Politics – Page 290 – immigrationcourtside.com

“Dreamers” Worry About Fate of DACA — Under Trump Administration, What Will Happen To The Lives They Have Built In America?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2017/0104/For-immigrant-Dreamers-an-uncertain-future

“There is much at stake, too, for undocumented immigrants like Brady, who have grown up, gone to school, and struggled to make sense of their futures.

“I was just a kid when I came, and I really didn’t know what immigration status really meant,” says Brady, who grew up and attended public schools in Washington Heights, which New Yorkers often call “Little DR” because of the many Dominican immigrants who live there. “I wasn’t really worrying about it until my senior year in high school when I had to start thinking about colleges.”

“But when I started to really understand what my life was going to be like, I started freaking out, I started to panic,” she continues. “Why was I going to school? What is the point of going to college if I couldn’t get a career if I was an illegal immigrant?”

She pressed on, doing what a lot of low-income New Yorkers do. She volunteered at a home for the elderly, she attended summer academic programs, she made her high school honor roll and tutored younger peers.

And after getting accepted to John Jay College of Criminal Justice, she worked long hours as a bartender, off the books, to pay her way. It was overwhelming, she says, until she got a scholarship from a local civic group. “I was over the moon, full of joy and crying and happy after getting it,” she says.

She loved her days tutoring and eventually decided to become a teacher.

“As cliché and corny as this sounds, it’s like some people just have their calling,” the graduate student now says. “It took me a while to figure it out, but it truly makes my heart happy.”

Yet she still felt that she was “living in the shadows, being a part of something, but not really,” during her 20 years coming of age in the United States. Now married to a US citizen, she says Obama’s order finally helped her become “DACA-mented,” as many Dreamers call it, and be authorized to teach math in New York City public schools.”

************************************

The possibility of a legislative compromise to help the “Dreamers” while beefing up immigration enforcement is discussed in this article by Nolan Rappaport in The Hill:

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/311243-gop-immigration-bill-gives-dreamers-a-break-hardliners-a-bone

It was also discussed in my blog of 12/30/16.

PWS

01/05/17

Experts Doubt Trump’s Ability To Make Good On Campaign Promises Of Mass Deportations, But Do Expect Him To Have Major Impact On Immigration Enforcement

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/04/politics/donald-trump-immigration/index.html

A group of immigration experts on both sides of the issue interviewed by CNN all doubted that the Trump Administration would be able to carry out mass removals on the scale Trump alluded to on the campaign trail. Among the problems: Congressional funding for more enforcement and detention, severely backlogged U.S. Immigration Courts, practical problems of locating and processing undocumented individuals within the United States, and potential large scale resistance by states, cities, counties, and universities to overly aggressive enforcement efforts.

Here’s an excerpt (full article posted above):

“Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center For Immigration Studies, a non-partisan think tank in Washington, said Trump’s campaign pledges to deport millions amounted to an “Archie Bunker moment” that should not have been taken seriously.
“He’s not going to be snapping his fingers and deporting millions of people over night,” said Krikorain, whose group’s motto is “Low-Immigration, pro-immigrant.”

“That’s not realistic,” Krikorian said. “No one thinks that’s going to happen.”

But Krikorian said “it’s very plausible” that Trump could ramp up deportations by 25% or more in 2017 and return to levels seen under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, which he said reached about 400,000 a year when Bush left office.

That, he said, could be done without significant budgetary increases and despite resistance from sanctuary cities.

“I think the other side is making it seem more complicated than it needs to be,” he said.

Stephen Yale-Loehr, who teaches immigration law at Cornell Law School, agreed that Trump would be able to have meaningful impact during the first year of his presidency, but not to the extent suggested during the campaign.

“On the campaign trail things are not nuanced. They’re black and white,” Yale-Loehr said. “It takes a while to turn the battleship of bureaucracy around.”

PWS

01/04/17

Will Workplace Immigration Raids Return Under Trump Administration?

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/illegal-immigrants-raids-deportation.html?mabReward=A4&recp=0&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&region=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine&_r=0

“But as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to take office and promises to swiftly deport two million to three million undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes, bipartisan experts say they expect a return of the raids that rounded up thousands of workers at carwashes, meatpacking plants, fruit suppliers and their homes during the Bush years.

“If Trump seriously wants to step up dramatically the number of arrests, detentions and removals, I think he has to do workplace raids,” said Michael J. Wishnie, a professor at Yale Law School who represents detainees in civil rights cases.

Since the election, Mr. Trump has suggested that he plans to focus on deporting criminals. “What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers,” he told CBS News in November. “We’re getting them out of our country.”

