Gingrich criticized Mitt Romney’s strategy of promoting self-deportation by removing the magnet of American jobs — something that has worked very well where it has [...]]]> Hispandering Newt was on full display during his Wednesday interview with hard-core invasion booster Jorge Ramos on Spanish-language Univision TV. (Ramos gleefully forecast a majority-hispanic United States a few years back.)

Gingrich criticized Mitt Romney’s strategy of promoting self-deportation by removing the magnet of American jobs — something that has worked very well where it has been tried, e.g. Self-Deportation Working in Alabama. The Grand Canyon State also reported success with workplace enforcement; see Escape from Arizona! where the voluntary relocation process of an illegal family was followed with sympathetic reporting.

Newt is still stuck on his fable of long-time illegals being a credit to their communities, though he is unclear on how years of job theft and lawbreaking are a benefit to America, which is supposedly a “nation of laws.” He argued in a November debate that “If you’ve been here 25 years and you got three kids and two grandkids, you’ve been paying taxes and obeying the law, you belong to a local church, I don’t think we’re going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out.”

The straw man of massive alien round-ups is a favorite hispander ploy of Gingrich. He used to pretend that he had never heard of DIY deportation, but now that Romney has put the strategy on the table in public, Newt can no longer feign ignorance.

In fact, anyone who has been here for 25 years is a successful manipulator of the system who doesn’t need a big amnesty from Washington. And that person most likely has a fake ID and stolen Social Security number (felony!), which is not “obeying the law” in the eyes of most citizens.

On Univision, Newt got personal on that point and talked about an imaginary hispanic granny: “For Romney to believe that somebody’s grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean this is an Obama-level fantasy.”

Gingrich: Romney self-deportation plan a fantasy, Associated Press, January 25, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Wednesday ridiculed rival Mitt Romney’s call for self-deportation of illegal immigrants as an “Obama-level fantasy” that would be inhumane to long-established families living in America.

The former House speaker ripped that part of Romney’s immigration policy during a forum Wednesday with the Spanish-language network Univision. The interviewer also asked sharp questions about Gingrich’s marital history.

Gingrich laughed at the idea of self-deportation and said it wouldn’t work.

During a debate earlier this week, Romney said he favors self-deportation over policies that would require the federal government to round up millions of illegal immigrants and send them back to their home countries. Advocates of Romney’s approach argue that illegal immigration can be curbed by denying public benefits to them, forcing them to leave the United States on their own.

“You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatically $20 million income for no work to have some fantasy this far from reality,” Gingrich said, alluding to details in Romney’s income tax returns made public on Tuesday. “For Romney to believe that somebody’s grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean this is an Obama-level fantasy.”

But Gingrich’s campaign has spoken of the self-deportation policy he ridiculed Wednesday.

Romney’s campaign directed reporters to past comments by Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond, who said that only a small percent of illegal immigrants would likely be allowed to stay in the U.S. under Gingrich’s plan. Hammond went on to say that the vast majority of them would likely “self-deport.”

At the forum, Gingrich spoke instead about border control and establishing a guest-worker program to better manage the influx of immigrants. Gingrich said he favors a path to citizenship for illegal immigrant children who serve in the military but not for simply completing college. [. . .]

Why should any political leader consider it acceptable for illegal aliens to be occupying college slots that should go to American citizen students? Nobody in the press will ask that question, unfortunately for us Americans.

I’ll admit to becoming more kindly disposed to Romney after hearing him questioned on the John and Ken radio show [...]]]> The Republican primary season has been a downer, with way too many awful amnesty hacks like Newt “Americano!” Gingrich and Gov. Rick Perry (shown below with Presidente Vicente Fox), Mexico’s best friend since George W. Bush.

I’ll admit to becoming more kindly disposed to Romney after hearing him questioned on the John and Ken radio show in 2008, about which I blogged at the time (Romney Quizzed on John and Ken Show). Listen to the interview here. He had the right answers on policy and sovereignty, plus grasping the psychology of self-interested invaders.

Romney has actually campaigned on immigration enforcement. We know that political promises don’t mean a lot when the office is won, but he is saying the right things now, which is more than you can say for most of the others.

