Rep Lamar Smith on Mass Release of Criminal Aliens: “Obama Admin. Should Take Responsibility for Any Additional Crimes Committed”

Republicans were outraged last year when it was discovered that thousands of convicted criminals awaiting deportation were being released.  It was even worse than we originally feared.

Via Caroline May of Big Government, a grand total of 36,007 criminal immigrants convicted of nearly 88,000 crimes were released – the  majority of them due in part to “Zadvydas v. Davis, a 2001 Supreme Court case in which the court held the government could not indefinitely hold an immigrant if there is not a likelihood of removal in the foreseeable future.”

This may occur when a country refuses or unreasonably delays accepting people the United States is looking to deport.

According to ICE, many of the releases — specifically 72 percent of criminal immigrants convicted of homicide — were mandatory, required by court decisions like Zadvydas.

A little-enforced statute (8 U.S.C. § 1253(d)) CIS highlights, however, requires the Secretary of State to instruct consular offices to stop issuing visas to countries that engage in such obstruction.

On being notified by the [DHS Secretary] that the government of a foreign country denies or unreasonably delays accepting an alien who is a citizen, subject, national, or resident of that country after the [DHS Secretary] asks whether the government will accept the alien under this section, the Secretary of State shall order consular officers in that foreign country to discontinue granting immigrant visas or nonimmigrant visas, or both, to citizens, subjects, nationals, and residents of that country until the [DHS Secretary] notifies the Secretary that the country has accepted the alien.

The statute actually reads “Attorney General,” but that is because, according to CIS executive director Mark Kirkorian, the law was written prior to the creation of DHS. After the formation of DHS, this responsibility became that of the DHS head.

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Krikorian, writing at National Review this week, charged the Obama administration – specifically Clinton and current Secretary of State John Kerry – with ignoring the statute:

The State Department has ignored the legal mandate and just keeps on issuing visas in countries that won’t take back their own citizens. Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry have decided it’s better for ICE to release criminal aliens into American communities — even at the risk of their committing further crimes — than to risk upsetting relations by halting the issuance of visas, as required by law.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) was on Fox News Tuesday to talk about this alarming scandal. 

“There’s really no good explanation,” he said. “As you say, 36,000 criminal aliens were released back out onto the streets, back into our communities where they’re likely to commit other crimes. And this didn’t need to happen.” He argued that the administration should have continued to detain them, or send them back to their home countries and they did neither.”

He continued, “I think they should take responsibility for any additional crimes these individuals have committed.”

Smith also set the record straight on the “record number of deportations” the Regime has taken credit for.

“They claim to have a record number of deportations – that is a false figure. They’re double-counting individuals as no other administration has done. Actual deportations are down 40% under this administration.”

He went on to say that because the Regime is “not enforcing immigration laws, are undermining immigration laws, and are trying to make up immigration laws through executive orders,” they are telegraphing that they cannot be trusted.

“If we can’t trust the administration to enforce the current laws, how can we trust them to enforce future immigration laws,” Rep. Smith concluded.

The good news, is  the effort to pass ENLIST is officially dead.  

And the man who killed it was Eric Cantor.  Evidently, Cantor has not only committed to blocking amnesty in the NDAA, he will oppose efforts to bring this bill to the floor as a stand-alone legislation.

 Cantor’s bold opposition to this bill is all the more peculiar given his past support for similar proposals.  He has not been shy about holding up the DREAM Act – a related amnesty proposal – as a “priority” for the future of the GOP.

However, there is no enigma about what transpired this week with Eric Cantor.  Whenever you witness a sudden shift to the right in a Republican member, look no further than electoral politics.

Despite the bravado from amnesty supporters who claim ubiquitous support for their proposals, they know that their views don’t sell with the electorate, certainly not with GOP primary voters.  That is why they keep searching for surreptitious means of passing amnesty.  They know that once the electorate is fully mobilized for several weeks against the proposal, they will face serious backlash.

