| House Judiciary Committee Previews Immigration Agenda for 112th Congress  Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) announced that his committee would begin its work on immigration by tackling the issue of worksite enforcement. “The House Judiciary Committee will promote work site enforcement efforts that make sure scarce jobs go to legal workers,” said Smith. “And we will continue to support the use and expansion of E-Verify.”To help lead the charge on these issues, Rep. Smith also announced that Representatives Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and Steve King (R-IA), would serve as the chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement.
Read the full article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . States Take First Step in Eliminating Birthright Citizenship  Last week, state legislators from across the nation gathered for a press conference in Washington, DC to unveil legislation that they hope will restore proper application of the 14th Amendment by eliminating the automatic granting of citizenship to children born to illegal aliens. The legislators are members of a 40-state coalition known as State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI). With the aid of constitutional scholar Kris Kobach (also Kansas’s Secretary of State), former Dean of Chapman Law School John Eastman and the Immigration Reform Law Institute, SLLI has written two bills for introduction in multiple legislatures that SLLI hopes will spur the federal government into ending the practice of granting birthright citizenship to children born to illegal aliens.
Read the full article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Obama Seeks to Lift Ban on Controversial Cross-Border Trucking Program  The Obama administration announced a proposal last week to resurrect a controversial program that gives Mexican cargo trucks access to American highways. This announcement comes after a two-year ban of the cross-border trucking program with Mexico and was made the same day President Obama appointed William Daley to be his White House Chief of Staff. Daley, who served as Secretary of Commerce under President Clinton, is considered one of the “architects” of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which took effect in 1994.
Read the full article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Florida Governor Issues Executive Order Requiring E-Verify  Moments after taking office last Tuesday, Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott signed Executive Order 11-02, requiring all state agencies to use E-Verify to determine the employment eligibility of state employees, contractors and subcontractors. Governor Scott’s Executive Order is an important step towards fulfilling a campaign promise he made to “require all Florida employers to use the free E-Verify system to ensure that their workers are legal.”
Read the full article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rhode Island Governor Halts Immigration Enforcement  Last Tuesday, newly-elected Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee rescinded an executive order which had been used to crack down on illegal immigration. (Executive Order, January 5, 2011; Boston Globe, January 6, 2011) Rhode Island’s previous governor, Donald Carcieri, issued the executive decree in 2008. (Executive Order, Mar. 27, 2008) The order required state government offices and vendors to use E-verify in order to ensure the legal status of newly-hired employees. (Id.) It also directed state police to enter into a 287(g) agreement with federal immigration authorities. (Id.) Such agreements provide local law enforcement with immigration training, which allows state police to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in their enforcement of immigration laws.
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To help members of the 112th Congress determine which immigration reform measures will have a positive impact on U.S. immigration policy, FAIR is releasing its Immigration Reform Agenda for the 112th Congress. This document provides new lawmakers with a brief summary of action taken during the previous Congress and a roadmap for moving forward with immigration reform measures.
Addressing the Texas State House and Senate chambers last week, Republican Governor Rick Perry told legislators that abolishing sanctuary cities was on a list of “emergency items” for State lawmakers to tackle within the first 30 days of the new legislative session. (Gov. Perry Press Release, Jan. 11, 2011) While stating he believes that immigration enforcement is the federal government's responsibility, he insisted “[the state] cannot compound their failure by preventing Texas peace officers from doing their jobs.”
Wasting no time in the new legislative session, the Kentucky Senate has already acted on the issue of illegal immigration. The Kentucky Legislature convened on January 4, 2011, and within four days, the state Senate had already approved an immigration enforcement bill. The bill is modeled after Arizona’s new immigration enforcement law, SB 1070.
Last Thursday, the Chicago City Council unanimously adopted a resolution asking the federal government to halt deportations of illegal aliens. Specifically, the resolution urged President Obama to use his executive powers to call an immediate end to the deportation of illegal workers whose families contain either a U.S. citizen or an individual who would be eligible for a stay of deportation or conditional resident status under the failed DREAM Act.
To highlight the impact mass immigration has on the environment, FAIR released its latest research paper last week, Immigration, Population Growth and the Chesapeake Bay. This in-depth report looks at the environmental repercussions of mass immigration at one of the nation’s greatest natural resources. The Chesapeake Bay is home to 3,600 different species of plants and animals, and is the nation’s largest estuary. But with 17 million people occupying the Bay’s 64,000 square miles, over-population is threatening the survival of precious aquatic life in the area. Moreover, as FAIR’s reputable research team explains, immigration accounts for 66 percent of the population growth in the Bay between 2000 and 2009. If this rate of immigration continues, the Chesapeake Bay is projected to be home to more than 23 million people by the year 2050, putting additional strains on endangered wildlife and irreplaceable resources.
