About that Joni Ernst Gal......

So if you were wondering why you heard nothing on immigration reform from Senator Joni Ernst, we might have the answer-

Joni Ernst, the newly-elected Iowa senator who's giving the Republican response in English, is a standard conservative immigration hardliner. She's going to be speaking at an immigration summit this weekend hosted by Rep. Steve King of Iowa — the leading immigration hawk in the House of Representatives. (Jeb Bush, who's generally attempted to be a moderate on this issue, is pointedly refusing to attend King's conference because he finds King too radical.) And in 2007, as a county auditor, Ernst joined a lawsuit against Iowa state officials for offering voting materials in languages other than English.

You mean... the nice gal from Southwest Iowa is actually a wing-nut.... who'd have thunk it? 

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The Republican Position on Immigration

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Mr. Speaker, Stop Running a Deadbeat Congress, and #PassABill!

One of the critical moments of last night's Presidential speech was when the President told Congress to "pass a bill" if they don't like his executive orders. It's important to remember (and it should have been an election theme) that the House had over a year to pass anything, or even to vote down something. They never even had a vote. Basically, Speaker John Boehner and his clown show of a House collected paychecks for no work.

It's important to know that because at any point, the House can pass a bill, and legislation trumps executive orders. They won't though because they can't. When the failed House Speaker talks about the President "over-stepping his bounds" or whatever else, he's posturing to cover his own failures. Presidents can issue executive orders about functions of the government. That's their right. Maybe John Boehner should do his job too, and pass legislation that can possibly become law.

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Senator Menendez on President Obama's Executive Order

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Cicero Deserves Better Than an Imbecile Like Ted Cruz

Poor Cicero deserves better than to be quoted a couple millenniums later by Ted Cruz, but sadly, he was:

“The words of Cicero — powerfully relevant 2,077 years later,” Mr. Cruz said, adapting the words slightly for his immediate purposes.

“What? Shall we, who are the Senate, tolerate President Obama, openly desirous to destroy the constitution and this republic?” Mr. Cruz said. 

“For we have a resolution of the Senate, a formidable and authoritative decree against you, Mr. President; the wisdom of the republic is not at fault, nor the dignity of this senatorial body,” he said. “We, we alone — I say it openly — we, the Senate, are waiting in our duty to stop this lawless administration and its unconstitutional amnesty.”

Before you give this idiot credit for creativity though:

You ought, O Catiline President Obama, long ago to have been led to execution defeat by command of the consul your own disdain for the people. That destruction which you have been long plotting against usought to have already fallen on your own head.

Execution? Well, at least he used defeat.

Cicero is viewed as a great Roman leader, a man who has a place in history. Ted Cruz is an imbecile who caused a government shutdown to deny people health insurance. That he wants us to view him as a modern day Cicero is insulting to the legends of ancient times. Only a complete ego-maniac like him could look in the mirror and see Cicero.

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"But You Could See Instances of Anarchy- You Could See Violence"

Reminder- this is a sitting Republican U.S. Senator from Oklahoma...

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Yes, a Republican Official Did Say the President's Executive Action Could Lead to Ethnic Cleansing

The Democrats twitter account put out a tweet that caused some raised-eyebrows. It was a comparative of Democratic and Republican talking points on the President's Executive Action on immigration. In it, they included "ethnic cleansing" as a Republican talking point on this. People called it ridiculous. They stuck by their tweet.

Why? Meet Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach:

"What happens, if you know your history, when one culture or one race or one religion overwhelms another culture or race?" the caller asked. "When one race or culture overwhelms another culture, they run them out or they kill them."

Kobach then responded with his take.

"What protects us in America from any kind of ethnic cleansing is the rule of law, of course," Kobach said. "And the rule of law used to be unassailable, used to be taken for granted in America. And now, of course, we have a President who disregards the law when it suits his interests. And, so, you know, while I normally would answer that by saying, 'Steve, of course we have the rule of law, that could never happen in America,' I wonder what could happen. I still don't think it’s going to happen in America, but I have to admit, that things are, things are strange and they're happening."

He also said this executive order amounts to "amnesty," would give undocumenteds the "right to vote," which it won't, and would lock in a voting block for "socialism."

Yes, the Republicans are saying crazy, crazy things. Maybe the mainstream media isn't showing it, but it's happening. 