Ann Coulter has endorsed Gov. Romney largely on the basis of his immigration enforcement position. So has Bay Buchanan.

And today we heard that enforcement architect Kris Kobach has endorsed Romney.

Romney’s push against amnesty makes immigration a defining issue, Washington Times, January 11, 2012

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mitt Romney collected the endorsements Wednesday of the architect of Arizona’s immigration-crackdown law, marking the final step on a journey that has taken him from lukewarm support of legalization to the Republican presidential field’s most ardent opponent of amnesty.

And with Mr. Romney inching closer to wrapping up the GOP’s nomination, it sets up what would be the strongest contrast ever between the two major parties’ candidates on immigration.

“Romney stands head and shoulders above the crowd,” Kris W. Kobach, Kansas’ secretary of state and the architect of the Arizona law, told The Washington Times, praising Mr. Romney for treading where other Republican candidates have refused to go. “Immigration is one of those issues that will appear to be a hot button — some elected officials who are afraid of offending anyone will avoid taking tough stands on immigration, and he took a tough stand.”

Mr. Kobach’s endorsement follows those of other leaders in the immigration crackdown movement, including Bay Buchanan, who ran Tom Tancredo’s presidential campaign in 2008 and who is the sister of former presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan.

It’s no surprise that the issue is popping up with 10 days to go before Republicans vote in South Carolina’s primary. South Carolina has passed its own Arizona-style law seeking to make illegal immigration a crime, giving state and local authorities police powers, and Republican primary voters in the state are overwhelmingly in favor of it.

The Obama administration has sued to halt the South Carolina and Arizona laws, as well as similar laws in Utah and Alabama, and those cases are winding their way through federal courts.

Mr. Romney and others in the Republican presidential field have said they support the states’ efforts, and Newt Gingrich on Wednesday told South Carolina voters that one of his first actions as president would be to drop the lawsuits.

Still, those who favor a crackdown on illegal immigration say Mr. Romney has emerged as their clear favorite over the past few years. He has embraced the use of E-Verify, the government’s voluntary system for checking work status; has talked about attrition of the numbers of illegal immigrants in the country through enforcement of laws; has called for building more border fencing; and has embraced state efforts to pick up enforcement where the federal government has failed.

Most of all, he adamantly vowed to block legalization bills. He recently said he would veto the Dream Act, which would grant legal status to illegal-immigrant students and young adults, who are usually considered the toughest cases because many of them were brought to the U.S. by parents and have never known any other country.

“He has held the line 100 percent on this amnesty stuff,” said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, which grades the candidates on the issue.

Immigrant rights advocates said all of that makes for a stark contrast with Mr. Obama, and will make it tough for Mr. Romney to win Hispanic votes in November.

“Honestly, the Obama campaign must be doing high-fives. This guy is handing them the Hispanic vote when Obama is vulnerable with Hispanic voters,” said Frank Sharry, founder of immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice. “To me, it’s political malfeasance. He should be charged and found guilty by a jury of his peers.”

Mr. Sharry said Mr. Romney has changed on this issue. Before his first presidential campaign, he complimented President George W. Bush’s legalization plans and praised Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who led the Senate fight for legalization.

But by the end of his time as governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Romney had vetoed a bill offering in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants and signed an agreement with federal authorities that would have allowed state and local police to assist in immigration enforcement. In the 2008 campaign, he ran ads in Iowa attacking Mr. McCain on immigration.

In between that campaign and this one, Mr. Sharry said, Mr. Romney’s strategists reconsidered and decided to de-emphasize stances on abortion, gay marriage and immigration.

What’s remarkable is they followed the playbook on abortion and gay marriage, but not immigration. I am, just from a political point of view, flabbergasted that he has run so far to the right on this issue, and what that will do to his electability in the general election,” he said. “And so what? So he can be more conservative than Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich? As if it’s the defining issue of the conservative base? It’s not.”

All of that makes Mr. Romney the most vociferous opponent of illegal immigration in the field.

