New from the Center for Immigration Studies, 8/20/18

What's Happening at the Center Todd Bensman, our new national security fellow, published a report on the terrorist infiltration threat at the southwest border, noting that smuggling networks for so-called Special Interest Aliens provide the capability for terrorist travelers to reach the border. His report provides a history of how homeland security authorities have addressed the issue since 9/11 and a factual basis necessary to add the prospect of terrorism border infiltration to the nation's ongoing discourse about securing borders. Report 1. Terrorist Infiltration Threat at the Southwest Border Blog Posts 2. An Open Letter to Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer 3. H-1B Discrimination in the Courts: One Case Moves, Two Do Not 4. Criminal Penalties for Aliens' Failure to File a Change of Address 5. Does the First Amendment Provide 'Sanctuary' from Removal for Immigration Law Violations? 6. DC District Judge Orders DACA Restoration 7. The First Step Act, Revisited 8. Chain Migration Gone Wild in Third Circuit 9. A Brief Chronology of the Sierra Club's Retreat from the Immigration-Population Connection 10. Some Suggestions Designed to Strengthen the U (Crime Victim) Visa Program 11. A Lower Refugee Ceiling Is Better for Most Refugees, the Host Countries, and America 12. Two Recent Smuggling Cases Provide a Rare Glimpse of a Terrorism Threat at the Southwest Border and What ICE Is Doing About It 13. 'Private' Refugee Resettlement Agencies Mostly Funded by the Government 1. Terrorist Infiltration Threat at the Southwest Border: The national security gap in America's immigration enforcement debate By Todd Bensman CIS Reports, August 13, 2018 https://www.cis.org/Report/Terrorist-Infiltration-Threat-Southwest-Border Excerpt: No migrant has committed an attack on U.S. soil, to date. A Somali asylum-seeker who crossed the Mexican border to California in 2011 did allegedly commit an ISIS-inspired attack in Canada, wounding five people in 2017, and numerous SIAs with terrorism connections reportedly have been apprehended at the southern border, to include individuals said to be linked to designated terrorist organizations in Somalia, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, and Bangladesh.2 But while most SIAs likely have no terrorism connectivity, the purpose of this Backgrounder is not to assess the perceived degree of any actual terrorist infiltration threat. The purpose, rather, is to establish a less disputable basis for discourse and action by either Republicans or Democrats through a homeland security lens: That SIA smuggling networks provide the capability for terrorist travelers to reach the border, and also that legislation-driven strategy requires U.S. agencies to tend to the issue regardless.3 Return to Top ******** ******** 2. An Open Letter to Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer By Dan Cadman CIS Blog, August 16, 2018 https://www.cis.org/Cadman/Open-Letter-Maryland-Rep-Steny-Hoyer Excerpt: It has come to my attention that recently, in an attempt to dissuade a federal official from making himself available for discussion and public questioning at a forum, you reviled the hosting organization using a variety of smears borrowed from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Return to Top ******** ******** 3. H-1B Discrimination in the Courts: One Case Moves, Two Do Not By David North CIS Blog, August 16, 2018 https://www.cis.org/North/H1B-Discrimination-Courts-One-Case-Moves-Two-Do-Not Excerpt: If the Americans win one or more of these cases, maybe that will prod some governmental agency — I think it could be done at either the federal or the state level — to take action against these obviously discriminatory practices. Return to Top ******** ******** 4. Criminal Penalties for Aliens' Failure to File a Change of Address By Andrew Arthur CIS Blog, August 15, 2018 https://cis.org/Arthur/Criminal-Penalties-Aliens-Failure-File-Change-Address Excerpt: DHS should undertake an assessment of the effectiveness of its change of address processing capabilities. Assuming that the department concludes that its databases validly reflect the submission of changes of address by aliens in the United States, the department should seek criminal charges against aliens who have failed to file changes of address in accordance with law. In connection with that effort, DHS may also consider launching a nationwide campaign to advise all aliens of their responsibilities under section 265(a) of the INA. Return to Top ********* ********* 5. Does the First Amendment Provide 'Sanctuary' from Removal for Immigration Law Violations? By Dan Cadman CIS Blog, August 15, 2018 https://cis.org/Cadman/Does-First-Amendment-Provide-Sanctuary-Removal-Immigration-Law-Violations Excerpt: This seems to me a chicken-or-egg thing. Is ICE targeting Ragbir because he's executive director of an anti-enforcement progressive leftist coalition that argues in favor of sanctuaries and open borders — or did Ragbir spearhead formation of the coalition hoping it would shield him from the reach of the immigration laws so that, if-and-when apprehended, he could make exactly the claim that he's now making? Return to Top ******** ******** 6. DC District Judge Orders DACA Restoration By Andrew Arthur CIS Blog, August 15, 2018 https://cis.org/Arthur/DC-District-Judge-Orders-DACA-Restoration Excerpt: If the status of DACA is complicated now for the federal government (and in particular U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), one can only imagine how much more complicated conflicting district court orders will make it. And Judge Hanen's order can come at any time, meaning that a Supreme Court with only eight justices may have to quickly rule on the legality of the program, as