Category Archives: Drug Cartels

Welfare Use by Immigrant Households with Children

Posted on by

Some studies speak for themselves. This one is chilling. It demonstrates failure, lack of control and management as well as a continued monetary magnet that wont soon or ever go away.

 

A Look at Cash, Medicaid, Housing, and Food Programs

by: The Center for Immigration Studies

Thirteen years after welfare reform, the share of immigrant-headed households (legal and illegal) with a child (under age 18) using at least one welfare program continues to be very high. This is partly due to the large share of immigrants with low levels of education and their resulting low incomes — not their legal status or an unwillingness to work. The major welfare programs examined in this report include cash assistance, food assistance, Medicaid, and public and subsidized housing.

Among the findings:

  • In 2009 (based on data collected in 2010), 57 percent of households headed by an immigrant (legal and illegal) with children (under 18) used at least one welfare program, compared to 39 percent for native households with children.
  • Immigrant households’ use of welfare tends to be much higher than natives for food assistance programs and Medicaid. Their use of cash and housing programs tends to be similar to native households.
  • A large share of the welfare used by immigrant households with children is received on behalf of their U.S.-born children, who are American citizens. But even households with children comprised entirely of immigrants (no U.S.-born children) still had a welfare use rate of 56 percent in 2009.
  • Immigrant households with children used welfare programs at consistently higher rates than natives, even before the current recession. In 2001, 50 percent of all immigrant households with children used at least one welfare program, compared to 32 percent for natives.
  • Households with children with the highest welfare use rates are those headed by immigrants from the Dominican Republic (82 percent), Mexico and Guatemala (75 percent), and Ecuador (70 percent). Those with the lowest use rates are from the United Kingdom (7 percent), India (19 percent), Canada (23 percent), and Korea (25 percent).
  • The states where immigrant households with children have the highest welfare use rates are Arizona (62 percent); Texas, California, and New York (61 percent); Pennsylvania (59 percent); Minnesota and Oregon (56 percent); and Colorado (55 percent).
  • We estimate that 52 percent of households with children headed by legal immigrants used at least one welfare program in 2009, compared to 71 percent for illegal immigrant households with children. Illegal immigrants generally receive benefits on behalf of their U.S.-born children.
  • Illegal immigrant households with children primarily use food assistance and Medicaid, making almost no use of cash or housing assistance. In contrast, legal immigrant households tend to have relatively high use rates for every type of program.
  • High welfare use by immigrant-headed households with children is partly explained by the low education level of many immigrants. Of households headed by an immigrant who has not graduated high school, 80 percent access the welfare system, compared to 25 percent for those headed by an immigrant who has at least a bachelor’s degree.
  • An unwillingness to work is not the reason immigrant welfare use is high. The vast majority (95 percent) of immigrant households with children had at least one worker in 2009. But their low education levels mean that more than half of these working immigrant households with children still accessed the welfare system during 2009.
  • If we exclude the primary refugee-sending countries, the share of immigrant households with children using at least one welfare program is still 57 percent.
  • Welfare use tends to be high for both new arrivals and established residents. In 2009, 60 percent of households with children headed by an immigrant who arrived in 2000 or later used at least one welfare program; for households headed by immigrants who arrived before 2000 it was 55 percent.
  • For all households (those with and without children), the use rates were 37 percent for households headed by immigrants and 22 percent for those headed by natives.
  • Although most new legal immigrants are barred from using some welfare for the first five years, this provision has only a modest impact on household use rates because most immigrants have been in the United States for longer than five years; the ban only applies to some programs; some states provide welfare to new immigrants with their own money; by becoming citizens immigrants become eligible for all welfare programs; and perhaps most importantly, the U.S.-born children of immigrants (including those born to illegal immigrants) are automatically awarded American citizenship and are therefore eligible for all welfare programs at birth.
  • The eight major welfare programs examined in this report are SSI (Supplemental Security Income for low income elderly and disabled), TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), WIC (Women, Infants, and Children food program), free/reduced school lunch, food stamps (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Medicaid (health insurance for those with low incomes), public housing, and rent subsidies.