But Mr. Trump’s advisers have said that to promptly reach his target number of deportations, the definition of who is a criminal would need to be broadened. In July 2015, the Migration Policy Institute, a bipartisan think tank, estimated that of the roughly 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally, 820,000 had criminal records — a definition Mr. Obama mostly adhered to during his second term, evicting some 530,000 immigrants convicted of crimes since 2013.

Mr. Trump would need to expand the basket to include immigrants living in the United States illegally who have been charged but not convicted of crimes, those who have overstayed visas, those who have committed minor misdemeanors like traffic infractions, and those suspected of being gang members or drug dealers.

Targeting workers for immigration-related offenses, such as using a forged or stolen Social Security number or driver’s license, produced a significant uptick in deportations under Mr. Bush. But the practice was widely criticized for splitting up families, gutting businesses that relied on immigrant labor and taking aim at people who went to work every day, rather than dangerous criminals.”

****************************

There is no statutory or other widely accepted definition of a “criminal alien.” As shown by this article in the NY Times, it could be narrow — covering only those who are actually removable from the United States by virtue of their crimes — or broad — covering anyone who has ever had contact with the criminal justice system and is potentially removable, regardless of whether there was a conviction or whether the crime itself is the ground for removal. For example, “driving with an expired license” is not a ground for removal. But, an undocumented individual arrested for “driving without a license” could be referred by the state or local authorities to the DHS to be placed in removal proceedings before a U.S. Immigration Judge. If the Immigration Judge finds that such an individual has no legal status in the United States, and that individual cannot establish that she or he is entitled to some type of relief from removal, the Immigration Judge must enter an order of removal, regardless of the circumstances of the arrest or the overall equities of the case.

PWS

01/04/17

The Numbers Are In — DHS FY 2016 Enforcement Stats Confirm that Obama Administration is #1 In Removals!

http://immigrationimpact.com/2017/01/04/deportation-numbers-2016/

Joshua Breisblatt writes on Immigration Impact:

“Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued its Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 immigration enforcement data which, coupled with the previous years’ totals under the Obama Administration, show that the total number of removals from FY 2009 to FY 2016 totaled more than 2.7 million. Simply stated, President Obama has deported more people than any other president in U.S. history.

However, underneath those numbers belie some important lessons about the changing dynamics of who is showing up at the U.S. border and how a November 2014 enforcement priorities memo shaped the number of people deported from the interior of the nation.

. . . .

This means, more would-be-asylees are arriving at the U.S. border, rather than economic migrants as in years’ past. Yet, many are being denied asylum or put through expedited deportation processes, both unworthy of the nation’s commitment to protect those in need.

Also of note, the number of individuals picked up and deported from the interior of the country is on the decline, likely due to the 2014 enforcement priorities memo that sought to avoid deporting individuals who posed no threat and have strong economic and community ties in the U.S.”

*******************************

How much enforcement is enough? Never enough, according to some. Others disagree and think we’re going way overboard. As the Trump Administration is probably going to find out, “immigration enforcement” is more often than not a “can’t win” political proposition.

PWS

01/04/17

Will Trump’s Populism Survive His Own Party’s Priorities? Only Time Will Tell

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/28/trumps-populism-is-about-to-be-tested/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_1_na&utm_term=.4a4152d9f78e

Matt O’Brien wites in Wonkblog:

“Trump might have to decide between giving up on his populism, and giving up on getting anything done. Whichever he chooses, though, there’s a good chance that wages will continue to go up and up as the labor market gets closer and closer to full employment. The irony is that they might not rise as much, at least not for the “forgotten men” and women who pushed Trump into the White House, as they otherwise would have.

The good news for Trump, though, is there are no counterfactuals in politics.”

PWS

01/04/17

Sessions No “Civil Rights Hero,” Say Former DOJ Cvil Rights Attorneys

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jeff-sessions-says-he-handled-these-civil-rights-cases-he-barely-touched-them/2017/01/03/4ddfffa6-d0fa-11e6-a783-cd3fa950f2fd_story.html

“J. Gerald Hebert is director of the Voting Rights and Redistricting Program at the Campaign Legal Center. Joseph D. Rich is co-director of the Fair Housing and Community Development Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. William Yeomans is a fellow in law and government at American University’s Washington College of Law; on Election Day, he worked as a voter protection legal volunteer for the Democratic Party of Virginia.”

All three of the authors worked for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice during Senator Session’s tenure as U.S. Attorney in Alabama. Here’s part of what they have to say about the Senator’s claim to have supported important civil rights prosecutions:

“Sessions has not worked to protect civil rights. He worked against civil rights at every turn. Sessions knows that his real record on race and civil rights is harmful to his chances for confirmation. So he has made up a fake one. But many of us who were there — in Alabama in the 1980s, 1990s and beyond — are still around. We lived that story, too. And we are here to testify that Sessions has done many things throughout his 40-year career. Protecting civil rights has not been one of them.”