The contrast between the former governor and Mr. Obama was underscored this week when Mr. Romney trumpeted the endorsement of Mr. Kobach, while at the White House Mr. Obama gave a promotion to Cecilia Munoz, a chief backer of the legalization bill Mr. Bush and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, tried to push through the Senate in 2007. Ms. Munoz was at the National Council of La Raza at the time, left that group to join the White House in 2009, and on Monday was promoted to run the White House’s Domestic Policy Council.

“It just goes to show that Obama is trying to close down his vulnerability with Hispanic voters, and Romney is opening up his,” Mr. Sharry said.

After Mr. Romney’s promise to veto the Dream Act, students have begun to follow him and challenge his position.

In an interview with The Times this weekend, Mr. Romney didn’t back down, saying he doesn’t see much room for exceptions to his policy that illegal immigrants should go home.

“I will put out a series of immigration proposals before November of 2012, and I will look at adjustments to the law that I think maybe necessary, but my principle is straightforward and that is that those who’ve come here illegally really should not be given a preferential path to permanent residency or citizenship,” he said.

Hispanic voters are considered a critical swing group in the upcoming election, and Mr. Romney has said he needs to do well in attracting them.

The Republican National Committee also is committed to the effort, and on Wednesday it announced its Hispanic voter-outreach program, calling Hispanics “essential” to the GOP’s 2012 election.

One early test for the GOP and Hispanic voters will come Jan. 31 when Florida holds its primary. Mr. Romney on Wednesday announced a Spanish-language ad he is running in that state, featuring his son Craig and three Cuban-American Republicans, two of whom are in Congress and the other of whom is a former member.

Obama has enacted a administrative amnesty, protected alien workers and decreased deportations (admitting his own high deport numbers were “deceptive”). But these [...]]]> How low will he go? It’s still eleven months until the election but Obama is escalating his hispandering by opening up a hotline for those facing deportation or experiencing some other difficulty in America.

Obama has enacted a administrative amnesty, protected alien workers and decreased deportations (admitting his own high deport numbers were “deceptive”). But these policies are not enough for foreign job thieves and legal hispanics — the Mexicans et al want the whole enchilada.

Presumably the hotline will inform persons claiming to be crime victims about the availability of victim visas, a program growing in popularity that is an invitation to fraud.

I don’t even understand what Politico means by individuals who think they “may be U.S. citizens” — huh? What adult doesn’t know their citizenship?

New hotline for busted immigrants, Politico, December 29, 2011

As states across the nation ramp up their efforts to catch illegal immigrants, the Obama administration on Thursday launched a new free hotline for people busted on violations to get help.

The hotline, run by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, is available 24/7 for detained individuals to phone if they think they “may be U.S. citizens or victims of a crime.”

The hotline will have translation services available in several different languages. ICE personnel will gather the caller’s information and send it to a field office for immediate action, according to the press release.

The purpose of the hotline and other measures, including a new detainer form, are “to ensure that individuals being held by state or local law enforcement on immigration detainers are properly notified about their potential removal from the country and are made aware of their rights.”

The new practices are “part of a broader effort to improve our immigration enforcement process and prioritize resources to focus on threats to public safety, repeat immigration law violators, recent border entrants and immigration fugitives while continuing to strengthen oversight of the nation’s immigration detention system and facilitate legal immigration,” ICE wrote in its press release.

ICE is an arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

In doing so, citizens agree with the Supreme Court, which determined in 2008 that photo ID is not an undue burden to participate in American elections (High court upholds Indiana’s voter ID law, CNN, April 28, 2008).

The [...]]]> A recent survey shows the voting public to be strongly in favor of photo identification at the polling place.

In doing so, citizens agree with the Supreme Court, which determined in 2008 that photo ID is not an undue burden to participate in American elections (High court upholds Indiana’s voter ID law, CNN, April 28, 2008).

The Attorney General has made a big deal out of opposing measures which would prevent voter fraud, and is out of step with the American people in pursuing that course — not for the first time. (For example, his insistence on holding 9/11 terror trials in New York City was very unpopular even among NY Democrats and he eventually withdrew the idea.)

The Obama administration claims requiring voter identification is a resurgence of Jim Crow discrimination against black voters, but indications accumulate that the Democrats hope for a big turnout of illegal aliens to win in 2012.