Introduction

Concern that immigrants may become a burden on society has been a long-standing issue in the United States. As far back as colonial times there were restrictions on the arrival of people who might become a burden on the community. This report analyzes survey data collected by the Census Bureau from 2002 to 2009 to examine use of welfare programs by immigrant and native households, particularly those with children. The Current Population Survey (CPS) asks respondents about their use of welfare programs in the year prior to the survey,1 so we are examining self-reported welfare use rates from 2001 to 2009. The findings show that more than half of immigrant-headed households with children use at least one major welfare program, compared to about one-third of native-headed households. The primary reason immigrant households with children tend to have higher overall rates is their much higher use of food assistance programs and Medicaid; use of cash assistance and housing programs tends to be very similar to native households.

Why Study Immigrant Welfare Use?

Use of welfare programs by immigrants is important for two primary reasons. First, it is one measure of their impact on American society. If immigrants have high use rates it could be an indication that they are creating a net fiscal burden for the country. Welfare programs comprise a significant share of federal, and even state, expenditures. Total costs for the programs examined in this study were $517 billion in fiscal year 2008.2 Moreover, those who receive welfare tend to pay little or no income tax. If use of welfare programs is considered a problem and if immigrant use of those programs is thought to be high, then it is an indication that immigration or immigrant policy needs to be a adjusted. Immigration policy is concerned with the number of immigrants allowed into the country and the selection criteria used for admission. It is also concerned with the level of resources devoted to controlling illegal immigration. Immigrant policy, on the other hand, is concerned with how we treat immigrants who are legally admitted to the country, such as welfare eligibility, citizenship requirements, and assimilation efforts.

The second reason to examine welfare use is that it can provide insight into how immigrants are doing in the United States. Accessing welfare programs can be seen as an indication that immigrants are having a difficult time in the United States. Or perhaps that some immigrants are assimilating into the welfare system. Thus, welfare use is both a good way of measuring immigration’s impact on American society and immigrants’ adaptation to life in the United States.

Read on if you dare by clicking here.

Honduran President at WH, Where is the Money?

Posted on by

Juan Carlos Hernandez has been a busy man reaching out to the White House several times since 2014. He is after money and he is likely getting it.

Hernandez has a big problem that the White House and the State Department are overlooking….it is called corruption and Hondurans know it well. Earlier this month, the protests began against the president and the with some amazement the United Nations anti-corruption body actually uncovered corruption in Guatemala but not so much in Honduras. Hondurans are calling for the resignation of Hernandez and the country has one of the highest murder rates globally for 2014.

Honduras is a key country in the matter of the DACA insurgency of people coming across our southern border in 2014. The matter was so bad that both Obama and Biden spoke to President Hernandez on the phone in 2014 on humanitarian issues and that those fleeing the country are not eligible for the DACA program.

Still desperate, President Hernandez was in the United States and had important time allotted to him at the State Department that was part of a 2 day program titled ‘Americas Society and Council of the Americas’ where the charter is to cover items including LGBT rights, economic development and the rule of law.

At the core of the corruption charges against President Hernandez is social security embezzlement. In 2014, yet another Honduran official was arrested for stealing more than $330 million in public money from a health pension fund.

Under Hillary Clinton at the State Department and with collaboration with the World Bank loans for more than a billion dollars have been pledged and then the United States augmented those dollars with 200 and 300 million going separately to countries in the region. With all this monetary infusion, why no clean up in corruption or a global cocaine network or an exodus of Hondurans?

Well at 3:00 PM, on June 17, 2015, President Hernandez just left the White House again.

President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez speaks to reporters on June 17, 2015 in Washington, DC

In part from AFP news: Hernandez has come to Washington to meet with the new secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, and with US Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the development plan.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress for one billion dollars for the initiative but Republicans in Congress have expressed reservations.