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Why the President's Action is Right

There are ten to fifteen million people living in this country without the proper documentation to be here. Whether you refer to them as "illegals" (I do not) or undocumented citizens, they exist within our nation. They live in the shadows, not subject to taxation or labor law. It hurts our labor market. It's a net negative to allow this current system to continue as is.

So what do you do? On the extremes you could simply give them all citizenship, or propose to round them all up and "send them back" (which is impossible, but we'll get back to that). Between those extremes are a plethora of options. I tend to lean towards one of these solutions over the other, though I fall within the plethora of other options. So why don't we just "round 'em up" and "send 'em back?"

First off, it's not practical to say we're going to round up over ten million people. Second off, we don't have the resources to do that. Third off, Congress would never appropriate the money to do that. Fourth off, I've made this point without even getting into the moral argument of why this is a terrible idea, but rounding up the parents of millions of children, somebody's mother, brother, son, niece, or best-friend is just not who we are. Finally, there's literally no benefits economically or societally to deporting all of these people.

So, if not that, then what? Well, the desirable plan is the plan that passed the Senate with 68 votes in 2013. It increased funding for border security. It provided a pathway to citizenship. It imposed legal penalties on those who broke our laws. It gave us the ability to give green cards to college graduates here in our nation. It was the desired plan, and it passed with bi-partisan support.

The problem is that the House simply refused to ever vote on that bill. They wouldn't even vote on it. They didn't like that it was comprehensive, so they wanted it piecemeal. The President said fine. They said they don't trust the President to actually do the border enforcement part. So there were overtures about funding even more border security. The reality is that the House Republicans simply did not want to pass this law, regardless of the terms. The legislation was dead. The legislation was even more dead after Republicans picked up more conservative members in the mid-term elections. The legislation is dead today, and has been for a while. So that Senate plan is not an option. No plan that has to pass Congress is possible.

So basically, the only thing the President can do is either accept the failed, terrible status quo, or do what he can do on his own. One of the key powers of the Presidency is actually running executive agencies. Presidents issue executive orders outlining the priorities and execution of executive actions all the time. If an agency has $10 billion, Presidents issue executive orders saying how the agency should prioritize that money. That's what executive orders are, and basically the President only has that as an option on immigration issues.

So the President is issuing an executive order telling our Border Patrol and immigration courts telling them who the priority people are to deport, by telling them who to not focus on. Deferred action, as laid out in the executive orders, simply means put the people who have lived here for five years, or have children here, or otherwise qualify, at the back of the line. He also is issuing an executive order increasing border security. His action will apply to five million people, leaving roughly seven million people still out there within the current system. No one is getting citizenship, amnesty, or any other benefits. They're getting a way to not get deported.

Given that a "round 'em up" policy is unworkable, and that we can't pass a bill that would settle this question further, and help our economy, what other options are there? The reality is, the President is doing what is possible on this issue, not all that we need.

By no means do I want to say that I'm for Executive Orders over legislation. By no means would I normally endorse this action. Given that the immigration bill can't even get a vote in the current House, there is no other option moving forward. The Republicans can't and won't pass a comprehensive bill, so this is the best course of action, even if it's hardly everything we need.

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I Support the President's Executive Action

The President gave a speech earlier tonight outlining his executive order on immigration. I support it. Here is the text:

My fellow Americans, tonight, I’d like to talk with you about immigration.

For more than 200 years, our tradition of welcoming immigrants from around the world has given us a tremendous advantage over other nations. It’s kept us youthful, dynamic, and entrepreneurial. It has shaped our character as a people with limitless possibilities – people not trapped by our past, but able to remake ourselves as we choose.

But today, our immigration system is broken, and everybody knows it. 

Families who enter our country the right way and play by the rules watch others flout the rules. Business owners who offer their workers good wages and benefits see the competition exploit undocumented immigrants by paying them far less. All of us take offense to anyone who reaps the rewards of living in America without taking on the responsibilities of living in America. And undocumented immigrants who desperately want to embrace those responsibilities see little option but to remain in the shadows, or risk their families being torn apart. 

It’s been this way for decades. And for decades, we haven’t done much about it.