Noah Feldman explained recently in Bloomberg Opinion. When it comes to DACA, uncertainty abounds. Return to Top ******** ******** 7. The First Step Act, Revisited By Dan Cadman CIS Blog, August 14, 2018 https://www.cis.org/Cadman/First-Step-Act-Revisited Excerpt: I am left with the observation that drafting a good prison or sentencing reform bill is much akin to threading a needle: Aim wide, and you are sure to fail. With carefully re-crafted language, this bill could have been excised of those provisions that potentially will permit thousands of alien felon prisoners to sidestep the reach of federal immigration officials attempting to take them into custody from the Bureau of Prisons in order to deport them. And such amendments would have done no harm whatsoever to the aim of prison and sentencing reform for deserving American prisoners. Return to Top ******** ******** 8. Chain Migration Gone Wild in Third Circuit By David North CIS Blog, August 14, 2018 https://www.cis.org/North/Chain-Migration-Gone-Wild-Third-Circuit Excerpt: The appeals decision does not touch the matter of hardship, as it has remanded the case back to the Board of Immigration Appeals. That strikes me as foolish, because despite what the marriage laws may say, it will be very difficult for a court to rule that Kevin is a hardship case. It would appear to me that although the step-father is in double trouble, from DWI and threatened deportation, that Kevin is old enough to take care of himself and no "extremely unusual hardship", which is the standard, could be involved. Return to Top ******** ******** 9. A Brief Chronology of the Sierra Club's Retreat from the Immigration-Population Connection By Matthew Sussis CIS Blog, August 14, 2018 https://www.cis.org/Sussis/Brief-Chronology-Sierra-Clubs-Retreat-ImmigrationPopulation-Connection-Updated Excerpt: How did we get here? How did one of America's oldest and most highly respected environmental organizations stray so far from their original outlook? It involves activists, changes in leadership, and big money. Here is a brief chronology of how the Sierra Club retreated from its views on population stabilization and immigration. Return to Top ******** ******** 10. Some Suggestions Designed to Strengthen the U (Crime Victim) Visa Program By David North CIS Blog, August 14, 2018 https://www.cis.org/North/Some-Suggestions-Designed-Strengthen-U-Crime-Victim-Visa-Program Excerpt: This U visa program has morphed from a sensible, small-scale activity designed to help law enforcement agencies when working with illegals into a huge, largely hidden, backdoor amnesty program. It is another of the cluster of programs that provide large numbers of green cards to aliens not because there is a national need for their presence, or even because of relatives already here, but just because of luck. Return to Top ******** ******** 11. A Lower Refugee Ceiling Is Better for Most Refugees, the Host Countries, and America By Mark Krikorian CIS Blog, August 13, 2018 https://www.cis.org/Krikorian/Lower-Refugee-Ceiling-Better-Most-Refugees-Host-Countries-and-America Excerpt: But refugee policy is one area where the administration can storm some trenches successfully. Even the domestic "charities" that make their living from resettling refugees (on the taxpayers' dime) acknowledge that refugee policy is a component of foreign policy, which is why the president has wide latitude. He has already exercised that authority by reducing the ceiling for refugee resettlement in the current fiscal year to 45,000, down from the Obama administration's FY 2017 ceiling of 110,000. Owing to the development and implementation of new procedures, the actual number of refugees likely to be resettled through FY 2018 (which ends September 30) will be well below the ceiling, maybe 21,000. Return to Top ******** ******** 12. Two Recent Smuggling Cases Provide a Rare Glimpse of a Terrorism Threat at the Southwest Border and What ICE Is Doing About It By Todd Bensman CIS Blog, August 13, 2018 https://www.cis.org/Bensman/Two-Recent-Smuggling-Cases-Provide-Rare-Glimpse-Terrorism-Threat-Southwest-Border-and-What Excerpt: Investigating the smugglers and screening their clients are two distinct operations that work in tandem. The screening at the border improves the chances of knowing if a given SIA poses a terrorism problem and, at the same time, can produce intelligence information ICE-HSI can use to go after smugglers. ICE-HSI does these investigations in joint partnership with the Justice Department's Criminal Division under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force program. Return to Top ******** ******** 13. 'Private' Refugee Resettlement Agencies Mostly Funded by the Government By Nayla Rush CIS Blog, August 13, 2018 https://www.cis.org/Rush/Private-Refugee-Resettlement-Agencies-Mostly-Funded-Government Excerpt: Inside the United States, nine non-governmental organizations work with, and are funded by, the Department of State to resettle refugees. These religious or community-based organizations referred to as voluntary agencies (or volags) help resettled refugees with the following: reception upon arrival; support with housing, food, and clothing; community orientation; English lessons, enrollment in various benefits and welfare programs; referral to social service providers (including health care, employment), etc. Some of these organizations' leaders have been calling on President Trump to increase the refugee resettlement ceiling to 75,000 for FY2019. Their commitment to helping refugees is undoubtedly guided by good intentions; it is, however, important to keep in mind that, for these organizations, lower resettlement admissions mean less federal funding. Return to Top   Edit this box and replace what's in it with html for your e-mal Visit Website