– Taking responsibility –

To overcome those misgivings Honduras will disclose details of the plan to leaders of the two chambers, Hernandez said.

A Central American region that is prosperous and peaceful “is a tremendous investment for the American people”, the president said.

“I would hope that the leaders in Washington would understand that,” he added.

Still, the American aid is only symbolic.

Passing the package, he said, would mean Washington acknowledges that a huge part of the problem is Americans’ appetite for drugs like cocaine that are produced in South America and smuggled through destitute nations like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to reach the streets of the United States.

“In the end, it is not so much the money. It is the message that the United States takes responsibility for generating violence and migration as a result of drug trafficking in the region,” he said.

Obama and DHS Fully Compromised our Security

Posted on by

Getting into America just got easier….

Easier? Yes and while no one is talking about it but I got a tip from an insider. Did you hear the announcement by Jeh Johnson? This program already exists.

It might be a lot easier – and faster – for international travelers to fly into the United States soon.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Friday it will seek approval to put pre-clearance centers at 10 airports in nine foreign countries.

If negotiations are successful, those centers will allow travelers to go through U.S. Customs and Border Protection clearance before they get on their airplane headed to the United States. Once landed, they would not have to be rescreened.

Here’s what Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in the DHS announcement:

“A significant homeland security priority of mine is building more preclearance capacity at airports overseas. We have this now in 15 airports. I am pleased that we are seeking negotiations with 10 new airports in nine countries.

“I want to take every opportunity we have to push our homeland security out beyond our borders so that we are not defending the homeland from the one-yard line. Preclearance is a win-win for the traveling public. It provides aviation and homeland security, and it reduces wait times upon arrival at the busiest U.S. airports.”

The U.S. will enter talks with officials in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom in Europe, as well as Japan and the Dominican Republic.

The 10 airports would be Brussels Airport, Belgium; Punta Cana Airport, Dominican Republic; Narita International Airport, Japan; Amsterdam Airport Schipol, Netherlands; Oslo Airport, Norway; Madrid-Barajas Airport, Spain; Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Sweden; Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey; and London Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airport in the United Kingdom.

“These countries represent some of the busiest last points of departure to the United States – in 2014, nearly 20 million passengers traveled from these ten airports to the U.S.,” DHS said.

For travelers to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the pre-clearance would be available on flights from London Heathrow (American Airlines and British Airways); Amsterdam (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines); Tokyo Narita (American); Madrid-Barajas (American); and Punta Cana (Sun Country Airlines).

Officials from trade group Airlines for American and from American and JetBlue Airways quickly praised the DHS effort.

“U.S. airlines drive $1.5 trillion in economic activity, and by improving the passenger experience for visitors or those returning to the United States, while improving security, we can build on that,” A4A President and chief executive Nick Calio said. “The addition of these pre-clearance airports will help increase safety and security while improving the passenger experience with shorter wait times and quicker connections on arrival in the U.S.”

“Expanding air preclearance is a tremendous step forward for improving the overall travel experience for our customers and welcoming more visitors to the United States,” AA chief operating officer Robert Isom said. “Preclearance eases the congestion at our U.S. gateway airports and ensures our customers get to their destinations faster.”

In addition to the three airports served by American from its D/FW hub, the pre-clearance centers would go to four other airports served by American out of other U.S. airports – Manchester, Amsterdam, Punta Cana and Brussels.

JetBlue passengers would benefit from the Punta Cana pre-clearance center.

“We believe that in addition to the need for an increase in CBP staffing at key U.S. gateway airports, more preclearance facilities like the ones being proposed around the globe are an important tool to enhance our nation’s security and reduce the number of travelers clearing Customs stateside — and that ultimately reduces wait times for travelers on all airlines,” JetBlue president and CEO Robin Hayes said.

United also thanked DHS for the proposal.

“We have worked closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and support developments that provide more convenience for our customers,” the carrier said in a statement. “We thank Secretary Johnson and his team at the Department of Homeland Security and CBP for their engagement with United and the airline industry, and we look forward to partnering with them on this initiative to facilitate travel and reduce wait times.”

