration blog: the cost of illegal immigration The Department of Homeland Security is systematically reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against suspected illegal immigrants who have no serious criminal records, according to several sources familiar with the efforts.
Culling the immigration court system dockets of noncriminals started in earnest in Houston about a month ago and has stunned local immigration attorneys, who have reported coming to court anticipating clients' deportations only to learn that the government was dismissing their cases.
Richard Rocha, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, said Tuesday that the review is part of the agency's broader, nationwide strategy to prioritize the deportations of illegal immigrants who pose a threat to national security and public safety. Rocha declined to provide further details.
Critics assailed the plan as another sign that the Obama administration is trying to create a kind of backdoor "amnesty" program.
Raed Gonzalez, an immigration attorney who was briefed on the effort by Homeland Security's deputy chief counsel in Houston, said DHS confirmed that it's reviewing cases nationwide, though not yet to the pace of the local office. He said the others are expected to follow suit soon.
Gonzalez, the liaison between the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which administers the immigration court system, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said DHS now has five attorneys assigned full time to reviewing all active cases in Houston's immigration court.
Gonzalez said DHS attorneys are conducting the reviews on a case-by-case basis. However, he said they are following general guidelines that allow for the dismissal of cases for defendants who have been in the country for two or more years and have no felony convictions.
In some instances, defendants can have one misdemeanor conviction, but it cannot involve a DWI, family violence or sexual crime, Gonzalez said.
Massive backlog of cases
Opponents of illegal immigration were critical of the dismissals.
"They've made clear that they have no interest in enforcing immigration laws against people who are not convicted criminals," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict controls.
"This situation is just another side effect of President Obama's failure to deliver on his campaign promise to make immigration reform a priority in his first year," said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "Until he does, state and local authorities are left with no choice but to pick up the slack for prosecuting and detaining criminal aliens."
Gonzalez called the dismissals a necessary step in unclogging a massive backlog in the immigration court system. In June, there were more than 248,000 cases pending in immigration courts across the country, including about 23,000 in Texas, according to data compiled by researchers at Syracuse University.
'Absolutely fantastic'
Gonzalez said he went into immigration court downtown on Monday and was given a court date in October 2011 for one client. But, he said, the government's attorney requested the dismissal of that case and those of two more of his clients, and the cases were dispatched by the judge.
The court "was terminating all of the cases that came up," Gonzalez said. "It was absolutely fantastic."
"We're all calling each other saying, 'Can you believe this?' " said John Nechman, another Houston immigration attorney, who had two cases dismissed.
Attorney Elizabeth Mendoza Macias, who has practiced in Houston for 17 years, said she had cases for several clients dismissed during the past month and eventually called DHS to find out what was going on. She said she was told by a DHS trial attorney that 2,500 cases were under review in Houston.
"I had five (dismissed) in one week, and two more that I just received," Mendoza said. "And I am expecting many more, many more, in the next month."
Her clients, all previously charged with being in the country illegally, included:
An El Salvadoran man married to a U.S. citizen who has two U.S.-born children. The client had a pending asylum case in the court system, but the case was not particularly strong. Now that his case is terminated, he will be eligible to obtain permanent residency through his wife, Mendoza said.
A woman from Cameroon, who was in removal proceedings after being caught by the U.S. Border Patrol, had her case terminated by the government. She meets the criteria of a trafficking victim, Mendoza said, and can now apply for a visa.
Memo outlines priorities
Immigrants who have had their cases terminated are frequently left in limbo, immigration attorneys said, and are not granted any form of legal status.
"It's very, very key to understand that these aliens are not being granted anything in court. They are still here illegally. They don't have work permits. They don't have Social Security numbers," Mendoza said. "ICE is just saying, 'At this particular moment, we are not going to proceed with trying to remove you from the United States.' "
In a June 30 memo, ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton outlined the agency's priorities, saying it had the capacity to remove about 400,000 illegal immigrants annually — about 4 percent of the estimated illegal immigrant population in the country. The memo outlines priorities for the detention and removal system, putting criminals and threats to national security at the top of the list.
Up to 17,000 cases
On Tuesday, ICE officials provided a copy of a new policy memo from Morton dated Aug. 20 that instructs government attorneys to review the court cases of people with pending applications to adjust status based on their relation to a U.S. citizen. Morton estimates in the memo that the effort could affect up to 17,000 cases.
