CHICAGO -- Changing planes here seems an appropriate place to anticipate the results and congratulate Sen. Obama on his victory. As my readers know, I have rated most past immigration actions and campaign promises of both Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain as "bad" to "abysmal." But I feel mildly optimistic at this moment about the next Presidency.
Well, they did it. The Presidential candidates got to election day without disappointing The Establishment which thrives on massive foreign labor importation. No matter how much Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama talked of helping mainstreet or Joe the Plumber or the middle-class or the forgotten Americans -- and no matter how much they talked of change and shaking up the Washington establishment -- the fact is that ON IMMIGRATION ISSUES, both have reached election day with almost no veering from the status quo, fatcat, Robber Baron approach of the Establishment that drove Pres. Bush's immigration policies his first six years.
Lots of big talk these last few days before the elections, but we've prepared a list of 20 U.S. Representatives and 19 U.S. Senators who are the best in Congress at consistently taking immigration actions that really protect jobs for American workers. Come inside and see.
Low unemployment numbers help the political party in power get reelected. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reports the unemployment rate, is part of the Department of Labor. The Secretary of Labor is appointed directly by the President, is a member of the President’s cabinet, and is likely to be loyal to the President. For these reasons, it is not surprising that the figure commonly supplied by the government and reported by the media actually underreports the true situation.
Great news from Capitol Hill - I'm doing a series of radio shows all day at the "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" event, and talking on my cell phone in between with our Hill lobbyists, but I am pleased to hear that the House Judiciary Committee is not returning today to pass a giant foreign worker increase.
Last May, ICE agents descended on the quiet town of Postville, Iowa, swooping up 390 people at the Agriprocessors, Inc. slaughterhouse in the largest immigration raid in U.S. history. Months later, we find ourselves in the middle of a blame game in which the big picture has been obscured. The employers blame the illegal aliens for deceit and falsifying documents. The illegal aliens blame “necessity,” possibly interpreted as blaming their home governments for neglecting their countrymen. Agriprocessors, Inc. is receiving blame for egregious working conditions and abuse. Open border advocates blame the government for not enacting “comprehensive” reform. And now, three members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus blame the ICE for hard-handed tactics and the Justice Department for ignoring due process.
Pro-amnesty leaders had reasons to be distraught as the U.S. House passed a "clean" re-authorization of E-Verify for 5 years just after the release of a report that perhaps a million unlawfully present foreign citizens may have left the U.S. during the past year. One of the main arguments for an amnesty is that nothing -- NOTHING -- can cause most of the 12 million illegal residents to go back to their home countries.
The pro-amnesty spokespersons were falling all over themselves telling the news media that the exodus is not what it seems to be.
Rep. Chris Cannon -- who lost in a 60%-40% Primary election landslide yesterday -- had survived several previous Primary challenges by fooling enough people into believing that he was not really an amnesty champion.
His loss should strike some fear into the 362 Members of Congress (68%) who have Amnesty grades of D+ or worse but who nearly all claim to voters that they do NOT support amnesties for illegal aliens.
At first blush, I'm sure some will find the news of big California ag firms expanding operations in Mexico to be a negative reaction to increased enforcement against illegal immigration.
Look deeper, however, and this is yet more proof that a constant and escalating enforcement will create an attrition in the illegal population in the U.S. -- and will allow agricultural capitalism to begin to work properly without the distortion of an amnesty.