***********************

Read the full op-ed from the Washington Post at the link.

PWS

01/04/17

Surprise: Bipartisanship Works Even In Our Supposedly Hyper-Partisan Climate, According To New Study!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/03/does-bipartisanship-even-work-in-todays-polarized-congress-yes/?hpid=hp_regional-hp-cards_rhp-card-politics%3Ahomepage%2Fcard&utm_term=.ffa80938ccbc

“Bipartisan lawmakers are indeed more effective. A typical lawmaker with above-average bipartisanship is about 11 percent more effective than a typical member with below-average bipartisanship. This means that a bipartisan lawmaker will push a larger legislative portfolio further through the lawmaking process. This is true even after accounting for other factors that also impact effectiveness, such as whether a member is in the majority party, head of a committee or subcommittee, or more senior.

But bipartisanship is particularly helpful for certain kinds of members. First, and unsurprisingly, it matters even more for minority-party members, who cannot move their bills forward without majority-party support.

Second, women in Congress tend to be more bipartisan, and that seems to help them be more effective. Surprisingly, bipartisanship helps women even when they are in the majority. Perhaps women are more likely to recognize that neither party has a monopoly on solutions for the policy problems they care about.”

This ties in nicely with some recent posts by Nolan Rappaport who argues that the time is right for bipartisan Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

PWS

01/03/17

Will 2017 Bring Comprehensive Immigration Reform? — Rappaport Links

Immigrationcourtside.com and The Hill contributor Nolan Rappaport thinks immigration reform could happen under President Trump if conservatives abandon their “enforcement only approach,” liberals agree to a more robust enforcement at the border and the interior, and the two sides agree to “meet in the middle” for the common good.

Nolan writes:

“I am optimistic about comprehensive immigration reform this year. We have a president now who has experience making deals in the business world and I expect him to be more interested in getting an agreement than in advancing his party’s political objectives or in which side is right. That is one of the things I learned doing negotiations on the Hill. It never matters who is right. If you want a deal, you have to find out how to meet the political “needs” of both sides.

I am attaching a list of the articles I have published in case you want to post any more of them. Some of them might be useful for stimulating discussions. For the Hill articles, I think I am limited to posting titles and links.”

Here are the links to some of Nolan’s other articles in The Hill:

Pre-Registration: A Proposal to Kick-Start Comprehensive Immigration Reform (Mar. 5, 2007), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2007,0314-rappaport.shtm
Implementing Immigration Reform in the Age of Belt Tightening (Feb. 15, 2009); http://www.visalaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/newsletter.pdf at p. 23
Catch 22 (July 12, 2010), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2010,0712-Rappaport.shtm
More Ways to Move Forward on Immigration (Nov. 16, 2010),
http://www.ilw.com/articles/2010,1116-rappaport.shtm
Immigration Positions of President Barack Obama and the Republican Presidential Hopefuls (Dec. 5, 2011), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2011,1205-Rappaport.shtm
Oversight Hearing on: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Priorities and the Rule of Law (Dec. 7, 2011), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2011,1207-Rappaport.shtm
Analysis of Hearing Before the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement on, “Visa Waiver Program Oversight: Risks and Benefits of the Program (Dec. 20, 2011), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2011,1220-Rappaport.shtm
Analysis of the Texas Border Coalition’s Report, Without Strategy: America’s Border Security Blunders Facilitate and Empower Mexico’s Drug Cartels (Jan. 26, 2012), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2012,0126-Rappaport.shtm
Analysis of a Hearing Before the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement on, “Regional Perspectives on Agricultural Guest Worker Programs (Feb. 28, 2012), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2012,0228-rappaport.shtm
Contentious Development of the Passenger Name Records Agreement Between the United States and The European Union (May 2, 2012), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2012,0502-rappaport.shtm
Analysis Of A Hearing Before The Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees And Border Security On, “Examining the Constitutionality And Prudence Of State And Local Governments Enforcing Immigration Law” (May 17, 2012), http://www.ilw.com//articles/2012,0517-rappaport.shtm

12. Canada’s New Refugee System (July 27, 2012), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2012,0727- Rappaport.shtm

13. Threats to Our Nation’s Borders (Dec. 3, 2012), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?940- Article-Threats-to-Our-Nation-s-Borders-by-Nolan-Rappaport

14. Are Terrorists Exploiting Refugee Programs? (Dec. 11, 2012),

http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?987-Article-Are-Terrorists-Exploiting-Refugee- Programs-by-Nolan-Rappaport

Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program is encouraging Mexican farm workers to go to Canada instead of to the United States. (Jan. 16, 2013), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?1164-Article-Canada-s-Season-Agricultural-Worker- Program-Is-Encouraging-Mexican-Farm-Workers-To-Go-To-Canada-Instead-Of-To- The-United-States-by-Nolan-Rappaport
What is IRCA, and What Does It Have To Do with Comprehensive Immigration Reform? (Feb. 8, 2013), https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/immigration- law-blog/archive/2013/02/08/what-is-irca-and-what-does-it-have-to-do-with- comprehensive-immigration-reform.aspx?Redirected=true
Will House Republicans Accept the Senate Proposal for Immigration Reform? (Feb. 25, 2013), http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/immigration-law- blog/archive/2013/02/25/will-house-republicans-accept-the-senate-proposal-for- immigration-reform.aspx

18. Harvest of Shame Revisited (May 23, 2013),

http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/outsidenews/archive/2013/05/2 3/nolan-rappaport-harvest-of-shame-revisited.aspx

Is DHS Enforcing Our Immigration Laws? (June 17, 2013), http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/outsidenews/archive/2013/06/1 7/nolan-rappaport-is-dhs-enforcing-our-immigration-laws.aspx
What is SBInet? And what does it have to do with spending billions of dollars on border security? (July 25, 2013), http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/outsidenews/archive/2013/07/2 5/what-is-sbinet-and-what-does-it-have-to-do-with-spending-billions-of-dollars-on- border-security.aspx
DACA – Lessons Learned (March 26, 2014), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?2971- Article-DACA-%96-Lessons-Learned-By-Nolan-Rappaport
What are other countries doing to secure their borders? (Apr. 10, 2014), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?3019-Article-What-are-other-countries-doing-to- secure-their-borders-By-Nolan-Rappaport
In 2012, foreign workers in the United States sent remittances to their home countries totaling more than $123,273,000,000 (Apr. 22, 2014), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?3056-Article-In-2012-foreign-workers-in-the-United- States-sent-remittances-to-their-home-countries-totaling-more-than-123-273-000-000- By-Nolan-Rappaport%C2%A0

24. It is time to try a different approach to comprehensive immigration reform (May 2, 2014),

http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?3087-Article-It-is-time-to-try-a-different-approach-to- comprehensive-immigration-reform-By-Nolan-Rappaport

Meet the Challenge of Unaccompanied Alien Children at the Southwest Border: Is there a better way? (July 10, 2014), http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/insidenews/archive/2014/07/10 /nolan-rappaport-is-there-a-better-way.aspx
Immigration activists are pressing President Obama to halt deportations for as many undocumented immigrants as possible. This is a “be-careful-what-you-wish-for” situation. (August 14, 2014), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?3423-Article- Immigration-activists-are-pressing-President-Obama-to-halt-deportations-for-as-many- undocumented-immigrants-as-possible-This-is-a-%93be-careful-what-you-wish-for%94- situation-By-Nolan-Rappaport

27. Is the Visa Waiver Program as secure as it is supposed to be? (Sep. 10, 2014),

http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?3494-Article-Is-the-Visa-Waiver-Program-as-secure- as-it-is-supposed-to-be-By-Nolan-Rappaport

Why is Australia being criticized for the way it treats asylum seekers and unaccompanied alien children? (March 20, 2015), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?4182-Article-Why- is-Australia-being-criticized-for-the-way-it-treats-asylum-seekers-and-unaccompanied- alien-children-By-Nolan-Rappaport
What happens to people who are forced to leave their homes to escape armed conflict or persecution and are not able to leave their countries to seek refuge? (May 6, 2015), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?4372-Article-What-happens-to-people-who-are- forced-to-leave-their-homes-to-escape-armed-conflict-or-persecution-and-are-not-able- to-leave-their-countries-to-seek-refuge-By-Nolan-Rappaport
Analysis of a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security on, “The Outer Ring of Border Security: DHS’s International Security Programs” (June 26, 2015), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?4611-Article-Analysis-of-a-hearing-before- the-House-Subcommittee-on-Border-and-Maritime-Security-on-The-Outer-Ring-of- Border-Security-DHSs-International-Security-Programs-By-Nolan-Rappaport

31. Analysis of Immigration Subcommittee’s Sanctuary Cities Hearing (July 28, 2015),

http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?4767-Article-Analysis-of-Immigration- Subcommittee%92s-Sanctuary-Cities-Hearing-By-Nolan-Rappaport

32. Immigration positions of Republican presidential hopefuls, with comments (August 13, 2015), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?4869-Article-Immigration-positions-of- Republican-presidential-hopefuls-with-comments-By-Nolan-Rappaport

