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…and already Minnesota\’s newest Senator is proving worthless for looking out for the interests of Minnesotans.

The Senate was considering the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010 (HR 2892) and a number of important amendments were made, several of which have already been voted on, and two of which are coming up on Thursday.  Call your Senators and voice your opinion, especially to Franken whom has already proven to be the least in touch with Minnesotans.

S.Amdt. 1371 was proposed by Senator Sessions, to permanently authorize the E-Verify program that allows employers to verify if their employees are legally able to work in the United States.  In addition it would require all federal contractors to use this tool.  A motion was made to table the amendment, which would effectively kill it.  That motion was defeated 53-44, with Senator Klobuchar voting to save the amendment and Senator Franken voting to kill it. Since the motion to kill it by tabling it failed, it was then voted on by voice and it passed.  This secures the future of an absolutely critical tool in the fight against illegal immigration.

S.Amdt. 1399 was proposed by Senator DeMint, to require the completion of at least 700 miles of reinforced fencing along the southwest border by December 31, 2010.  Granted this is something that was already required but heh, it\’s a start.  DHS is kind of like a small child, if you don\’t keep reminding them to clean up their room it\’ll never happen.  A vote was taken on this amendment and it passed 54-44.  Again Senator Klobuchar voted for border enforcement and Senator Franken voted against it.

These were two important and critical amendments but not all is well yet.  There are at least two very important amendments coming up which need to pass.  Call your Senators and let them know they need to vote for them.

S.Amdt. 1375, being proposed by Senator Vitter removes any barriers to the implementation of the so called \”no match\” rule, which basically lets the Social Security Administration send letters to employees whose personal information does not match the Social Security number they are using.  In some cases these are simple errors, but most of the time they are indicative of identity theft being committed by illegal aliens.  This allows the SSA to let employers know there is a problem so that the problem can be addressed.  This seemingly common sense measure has repeatedly met resistance by those who wish to make identify theft easy for illegal aliens.

S.Amdt. 1415, being proposed by Senator Grassley allows employers to use E-Verify to verify the legal status of all employees, not just new hires.  Under current law, amazingly E-Verify can only be used to check on the work eligibility of new hires, which means thousands of potentially illegal employees may be unchecked.  It doesn\’t require employers to check current employees, it simply gives them the option to do so.  Allowing an employer to go beyond requirements and verify the legality of their workforce seems like a goal that should be encouraged and we should give employers the ability to do so.

Call your Senator today and let them know you want them to vote for both of these critical bills.

Political activism at it\’s best is honest grassroots efforts by people finally fed up with lying politicians who decide to do something about an issue rather than just complain.  We have a great example of that coming up here in Minnesota on the immigration issue.

On Saturday, July 11th at 2 PM, there will be a rally held at the Mower County Courthouse.  It\’s located at 201 First Street NE, Austin, MN.  This will be the second rally in a month at that location.

Basically Austin is a town that the residents feel has been devastated by illegal immigration, and a lone resident, Sam Johnson, finally got fed up.  He organized the first rally despite being up against professionally organized counter protests by the likes of La Raza, Centro Campesino and various Marxist organizations bussed in from the cities.

So Sam Johnson and his supporters need your help to rally the people necessary to stand against illegal immigration.  South Eastern Minnesota has become a battleground on this issue and the public needs to know that they don\’t have to just stand by and let their towns be overrun as a result of apathy from both Washington DC and St. Paul.

You can contact Sam Johnson by email : nsmsoutheastmn -at- gmail -dot- com

[Crossposted at True North]

NOTE (10/27/09) : It has since been pointed out to me that Sam Johnson is, to put it lightly, a Neo-Nazi.  Let me make it clear I do not endorse such a hate filled ideology and wish to express no endorsement of any such views.

At the time I thought Sam Johnson was merely a small time illegal immigration activist, mainly cause I\’ve never heard of him.  I\’m not of a mind to assume the worst motivations of someone plus googling a name like \”Sam Johnson\” seemed an act of futility at best.