Tre Rebsock, the ICE union representative in Houston, said even if the efforts involve only a fraction of the pending immigration cases, "that's going to make our officers feel even more powerless to enforce the laws."
susan.carroll@chron.com
ICE Canceling Many Deportations
From The New York Times and FAIR:
Immigration Agency Ends Some DeportationsBy JULIA PRESTON
Published: August 26, 2010
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LinkedinDiggMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalink. Immigration enforcement officials have started to cancel the deportations of thousands of immigrants they have detained, a policy they said would pare huge case backlogs in the immigration courts.
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Immigration Agency Ends Some Deportations (August 27, 2010) Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the new approach was part of a broad shift in priorities at the agency, to focus its efforts on catching and deporting immigrants who have been convicted of crimes or pose a national security threat. The policy — announced in an Aug. 20 memorandum from John Morton, the head of the agency — drew praise from immigrant advocates, who called it a common-sense strategy, and was denounced by several Republicans as evidence that the Obama administration was weakening enforcement and making it easier for illegal immigrants to remain in the country.
The change in emphasis at the immigration agency, which represents a significant break with longstanding practices, has awakened resistance among agents and detention officers on the ground, according to officials of the agency, which is known as ICE, and of the union representing those employees.
Mr. Morton’s memorandum refers to a particular group of illegal immigrants: those who have been detained in ICE operations because they did not have legal status, but who have active applications in the system to become legal residents. The memo encourages ICE officers and lawyers to use their authority to dismiss those cases, canceling the deportation proceedings, if they determine that the immigrants have no criminal records and stand a strong chance of having their residence applications approved.
The policy is intended to address a “major inefficiency” that has led to an unnecessary pileup of cases in the immigration courts, Mr. Morton said. The courts have reported at least 17,000 cases that could be eliminated from their docket if ICE dismissed deportations of immigrants, like those married to United States citizens, who were very likely to win legal status, the memo says.
To resolve that number of deportation cases, officials will have to fix persistent breakdowns in coordination between two federal agencies that oversee the nation’s overburdened and troubled immigration system, ICE officials acknowledged. On one hand, ICE enforces immigration law. Another agency, Citizenship and Immigration Services, is in charge of approving applications for immigration documents. When ICE opens a deportation case against an immigrant, it is heard in immigration court.
The courts are swamped under a backlog that reached a record in June of 247,922 cases, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University that analyzes federal data. The average waiting time for cases in those courts was 459 days.
But immigration lawyers said they are currently waiting as long as two years to get a hearing date in some especially crowded immigration courts.
The new policy “is a pretty basic, common-sense thing to do,” said Helen Harnett, policy director for the National Immigrant Justice Center, a legal assistance group in Chicago. She said that if an immigrant’s application for legal residence was ultimately denied, ICE could reinstate the deportation.
“This is for people who do have a path to legalize their status,” said Mary Meg McCarthy, director of the justice center. “This does not create a new path to legalization for anyone.”
But Republican lawmakers said the Obama administration was moving toward a de facto legalization program by allowing some illegal immigrants to remain here despite their violations of the law.
“Actions like this demoralize ICE agents who are trying to do their job and enforce the law,” said Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. “Unfortunately, it appears this is more evidence that the Obama administration would rather circumvent Congress and give a free pass to illegal immigrants who have already broken our law.”
Mr. Morton’s memorandum was first reported this week in The Houston Chronicle, which found that some immigrants in Texas had already seen their deportations canceled.
ICE officials said they arrived at the policy after conferring with immigration court officials. “This is not a backdoor amnesty,” said Beth Gibson, assistant deputy director of ICE. “It is really about efficient use of docket space and smart use of everybody’s scarce resources.”
The agency has deported a record number of 167,000 immigrants with criminal convictions in the past year, ICE officials said, an increase of about 43 percent over the previous year.
However, dissension in the ranks at ICE surfaced on June 25, when a local of the American Federation of Government Employees representing some enforcement and detention officers announced that it had taken a vote of no confidence in Mr. Morton.
The director and other senior ICE officials had “abandoned the agency’s core mission of enforcing United States immigration laws,” the local said in a news release, undertaking “reckless and misguided initiatives” while failing to alert Congress to the need for more manpower and funds for ICE.
Chris Crane, the president of the local, did not respond to an e-mail message on Thursday.
The national president of the federation, John Gage, said the union had not yet taken a position on the issues raised by the local. Mr. Gage said after several ICE locals had complained, he called a meeting next week of representatives of all of the federation’s locals that represent ICE employees.