Will electing one of the democratic presidential hopefuls move us closer to the passage of a comprehensive immigration reform bill? (September 8, 2015), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?4995-Article-Will-electing-one-of-the-democratic- presidential-hopefuls-move-us-closer-to-the-passage-of-a-comprehensive-immigration- reform-bill-By-Nolan-Rappaport
The SBInet project produced a virtual fence only 53 miles long at a cost to the American taxpayers of one billion dollars. What can we expect from the project that replaced it, the Arizona Border Surveillance Technology Plan? (September 21, 2015), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?5051-Article-The-SBInet-project-produced-a-virtual- fence-only-53-miles-long-at-a-cost-to-the-American-taxpayers-of-one-billion-dollars- What-can-we-expect-from-the-project-that-replaced-it-the-Arizona-Border-Surveillance- Technology-Plan-By-Nolan-Rappaport

35. What is the United States accomplishing with its refugee program? (October 5, 2015),

http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?5117-Article-What-is-the-United-States- accomplishing-with-its-refugee-program-By-Nolan-Rappaport

Republicans raise legitimate concerns about Syrian refugees, but the bill they have passed to address those concerns would just impose additional layers of bureaucracy on the refugee background investigation process. (November 24, 2015), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?5422-Article-Republicans-raise-legitimate-concerns- about-Syrian-refugees-but-the-bill-they-have-passed-to-address-those-concerns-would- just-impose-additional-layers-of-bureaucracy-on-the-refugee-background-investigation- process-By-Nolan-Rappaport
Analysis of the hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, “Why is the Biometric Exit Tracking System Still Not in Place?” (January 25, 2016), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?5777-Article-Analysis-of-the-hearing-before- the-Senate-Subcommittee-on-Immigration-and-the-National-Interest-%93Why-is-the- Biometric-Exit-Tracking-System-Still-Not-in-Place-%94-By-Nolan-Rappaport
Analysis of hearing before the Houses Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security on, “Another surge of illegal immigrants along the Southwestern Border: Is this the Obama Administration’s new normal?” (February 12, 2016), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?5888-Article-Analysis-of-hearing-before-the-Houses- Subcommittee-on-Immigration-and-Border-Security-on-%93Another-surge-of-illegal- immigrants-along-the-Southwestern-Border-Is-this-the-Obama-Administration%92s- new-normal-%94-By-Nolan-Rappaport
Has President Barack Obama sabotaged an attempt by Congress to keep terrorists from using the Visa Waiver Program to enter the United States? (February 29, 2016), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?5969-Article-Has-President-Barack-Obama- sabotaged-an-attempt-by-Congress-to-keep-terrorists-from-using-the-Visa-Waiver- Program-to-enter-the-United-States-By-Nolan-Rappaport

President Obama’s use of executive discretion could have unintended consequences if Donald Trump becomes our next president, (March 7, 2016), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2016,0307-Rappaport.pdf
Should deportations be restricted to deportable aliens who have criminal records? (March 17, 2016), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2016,0317-Rappaport.pdf
The Political Correctness Movement has succeeded in imposing its will on the Library of Congress. (April 1, 2016), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2016,0401-Rappaport.pdf
If he is elected to the presidency, Donald Trump will have statutory authority to suspend the entry of all Muslim aliens (April 20, 3016), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2016,0420- Rappaport.pdf
Analysis of the April 28, 2016, hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on, “Criminal Aliens Released by the Department of Homeland Security.” (May 20, 2016), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?6449-Article-Analysis-of- the-April-28-2016-hearing-before-the-House-Committee-on-Oversight-and-Government- Reform-on-%93Criminal-Aliens-Released-by-the-Department-of-Homeland-Security- By-Nolan-Rappaport
Undocumented aliens who entered the United States before 1972, and have resided here continuously since then, may be eligible for lawful status under the little-known Registry legalization program (May 31, 2016), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2016-531- Rappaport.pdf

46. What is Donald Trump really saying about immigration reform? (June 15, 2016),

http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?6587-Article-What-is-Donald-Trump-really-saying- about-immigration-reform-By-Nolan-Rappaport

Should people who want comprehensive immigration reform vote for Hillary? (July 11, 2016), http://www.ilw.com/articles/2016,0711-Rappaport%20.pdf
Why did the United States put more than 70,000 Japanese American citizens into internment camps during World War II? (July 21, 2016), http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?6774-Article-Why-did-the-United-States-put-more- than-70-000-Japanese-American-citizens-into-internment-camps-during-W

49. The refugee crisis is being blamed for the terrorist attacks in Europe (August 2, 2016),

Click to access 2016,0802-Rappaport.pdf

50. Is Australia abusing child asylum seekers? (August 15, 2016),

http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?6907-Article-Is-Australia-abusing-child-asylum- seekers-By-Nolan-Rappaport