Knowing what I know now, no I would not have posted this and his entire event would have been forgotten, if not actively shunned.

The Obama administration has delayed implementation of a rule requiring most federal contractors to use the federal E-Verify system to check the work authorization status of their new hires.  They have delayed it for the FOURTH time.

E-Verify is a proven, successful tool operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration. It allows employers to quickly and easily check the work authorization status of their new hires. According to DHS, the program has an impressive accuracy rate: \”About 99.6% of all work-authorized employees verified through E-Verify are verified without receiving a tentative non-confirmation or having to take any type of corrective action.\”  It\’s no wonder that this program enjoys overwhelming support in the US House.

The program would seem to be doubly important in these tough economic times.  With unemployment approaching 10%, it would seem wise that the jobs that there are should go to Americans, rather than illegal aliens.  But it seems the Obama administration is too busy tossing fuel on the fire that is our recession to be bother with doing something that is proven and makes sense.

The rule is now set to take effect on September 8, 2009 – nearly nine months after the original effective date.  How many jobs will be lost by then?

Ok I think there is concensus that Sotomayor is technically qualified for the Surpreme Court, but she\’s certainly not the most qualified person for the position.  And it\’s probably not a gross oversimplification to say that she\’s an affirmative action hire, that\’s designed more to fill a political quota than be a promotion of one of our most brilliant legal minds.  But with lots of different quotas that could have been filled instead, so have asked why this one?? And yet others have theorized that this is a sign that Obama is taking immigration reform off the table and is using this pick to appease Hispanics who might otherwise be disgruntled by that.

Since Sotomayor is likely to be confirmed regardless of what the GOP does, that would be good news, as at least something good comes of her appointment.  Unfortunately reality does not bear it out.  Even before the appointment the Obama administration and his Democrat cronies have indicated they intend on going full-speed ahead on immigration reform.

Despite Obama\’s promise of an open and transparent government Obama is going to be holding a closed door summit to discuss plans for upcoming immigration reform legislation.

On June 8, President Barack Obama will meet with Congressional leaders to discuss immigration reform legislation.  (Politico, May 20, 2009).  In the past, President Obama has supported \”comprehensive immigration reform,\” which has included amnesty for the more than 12 million illegal aliens who are living in the United States.  (Luuliyo Online, May 20, 2009).

And Democrats are already laying down a smokescreen to convince the public that they did what they promised they\’d do.

Schumer opened the hearing by claiming that the American people would only accept an amnesty \”if they can be convinced that their government is serious about drastically reducing the number of illegal immigrants entering the United States.\”  The subcommittee chairman stated that true immigration reformers opposed to amnesty for illegal aliens \”have continually promised that they\’ll engage in conversation about immigration reform once Congress showed it was serious about securing the border.\” Schumer then attempted to argue that this \”showing has clearly been made,\” and claimed that \”almost the whole border fence has been built.\” (Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship Hearing, May 20, 2009).

Fortunately Senator Sessions and former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth was there to refute that pack of lies, not that Schumer could be bothered to be there to hear it.  But the fact remains is that Democrats are already laying the groundwork for a full-court press on immigration reform.  They are raising and knocking down strawman left and right.  They are organizing to for the effort and all signs point towards another showdown.

If Sotomayor was truly a pick to appease Hispanics, the Obama adminstration apparently doesn\’t believe she\’ll be enough to appease anyone.  And that speaks ill of her competence just as much as anything else.  But at least she might have paid her taxes.

[Crossposted at True North]

Back from the dead is the latest attempt at amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. Again, Senator Dianne Feinsten (D-CA) has authored a bill (S 1038 and HR 2414), that grants amnesty to “agricultural workers”.

Basically here’s what it boils down to:

• Grants “emergency worker status” (essentially equivalent to a green card) to 1.35 million illegal aliens for five years
• Also grants amnesty to their families (bringing the total to five million or so)
• Gives “work authorization” to illegal aliens
• Gives “travel authorization” to illegal aliens and their families
• Gives illegal aliens legal protection from prosecution for pretty much any crime they probably had to commit to get into the country and stay here as long as they have, including identity theft

In order to qualify an illegal alien must show he or she was employed for at least 863 hours or earned at least $7500 in the 48 months before December 31st, 2008. The illegal alien pays a fee of $400.00 and then they receive a \”blue card\” demonstrating his/her legal status.  The blue cardholder would be eligible for a green card, and permanent legal resident status in three years.

Feinstein gave an lengthy attempt to tug heartstrings on the Senate floor last Thursday morning in support of AgJOBS.  She insisted that because of \”a farm emergency in this country\” brought about by \”the absence of farm labor\”, that Congress absolutely had to pass her amnesty bill.  What she fails to note is that there is no absence of farm labor, in fact farm workers are experiencing unemployment four times the national average but why let the facts get in the way of a good emotional tirade.

It\’s absolutely amazing that in this time of economic recession, Congress is still finding time to try to bring in more illegal aliens to compete with American workers for already scarce jobs.  Guess we know where the priorities of the Democrat leadership is.

Call your Congress Critter and let them know what you think of this monstrosity.

There is a showdown over the border fence building in Congress.  Obama made lots of campaign promises to get rid of the border fence and loosen restrictions on illegal immigration, and liberals are expecting him to deliver.  At the same time public sentiment is still greatly in favor of cracking down on illegal immigration.  High unemployment has the public in no mood to compete with unrestricted illegal immigration.  And border violence and now the emergence of the swine flu, has the public rather unwilling to let things slide on border enforcement.

Late last week, Rep. Duncan Hunter introduce a bill (HR 2083) to build another 350 miles of fencing on the border.  This is partly to further secure the border and partly to compensate for the Department of Homeland Security\’s total incompetence.

Originally DHS was require to build 700 miles of fencing, and it was clearly understood that it was going to be the Israeli style fencing.  They only built 600 miles and most of it is vehicle barriers which are useless for preventing illegal immigration.  They\’re not even useful for preventing drug smuggling.  It\’s very easy to drive a vehicle up to the barrier on one side of the border unload their cargo to a vehicle on the other side and then both drive away and do their business.

On the other side of the issue is a bill soon to be introduced by Rep. Raul Grijalva, which is supposedly an environmental bill.  But basically they are using supposed environmental damage caused by the fencing as an excuse to kill further construction and tear down some of the completed fencing.  Such efforts are hypocritical on their face because there is nothing more damaging to the environment along the border than the flood of illegals and the mountains of trash they leave behind.

But the end result is we\’ll have these two competing bills clashing in Congress.  While Obama has made noise about immigration, he doesn\’t really want to broach this topic this session.  It\’s an incediary issue and one which he is very unlikely to win.  This is a battle better fought later in his term.  But he made promises and his supporters are expecting him to fulfill those promises.

To be honest this may very well turn out to be a good thing for conservatives.  It\’s likely to further poison congressional relations and damage Democrats support with their base because this is a fit they are unlikely to win.  While the public may be willing to have their heart-strings pulled in a good economy, during a bad economy all they are going to see is more people competing for their jobs.   And while this swine flu thing is much ado about nothing, it\’s one of those things that sticks in the public\’s mind for a long period of time.  And if border violence continues, this is going to quickly grow into a very very bitter poison pill for the Democrats to swallow.

Especially without anything to support their cause.  Even critics of the fence have to admit it\’s effectiveness.  Instead, their argument has shifted from \”it\’s not gonna work\” to \”okay yeah it\’s working but it only forces the flow of illegals to another area\”.  The problem with this argument is that this minimizes the the area the Border Patrol has to concentrate on.  A given agents instead of watching 100 miles of border, perhaps only needs to concentrate his attention on 5 miles of it.  That makes him much more effective.  Which is why border enforcement activists have never said that a fence would stop illegal immigration.  It simply acts as a force multiplier, by either concentrating or delaying illegal aliens at the border.  So BP agents can accomplish much more with far less resources.

In a down economy, effectiveness, efficiency and less illegal labor competing with real Americans are all good things.  And the Democrats are likely to find that the public is in even less of a giving mood this year.  How much they try to push will determine how much they\’ll get burned by this issue.

[Crossposted at True North]

A couple of months ago, who would have believed that of all the people Obama has appointed (admittedly there are few) that the biggest screwup would NOT be Geithner.  Which isn\’t a compliment towards Geithner, he\’s floundered in his job, but Napolitano is making him look like a genius.  Which is fairly sad as Homeland Security is a fairly straight forward position, with nowhere near the subtle complexity of Treasury or State.

Of couse it would probably help if she even knew what her job consisted of.  Certainly one of her responsibilities is border enforcement, but she doesn\’t even realize that illegal immigration is a crime.

Napolitano : And yes, when we find illegal workers, yes, appropriate action, some of which is criminal, most of that is civil, because crossing the border is not a crime per se. It is civil. But anyway, going after those as well.

But according to 8 USC Sec. 1325 it actually is a crime.  But heh, how would she know that?? She\’s just the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.   But heh, immigration is just part of her job, keeping terrorists out of the United States is important too.  Well apparently she\’s not too hip on that, because she pissed off our neighbor to the north by saying the 9/11 terrorists came in through Canada….a myth that was debunked on about 9/12/01…so it\’s understandably she hasn\’t been filled in yet.

Ok so anything originating outside the country isn\’t her forte, she\’s probably been concentrating on internal threats.  She\’s got those nailed down I\’m sure.  Her department put together, by her own admission, a half-assed report which she insisted be released against the warnings of her own lawyers.  That report tagged veterans serving out countries and conservatives utilizing the First Amendment as threats to our country. She\’s had to slowly roll back to the point of admitting it shouldn\’t have been released and basically it was completely wrong.

In fact I can\’t seem to find a single aspect of her job she has not completely botched in the short time she\’s been head of DHS.  I realize that Obama\’s standards aren\’t exactly high for his staff, a cursory look at his other appointees faults bear that out, but even by those paltry standards surely Napolitano is a big failure.

It\’s time to start taking over/under bets on when she\’s canned.

You can play along at home by answering these easy questions…

– Are you concerned about illegal immigration?
– Are you concerned with increasing federal power?
– Are you concerned with current/future restrictions on firearms?
– Are you concerned about abortion?
– Are you concerned about the loss of US sovereignty?

Basically what this boils down to is, are you conservative to any degree?

If you answered yes to any of the above, congratulations, according to the Department of Homeland Security you\’re officially a \”right-wing extremist\”!! Bob, tell them what they\’ve won!!

That\’s right John, our contestants win further intrusion upon their lives by the federal government. And you potentially get a lifetime supply Rice-A-Roni, the San Fransisco treat, lovingly prepared by fellow inmates in one of our delightful federal prisons.

Some tongue-firmly-in-cheek humor there, but it\’s based on a study by the Department of Homeland Security, the very same department that last we heard was letting us know they couldn\’t provide homeland security, yet has no need for a budget increase to take on the herculean task of quelling border violence.

Apparently if you\’re more conservative than Meghan McCain (probably 60% of the US), you quite possibly may be a \”right-wing extremist\” according to our wonderful DHS. If you\’re a veteran returning from war, you got two strikes against you, as you are quite clearly a Ted Kaczynski just waiting to happen! Supposedly the catalyst being the poor economic conditions and potential restrictive legislation being passed by the new Administration.

Now I\’m poking fun at the DHS a bit here. I understand they are attempting to do a job. And to be sure, each of the issues listed above is an issue that provokes enough passion, that in some it might lead to irrational acts. We\’ve heard of attacks on abortion clinics. Or the war vet that is having issues adjusting to life back home. Or the firearms enthusiast that decides to go Waco. But in every single instance, it has always been isolated incidents.

What I take issue with is that only right-wing extremists appear to be possible. The DHS isn\’t concerned with the rise of \”extremism\” due to bad economic conditions, they are concerned with \”right wing extremism\”, even though left wing extremism is just as common. We\’ve all heard of animal rights activists attacking scientists who use animals in experiments. We\’ve heard of environmentalists burning down buildings. We\’ve heard of gay rights activists threatening those they perceive as against their cause (i.e California in the last election). We\’ve heard of anarchists rioting and attacking police. And in the left wing examples I gave, you have liberal organizations openly endorsing those actions.

So then wouldn\’t it be more prudent for the DHS to be worried about extremism in general?? Certainly bad economic times leads to greater stress and tougher times for everyone. Wouldn\’t all be effected equally? I mean besides the Al Gore and George Soros of the world.

The right wing hardly has a monopoly on extremism, and for the most part, unlike the left, we\’ve closed our franchises. So the fact that the DHS would put out a study extolling the dangers of \”right wing extremism\” indicates more of a political agenda, than a real (or perceived) danger to public safety. And for a department that can\’t afford to play politics, they should be ashamed.

With news that Obama intends on pursuing amnesty for illegal immigrants this session, there has been quite a bit of opining from all corners.  Amongst the border enforcement groups, the concensus seems to be that the amnesty won\’t pass and Pelosi, Reid and Obama know this but they\’re doing it anyway to satisfy their Hispanic supporters.

There is some validity to what they\’re saying, but I\’m not certain I\’d be quite so positive about that.  Sure if you try to make a direct comparison between this year and previous years, there are some distinct positives this time around.  The bill is worse then ever, with even more of the aspects that really angered people last time around.  And with a bad economy it makes even less sense to suddenly import millions more workers.

On the other hand, the environment is a lot different.  The public is still fatigued from the election that never ended, as evidenced by Obama\’s continued compaigning.  Plus with a down economy and a new bailout announced every week, what little attention the public is offering is concentrated exclusively on the economy.  It\’s quite possible that by pushing amnesty and an open border agenda now, it could get through in a fairly stealthy manner.

The only reason amnesty didn\’t pass last time, is because the public literally melted the Capitol switchboards with the massive number of calls.  Without the public outcry putting pressure on lawmakers it\’s very likely some of the ones that voted against amnesty last time, may feel free to vote for it this time.

There are good reasons to remain positive, but it\’s not time to declare victory yet.  Let\’s calm down and let our legislators know we\’re paying attention, so we don\’t even have to fight this battle this session.

Well Spring is coming and you know what that means.  Warm weather, green leaves, singing birds and day workers standing outside the hardware store looking for work and demanding amnesty.  So while our Congress Critters are home for Spring Break, they need to hear from you on the immigration issues.

Word is that La Raza and other open-borders groups are planning to send groups to gatherings and town halls.  Which should tell you quite a bit about how afraid illegal aliens are about being discovered.  However, they\’ve also been energized by the introduction of the DREAM Act on March 26th (S. 729 and H.R. 1751), and as promised it\’s just as bad, if not worse, than the past dozen of so versions which have been repeatedly voted down.

Basically it guarantees amnesty to every illegal alien under the age of 35.   Really all the alien has to do is submit a claim that they entered the United States before the age of 16, has been in the country for at least the last five years, and has earned a high school diploma or GED in the United States.  They don\’t actually have to prove it by ANY means.  In fact, DHS can\’t deny them amnesty unless they can prove the claim is NOT true.

And don\’t worry about getting your application in right away, there is no time limit, so if you haven\’t crossed the border yet, you got time!  Oh and the bill specifically puts those submitting a claim for amnesty at the head of the line.  Ahead of millions of people who followed the rules and have been waiting years for their application to be processed.

And once we\’ve amnestied every under 35, those over 35 aren\’t being left out of the act.  Because anyone related to those amnestied above, can get amnestied via chain migration.  And what do you have to do to prove you\’re related?? Well your word is good enough apparently.  So literally any illegal alien in the United States has an almost certain chance of amnesty.

So contact your Congress Critter and let them know this is not the Change© you were Hoping© for.