posted on September 25, 2007 10:54:38 AM new
Time after time we can see the democrats working AGAINST our immigration laws. Always in favor of ILLEGAL workers. tsk tsk tsk Making it as hard as they can so illegals will NOT be outed and DEPORTED and some even providing 'safe havens' for illegals.
Illegals TAKE JOBS from Americans.
================
Las Vegas SUN
Today: September 25, 2007 at 6:10:3 PDT
U.S. Sues Ill. Over Immigration Law
By RYAN KEITH
Associated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The Bush administration is suing Illinois over a new state law it says complicates federal efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
The Illinois law would prevent employers from participating in a federal program that verifies whether workers are legally authorized to work in the United States until a federal database is more accurate.
The U.S. attorney's office for central Illinois filed the lawsuit Monday, asking a federal judge to block implementation of the law.
The voluntary federal program, created by Congress in the mid-1990s, helps companies verify employees' identity and employment eligibility in an effort to reduce the hiring of illegal immigrants.
The new Illinois law, approved by state lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Rod Blagojevich DEMOCRAT last month, bars companies from participating in the program unless they get notice of workers' ineligibility within three days in 99 percent of cases. It is to go into effect Jan. 1.
The lawsuit contends the 750 Illinois employers participating in the program would essentially be excluded because of the stricter notification requirement. The government now advises employers of eligibility within a day in about 93 percent of cases, the lawsuit states.
The Illinois law "frustrates our ability to assist employers in making sure their work force is legal," said Carl Nichols, a deputy assistant U.S. attorney general.
A spokesman for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the office was still reviewing the federal complaint.
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"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on September 25, 2007 10:59:36 AM new
Giuliani: Illegal Immigration No Crime
Updated 8:53 PM ET September 7, 2007
By LIBBY QUAID
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said illegal immigration is not a crime, prompting rival Mitt Romney to accuse him of not taking the problem seriously. The two have clashed for weeks over illegal immigration, an issue that inflames GOP conservatives who influence primary elections. The irony is that both candidates have in the past taken more liberal stands on the issue.
"It's not a crime," Giuliani said Friday. "I know that's very hard for people to understand, but it's not a federal crime."
Giuliani's comments came in an interview with CNN Headline News and radio talk-show host Glenn Beck.
"I was U.S. attorney in the Southern district of New York," he said. "So believe me, I know this. In fact, when you throw an immigrant out of the country, it's not a criminal proceeding. It's a civil proceeding."
Illegal immigration shouldn't be a crime, either, Giuliani said: "No, it shouldn't be because the government wouldn't be able to prosecute it. We couldn't prosecute 12 million people. We have only 2 million people in jail right now for all the crimes that are committed in the country, 2.5 million."
He added: "My solution is close the border to illegal immigration."
The former New York mayor has been defending his city's so-called sanctuary policy, which stopped city workers from reporting suspected illegal immigrants. The policy is intended to make illegal immigrants feel that they can report crimes, send their children to school or seek medical treatment without fear of being reported. It did require police to turn in illegal immigrants suspected of committing crimes.
A Romney spokesman said the comments show Giuliani doesn't take the problem seriously.
"His advocacy for sanctuary city policies and his troubling lack of interest in making enforcement of our nation's immigration laws a priority puts him at odds with those who want to secure our borders and end illegal immigration," said Romney spokesman Matt Rhoades.
Giuliani's campaign accused Romney of showing a lack of interest in enforcement as well, pointing out that as governor of Massachusetts, Romney did not try to punish sanctuary cities in his own state.
Giuliani spokeswoman Katie Levinson said: "Mitt Romney's position of the hour probably shouldn't be taken seriously considering he rewarded four Massachusetts sanctuary cities with hundreds of millions of dollars in state aid and allowed the illegal population to skyrocket.
"We'll wait a minute and see if he changes his mind again," she said, alluding to criticism that Romney has changed his position on several issues.
Also Friday, Giuliani said he would mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks Tuesday at ground zero, where the World Trade Center towers stood before the attacks. Some victims' families have criticized those plans, saying presidential politics shouldn't be part of the ceremony.
"I was there when it happened, and I've been there every year since then. If I didn't, it would be extremely unusual. As a personal matter, I wouldn't be able to live with myself," Giuliani said after touring the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in Largo, Fla.