In Cantor’s case, he has a primary challenger, Dave Brat, who has been gaining more traction in recent weeks.  Although Brat faces a monumental task with such little money, Cantor felt threatened enough to go up on broadcast television and attack Brat as a liberal.  Moreover, Cantor badly wants to be Speaker next year, and even a minor primary challenger will focus too much attention on his pro-amnesty positions.  Hence, the U-turn on ENLIST.

Oh, and don’t believe any polls showing overwhelming support for “comprehensive immigration.”

If it were such a popular issue with Republicans, Cantor wouldn’t furiously back-peddling from his previous position.

Sharyl Attkisson Suggests Far Left Media Matters Was Paid To Take Her Down (Video)

Former CBS  reporter Sharyl Attkisson was a rare bird in the world of MSM investigative journalism, her objective being, to hold government accountable – no matter who was in charge. In other words, she subjected Democrats to the same level of scrutiny as Republicans. This made her persona non grata when the Obama administration came into power.

In this interview with CNN’s Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter, Sunday, Attkisson revealed that the far-left, Soros funded “Media Matters for America” targeted her after she reported on stories unflattering to the Obama administration like the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal, Solyndra, and Benghazi on CBS.

As Washington Free Beacon notes, Media Matters made a special point of attacking Attkisson, “who ruffled many left-wing feathers when she resigned and said that her work for CBS had been stifled by liberals within the network. That is not an old charge, as former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg wrote in the best-selling book Bias, explaining how the truth was often distorted at the network because of political bias.”

Attkisson nonchalantly explained that Media Matters used to “work with” her on stories, which evoked a reaction from Stelter. “That’s interesting,” he said.

“Well, don’t they call you? They call journalists and they try to provide material and information,” she replied.

“Right, they are always emailing things, making us try to act outraged about something,” Stelter said. (And the MSM are usually happy to oblige.)

“And I was certainly friendly with them as anybody,” Attkisson said. “Good information can come from any source. But when I persisted with Fast & Furious and some of the green energy stories that I was doing, I clearly at some point became a target. I don’t know if someone paid them to do it or they just took it on their own.”

Again, Stelter acted surprised.”Do you think that’s possible that someone paid them?” He asked.

Attkisson replied,  “well they get contributions from — yes, they get contributions.”

Stelter: But specifically to target you?

Attkisson: Perhaps, sure. I think that’s what some of these groups do, absolutely.

 

Cleta Mitchell: ‘The IRS Became The Enforcement Arm of the Democratic Party’ (Video)

Megyn Kelly had Washington Attorney Cleta Mitchell on the Kelly File, Monday night to talk about the new IRS emails released by the House Oversight Committee that show Democratic Ranking Member Elijah Cummings’ staff communicating with the IRS on several occasions between 2012 and 2013 about Catherine Engelbrecht’s voter integrity group, True the Vote.

Kelly noted with a degree of disgust that Cummings was on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer, Sunday, where he fielded zero questions about the IRS scandal. Instead they talked about – get this –  equal pay for women! (See, over at CBS – they like to cover the tough issues … just ask Sharyl Attkisson.)

Kelly and Mitchell proceeded to review the latest evidence that Cummings colluded with the IRS to target True the Vote, and lied about it. The evidence is, frankly, overwhelming that Cummings inappropriately coordinated with the IRS to target True the Vote, even though he had no business investigating the group. 

No wonder the Democrat media complex wants to ignore the story and talk about binders full of women.

Mitchell summed up the underlying problem of the entire scandal, saying “Lois Lerner and the top brass at the IRS came to see its role as somehow the enforcement arm of the Democratic party and Democratic members of Congress, and the White House. And they began to carry out these activities – to pursue conservative groups because these politicians were demanding it. And yet all of these people – Lois Lerner – all of them – they have civil service protection. And the only difference between what happened at Watergate, when Richard Nixon asked the IRS to go after his political enemies, was when Richard Nixon asked – the IRS refused. When these Democratic politicians asked the IRS to go after these groups because they’re challenging us and we don’t like what they’re saying about us, the IRS took it upon themselves to do their bidding and to try to silence these groups.”

Because we are dealing with a criminal conspiracy masquerading as a political party.