“I really would like to get some facts,” Mr. Gage said Thursday. “Our ICE officers have real concerns, but there is conflicting information. If there is any increased risk to our people, we will be all over it,” he said.
A version of this article appeared in print on August 27, 2010, on page A14 of the New York edition..
Immigration Agency Ends Some DeportationsBy JULIA PRESTON
Published: August 26, 2010
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LinkedinDiggMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalink. Immigration enforcement officials have started to cancel the deportations of thousands of immigrants they have detained, a policy they said would pare huge case backlogs in the immigration courts.
Multimedia
Interactive Immigration Conversations
Post a Comment
.Related
Immigration Agency Ends Some Deportations (August 27, 2010) Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the new approach was part of a broad shift in priorities at the agency, to focus its efforts on catching and deporting immigrants who have been convicted of crimes or pose a national security threat. The policy — announced in an Aug. 20 memorandum from John Morton, the head of the agency — drew praise from immigrant advocates, who called it a common-sense strategy, and was denounced by several Republicans as evidence that the Obama administration was weakening enforcement and making it easier for illegal immigrants to remain in the country.
The change in emphasis at the immigration agency, which represents a significant break with longstanding practices, has awakened resistance among agents and detention officers on the ground, according to officials of the agency, which is known as ICE, and of the union representing those employees.
Mr. Morton’s memorandum refers to a particular group of illegal immigrants: those who have been detained in ICE operations because they did not have legal status, but who have active applications in the system to become legal residents. The memo encourages ICE officers and lawyers to use their authority to dismiss those cases, canceling the deportation proceedings, if they determine that the immigrants have no criminal records and stand a strong chance of having their residence applications approved.
The policy is intended to address a “major inefficiency” that has led to an unnecessary pileup of cases in the immigration courts, Mr. Morton said. The courts have reported at least 17,000 cases that could be eliminated from their docket if ICE dismissed deportations of immigrants, like those married to United States citizens, who were very likely to win legal status, the memo says.
To resolve that number of deportation cases, officials will have to fix persistent breakdowns in coordination between two federal agencies that oversee the nation’s overburdened and troubled immigration system, ICE officials acknowledged. On one hand, ICE enforces immigration law. Another agency, Citizenship and Immigration Services, is in charge of approving applications for immigration documents. When ICE opens a deportation case against an immigrant, it is heard in immigration court.
The courts are swamped under a backlog that reached a record in June of 247,922 cases, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University that analyzes federal data. The average waiting time for cases in those courts was 459 days.
But immigration lawyers said they are currently waiting as long as two years to get a hearing date in some especially crowded immigration courts.
The new policy “is a pretty basic, common-sense thing to do,” said Helen Harnett, policy director for the National Immigrant Justice Center, a legal assistance group in Chicago. She said that if an immigrant’s application for legal residence was ultimately denied, ICE could reinstate the deportation.
“This is for people who do have a path to legalize their status,” said Mary Meg McCarthy, director of the justice center. “This does not create a new path to legalization for anyone.”
But Republican lawmakers said the Obama administration was moving toward a de facto legalization program by allowing some illegal immigrants to remain here despite their violations of the law.
“Actions like this demoralize ICE agents who are trying to do their job and enforce the law,” said Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. “Unfortunately, it appears this is more evidence that the Obama administration would rather circumvent Congress and give a free pass to illegal immigrants who have already broken our law.”
Mr. Morton’s memorandum was first reported this week in The Houston Chronicle, which found that some immigrants in Texas had already seen their deportations canceled.
ICE officials said they arrived at the policy after conferring with immigration court officials. “This is not a backdoor amnesty,” said Beth Gibson, assistant deputy director of ICE. “It is really about efficient use of docket space and smart use of everybody’s scarce resources.”
The agency has deported a record number of 167,000 immigrants with criminal convictions in the past year, ICE officials said, an increase of about 43 percent over the previous year.
However, dissension in the ranks at ICE surfaced on June 25, when a local of the American Federation of Government Employees representing some enforcement and detention officers announced that it had taken a vote of no confidence in Mr. Morton.
The director and other senior ICE officials had “abandoned the agency’s core mission of enforcing United States immigration laws,” the local said in a news release, undertaking “reckless and misguided initiatives” while failing to alert Congress to the need for more manpower and funds for ICE.
Chris Crane, the president of the local, did not respond to an e-mail message on Thursday.
The national president of the federation, John Gage, said the union had not yet taken a position on the issues raised by the local. Mr. Gage said after several ICE locals had complained, he called a meeting next week of representatives of all of the federation’s locals that represent ICE employees.