"That's personal, that's not political," he said. "That's a personal thing. I will do that for as long as they have a ceremony out there."
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Associated Press Writer Brendan Farrington in Orlando, Fla., contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
posted on September 25, 2007 11:12:46 AM new
His comments were ALREADY debated. Memory problems must be terrible for mingo as she continues to repeat/rehash articles we've already discussed here. tsk tsk tsk
IF they did NOT apply to be allowed to enter....they are NOT honoring our immigration laws. We DO NOT have OPEN borders.
IF they don't have LEGAL permission to enter....they are here illegally.
IF they break criminal laws OR if they return upon being deported one time then they ARE breaking our criminal laws. And law numbers of illegals DO break our criminal laws.
We have ICE for a reason. To DEPORT those who have entered our Nation ILLEGALLY. That's why they DEPORT them. We have a border patrol/agency to KEEP them from ILLEGALLY entering our Nation.
Civil law vs criminal law.....STILL means they are breaking our laws. Kind of like OJ on his criminal case....got off but was found guilty in 'civil' court.
posted on September 25, 2007 11:39:07 AM new
Same issue - but from the NYT
September 25, 2007
U.S. Sues Illinois to Let Employers Use Immigrant Databases
By JULIA PRESTON
The Bush administration sued the State of Illinois yesterday, hoping to block a new state law that bars employers from using a federal database to verify that immigrant job applicants are in the United States legally and are authorized to work.
With the suit, officials said, the administration is going on the offensive in the courts in response to cases intended to stall a crackdown on illegal immigration that the federal authorities announced last month.
“We will vigorously contest any effort to impede our enforcement measures,” the Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff, said yesterday in a telephone interview.
The suit, brought by Mr. Chertoff’s department, seeks to stop Illinois from putting into effect a law that forbids employers from enrolling in the federal worker verification database program.
The program, formerly known as Basic Pilot, was renamed E-Verify last month.
Under the Illinois statute, the ban would remain until Washington certifies that the databases used to verify workers’ eligibility are 99 percent accurate. [ ?????? - A gov program with 99% accuracy?????? LOL LOL LOL LOL - THAT will NEVER happen and HAS NEVER happened]
Supporters of the law say the Social Security Administration and Homeland Security Department databases used to confirm eligibility are riddled with errors and could result in the denial of jobs to legal workers, including citizens.
The law, which passed with bipartisan support, was signed by Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich on Aug. 13 and is to take effect on Jan. 1.
Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, did not comment yesterday, because he reportedly had not had a chance to read the suit. A spokeswoman for him, Abby Ottenhoff, said he had signed the bill because he “concurred with the General Assembly that the system now leaves too much room for mistakes and abuse.”
Ms. Ottenhoff said lawmakers had determined the verification program had a 50 percent accuracy rate and was slow, taking up to 10 days to respond to employers.
The suit, filed in Federal District Court for the Central District of Illinois, argues that the state statute is unconstitutional because it pre-empts federal laws that established the worker verification program, beginning in 1996.
The program compares job applicants’ identity information against the Social Security and immigration databases. Illegal immigrants often present false names or Social Security numbers when seeking work.
The program, which functions in all states, remains voluntary for most employers. The suit says 22,200 employers are enrolled in the system, which handled 2.9 million inquiries from employers in the current fiscal year.
“We want to be sure that employers can participate without being punished by the state,” Mr. Chertoff said. “We don’t want them to be guinea pigs” in a legal test between conflicting federal and state laws.
With the defeat of a broad immigration bill in the Senate in June, Mr. Chertoff said, “Congress said, ‘We want you to enforce the law first,’ ” before measures could be considered to give legal status to illegal immigrants.
The Illinois law was supported by business and labor organizations. “We have no problem with the program, but the program needs to be accurate,” said Tim Bell of the Chicago Workers’ Collaborative, which helped pass the statute.
Immigration officials said they would begin a system today within the verification program to allow employers for the first time to compare applicants’ photographs against pictures in immigration agencies’ records.
Last month a federal judge in San Francisco temporarily held up a new federal rule that would have forced employers to dismiss illegal immigrants after 90 days.