FL TV Station Exposes Voter Fraud While DOJ Sues State to Stop Purging Rolls + Obama Looking to “Reduce” Deportations (Video)

It’s an election year, so Democrats are scurrying around looking for ways to encourage voter fraud, which they like to tell the weak minded – doesn’t happen.

Judicial Watch reports that while he Obama Justice Department is mounting a legal challenge against Florida for purging ineligible voters from its rolls, a local television news station has aired an eye-opening segment that proves that illegal immigrants regularly vote in the Sunshine state – a third degree felony with which few if any are ever charged.

Can someone give me one good reason why the Regime would oppose clean voter roles other than the fact that they would help prevent voter fraud?

The following investigative piece was recently aired by an NBC affiliate in southwest Florida that actually tracked down and interviewed non U.S. citizens who are registered to vote and have cast ballots in numerous elections. This is something any local news team in America could do if they were actually motivated to do something about voter fraud instead of covering up for it:

The segment focused on Lee County, which has a population of about 620,000 and Collier County with a population of around 322,000. The reporter spent about two months digging around the voter rolls in the two counties and the discoveries are dumbfounding.

In that short time, more than 100 people registered to vote in those two areas were proven to be ineligible by the reporter. A Cape Coral woman, eligible to vote in elections, was tracked down through jury excusal forms that verify she’s not a U.S. citizen. A Naples woman, who is not a U.S. citizen either, voted six times in 11 years without being detected by authorities. A Jamaican man is also registered to vote though he’s not eligible. The reporter obtained his 2007 voter registration form, which shows the Jamaican man claims to be a U.S. citizen. Problem is, no one bothers checking to see if applicants are being truthful.

In an effort to remedy the situation, Florida Governor Rick Scott launched a program a few years ago to purge ineligible voters from registration rolls. The Department of Justice (DOJ) was quick to sue the state to stop the purging because the agency claims it discriminates against minorities. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has colluded with the DOJ in Florida and the head of the group’s local chapter says purging voter rolls disproportionately affects the state’s most vulnerable groups, namely minorities.

Meanwhile, if you can believe this,  Obama is looking to further reduce the already  small percentage of illegal immigrants who are sent home each year.

Obama “has charged his Secretary of Homeland Security… to reduce where they can the levels of deportation,” Janet Murguia, president of the major Latino ethnic lobby group, the National Council of la Raza.

“Our hope and expectation is with that [policy change] would come some reduction in the level of deportations,” she told reporters gathered outside the White House Friday evening.

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Those proposals would make it much harder for border or interior immigration agents to block or deport millions of previously deported illegals, if they try to return.

If her recommendations are accepted by Obama, annual deportations would drop by up to 50 percent, she suggested.

The Los Angeles Times reported that officials were considering a halt to deportations, unless an illegal immigrant commits a felony. Officials are also considering whether to end a program which helps federal immigration officials to pick up illegals arrested by state and local police forces.

Politico reported that the review of legal options began months ago, while Obama was urging House Speaker John Boehner to push an immigration-increase through the House.

Obama’s move to help illegal immigrants — many of whom are also living in households with legal immigrants — comes as he’s trying to boost November turnout among Latinos.

In 2012, Obama boosted turnout among naturalized immigrants by awarding work-permits to at least 500,000 younger illegal immigrants, even though Congress had repeatedly voted down similar proposals.

Obama may be using a similar turnout strategy in 2014, by simultaneously boosting hopes among Latinos for an amnesty, and resentment towards GOP legislators who oppose the unpopular amnesty.

As you know, the Regime has claimed for years that Obama deports more illegal immigrants than any other president. As usual they’re lying.

The truth is – ICE  has not been deporting illegal immigrants at a record pace. As Chris Crane, ICE Officer and President of the National ICE Council explained  at a press conference on Capitol Hill, last April; “at an alarming rate, deportation numbers have plummeted since 2008 – clear evidence that interior enforcement has in large part been shut down during the last four years. In an attempt to conceal ICE’s plummeting arrest and deportation statistics, massive numbers of border patrol apprehensions are being transferred to ICE to boost ICE’s statistical data.”

The truth is – virtually no one is being deported as it is. The Regime is merely getting ready to codify into law what they’ve already been doing for the past five years.