U.S. Travel Association president Roger Dow issued this statement:

“When the experience for the international traveler improves, the U.S. economy improves, and again this administration deserves praise for pressing ahead with innovative policies that simultaneously bolster national security and streamline the customs entry process.

“Customs preclearance is a program that has proven itself effective, and extending it to these key travel markets will undoubtedly boost visitation. As a bonus, adding preclearance facilities will further relieve pressure on the customs entry process here on our shores, improving the system generally.

“Evolving policies such as these are a big reason why we surpassed a record 74 million international visitors to the U.S. last year, and are well on pace to reach 100 million visitors annually by 2021. With overseas visitors spending an average of $4,300 per person, per trip, that’s just good economic sense.”

Customs and Border Protection currently staffs 15 centers in six countries: Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas; Bermuda; Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and Winnipeg in Canada; and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

This is a ‘preclearance system’.  Please read the full description here.

In 2013, there was a Customs and Border Patrol hearing on this matter in the House of Representatives. Essentially, we cant control security within our borders now we are extending them globally and relying on foreign governments and security services? That did not work out at all in Benghazi. Here is the testimony and it is a must read.

 

 

Talking Points Against the Obama Immigrant Policy

Posted on by

Cost of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Just in 2012

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative agency in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). With more than 20,000 employees worldwide, ICE is a key component of the DHS layered defense approach to protecting the United States. ICE has requested an annual budget of more than $5.8 billion for FY 2012, with budget figures in key categories detailed below.

Salaries and Expenses

Homeland Security Investigations

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) enforces trade and immigration laws through the investigation of activities, persons and events that may pose a threat to the safety or security of the United States and its citizens.

HSI’s Domestic Investigations investigates illegal trafficking in weapons (including weapons of mass destruction), the smuggling of narcotics and other contraband, human smuggling and trafficking, money laundering and other financial crimes, fraudulent trade practices, identity and benefit fraud, child pornography, child sex tourism, employers that hire illegal and undocumented workers, and health and public safety dangers.

HSI’s Office of International Investigations conducts investigative efforts in 69 Attaché offices in 47 foreign locations. The office works with foreign counterparts to identify and combat criminal organizations before they can adversely impact the United States, including the Visa Security Program, which focuses on high-risk visa-issuance locations to identify and interdict potential threats before they enter the United States.

Cost of Detention

Back in 2013: Keeping illegal immigrants behind bars costs $120 a day per inmate, or $2 billion a year. Congress has twice rebuffed White House budget requests to cut the quota so ICE can turn to less costly measures, such as ankle bracelets, to keep tabs on the immigrants it’s trying to deport. It’s “artificial,” Janet Napolitano, former secretary of Homeland Security, said at an April hearing. Without the mandate the agency could free low-risk offenders and put them on supervised release to ensure that detainees show up in court for deportation hearings, she said. “We ought to be detaining according to our priorities, according to public-safety threats, level of offense, and the like,” she said.

Getting Released

They are convicted rapists, child molesters, and kidnappers — among “the worst of the worst,” as one law enforcement agency put it. Yet the Globe found that immigration officials have released them without making sure they register with local authorities as sex offenders.

And once US Immigration and Customs Enforcement frees them, agency officials often lose track of the criminals, despite outstanding deportation orders against them. The Globe determined that Hernandez Carrera and several other offenders had failed to register as sex offenders, a crime. By law, police are supposed to investigate if such offenders fail to update their address within days of their release. But local officials said they did not learn that ICE had released the offenders until after the Globe inquired about their cases.

The following are some of the thousands of convicted criminals released by ICE in the US in recent years because their homelands refused to take them back.

“It’s chilling,” said Thomas H. Dupree Jr., a former deputy assistant US attorney general who led a 2008 federal court battle to keep Hernandez Carrera locked up. “These are dangerous and predatory individuals who should not be prowling the streets. In fact, they should not be in the United States at all.” Many more details here.