“I really would like to get some facts,” Mr. Gage said Thursday. “Our ICE officers have real concerns, but there is conflicting information. If there is any increased risk to our people, we will be all over it,” he said.
A version of this article appeared in print on August 27, 2010, on page A14 of the New York edition..
GOP Will Hopefully Investigate Obama Regime's Crimes After Election
from Floyd Reports (Impeach Obama Campaign):
GOP Will Investigate Obama Crimes After Midterms
Posted by Ben on August 27, 2010 · Comments (25)
Ben Johnson, Floyd Reports
In the past, conservative uprisings have been put out when Republicans came to power. Bill Clinton’s first term — loaded with a broken promise to cut taxes, a tax increase, gays in the military, HillaryCare, Jocelyn Elders, Lani Guinier, Paula Jones, and Whitewater (to name a few scandals) — enraged most of the country. But after Republicans came to power in 1994, the nation simmered down — even when the Republican leadership backed down on Clinton’s well-deserved impeachment.
Politico has a revealing new story that, if Republicans retake Congress after the midterm elections, they intend to investigate a wide variety of Obama’s misdeeds, some of them grounds for impeachment. The story lists a few of the cases under investigation:
Jobgate. The most serious allegations on the list were raised by two Democrats: Joe Sestak and Andrew Romanoff. Both have said the Obama administration offered them jobs or other incentives to drop out of hotly contested U.S. Senate races in Pennsylvania and Colorado, respectively. The White House believed their primary opponents stood a better chance of winning, so they attempted to bribe these two, according to the candidates. If the allegations are true, they likely meet the definition of “impeachable offenses.” Former President Bill Clinton has contradicted the Obama administration’s story on the Sestak offer already. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, has responded to the denials with calls for further investigation.
Bailouts. Republicans want to look into Obama’s endless bailouts. Investigators should pay close attention to the administration’s tactics in taking over General Motors on behalf of Big Labor, a move certainly unconstitutional, as his Chicago-style, backdoor arm-twisting could easily have crossed the line. Despite his promises to have the most transparent administration in history, much of Obama’s dealings remain hidden. As Obama said on the campaign trail, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
The New Black Panthers Case. Politico calls this scandal “microscopic”; readers outside the Beltway know it is anything but. It is perhaps the most explosive issue facing the Obama administration. In addition to letting off a pair of radical activists who threatened Republican voters with clubs, there is the broader allegation raised by J. Christian Adams that Barack Obama and Eric Holder have decided to drop all cases against minorities. That kind of blanket discrimination makes a mockery of the idea of “blind justice” and undermines one of the key pillars of our government.
ACORN. Despite its defunding, ACORN continues its dubious voter registration schemes under another name. In addition to presidential funding, the committee should investigate ACORN’s role in the Obama ’08 campaign to determine the extent of coordination the president had with this often-indicted organization.
The article lists a few other, in some cases local scandals. May I suggest a few more to Rep. Issa, et. al.?
Government Propaganda. Darrell Issa has led the way on the Obama administration’s funding of covert propaganda. His committee drafted a 36-page report of Obama’s potential crimes, many of which your tax dollars finance. He made a compelling case at least some of these cross the line into illegality. Now, let him prosecute it.
Invasion of Privacy. The Fourth Amendment forbids the government from searching Americans without a warrant. However, a recent court case has found the government does not need a warrant to attach a GPS to your car while it is parked in your driveway. Forbes has reported full-body-scanning vans now prowl the streets, as well. Does the administration obtain a warrant to scan (and thus see naked) everyone monitored? If not, does it retain the images of people not covered by warrant? Does it act on information it finds without a warrant?
Politico quotes some Republicans who want to curtail all talk of silly things like upholding the Constitution or following the rule of law. Let’s hope this time any potential investigations are not short-circuited from within.
GOP Will Investigate Obama Crimes After Midterms
Posted by Ben on August 27, 2010 · Comments (25)
Ben Johnson, Floyd Reports
In the past, conservative uprisings have been put out when Republicans came to power. Bill Clinton’s first term — loaded with a broken promise to cut taxes, a tax increase, gays in the military, HillaryCare, Jocelyn Elders, Lani Guinier, Paula Jones, and Whitewater (to name a few scandals) — enraged most of the country. But after Republicans came to power in 1994, the nation simmered down — even when the Republican leadership backed down on Clinton’s well-deserved impeachment.
