Roundup of anti-immigrant events and activities 8/14/2018

National groups

Anti-immigrant hate group takes a swing against a California law that helps first-time, noncitizen drug offenders: The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI)*, an anti-immigrant hate group, advised the Board of Immigration Appeals not to comply with a law that gives noncitizens who are first-time drug offenders a chance to have their charges dismissed. IRLI’s July 27 amicus brief filing regarding Cal. Penal Code § 1203.43 stated that “Legislation promoting noncooperation and resistance to federal immigration enforcement is becoming more aggressive in states with high illegal populations.” Section 1000 of the California Penal Code states, “If a defendant performs satisfactorily during the Deferred Entry of Judgment (DEJ) period, the charges are dismissed, the guilty plea is not a conviction ‘for any purpose,’ and no denial of employment, certificate or benefits may flow from the incident.” A DEJ is a plea of guilty or no contest in which offenders agree to complete a program drug education and “basic counseling.” Prior to the enactment of this law, first-time noncitizen drug offenders were immediately subject to mandatory detention without bond. This law helps keep families together by expunging “ a prior DEJ as a drug ‘conviction’ for immigration purposes.”

Same hate group, same day, another legal attack: The same day, IRLI submitted an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit contending undocumented immigrants held in detention awaiting their removal hearings do not have a constitutional right to periodic bail hearings. “Because these aliens have chosen their own detention, IRLI argues, they have no constitutional right to such hearings.”

Ahilan Arulanantham, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who represented the immigrants seeking hearings in the Supreme Court case (which has since been remanded to the Ninth Circuit), said, “The Trump administration is trying to expand immigration detention to record-breaking levels as part of its crackdown on immigrant communities. We have shown through this case that when immigrants get a fair hearing, judges often release them based on their individual circumstances.”

Hate group warns supporters about Puerto Rico: Anti-immigrant groups have long been opposed to Puerto Rico becoming the 51 ^st state. On August 8, ProEnglish* emailed supporters, “Accepting Puerto Rico as a new state, without a specific designation of English as the primary official language of the island, would automatically transform the United States into a bilingual nation.”

NumbersUSA urges supporters to push Congress on anti-immigrant issues: On August 9 and 10, NumbersUSA put out two action alerts for supporters to push Congress to go after visa overstayers and praise the Trump administration for its rumored plan to limit green cards to “foreign citizens who can fully support themselves.”

CIS attacks education level of refugees: Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)*, authored an August 13 blog titled “A Lower Refugee Ceiling is Better for Most Refugees, the Host Countries, and America.” Krikorian claims refugee resettlement is immoral and attempts to assert that refugee resettlement is not a “fiscal and economic boon” by quoting Jason Richwine. Richwine, a writer for the National Review, a publication that has employed white nationalists, has claimed there is an IQ hierarchy in America with Jews at the top, followed by East Asians, non-Jewish whites, Hispanics and blacks. “Races differ in all sorts of ways, and probably the most important way is in IQ,” he said in a discussion with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) that was broadcast on C-SPAN. Krikorian says Richwine has proven “the educational level of new refugees has deteriorated dramatically over the past 20 years.”

More irresponsible reporting on immigrants by CIS : The same day, Todd Bensman, a new senior national security fellow at CIS, wrote a backgrounder, “Terrorist Infiltration Threat at the Southwest Border,” and a follow-up blog detailing two smuggling cases. These two cases provide a “glimpse of a terrorism threat,” Bensman alleges. The first incident involves immigrants from Yemen and, despite no known connection, Bensman states there is an ongoing civil war with “al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIS’s Yemen branch.” Similarly, the second case involves Pakistani immigrants, and Bensman says, “As we know, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh are home to al Qaeda, ISIS affiliates, and many other US designated terrorist groups.” Bensman’s irresponsible reporting seeks to create a connection between these immigrants and terrorist groups without any evidence.

Local groups

North Carolina anti-immigrant hate group publishes misleading report: On August 9, North Carolinians for Immigration Reform and Enforcement (NCFIRE)* released its monthly report of child rape incidents by undocumented immigrants. Of the “15 illegals” noted in the report, NCFIRE states they have confirmed just one is not a citizen.

Florida based hate group raising money to make anti-immigrant film: Legal Immigrants for America (LIFA)*, is soliciting donations to create a documentary titled ‘Illegal Aliens vs. America.’ The documentary, LIFA claims, will satiate Americans who “want to know more and are energized as they are beginning to understand illegal aliens, anchor babies, diversity lotteries, sanctuary cities, DACA.”

In their own words

On July 22, VDARE contributor Linda Thom wrote, “Uneducated immigrants are driving down the overall IQ in the U.S. Poorly educated people are generally not as intelligent as well-educated people. The overwhelming majority of U.S. immigrants are Hispanic, and they have much less education than do Asians and whites.”

On August 6th, Steve Sailer wrote in a VDARE article, “It’s fashionable to refer to Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam’s research showing that immigration and diversity reduce trust. And yet, high trust multiculturalism thrives in at least one booming aspect of the economy: fraud gangs. Medicaid fraud causes, for example, routinely features a veritable Rainbow Coalition of people who came from all over the world to work together to live their American Dream: ripping off U.S. taxpayers by overcharging cripples for crutches.”

Upcoming events

On August 15, Francis Cissna, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), will “be featured in an Immigration Newsmaker conversation” hosted by CIS at the National Press Club.

On August 21, Texans for Immigration Reduction and Enforcement (TFIRE)* will host a dinner to start their fall campaign called “Keep Texas Red.”