When I took office, I committed to fixing this broken immigration system. And I began by doing what I could to secure our borders. Today, we have more agents and technology deployed to secure our southern border than at any time in our history. And over the past six years, illegal border crossings have been cut by more than half. Although this summer, there was a brief spike in unaccompanied children being apprehended at our border, the number of such children is now actually lower than it’s been in nearly two years. Overall, the number of people trying to cross our border illegally is at its lowest level since the 1970s. Those are the facts.

Meanwhile, I worked with Congress on a comprehensive fix, and last year, 68 Democrats, Republicans, and Independents came together to pass a bipartisan bill in the Senate. It wasn’t perfect. It was a compromise, but it reflected common sense. It would have doubled the number of border patrol agents, while giving undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship if they paid a fine, started paying their taxes, and went to the back of the line. And independent experts said that it would help grow our economy and shrink our deficits.  

Had the House of Representatives allowed that kind of a bill a simple yes-or-no vote, it would have passed with support from both parties, and today it would be the law. But for a year and a half now, Republican leaders in the House have refused to allow that simple vote. 

Now, I continue to believe that the best way to solve this problem is by working together to pass that kind of common sense law. But until that happens, there are actions I have the legal authority to take as President – the same kinds of actions taken by Democratic and Republican Presidents before me – that will help make our immigration system more fair and more just. 

Tonight, I am announcing those actions. 

First, we’ll build on our progress at the border with additional resources for our law enforcement personnel so that they can stem the flow of illegal crossings, and speed the return of those who do cross over.

Second, I will make it easier and faster for high-skilled immigrants, graduates, and entrepreneurs to stay and contribute to our economy, as so many business leaders have proposed. 

Third, we’ll take steps to deal responsibly with the millions of undocumented immigrants who already live in our country.

I want to say more about this third issue, because it generates the most passion and controversy. Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we are also a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable – especially those who may be dangerous. That’s why, over the past six years, deportations of criminals are up 80 percent. And that’s why we’re going to keep focusing enforcement resources on actual threats to our security. Felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a mother who’s working hard to provide for her kids. We’ll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day.

But even as we focus on deporting criminals, the fact is, millions of immigrants – in every state, of every race and nationality – will still live here illegally. And let’s be honest – tracking down, rounding up, and deporting millions of people isn’t realistic. Anyone who suggests otherwise isn’t being straight with you. It’s also not who we are as Americans. After all, most of these immigrants have been here a long time. They work hard, often in tough, low-paying jobs. They support their families. They worship at our churches. Many of their kids are American-born or spent most of their lives here, and their hopes, dreams, and patriotism are just like ours.

As my predecessor, President Bush, once put it: “They are a part of American life.”

Now here’s the thing: we expect people who live in this country to play by the rules. We expect that those who cut the line will not be unfairly rewarded. So we’re going to offer the following deal: If you’ve been in America for more than five years; if you have children who are American citizens or legal residents; if you register, pass a criminal background check, and you’re willing to pay your fair share of taxes – you’ll be able to apply to stay in this country temporarily, without fear of deportation. You can come out of the shadows and get right with the law.

That’s what this deal is. Now let’s be clear about what it isn’t. This deal does not apply to anyone who has come to this country recently. It does not apply to anyone who might come to America illegally in the future. It does not grant citizenship, or the right to stay here permanently, or offer the same benefits that citizens receive – only Congress can do that. All we’re saying is we’re not going to deport you.

I know some of the critics of this action call it amnesty. Well, it’s not. Amnesty is the immigration system we have today – millions of people who live here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules, while politicians use the issue to scare people and whip up votes at election time.

That’s the real amnesty – leaving this broken system the way it is. Mass amnesty would be unfair. Mass deportation would be both impossible and contrary to our character. What I’m describing is accountability – a commonsense, middle ground approach: If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the U.S. illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up.

The actions I’m taking are not only lawful, they’re the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican President and every single Democratic President for the past half century. And to those Members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill. I want to work with both parties to pass a more permanent legislative solution. And the day I sign that bill into law, the actions I take will no longer be necessary. Meanwhile, don’t let a disagreement over a single issue be a dealbreaker on every issue. That’s not how our democracy works, and Congress certainly shouldn’t shut down our government again just because we disagree on this. Americans are tired of gridlock. What our country needs from us right now is a common purpose – a higher purpose.