69% Say Photo ID Voting Laws Are Not Discriminatory, Rasmussen Reports, December 20, 2011

Attorney General Eric Holder signaled last week that the Justice Department will be closely examining new state laws that require showing a photo ID before voting for potential racial bias, but voters nationwide overwhelmingly favor such a requirement and reject the idea that it is discriminatory.

Seventy percent (70%) of Likely U.S. Voters believe voters should be required to show photo identification such as a driver’s license before being allowed to cast their ballot. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 22% oppose this kind of requirement. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

It’s common sense that both [...]]]> Early results are in, and Alabama’s tough immigration enforcement law is having the desired effect — more jobs for citizens. One county reported 600 jobs liberated that were illegally occupied six months ago. That’s a start on freeing up the 7-8 million jobs still held by illegal aliens in Obama-run America.

It’s common sense that both legal and illegal immigration should be decreased by the government during the crushing jobs depression, but the open-borders lobby is mounting a determined effort to convince the public of a monstrous falsehood: Who you gonna believe — La Raza or your lyin’ eyes?

One loony (and ungrammatical) headline: Low-skilled immigrants means more American jobs (New York Post, Dec 19).

Plus the open-borders left has successfully recruited the foolish NAACP to attack the Alabama law, even though illegal immigration arguably harms black citizens more than any other group: Immigrant and civil rights leaders to rally in Montgomery against immigration law (WAFF News, Dec 17). Forming a political alliance with illegal alien hispanics is apparently more important for the NAACP than improving the lives of actual black Americans.

Here’s the encouraging employment update from Alabama:

Alabama jobless rate falls amid immigration reform, Daily Caller, December 18, 2011

Alabama’s unemployment rate fell at a record pace in November amid stepped-up efforts by President Barack Obama’s deputies to frustrate enforcement of the state’s popular new immigration reform.

The state’s unemployment rate fell 0.6 percent in November to 8.7 percent, according to new state reports, partly because the state’s employers opened up jobs to Americans after shedding illegal immigrants.

The unemployment rate is far below October’s rate of 9.3 percent and September’s rate of 9.8 percent.

“The continued drop is proof that people — American Citizens [and] legal migrants, have suffered at the hands of politicians who choose politics over economics,” said Chuck Ellis, a council member in Northern Alabama’s Marshall County.

“What’s really amazing is that in Marshall County, a county of 95,000 residents, 30,000 workforce eligible, there are over 600 people who now have jobs that they didn’t have 6 months ago,” he said.

In November the county’s unemployment rate dropped 0.7 percent, from 8.1 percent to 7.4 percent.

“Is that a difference of great significance? Ask those families for an answer as they undertake the Christmas season,” Ellis said.

Department of Justice officials, including civil-regulation chief Tom Perez, have repeatedly visited the state to invite people to make claims of discrimination.

Perez is pushing ahead with a lawsuit intended to gut the reform, which was supported by members of both parties, and by both white and African-American legislators.

Perez’s efforts have been broadcast by many established media outlets, many of which have also highlighted the reform’s painful impact on illegal immigrants. Few outlets, however, have detailed the beneficial impact of the state’s falling unemployment rate.

Administration officials have cracked down on immigration enforcement by several states in partial exchange for promises by the Hispanic lobbies to spur turnout by Democratic-leaning Hispanic voters in 2012.

The lobbies had sought a federal amnesty, but rising public opposition has deterred Democrats from seriously promoting any amnesty since Obama’s 2008 election.

In compensation for their inaction, the federal government and allied Hispanic lobbies have already sued several other states, including New Mexico, South Carolina, Georgia and Arizona.

On Thursday, Perez also announced a litany of complaints about the sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz. Perez, who opened his Thursday press conference by saying “Buenos Dias,” also said he would stop helping the sheriff enforce federal immigration laws.

“We’re going to fight back, we’re going to show the politics involved … the president wants to get the Hispanic vote,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio said in a Fox interview Dec. 16.

The Alabama reform copied federal immigration laws, making it more difficult for local entrepreneurs and businesses to hire or trade with illegal immigrants. Top state officials, including Gov. Robert Bentley, have said they’ll make some trims to the law in the new year to defeat the legal challenges by Obama’s deputies, business lobbies and immigration advocates.