Republicans will continue to reject comprehensive immigration reform bills until these problems are resolved (August 27, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-will-continue-to-reject-comprehensive- immigration_us_57c1f93ee4b0b01630df6454 and http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?7003&postid=326089#comments_326089
Is Trump’s Ten-Point Immigration Plan a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? (August 31, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/is-trumps- ten-point-immigration-plan-a-tale-told-by_us_57c5ba5fe4b004ff0420dcfc and http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?6999-Is-Trump-s-Ten-Point-Immigration-Plan-a-tale- told-by-an-idiot-full-of-sound-and-fury-signifying-nothing-By-Nolan-Rappaport
Hillary’s immigration enforcement policies could have unintended consequences. (September 5, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillarys-immigration- enforcement-policies-could-have_us_57cc6a15e4b07addc4132fcc?mvr57k1sm2g2v5cdi and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9422-Hillary-s-immigration-enforcement-policies-could- have-unintended-consequences
Hillary’s immigration policies will not lead to comprehensive immigration reform. (September 10, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/57d47fbae4b0273330ac42a5?timestamp=1473566 787180 and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9435-Hillary%92s-immigration-policies-will- not-lead-to-comprehensive-immigration-reform-By
Asylum claims of unaccompanied alien children contribute to backlog crisis in our immigration courts. (September 16, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/57daaf27e4b0d5920b5b25f0?timestamp=14779558 39975

56. Deportation Without Due Process? (September 20, 2016),

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/deportation-without-due- process_us_57e01aebe4b053b1ccf2a109?timestamp=1474391017164 and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9452-Deportation-Without-Due-Process

57. Does anyone really know how many undocumented aliens there are? (Sep. 25, 2016),

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/57e41782e4b09f67131e3e7c?timestamp=1474689 173130 and
http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9462-Does-anyone-really-know-how-many- undocumented-aliens-there-are

58. Will Muslim Americans be put in internment camps if more 9/11 attacks occur? (October 1, 2016),

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/57ec0d3be4b0972364deaa05?timestamp=1477955 720792

59. The door is wide open for terrorists to use the Visa Waiver Program to come to the U.S. (October 5, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/57f4275fe4b0ab1116a54b52?timestamp=14756431 12224 and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9483-The-door-is-wide-open-for-terrorists-to-use-the- Visa-Waiver-Program-to-come-to-the-U-S-by-Nolan-Rappaport&bt=47219

60. What do we know about Syrian refugees? (October 12, 2016),

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/57fbd438e4b0b665ad81873a?timestamp=1476313 713660 and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9493-What-do-we-know-about-Syrian-refugees-by- Nolan-Rappaport

Schumer is wrong; if Hillary Clinton is elected, immigration reform will be impossible. (October 18, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5806bc57e4b021af347763dc?timestamp=1476852 640318 and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9503-Shumer-is-wrong-if-Hillary-Clinton-is-elected- immigration-reform-will-be-impossible-by-Nolan-Rappaport
We aren’t doing enough to help Syrian refugees, but how much more can we do? (October 24, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/580bf50ae4b0b1bd89fdb3c6?timestamp=14774237 45093 and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9509-We-aren%92t-doing-enough-to-help-Syrian- refugees-but-how-much-more-can-we-do-by-Nolan-Rappaport&bt=47494
Aliens entering the US as visitors and never leaving has become more of a problem than illegal entries across the Mexican border. (October 31, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5816286ae4b096e870696739?timestamp=1477954 741569 and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9523-Half-a-million-aliens-a-year-enter-as-visitors-and- never-leave-and-neither-candidate-has-a-solution-to-that-problem

64. President Elect Donald Trump will not be able to deport millions of people. (November 10, 2016),

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5824c8c5e4b0bb5f0af37f01?timestamp=14789653 34261 and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9546-President-Elect-Donald-Trump-will-not-be-able-to- deport-millions-of-people-By-Nolan-Rappaport

65. Will the filibuster save the Democrats from an onslaught of Republican legislation? (November 15, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5829f30de4b02b1f5257a6c3?timestamp=14792725 86100 and

http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9554-Will-the-filibuster-save-the-Democrats-from-an- onslaught-of-Republican-legislation-By-Nolan-Rappaport