Politico has a revealing new story that, if Republicans retake Congress after the midterm elections, they intend to investigate a wide variety of Obama’s misdeeds, some of them grounds for impeachment. The story lists a few of the cases under investigation:
Jobgate. The most serious allegations on the list were raised by two Democrats: Joe Sestak and Andrew Romanoff. Both have said the Obama administration offered them jobs or other incentives to drop out of hotly contested U.S. Senate races in Pennsylvania and Colorado, respectively. The White House believed their primary opponents stood a better chance of winning, so they attempted to bribe these two, according to the candidates. If the allegations are true, they likely meet the definition of “impeachable offenses.” Former President Bill Clinton has contradicted the Obama administration’s story on the Sestak offer already. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, has responded to the denials with calls for further investigation.
Bailouts. Republicans want to look into Obama’s endless bailouts. Investigators should pay close attention to the administration’s tactics in taking over General Motors on behalf of Big Labor, a move certainly unconstitutional, as his Chicago-style, backdoor arm-twisting could easily have crossed the line. Despite his promises to have the most transparent administration in history, much of Obama’s dealings remain hidden. As Obama said on the campaign trail, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
The New Black Panthers Case. Politico calls this scandal “microscopic”; readers outside the Beltway know it is anything but. It is perhaps the most explosive issue facing the Obama administration. In addition to letting off a pair of radical activists who threatened Republican voters with clubs, there is the broader allegation raised by J. Christian Adams that Barack Obama and Eric Holder have decided to drop all cases against minorities. That kind of blanket discrimination makes a mockery of the idea of “blind justice” and undermines one of the key pillars of our government.
ACORN. Despite its defunding, ACORN continues its dubious voter registration schemes under another name. In addition to presidential funding, the committee should investigate ACORN’s role in the Obama ’08 campaign to determine the extent of coordination the president had with this often-indicted organization.
The article lists a few other, in some cases local scandals. May I suggest a few more to Rep. Issa, et. al.?
Government Propaganda. Darrell Issa has led the way on the Obama administration’s funding of covert propaganda. His committee drafted a 36-page report of Obama’s potential crimes, many of which your tax dollars finance. He made a compelling case at least some of these cross the line into illegality. Now, let him prosecute it.
Invasion of Privacy. The Fourth Amendment forbids the government from searching Americans without a warrant. However, a recent court case has found the government does not need a warrant to attach a GPS to your car while it is parked in your driveway. Forbes has reported full-body-scanning vans now prowl the streets, as well. Does the administration obtain a warrant to scan (and thus see naked) everyone monitored? If not, does it retain the images of people not covered by warrant? Does it act on information it finds without a warrant?
Politico quotes some Republicans who want to curtail all talk of silly things like upholding the Constitution or following the rule of law. Let’s hope this time any potential investigations are not short-circuited from within.
How Many Deaths Must There Be Before Obama Takes Border Security Seriously?
from Floyd Reports (Impeach Obama Campaign):
How Many Deaths Before Obama Takes Border Security Seriously?
Posted by Ben on August 27, 2010 · 201548 Commentshttp://www.impeachobamacampaign.com/how-many-deaths-before-obama-takes-border-security-seriously/How+Many+Deaths+Before+Obama+Takes+Border+Security+Seriously%3F2010-08-27+21%3A11%3A42Ben
Floyd and Mary Beth Brown, Floyd Reports
The shocking discovery of 72 murdered Hispanic migrants on a ranch just south of the U.S. border should be a wakeup call to all Americans that the security of our beloved nation begins at home.
Here in Arizona we have seen firsthand the bloody consequences of the crime and violence being imported by criminal aliens across our borders. Peaceful Phoenix has been transformed into the kidnapping capital of America.
A cadre of dedicated state and local officials has attempted to quell the violence. The result has been to watch these local leaders be sued, investigated, and harassed by the police powers of the Obama administration.
When will this insanity end?
The migration of farm workers in the 1950s and 60s was transformed into a migration of construction workers, maids and restaurant workers in the 1970s and 80s. But the character of the immigration has changed again, and we ignore these changes at our peril.
Criminal gangs now control the border. Drugs, human trafficking, robbery, extortion and smuggling are profitable motivators escalating violence on both sides of the border.
Until the borderlands of the American Southwest are policed and under the control of authorities, these inexplicably brutal conditions will persist. The drug cartels must be destroyed, and the only way to accomplish this is with serious intervention, manpower and high-tech weaponry.