Most Americans support the types of reforms I’ve talked about tonight. But I understand the disagreements held by many of you at home. Millions of us, myself included, go back generations in this country, with ancestors who put in the painstaking work to become citizens. So we don’t like the notion that anyone might get a free pass to American citizenship. I know that some worry immigration will change the very fabric of who we are, or take our jobs, or stick it to middle-class families at a time when they already feel like they’ve gotten the raw end of the deal for over a decade. I hear these concerns. But that’s not what these steps would do. Our history and the facts show that immigrants are a net plus for our economy and our society. And I believe it’s important that all of us have this debate without impugning each other’s character.

Because for all the back-and-forth of Washington, we have to remember that this debate is about something bigger. It’s about who we are as a country, and who we want to be for future generations.

Are we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a system where workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law? Or are we a nation that gives them a chance to make amends, take responsibility, and give their kids a better future?

Are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents’ arms? Or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together?

Are we a nation that educates the world’s best and brightest in our universities, only to send them home to create businesses in countries that compete against us? Or are we a nation that encourages them to stay and create jobs, businesses, and industries right here in America?

That’s what this debate is all about. We need more than politics as usual when it comes to immigration; we need reasoned, thoughtful, compassionate debate that focuses on our hopes, not our fears.

I know the politics of this issue are tough. But let me tell you why I have come to feel so strongly about it. Over the past few years, I have seen the determination of immigrant fathers who worked two or three jobs, without taking a dime from the government, and at risk at any moment of losing it all, just to build a better life for their kids. I’ve seen the heartbreak and anxiety of children whose mothers might be taken away from them just because they didn’t have the right papers. I’ve seen the courage of students who, except for the circumstances of their birth, are as American as Malia or Sasha; students who bravely come out as undocumented in hopes they could make a difference in a country they love. These people – our neighbors, our classmates, our friends – they did not come here in search of a free ride or an easy life. They came to work, and study, and serve in our military, and above all, contribute to America’s success.

Tomorrow, I’ll travel to Las Vegas and meet with some of these students, including a young woman named Astrid Silva. Astrid was brought to America when she was four years old. Her only possessions were a cross, her doll, and the frilly dress she had on. When she started school, she didn’t speak any English. She caught up to the other kids by reading newspapers and watching PBS, and became a good student. Her father worked in landscaping. Her mother cleaned other people’s homes. They wouldn’t let Astrid apply to a technology magnet school for fear the paperwork would out her as an undocumented immigrant – so she applied behind their back and got in. Still, she mostly lived in the shadows – until her grandmother, who visited every year from Mexico, passed away, and she couldn’t travel to the funeral without risk of being found out and deported. It was around that time she decided to begin advocating for herself and others like her, and today, Astrid Silva is a college student working on her third degree.

Are we a nation that kicks out a striving, hopeful immigrant like Astrid – or are we a nation that finds a way to welcome her in?

Scripture tells us that we shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger – we were strangers once, too.

My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too. And whether our forebears were strangers who crossed the Atlantic, or the Pacific, or the Rio Grande, we are here only because this country welcomed them in, and taught them that to be an American is about something more than what we look like, or what our last names are, or how we worship. What makes us Americans is our shared commitment to an ideal – that all of us are created equal, and all of us have the chance to make of our lives what we will.

That’s the country our parents and grandparents and generations before them built for us. That’s the tradition we must uphold. That’s the legacy we must leave for those who are yet to come.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless this country we love.

 

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Why the GOP is Really Mad on the Immigration Executive Action

Republicans can talk all they want about the Constitution, or overreach, or whatever. That's not why their mad about President Obama potentially issuing an executive order on immigration reform. They're mad about politics. They're mad that the President doing this will surely impact the 2016 Presidential race:

If there are 5 million people who are affected by this order, the number of people who either have family ties to these individuals or affective relationships with them is much larger. I don't know if it's 15 million or 20 million or 40 million. But it's a lot more than 5 million people who will feel acutely the fate of these people hanging in the balance. And advocates on both sides of the immigration divide, deporters and pro-immigrant activists will press the issue throughout the 2016 cycle. The 5 million affected can't vote and won't be for years. But family members, friends, community members, employers in many cases can.