Note to President Elect Trump, “Find out why the SBInet project failed before you build your wall.” (November 20, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5831c0bae4b0d28e552150b0?timestamp=1479709 085554 and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9563-Note-to-President-Elect-Trump-%93Find-out-why- the-SBInet-project-failed-before-you-build-your-wall-%94
The key to successful immigration enforcement may be to let the Labor Department handle it. (November 23, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5835b67ce4b050dfe61878d7?timestamp=1479968 984594 and http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9568-The-key-to-successful-immigration-enforcement- may-be-to-let-the-Labor-Department-handle-it
Will Trump be able to use information from DACA applications in removal proceedings? (November 28, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/58390e6ee4b050dfe6187bec?timestamp=14801946 80041 and http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?7407-Article-Will-Trump-Be-Able-To-Use- Information-From-DACA-Applications-In-Removal-Proceedings-By-Nolan-Rappaport
What immigration enforcement measures is the Senate planning to legislate in 2017? (December 3, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/583e56bee4b08347769c0540?timestamp=1480997 855952 and
http://blogs.ilw.com/entry.php?9582- What%20immigration%20enforcement%20measures%20is%20the%20Senate%20planni ng%20to%20legislate%20in%202017?%20By%20Nolan%20Rappaport

70. To control immigration, Trump needs to think outside the wall (December 12, 2016),

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/310078-to-control-immigration- trump-needs-to-think-outside-the-wall

Give DREAMers a break, hardliners a bone with GOP immigration bill (December 20, 2016), http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/311243-gop-immigration-bill- gives-dreamers-a-break-hardliners-a-bone
With Obama’s immigration legacy, Trump inherits ‘home free magnet’ (December 28, 2016), http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/311994-thanks-to-obamas- immigration-legacy-trump-inherits-our-home#bottom-story-socials

PWS

01/02/17

In Foreign Policy, We Should Think “Marshall” (As In Gen. George C.) Not “Martial” — Dropping Bombs Unlikely To Secure World Peace Or Insure American Security

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/opinion/marshall-plans-not-martial-plans.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) writes in a NY Times op-ed:

“Even after Iraq, American foreign policy and military elites still cling to the notion that military intervention can bring political stability, somehow, to the Middle East. This is a fallacy.

Restraint in the face of evil is hard stuff, but hubris in the face of evil is worse. The United States never should have taken sides in the Syrian civil war. If we had shown restraint from the outset, more people would be alive today.

The real question is how to stop societies from descending into civil war in the first place. This is the most important foreign policy question facing the next Congress. The response must start with a recognition that a foreign policy built on brute military strength alone holds few answers for societies caught in a downward spiral.”

******************************

In October 2016, Dr. Franziska Hötte, a Federal Judge from Germany, and I were invited to be panelists at the German Law in Context Series sponsored by Washington and Lee University Law School in Lexington, Virginia. During the event, our wonderful law student guide took us on a walking our which included a stop at the General George C. Museum on the adjacent campus of Virginia Military Institute.

Not only was Marshall a five-star General who, as Chief of Staff of the United States Army, led the Allied Forces to victory in World War II, he also served as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense during the Truman Administration. Indeed he was the last, and only, military officer to receive a waiver of the “civilian leadership only protocol” to enable him to serve as Secretary of Defense. (As we know, President Elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Marine General James S. Mattis, will need such a waiver to serve).

But, General Marshall’s most impressive achievements came in peacetime, where he conceptualized, organized, and sold the “Marshall Plan” for reconstructing Europe to a somewhat skeptical Congress and American public. His vision lead directly to the emergence of modern Europe as a strong economic force, and to a bulwark of alliances among Western Democracies against the further spread of Soviet Communism during the Cold War period. General Marshall was Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1943, and received the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize for the Marshall Plan.

Interestingly, Marshall was a somewhat mediocre student at VMI, excelling mostly at football, horsemanship, and, not surprisingly, leadership.

General Marshall was an amazing combination of warrior, statesman, diplomat, visionary, and persuader. I find it difficult to envision anyone today with the skill set and credibility to sell such a large peacetime investment by the United States in rebuilding the economies and infrastructures of former foreign enemies. Indeed, these days the proposition of rebuilding our own crumbling infrastructure sometimes seems like a challenging “sell.”

Below is a picture of Judge Hötte (left) with our student guide taken on the VMI Parade Ground. I highly recommend the Marshall Museum, which can be “done” in several hours.

PWS

01/02/17

Is American Democracy Becoming “Illiberal?”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/america-is-becoming-a-land-of-less-liberty/2016/12/29/2a91744c-ce09-11e6-a747-d03044780a02_story.html?utm_term=.93e4df17ef17

Writing an op-ed in the Washington Post, Fareed Zakaria worries about the trend:

“Two decades ago, I wrote an essay in Foreign Affairs that described an unusual and worrying trend: the rise of illiberal democracy. Around the world, dictators were being deposed and elections were proliferating. But in many of the places where ballots were being counted, the rule of law, respect for minorities, freedom of the press and other such traditions were being ignored or abused. Today, I worry that we might be watching the rise of illiberal democracy in the United States — something that should concern anyone, Republican or Democrat, Donald Trump supporter or critic.