Because that’s how this Regime rolls.

Jay Sekulow: The New Emails May Result in Contempt Proceedings For Lerner (Video)

New emails were released today by the House Oversight and Reform Committee, as Chairman Issa builds his case for contempt against IRS’s Louis Lerner,

In e-mails released today by a congressional committee, Lerner wondered why Congress wasn’t getting more criticism, hoped that the Federal Election Commission would “save the day” and wrote that political nonprofit groups “itching for a constitutional challenge” might file a court case that leads the IRS to accelerate the release of specific information about groups denied tax-exempt status.

The e-mails are part of a 141-page report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The panel is building a case designed to lead to a vote to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer the panel’s questions and for providing false and misleading information in prior questioning.

“She led efforts to scrutinize conservative groups while working to maintain a veneer of objective enforcement,” the report said of Lerner. “Her unwillingness to testify deprives Congress the opportunity to have her explain her conduct, hear her response to personal criticisms levied by her IRS coworkers, and provide vital context regarding the actions of other IRS officials.”

Jay Sekulow discussed the latest on Fox News, Tuesday, “I think the most troubling aspect of the emails is that Lois Lerner was clearly cognizant of the fact that this increased scrutiny would result in litigation – which ultimately it has – and when you look at that and what she wrote, she slow tracked these approval processes and reviews because of this concern about litigation and it may challenge their ability to control political speech – which of course is not within the IRS’s purview in the first place.” He added, “it kinda gives you an insight into what she was thinking, what the leadership at the IRS was thinking, as they went through this process of intentionally tracking these non profit applications and slowing them down because of the politics involved…”

He went on to say, “the Supreme Court in all the cases I’ve handled have always been unanimous when it came to viewpoint discrimination – the court just does not tolerate it.”

As for what to do next, Sekulow said, “you can try a Special Prosecutor, but I think we gotta move forward with the Contempt proceedings. She is one of the key, central figures in this – she’s not the only one – but she clearly had an agenda and that agenda was silencing these groups, and she was pretty effective in doing that – she’s just being called on the carpet now because she’s been caught.”

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Law Prof To Congress: “If You Want to Stay Relevant, Don’t Stand Idly By And Let The President Take Your Power Away.”

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing, this morning to address Obama’s escalating abuses of power.

Entitled, ENFORCING THE PRESIDENT’S CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY TO FAITHFULLY EXECUTE THE LAWS the hearing’s witness panel included, Mr. Jonathan Turley of George Washington University Law School, Ms. Elizabeth Price Foley of Florida International University College of Law, and Mr. Christopher Schroeder of Duke University Law School.

Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked the panel what to most would appear a rhetorical question, “Is unilateral decision making good for our Republican system of government?

Turley, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of Obama’s executive overreach, said, “the greatest danger that we have, really cannot be overstated, when he have the concentration of power in one branch. That is precisely the sort of power the framers were seeking  to avoid.”

“What people often miss, he continued  “is that the separation of powers was not about protecting Congress – -separation of powers was designed for the protection of liberty. It was to prevent the concentration of power in any of the branches that would threaten the individual citizen.”

Goodlatte asked Professor Foley what she thought the longterm institutional consequences would be if the current practice of “benevolent suspensions of the law” isn’t stopped.

She answered that people are going to continue to be cynical about government and the Constitution, and ultimately eroding respect for the rule of law.

She also brought up the point that it makes it less likely for Congress to tackle big issues like immigration reform,  “why would you go through the trouble of reaching a very delicate political compromise on an issue like that if you think that the president is going to just benevolently suspend those portions of the law he doesn’t like after you reach that compromise.” She concluded, “if you want to stay relevant as an institution, I would suggest that you not stand idly by and let the president take your power away.”

Goodlatte then asked about the principle of prosecutorial discretion which Obama’s “deferred actions” are based on. “Does prosecutorial discretion have such elasticity that a whole class of people could be recipients of deferred actions based simply on them being in the category…?

Foley said, “yeah, this is sort of a dangerous and scary moment – uh, that’s not discretion – that’s raw, lawmaking power.”