Yes, these people have been waiting for years to be able to come out of the shadows. But it's one thing to wait and another to come out of the shadows and be forced to retreat back into the dark, with a perhaps heightened risk of deportation and family separation. 

It all adds up to an intense and likely toxic campaign fracas in which a lot of people will have a unique and intense motivation to vote. That will apply to people on both sides of course. But the anti-immigration voters vote consistently almost every cycle. And as intense as your animus is toward undocumented immigrants, it's hard for it to compare to the motivation of voters who directly know someone who will be affected. And that latter group is filled with many people who are classic 'drop-off' or occasional voters.

This isn't getting mentioned a lot right now. But behind the headlines I suspect it's one of the key reasons Republican elites are upset that this might happen - because of the electoral grenade it drops right into the heart of the 2016 campaign.

Millions of voters who see a Democratic President take action to help their families, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and employees, then watch a Republican Majority fight him tooth-and-nail to stop him. That's what this will create.

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You Get What You Vote For- I Hope the GOP Follows Senator Sessions to a Shutdown

Democrats could have had a problem in 2016. You see, Democrats did everything they could on immigration reform, passing the bill out of the Senate, but it died in the House. As with most things, it's hard to explain to the public how bad the House sucks at it's job, so Democrats could have struggled to explain to Hispanic voters who largely vote Democratic and care about this issue, why it is that they have been ineffective on delivering on this issue. President Obama knows that, and therefore is talking about issuing an executive order on as much of the reform package as possible, then letting the chips fall where they may. While that would have been delivering for a large group of constituents who need it, it also would have enraged the white, Republican base vote too. Sure, that is a shrinking group as a percentage of the whole country, but they're the most consistent voters, so it has it's drawbacks, and it would require the President to get out and push his message to his base of voters, something that has happened with mixed results.

Enter a white guy from Alabama, a new Republican Majority, and the same failed House.

The President will press this issue right into December, allowing the House every opportunity to vote on this bill, and the House will obviously not do it, because they are lazy freeloaders the Speaker sucks at his job their angry, white base won't allow them to pass this law. The President will then sign his executive order, and the Republicans will be mad. You see though, if it stopped there, they'd be fine. No though, the GOP now runs the Senate, and because of that, an angry, arch-conservative Senator from Alabama named Jeff Sessions now actually matters. He's the Senate Budget Committee Chairman, and he wants to publicly have a bare-knuckle brawl over immigration:

In an op-ed Monday for Politico magazine, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), currently ranking member of the committee, said it would be "unthinkable" for Congress to pass a long-term spending bill that doesn't block funding for Obama's expected actions to free some immigrants from the threat of deportation.

"President Obama’s executive amnesty ... cannot be implemented if Congress simply includes routine language on any government funding bill prohibiting the expenditure of funds for this unlawful purpose," wrote Sessions, a longtime foe of immigration reform.

This strategy is similar to the one that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) persuaded Republicans to adopt in 2013 in a quest to defund Obamacare. It did not work: Obama held firm, the government shut down, and 16 days later Republicans backed down and agreed to fund Obamacare along with the rest of the federal government.

While Sessions's language on immigration now echoes Cruz's language on Obamacare in 2013, advocates of the Alabama Republican's strategy point out that unlike Obamacare, the immigration bill never passed Congress. So this time they wouldn't be using the funding process to change the law, they'd be using it to maintain the law as it's currently being enforced.

"Why would any member of Congress who opposes executive amnesty provide President Obama the funds to carry it out? A Republican majority must force congressional Democrats to answer this question through their votes," Sessions wrote.

He added: "We cannot yield to open borders. We cannot let one executive edict erase the immigration laws of an entire nation. If we believe America is a sovereign country, with enforceable boundaries, and a duty to protect its own people, then we have no choice but to fight and to win."

Yes, GOP, please do! We would absolutely love for you to do this. Send a spending bill to the White House that Democrats can't possibly go for, and have the President veto it, sparking a shut down right after you won the Senate. Perfect! Also, energize a voting block that gave President Obama over 70% in 2012. If Hispanic-Americans lock in at 70% for Democratic Presidential nominees, the GOP doesn't have enough white voters to overcome that margin. In other words, make a fool of your new majority, and help us elect Hillary Clinton. It's the best thing you've done for your country in a generation.

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