In October, Alabama was ranked 37th-worst in the nation for unemployment. November’s numbers pushed the state up to 30th place, based on the October rankings.

In a complex economy, “it’s certainly plausible that immigration enforcement — and the subsequent drop in the number of illegals — enabled unemployed Americans to find work,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a D.C. -based advocacy group.

“Americans with the highest unemployment rates — young workers, less-educated workers, minority workers — are the ones facing the greatest job competition from illegal aliens, and thus would benefit the most from the departure of those illegal aliens,” he added.

The state’s new immigration reform gets much of the credit from local boosters, although stepped-up Christmas hiring likely played some role. However, Alabama reduced its unemployment much more than the adjacent states of Mississippi and Georgia.

In Georgia, the unemployment rate fell to 9.9 percent in November, down from 10.2 percent in October and 10.3 percent in September.

In Mississippi, the November numbers have not been released, but the state’s unemployment rate stayed steady at 10.6 percent in October and 10.6 percent in September.

In Alabama, the unemployment rate is lower in northern counties.

For example, Madison County’s rate was 6.9 percent in November, down from a September level of 8.2 percent, according to the state’s Department of Industrial Relations.

The highest rate of unemployment are in the southern, majority-black districts of WIlcox, Perry, and Bullock. In November, their unemployment rates were 15.5 percent or greater.

Judicial Watch has provided an update showing that the Obama administration goes the extra mile in NOT enforcing federal immigration laws, even as [...]]]> Attentive observers have known for some time that Obama’s claims of record deportations were crap. The President himself admitted in September that the high numbers were “deceptive” and based on phony-baloney counting methods.

Judicial Watch has provided an update showing that the Obama administration goes the extra mile in NOT enforcing federal immigration laws, even as it threatens states that do protect its citizens from illegal alien job predators with removal of funding (DOJ sends letter to Alabama police, warns against discriminating in new immigration law, AP, Dec 6).

Below, the dirty little secret is that some illegals are quite happy to get a free ride home (aka deportation) courtesy of the US taxpayer, like the Guatemalan shown.

Obama Admin Skews Deportation Figures, Judicial Watch, December 5, 2011

The Obama Administration drastically inflated statistics to show that it has deported a record-high number of illegal immigrants with criminal records, according to federal data obtained by a nonprofit university group dedicated to researching the government.

The new documents reveal the figure is actually at an all-time low and rapidly decreasing, leaving the Obama Administration with egg on its face just weeks after bragging about removing an unprecedented number of criminal aliens. In mid-October, Obama’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director jubilantly announced that nearly 55% of the record 396,906 illegal immigrants deported in fiscal year 2011 were convicted of felonies or crimes.

The real figure is less than 15%, according to federal records obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data research center that provides detailed information about the operation of hundreds of government agencies. The number of deported criminal aliens has been declining steadily throughout the past year, the TRAC analysis found, even though fiscal year 2010 had an already low level of 16.5%.

In the first quarter of the fiscal year (October – December 2010) 15.8 percent of deported illegal immigrants were charged with engaging in criminal activity, 15.1 percent during the second quarter (January – March 2011), 14.9 percent during the third quarter (April – June 2011), and finally 13.8 percent during the fourth quarter (July – September 2011). The average rate across the four quarters for FY 2011 was 14.9 percent, according to records obtained from the government through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

TRAC analyzed case-by-case records covering all proceedings filed in the nation’s immigration courts, which operate under the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). The total number of deportation proceedings for aliens with criminal records dropped from 40,500 in fiscal year 2010 to 33,763 in fiscal year 2011. The number of individuals removed for national security or terrorism decreased from 42 to 30 during the same period.

This certainly contradicts the administration’s claims that it’s focusing on removing criminals while it grants backdoor amnesty to otherwise “law-abiding” foreigners living in the U.S. illegally. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) even issued new guidelines ordering immigration agents to prioritize deporting convicted criminals and those who pose public safety and national security threats.

Obama’s ICE director, John Morton, calls it a “smart and effective immigration enforcement” that essentially relies on “setting priorities for removal and executing those priorities.” If the goal isn’t met, just distort the figures and lie to the American people.