Obama and his minions ignore the brutality, the pain, the suffering, and the long-term consequences of allowing these gangs safe haven in the hopes of scoring political points with immigrant voters.
This issue isn’t about the civil rights of migrants — this issue is about keeping all Americans safe regardless of nation of origin.
This massacre only came to light because a wounded Ecuadorean escaped. With a bullet wound in his neck he struggled to a nearby highway to find a Mexican military roadblock. He told authorities that the migrants’ abductors identified themselves as Zetas. Zetas are a drug gang whose control of parts of Mexico is so brutal even many Mexicans avoid traveling on public highways near their territory.
Amnesty International has called the plight of the migrants crossing from Mexico to the U.S. a major world crisis. Their report called our border “one of the most dangerous in the world,” and said every year an untold number of migrants disappear without a trace.
Mass unmarked graves near the border hold the key to a complete accounting of these horrors.
Now Mexican authorities are trying to determine whether the 72 victims in Tamaulipas were killed at the same time — and why. We may never know.
The future is becoming clear. If the United States doesn’t reverse course and begin to take border security seriously then these gangs will slowly increase their power in the U.S. They are already said to control several U.S. prisons, and neighborhoods in Phoenix and Los Angeles.
The Obama administration’s harassment of local and state officials attempting to secure the border must end immediately. Instead, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security should be assisting these duly-elected local officials in the difficult task. Everyone must work together.
Violence must be met with the swift hand of justice. If we use fences, armed drones, and patrols to secure the border of Iraq, we need to use that same technology and knowhow on our own border.
The primary objective of the United States government is to protect our citizens from foreign enemies. These criminal gangs are foreign enemies in every sense.
How Many Deaths Before Obama Takes Border Security Seriously?
Posted by Ben on August 27, 2010 · 201548 Commentshttp://www.impeachobamacampaign.com/how-many-deaths-before-obama-takes-border-security-seriously/How+Many+Deaths+Before+Obama+Takes+Border+Security+Seriously%3F2010-08-27+21%3A11%3A42Ben
Floyd and Mary Beth Brown, Floyd Reports
The shocking discovery of 72 murdered Hispanic migrants on a ranch just south of the U.S. border should be a wakeup call to all Americans that the security of our beloved nation begins at home.
Here in Arizona we have seen firsthand the bloody consequences of the crime and violence being imported by criminal aliens across our borders. Peaceful Phoenix has been transformed into the kidnapping capital of America.
A cadre of dedicated state and local officials has attempted to quell the violence. The result has been to watch these local leaders be sued, investigated, and harassed by the police powers of the Obama administration.
When will this insanity end?
The migration of farm workers in the 1950s and 60s was transformed into a migration of construction workers, maids and restaurant workers in the 1970s and 80s. But the character of the immigration has changed again, and we ignore these changes at our peril.
Criminal gangs now control the border. Drugs, human trafficking, robbery, extortion and smuggling are profitable motivators escalating violence on both sides of the border.
Until the borderlands of the American Southwest are policed and under the control of authorities, these inexplicably brutal conditions will persist. The drug cartels must be destroyed, and the only way to accomplish this is with serious intervention, manpower and high-tech weaponry.
Obama and his minions ignore the brutality, the pain, the suffering, and the long-term consequences of allowing these gangs safe haven in the hopes of scoring political points with immigrant voters.
This issue isn’t about the civil rights of migrants — this issue is about keeping all Americans safe regardless of nation of origin.
This massacre only came to light because a wounded Ecuadorean escaped. With a bullet wound in his neck he struggled to a nearby highway to find a Mexican military roadblock. He told authorities that the migrants’ abductors identified themselves as Zetas. Zetas are a drug gang whose control of parts of Mexico is so brutal even many Mexicans avoid traveling on public highways near their territory.
Amnesty International has called the plight of the migrants crossing from Mexico to the U.S. a major world crisis. Their report called our border “one of the most dangerous in the world,” and said every year an untold number of migrants disappear without a trace.
Mass unmarked graves near the border hold the key to a complete accounting of these horrors.
Now Mexican authorities are trying to determine whether the 72 victims in Tamaulipas were killed at the same time — and why. We may never know.
The future is becoming clear. If the United States doesn’t reverse course and begin to take border security seriously then these gangs will slowly increase their power in the U.S. They are already said to control several U.S. prisons, and neighborhoods in Phoenix and Los Angeles.
The Obama administration’s harassment of local and state officials attempting to secure the border must end immediately. Instead, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security should be assisting these duly-elected local officials in the difficult task. Everyone must work together.
Violence must be met with the swift hand of justice. If we use fences, armed drones, and patrols to secure the border of Iraq, we need to use that same technology and knowhow on our own border.
The primary objective of the United States government is to protect our citizens from foreign enemies. These criminal gangs are foreign enemies in every sense.
Texas Fights Obama Regime/EPA Global Warming Power Grab
from The Washington Times and Alliance Defense Fund:
VENABLE: Texas fights global-warming power grab
Lone Star state won't participate in Obama's lawless policy
By Peggy Venable
-
The Washington Times
6:08 p.m., Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Illustration: Texas and the EPA by Linas Garsys for The Washington TimesPrintEmailView 135Comment(s)Enlarge Text
ShrinkClick-2-Listen
Social NetworksFacebookTwitterQuestion of the DayIs it appropriate for Glenn Beck to stage his "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech?
Yes, the event aims to unify.
No, that site is sensitive, and the rally is divisive.
Undecided
Other
Login to Vote
View results
The state's slogan is "Don't mess with Texas." But the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is doing just that, and at stake is whether the Obama administration can impose its global-warming agenda without a vote of Congress.
President Obama's EPA is already well down the path to regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, something the act was not designed to do. It has a problem, however, because shoehorning greenhouse gases into that 40-year-old law would force churches, schools, warehouses, commercial kitchens and other sources to obtain costly and time-consuming permits. It would grind the economy to a halt, and the likely backlash would doom the whole scheme.
The EPA, determined to move forward anyway, is attempting to rewrite the Clean Air Act administratively via a "tailoring rule," which would reduce the number of regulated sources. The problem with that approach? It's illegal. The EPA has no authority to rewrite the law. To pull it off, the EPA needs every state with a State Implementation Plan to rewrite all of its statutory thresholds as well.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chairman Bryan W. Shaw saw the tailoring rule for what it really is: a massive power grab and centralization of authority. They are fighting back, writing to the EPA:
"In order to deter challenges to your plan for centralized control of industrial development through the issuance of permits for greenhouse gases, you have called upon each state to declare its allegiance to the Environmental Protection Agency's recently enacted greenhouse gas regulations - regulations that are plainly contrary to U.S. laws. ... To encourage acquiescence with your unsupported findings you threaten to usurp state enforcement authority and to federalize the permitting program of any state that fails to pledge their fealty to the Environmental Protection Agency. On behalf of the State of Texas, we write to inform you that Texas has neither the authority nor the intention of interpreting, ignoring or amending its laws in order to compel the permitting of greenhouse gas emissions."
Texas leaders are doing what Congress so far has been unable to do (a Senate vote to stop the EPA's global-warming power grab got just 47 votes on June 10): take on the EPA. Good thing, because Texas would be hit especially hard by these regulations.
Federalist principles have allowed Texas to become the strongest state in the union. The Lone Star State leads the nation in job creation, is the top state for business relocation and has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state and is the top state for wind generation. President Obama said he wants to double U.S. exports in five years; he could look to Texas, as we are the top exporting state in the country. The Obama administration could learn a lot from Texas.
Instead, it is attempting to ride roughshod over Texas, and it goes beyond the greenhouse-gas issue.
For 16 years, the EPA allowed Texas to run its own permitting program to meet federal air-quality standards. But in May, the agency announced- out of nowhere - that the state is not in compliance with federal regulations. Even though Texas had met its clean-air obligations, the EPA announced it was taking over permitting.
Texas is the nation's energy-production capital, but the air we breathe is cleaner today than it was in 2000, even though the state's population has grown by nearly 3.5 million people. Between 2000 and 2008, Texas' nitrogen oxide levels decreased by 46 percent and ozone levels dropped by 22 percent, compared with national reductions of 27 percent and 8 percent, respectively. All major Texas metropolitan areas meet the 1997 federal eight-hour ozone standard, with the exception of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which is within 1 part per billion of meeting the standard.
Story Continues →
According to Department of Energy and EPA data, since 2000, Texas' carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel usage have fallen more than those of almost any other state and every country except Germany as a result of our policies to foster renewable energy, make the electricity market more competitive and efficient, and improve our environment.
When the EPA issued rules to reduce nitrogen oxide and ozone, we complied, but we did it the Texas way.
