U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, issued the statement below today as the House readied a vote on the Senate-passed Homeland Security spending bill that excluded restrictions on President Obama’s executive amnesties.
Kenneth Palinkas, President of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, issued a press release today stating that the lack of scrutiny given to applicants for entry to the U.S. invites “an even more catastrophic event then what occurred on 09/11/2001,” and increases the likelihood that such an attack could be orchestrated by terrorists already on U.S. soil.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced during a closed-door meeting with House Republicans this morning that they will vote on the Senate-passed version of the DHS funding bill that provides full funding for Pres. Obama's unconstitutional amnesties. Boehner called the vote a "full cave" in their efforts to stop Obama's actions and expected the vote to take place later today.
A report released on Friday cited the causes for the surge of illegal aliens across the border late last summer. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the debate over legalizing illegal aliens was “a primary cause” of thousands of Central Americans crossing into the United States illegally.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has reintroduced his Legal Workforce Act, H.R. 1147, that would require all employers in the United States to use the E-Verify system within three years. The bill was first introduced during the 112th Session of Congress where it passed through the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Smith was joined by 12 cosponsors of the legislation.
As for jobless Americans, I suppose the answer is: Let them eat pie, or let them eat when there is a bigger pie. Despite saying some pretty sensible things about immigration at the big CPAC conservative activists conference last Friday, presidential hopeful Jeb Bush displayed zero awareness that immigration issues affect working-class Americans.
Tonight, the House passed a one-week extension of funding for the Department of Homeland Security and the Senate followed suit. The votes capped off a volatile day in which, for the most part, Republicans fought to defund President Obama’s executive amnesties after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., caved to Democrats who had been blocking the agency's funding.
Thus far, every single Democrat in the Senate and nearly all in the House are taking the position that they will not allow funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless their Republican colleagues pay a ransom in the form of millions of work permits for illegal aliens.
The headlines should read: "Democrats hold DHS hostage and demand ransom of work permits for illegal aliens."
The Senate passed a DHS spending bill after Senators succeeded in stripping language that would have defunded President Obama’s executive amnesties. Going back on their deal with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Democrats blocked from consideration separate legislation to defund the executive amnesty announced on 11/20/14. Meanwhile, the House failed to pass a continuing resolution that would extend funding for the Homeland Security Department through March 19th. Speaker John Boehner will continue to seek votes tonight as the midnight funding deadline looms.
The Senate began a number of votes this morning on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, including on one amendment to strip House-passed language that defunds the president’s executive amnesties. The existing DHS continuing resolution expires at midnight tonight. The House is scheduled to take up another continuing resolution today to avert a funding gap.
Senate Democrats accepted Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) deal yesterday to end their filibuster of the House-passed DHS funding bill, H.R.240. By a 98-to-2 margin, the Senate approved a procedural motion, allowing the bill to come to the floor. McConnell is expected to offer an amendment today that would strip out the two immigration amendments inserted by the House before moving to a final vote on the bill.
Reports from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show that they have not been able to fill the 34,000 detention beds with illegal aliens as the law requires. The department, which serves as the interior enforcement and deportation arm of the Department of Homeland Security, was averaging just 27,000 detainees a day for fiscal 2015 as of Jan. 25. That means that over 20% of ICE's capacity is going unused thus far.