Street Protests and Fights

From the Daily Caller: A manhunt is underway in Fargo, N.D. after two separate groups of immigrants from unknown countries began waging what is being described as a “street war” against each other earlier this week.

According to Valley News Live, police are currently searching for Luke Goodrich and Isaac Nyemah for their involvement in an alleged armed home invasion that took place Wednesday morning.

The Fargo Police Department is asking for your assistance in locating two individuals of interest that are believed to…

Posted by Fargo Police Department on Wednesday, June 10, 2015

It is unclear how, but the two men are allegedly involved in trouble that began Sunday at a birthday party in a Fargo park.

A group of 70 people were gathered when an altercation of some sort ensued. Men affiliated with one immigrant group smashed out the window of a car with a crowbar. The same men vandalized another vehicle shortly after. Police were initially called to the park because a DJ had been hired and party-goers were drinking alcohol, in violation of park rules.

 

 

 

DHS Holds Employee as a Hostage

Posted on by

Visa Program for Wealthy Foreigners Has Serious Security Challenges, Homeland Whistleblower Says

 

A senior federal agent became the first insider Wednesday to publicly expose what she said were serious national security concerns surrounding a controversial immigration program that has been providing Green Cards to wealthy foreigners.

Senior Special Agent Taylor Johnson said her Homeland Security investigation uncovered visa applicants from China, Russia, Pakistan and Malaysia who had been approved in as little as 16 days, even though their applications “lacked basic necessary law enforcement” screening.

“During the course of my investigation it became very clear that the EB-5 program has serious security challenges,” she said.

Her findings echo those reported in a series of stories this year by ABC News about the controversial program that gives wealthy foreigners the chance to turn a $500,000 investment into a U.S. Green Card – reports that were based on extensive interviews with five other whistleblowers.

The ABC News investigation uncovered records showing foreign applicants had successfully obtained EB-5 visas despite allegations of fraud, money laundering, forgery, and other crimes against them. In one case, an Iranian business man was able to gain recertification to participate in the program even as he was under active investigation for smuggling.

The program, known by the visa designation EB-5, is designed to create thousands of jobs by offering temporary residency and eventually Green Cards to foreigners who agree to invest more than $500,000 in approved American ventures. The two-part ABC News investigation found, however, that the program had become a magnet for those seeking to sidestep the scrutiny of the traditional immigration process.

Johnson came forward Wednesday as part of a U.S. Senate Hearing that was convened to bring attention to the plight of federal officials who have tried to report wrongdoing in their agencies, only to face retaliation for stepping forward. Johnson said she was sent an unmistakable message by senior Homeland Security officials when she began to report them up the chain of command – back off.

“After disclosing gross mismanagement, waste and fraud that threatened the general public’s safety, National Security Risks and public corruption surrounding an EB-5 project, I was subjected to a significant amount of harassment and retaliation,” Johnson said.

“I was removed from the investigation, a shoddy follow-up review was conducted and then in 2013, ultimately, the investigation was shut down,” she told senators.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. But in earlier statements to ABC News, senior officials said they had already begun work on improving the EB-5 program to better insulate it from exploitation by foreign agents and criminals. They said they were hampered in their efforts by a lack of legal authority to crack down on the so-called “regional centers” — largely unregulated businesses that have sprung up to pair foreign investors with U.S. based projects that have the potential to create jobs.

Following the ABC News investigation, an internal investigation by the Inspector General was published which revealed evidence of political meddling in the program, also relying heavily on whistleblowers from inside Homeland Security. Senior members of the U.S. Senate last week proposed legislation aimed at better protecting the EB-5 program from abuse.

As all of the internal problems with the little-known immigration program have surfaced, however, none of the whistleblowers had stepped forward to talk in public. Those interviewed by ABC News expressed strong concerns that they would face retaliation if they spoke out. Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth expressed a similar concern when he testified on the issue before the House Homeland Security Committee in March.

“Being a whistleblower is seen to be hazardous,” Roth said.