What we think of as democracy in the modern world is really the fusing of two different traditions. One is, of course, public participation in selecting leaders. But there is a much older tradition in Western politics that, since the Magna Carta in 1215, has centered on the rights of individuals — against arbitrary arrest, religious conversion, censorship of thought. These individual freedoms (of speech, belief, property ownership and dissent) were eventually protected, not just from the abuse of a tyrant but also from democratic majorities. The Bill of Rights, after all, is a list of things that majorities cannot do.”

PWS

12/31/16

Does Dialogue Die When Everyone Claims the Moral High Ground?

Justin Tsoi of the University of Michigan thinks so in this provocative article and podcast:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/so-that-happened-moral-grandstanding_us_5865ad86e4b0eb586488dd4f

“We’ve all seen it in annoying tweets and chest-thumping Facebook posts ― items presented as casual observations or political arguments that carry a much different underlying meaning: I am good because I have said this important thing now, here, on the Internet! The social need to be perceived by our peers as being morally upright ― or to pile on, with tribal abandon, with our likes and faves ― has replaced our calling to pursue moral truth. Or to actually engage in morally useful activities.

The problem is extremely common, Tosi argues, something even the best-intentioned of us have succumbed to at some point or another, though some of us are more flagrant and frequent offenders than others. It isn’t restricted to social media. Brian Leiter’s popular philosophy blog cites the paper approvingly, noting that moral grandstanding is rampant even in Twitter-anemic academia, where otherwise intelligent people stake out entire careers on preposterous-but-shocking arguments. ‘I will resist naming the professional philosophers who should read this, but you know who you are,’ he writes.”

PWS

12/30/16

Wow! Senator Tom Cotton (R-ARK) Wants to Jack Up Wages And Benefits For Lower Level US Workers And Make the “Fat Cats” Pay Their Share — How? — By Cutting Immigration, Naturally

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2016/12/seantor-tom-cotton-r-arkansas-fix-immigration-its-what-voters-want.html

Over on ImmigrationProf Blog and the NYT, Sen. Cotton says that cutting immigration, both legal and illegal, will solve all the problems of working class Americans. Yet, I’m skeptical that the Senator’s Republican businessmen buddies will be paying $25+/hr. plus full bennies for folks to pick veggies, clean buildings, be nannies for their kids, mow lawns, pour concrete, wash dishes, wait tables, clean tables, empty bedpans, make beds, work grocery checkout lines, pick up garbage, cook short orders, cut brush, dig trenches, trim trees, prune shrubs, provide daycare for their elderly parents, etc. But, I’m even more skeptical that out of work coal miners, factory workers, administrative assistants, air conditioning fabricators, secretaries, etc. will be lining up to to relocate at their own expense to take these jobs, even at higher wages. And, even if they did, things like harvesting, pruning, caring for others, and cooking actually take skills that many out of work Americans don’t possess or don’t care to learn, no matter how dire their personal circumstances. If Sen. Cotton thinks that’s what Americans really voted for, perhaps he’s spent too much time inside the Beltway.

PWS

12/26/16

More From Nolan Rappaport in “The Hill” on How the Trump Administration and Congress Could Agree on Immigration Reform

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/310078-to-control-immigration-trump-needs-to-think-outside-the-wall

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/311243-gop-immigration-bill-gives-dreamers-a-break-hardliners-a-bone

I found some common themes:

The Trump Administration needs to “Think Outside the Wall.” Without some fundamental changes from Obama Administration policies and Trump rhetoric, nothing is going to change.
There must be some type of legalization for “Dreamers” and others to get Immigration Court dockets back under control.
Interior enforcement must be reinstated and employer sanctions enforced to cut off the “magnet” for undocumented immigration.
Everyone involved must work together and compromise for our immigration system to be credible.

PWS

12/29/16

Hungarian Human Rights Scholar Sees Authoritarian Danger in Populist Drift — Cites Hungarian Example

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/i-watched-a-populist-leader-rise-in-my-country-and-that-is-why-i-am-genuinely-worried-for-america/2016/12/27/6b4cf632-cc65-11e6-b8a2-8c2a61b0436f_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-d:homepage/story&utm_term=.ac8ebaf01f3b

“The world is looking at the United States now in a way that we never thought would be possible: fretting that the ‘deals’ of its new president will make the world’s first democracy more similar to that of the others. I wish we onlookers could help the Americans in making the most out of their hard-to-change Constitution. We still are thankful for what they gave to the world, and we will be a bit envious if they can stop the fast-spreading plague of national populism.”

I sure hope he’s unduly pessimistic. The United States has a history of being able to reorient back to the center when necessary. Also, we do have a vigorous free press and, at least with respect to our “Article III Courts,” the world’s most independent court system.

PWS

12/28/16

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts: