Amnesty Afoot!

[Oh Shoot]

Breaking news just now on Fox, ICE dropping cases and deportation orders against a passel of illegals. Megyn Kelly (pant pant) said sources say decision came straight from White House.

AND

Fox News just went away on ComCast cable, right in the middle of her report!

I mean, GONE...all other channels fine.

Coincidence?

:tinfoil:

-OS

edit: okay, Fox came back on. That was really bizarre.

THIS might be a flap to rival the whole Arizona lawsuit.

- OS

Edited August 26, 2010 by OhShoot
add'l info

[Mike.357]

I think Megyn Kelly is one of the finest reporters on television. Her being hot is irrelevant in this regard.

And none of this happening suprises me. I fully expect illegals to have the right to vote by November.

[Reservoir Dog]

Yeah, FOX went off (for a bit) here in Nashville, as well.

And, yes, Megyn Kelly is totally hot!!

[Guest SUNTZU]

Somebody needs to merge this thread with the SHTF thread. Just saying.

[Guest jackdm3]

I thought you'd have that skill by now.

[Oh Shoot]

Somebody needs to merge this thread with the SHTF thread. Just saying.

Yeppers.

And Baghdad Bob Biden keeps telling how everything is getting better, while Barack HUSSEIN Obama hacks another (likely cheating) 115 on the links.

Talk about fiddling while Rome burns.

We got change. We really did.

- OS

[Guest jackdm3]

I can see Sun working on sumpin' now. He's been looking here too long.

And you KNOW Biden's not actually feeling like everything's getting better if he looks like this:

Edited August 26, 2010 by jackdm3

[Guest SUNTZU]

Another fun story from TN.

FOXNews.com - Immigrant Who Voted Illegally on Road to Becoming a U.S. Citizen

Can an immigrant who resides legally in the U.S. on a work visa but who voted illegally in a presidential election year still become a naturalized U.S. citizen?

Yes, actually. Especially if the Department of Homeland Security sends a letter instructing him to request removal from the voter rolls.

That happened this summer in Putnam County, Tenn., where County Administrator of Elections Debbie Steidl says an immigrant who illegally registered to vote – and then voted – in 2004 is now seeking to become a U.S. citizen.

Steidl says the man gave her a form letter from the DHS instructing him to:

"Submit … evidence that you have been removed from the roll of registered voters. This can be accomplished by contacting your local election commission where you registered and voted. Submit a letter of explanation of why you registered to vote, and where you registered to vote, when you discovered that you were not a United States Citizen."Steidl provided FoxNews.com with a copy of the letter, with the man's name and address redacted. Click here to see the letter.

She told FoxNews.com that, were the immigrant to be removed from the voter roll, as the DHS suggested, all traces of his illegal voting record would normally be shredded within two years.

"I went to my election commission and I said: ‘this frightens me for my country,'" she said. "They agreed with me. Why would you let someone who committed voter fraud become a citizen? That's what they're doing."

But immigration advocates say voting illegally can be an honest mistake, and the DHS is correct not to turn down immigrants who apply for citizenship solely because of it.

"I think a lot of people are truly very unaware about not being eligible to vote, and some election officials are maybe not clear enough on what's required," said Natalie Sullivan, director of the Immigration Advocates Network. "So immigration has a process in place to consider what the circumstances were, and decide on a case-by-case basis."

Sullivan said that, even if the records were shredded, the immigrant’s apparent admission to DHS could still provide evidence.

"If he has already admitted on the naturalization application that he previously voted, that is also a form of evidence… DHS is ultimately going to make the decision about what has allegedly occurred," she said.

The DHS did not respond to calls for comment. "Good moral character" is a requirement to obtain citizenship, and a memo issued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 2002 says immigration officers have discretion about whether to allow someone to become a citizen after admitting to voting illegally.

"Officers must balance the facts regarding the applicant’s unlawful voting or false representation as a U.S. citizen against other factors such as family ties and background," the memo reads.

A felony conviction of voter fraud from a court would bar someone from receiving citizenship, according to the memo. But in the Putnam County case, the time for prosecution is over.

"I went to the local DA, but the statute of limitations has run out," Steidl said. "He said, 'I can't do anything. You can write a letter, but it's just going to go in a file.' Maddening."

Putnam County District Attorney Randall York confirmed that the statute of limitations for vote fraud is two years. He declined to comment on the case.

Steidl said that as the administrator of elections, she is not allowed to question registrants about their citizenship when they apply. Everyone has to sign a form saying they are citizens. Asking for further evidence "would be considered discrimination,” she said.

Sullivan called Steidl's response to the letter an overreaction.

"She says the Department of Homeland Security is enabling this person -- I disagree," she said. "Their letter is meant to prevent any further acts of voting."

She said there were many benign reasons immigrants might vote, not knowing they are barred from doing so.

Indeed, many states now make it very easy to register to vote. Some will automatically register people applying for driver's licenses if they check off a box on their form and sign that they are a U.S. citizen.

Sullivan said immigrants who are not citizens may feel that voting is their civic duty and not realize that they are ineligible to vote.

"One reason might be enthusiasm for integrating, and for civic participation. A desire to see the laws change might be another… all that can be coupled with a lack of knowledge that the person is not qualified to do so."

But Steidl sees it differently.

"He signed a piece of paper that said he was a citizen of the U.S., just so he could vote. What else could he be willing to do?"

[Mike.357]

Hell, just make Mexico the 58th state and be done with it.

[Guest HvyMtl]

Didnt we already have Mexico? (Mexican American War)

I do not believe the most of this article, as the number of deportations are way up this year...

[Guest SUNTZU]

Feds moving to dismiss some deportation cases | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

The Department of Homeland Security is systematically reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against suspected illegal immigrants who have no serious criminal records, according to several sources familiar with the efforts.

Culling the immigration court system dockets of noncriminals started in earnest in Houston about a month ago and has stunned local immigration attorneys, who have reported coming to court anticipating clients' deportations only to learn that the government was dismissing their cases.

Richard Rocha, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, said Tuesday that the review is part of the agency's broader, nationwide strategy to prioritize the deportations of illegal immigrants who pose a threat to national security and public safety. Rocha declined to provide further details.

Critics assailed the plan as another sign that the Obama administration is trying to create a kind of backdoor "amnesty" program.

Raed Gonzalez, an immigration attorney who was briefed on the effort by Homeland Security's deputy chief counsel in Houston, said DHS confirmed that it's reviewing cases nationwide, though not yet to the pace of the local office. He said the others are expected to follow suit soon.

Gonzalez, the liaison between the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which administers the immigration court system, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said DHS now has five attorneys assigned full time to reviewing all active cases in Houston's immigration court.

Gonzalez said DHS attorneys are conducting the reviews on a case-by-case basis. However, he said they are following general guidelines that allow for the dismissal of cases for defendants who have been in the country for two or more years and have no felony convictions.

In some instances, defendants can have one misdemeanor conviction, but it cannot involve a DWI, family violence or sexual crime, Gonzalez said.

Massive backlog of cases

Opponents of illegal immigration were critical of the dismissals.

"They've made clear that they have no interest in enforcing immigration laws against people who are not convicted criminals," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict controls.

"This situation is just another side effect of President Obama's failure to deliver on his campaign promise to make immigration reform a priority in his first year," said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "Until he does, state and local authorities are left with no choice but to pick up the slack for prosecuting and detaining criminal aliens."

Gonzalez called the dismissals a necessary step in unclogging a massive backlog in the immigration court system. In June, there were more than 248,000 cases pending in immigration courts across the country, including about 23,000 in Texas, according to data compiled by researchers at Syracuse University.

'Absolutely fantastic'

Gonzalez said he went into immigration court downtown on Monday and was given a court date in October 2011 for one client. But, he said, the government's attorney requested the dismissal of that case and those of two more of his clients, and the cases were dispatched by the judge.

The court "was terminating all of the cases that came up," Gonzalez said. "It was absolutely fantastic."

"We're all calling each other saying, 'Can you believe this?' " said John Nechman, another Houston immigration attorney, who had two cases dismissed.

Attorney Elizabeth Mendoza Macias, who has practiced in Houston for 17 years, said she had cases for several clients dismissed during the past month and eventually called DHS to find out what was going on. She said she was told by a DHS trial attorney that 2,500 cases were under review in Houston.

"I had five (dismissed) in one week, and two more that I just received," Mendoza said. "And I am expecting many more, many more, in the next month."

Her clients, all previously charged with being in the country illegally, included:

An El Salvadoran man married to a U.S. citizen who has two U.S.-born children. The client had a pending asylum case in the court system, but the case was not particularly strong. Now that his case is terminated, he will be eligible to obtain permanent residency through his wife, Mendoza said.

A woman from Cameroon, who was in removal proceedings after being caught by the U.S. Border Patrol, had her case terminated by the government. She meets the criteria of a trafficking victim, Mendoza said, and can now apply for a visa.

Memo outlines priorities

Immigrants who have had their cases terminated are frequently left in limbo, immigration attorneys said, and are not granted any form of legal status.

