Fifth Circuit Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod, Jerry Smith, and Carolyn Dineen King have been selected to hear the legal merits of President Obama's executive actions to grant amnesty and work permits to millions of illegal aliens. Two of the judges, Elrod and Smith, have previously ruled against President Obama in regard to the executive actions.
In a continuation of a troubling trend, a Florida based company was found to be replacing American IT workers with foreign-workers this week. Catalina Marketing has replaced about 50 IT workers in favor of H-1B visa holders from one of the largest outsourcing firms used by companies in the U.S., Mindtree.
As the courts sort out the legality of President Obama's executive action to grant amnesty and work permits to 5 million illegal aliens, the Obama administration is moving forward with its Priority Enforcement Program, which prohibits U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from targeting most illegal aliens for removal, including most of those who come into contact with state and local police.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has introduced legislation that would bolster the interior enforcement of federal immigration laws. The bill, S.1640, entitled the Michael Davis, Jr. and Danny Oliver in Honor of State and Local Law Enforcement Act, would end the mass release of criminal aliens, allow local law enforcement to assist in the enforcement of federal laws, and help ensure the just, consistent and uniform application of federal law.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wrote an op-ed today for Breitbart.com, announcing that he will oppose the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill passed by the House unless it includes Sen. Jeff Sessions' (R-Ala.) amendment that unequivocally prohibits trade agreements from allowing new foreign workers to take U.S. jobs. The announcement represents a reversal in position for Sen. Cruz.
A new Center for Immigration Studies report reveals that the Obama administration has nearly abandoned enforcement of immigration laws at the worksite, at a time when the share of Americans in the labor force has declined dramatically.
A bipartisan coalition of Senators announced that the U.S. Department of Labor has launched an investigation of Infosys and Tata, two foreign outsourcing companies. According to Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), these companies imported H-1B guestworkers to replace hundreds of American workers at Southern Cal Edison, one of the country’s largest power companies.
The Senators released the following statement:
The Obama Administration has quietly ceased its preparations to implement the president's Nov. 20 executive amnesty. The Department of Homeland Security has suspended plans to hire up to 3,100 new employees that would have processed the applications to grant work permits and other documentation necessary to allow approximately 5 million illegal aliens to stay in the U.S.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen confirmed through written responses to Congress that illegal aliens granted amnesty under President Obama's executive actions could claim back tax refunds even if they never filed returns to pay their taxes in the first place. The responses were released by Sen. Chuck Grassley, who pressed Commissioner Koskinen in the past.
Former Arkansas governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, addressed his stance on immigration in an interview with Breitbart News Sunday. While Gov. Huckabee spoke out against tech companies abusing the H-1B guest worker program in order to replace American workers, he indicated that the immigration debate is too focused on how many people are coming into the country and we need to "get as many people here that want to come."