Now Washington is trying to federalize the air-permitting process and force Texas to ignore our state laws and the plain language of the Clean Air Act in order to allow an illegal rewriting of the federal statute. But Texas has neither "the authority nor the intention" of doing so. The Lone Star State is strong, and so are our leaders - and the law is on our side.
Peggy Venable is Texas state director of Americans for Prosperity.
© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
VENABLE: Texas fights global-warming power grab
Lone Star state won't participate in Obama's lawless policy
By Peggy Venable
-
The Washington Times
6:08 p.m., Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Illustration: Texas and the EPA by Linas Garsys for The Washington TimesPrintEmailView 135Comment(s)Enlarge Text
ShrinkClick-2-Listen
Social NetworksFacebookTwitterQuestion of the DayIs it appropriate for Glenn Beck to stage his "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech?
Yes, the event aims to unify.
No, that site is sensitive, and the rally is divisive.
Undecided
Other
Login to Vote
View results
The state's slogan is "Don't mess with Texas." But the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is doing just that, and at stake is whether the Obama administration can impose its global-warming agenda without a vote of Congress.
President Obama's EPA is already well down the path to regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, something the act was not designed to do. It has a problem, however, because shoehorning greenhouse gases into that 40-year-old law would force churches, schools, warehouses, commercial kitchens and other sources to obtain costly and time-consuming permits. It would grind the economy to a halt, and the likely backlash would doom the whole scheme.
The EPA, determined to move forward anyway, is attempting to rewrite the Clean Air Act administratively via a "tailoring rule," which would reduce the number of regulated sources. The problem with that approach? It's illegal. The EPA has no authority to rewrite the law. To pull it off, the EPA needs every state with a State Implementation Plan to rewrite all of its statutory thresholds as well.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chairman Bryan W. Shaw saw the tailoring rule for what it really is: a massive power grab and centralization of authority. They are fighting back, writing to the EPA:
"In order to deter challenges to your plan for centralized control of industrial development through the issuance of permits for greenhouse gases, you have called upon each state to declare its allegiance to the Environmental Protection Agency's recently enacted greenhouse gas regulations - regulations that are plainly contrary to U.S. laws. ... To encourage acquiescence with your unsupported findings you threaten to usurp state enforcement authority and to federalize the permitting program of any state that fails to pledge their fealty to the Environmental Protection Agency. On behalf of the State of Texas, we write to inform you that Texas has neither the authority nor the intention of interpreting, ignoring or amending its laws in order to compel the permitting of greenhouse gas emissions."
Texas leaders are doing what Congress so far has been unable to do (a Senate vote to stop the EPA's global-warming power grab got just 47 votes on June 10): take on the EPA. Good thing, because Texas would be hit especially hard by these regulations.
Federalist principles have allowed Texas to become the strongest state in the union. The Lone Star State leads the nation in job creation, is the top state for business relocation and has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state and is the top state for wind generation. President Obama said he wants to double U.S. exports in five years; he could look to Texas, as we are the top exporting state in the country. The Obama administration could learn a lot from Texas.
Instead, it is attempting to ride roughshod over Texas, and it goes beyond the greenhouse-gas issue.
For 16 years, the EPA allowed Texas to run its own permitting program to meet federal air-quality standards. But in May, the agency announced- out of nowhere - that the state is not in compliance with federal regulations. Even though Texas had met its clean-air obligations, the EPA announced it was taking over permitting.
Texas is the nation's energy-production capital, but the air we breathe is cleaner today than it was in 2000, even though the state's population has grown by nearly 3.5 million people. Between 2000 and 2008, Texas' nitrogen oxide levels decreased by 46 percent and ozone levels dropped by 22 percent, compared with national reductions of 27 percent and 8 percent, respectively. All major Texas metropolitan areas meet the 1997 federal eight-hour ozone standard, with the exception of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which is within 1 part per billion of meeting the standard.
Story Continues →
According to Department of Energy and EPA data, since 2000, Texas' carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel usage have fallen more than those of almost any other state and every country except Germany as a result of our policies to foster renewable energy, make the electricity market more competitive and efficient, and improve our environment.
When the EPA issued rules to reduce nitrogen oxide and ozone, we complied, but we did it the Texas way.
Now Washington is trying to federalize the air-permitting process and force Texas to ignore our state laws and the plain language of the Clean Air Act in order to allow an illegal rewriting of the federal statute. But Texas has neither "the authority nor the intention" of doing so. The Lone Star State is strong, and so are our leaders - and the law is on our side.
Peggy Venable is Texas state director of Americans for Prosperity.
© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
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