"It's very, very key to understand that these aliens are not being granted anything in court. They are still here illegally. They don't have work permits. They don't have Social Security numbers," Mendoza said. "ICE is just saying, 'At this particular moment, we are not going to proceed with trying to remove you from the United States.' "

In a June 30 memo, ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton outlined the agency's priorities, saying it had the capacity to remove about 400,000 illegal immigrants annually — about 4 percent of the estimated illegal immigrant population in the country. The memo outlines priorities for the detention and removal system, putting criminals and threats to national security at the top of the list.

Up to 17,000 cases

On Tuesday, ICE officials provided a copy of a new policy memo from Morton dated Aug. 20 that instructs government attorneys to review the court cases of people with pending applications to adjust status based on their relation to a U.S. citizen. Morton estimates in the memo that the effort could affect up to 17,000 cases.

Tre Rebsock, the ICE union representative in Houston, said even if the efforts involve only a fraction of the pending immigration cases, "that's going to make our officers feel even more powerless to enforce the laws."

[mikegideon]

Breaking news just now on Fox, ICE dropping cases and deportation orders against a passel of illegals. Megyn Kelly (pant pant) said sources say decision came straight from White House.

AND

Fox News just went away on ComCast cable, right in the middle of her report!

I mean, GONE...all other channels fine.

Coincidence?

-OS

edit: okay, Fox came back on. That was really bizarre.

THIS might be a flap to rival the whole Arizona lawsuit.

- OS

We were replacing some underground high voltage feeders to a radio station that carries Rush. Shortly before he came on, the backhoe operator munched into the old (live) feeders, and the station went down. Well, a gazillion ditto heads called the station about the conspiracy to silence Rush. NO... Pedro cut the wires with a backhoe, and it took the NES guys a few hours to patch the holes.

The problem with listening to the paranoid channel... makes you paranoid

PS: yep, she's hot

[Guest 6.8 AR]

That's what they have been doing for the last 30 or

so days. I wonder why the Houston Chronicle waited

so long to report it? Nevermind, that's obvious. I

believe that article. What else has our gov been doing

for/to us, lately?

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Obama knows that he's lost the anti-illegal-immigration voters over other socialist policies, and there's no way to get em back regardless of his immigration policy. So he's just trying to make sure that Strel continues to vote for him.

[byrnemm]

I think Megyn Kelly is one of the finest reporters on television.

Can't stand her. She is an entertainer, not a reporter. Her audience is an angry mob that would be absolutely intollerant of any liberal president, even a moderate one.

"We Report, You Decide?" There hasn't been a bigger sham in yellow journalism since Pulitzer versus Hearst. "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

"If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed." - Mark Twain

[Guest SUNTZU]

Can't stand her. She is an entertainer, not a reporter. Her audience is an angry mob that would be absolutely intollerant of any liberal president, even a moderate one.

"We Report, You Decide?" There hasn't been a bigger sham in yellow journalism since Pulitzer versus Hearst. "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

"If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed." - Mark Twain

See Mike, now you're an angry mob.

But I know what you are getting at, byrnemm, at least I think I do when I add my own perspective to it. I have no idea about your personal agenda.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I can see Sun working on sumpin' now. He's been looking here too long.

And you KNOW Biden's not actually feeling like everything's getting better if he looks like this:

That's his imitation of Prince Charles, in case he gains

status as royalty.

[byrnemm]

SUNTZU- pics definitely gave me a good laugh.

But seriously, if you've been in a customer service position in any industry than I'm sure you know how cranky old people can get

[Guest SUNTZU]

SUNTZU- pics definitely gave me a good laugh.

But seriously, if you've been in a customer service position in any industry than I'm sure you know how cranky old people can get

Yeah, you have to go shooting with OhShoot sometime to really appreciate that, though.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

At least Megan Kelly gives the opposite side of the argument. That's

kind of rare with the so-called mainstream. Look, you can have all

of the mainstream give it with talking points and then Fox with their

talking points. It's still a bit lop-sided, but it is also silly knowing you

can always change the channel.

It's also funny that the ratings seem to disagree with the sham of

"yellow journalism". Must be that a lot more people like it than the

liberals viewpoint. Katie Couric is proving it every time she is on the

air.

If you live long enough, you might become an old guy. You might

end up with a different perspective. Been there, done that.

[byrnemm]

agreed, and the point of yellow journalism is to increase ratings

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I've never heard that term. It means very little to me. Must be akin

to the "Journolisters" ???

[Guest SUNTZU]

Yellow journalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you feel that way about Fox News I'd like to hear how you feel about CNN. Or do you tool around with Strel?

[byrnemm]

about the only news I put a little faith in comes from NPR. Sad times!

[Guest jackdm3]

That Fresh Air chick hated Richard Pryor's guns. Certain that she hates yours, too.