Brown's Sanctuary State, Southern California's Revolt, Cuomo's Felon Voters, and Sessions' Crackdown on Asylum Seeker Hearing Delays

THE REAL NEWS TODAY IS ABOUT SANCTUARY CITIES AND STATES. They are numerous and run counter to everything the "United" States Republic was founded on and stands for -- rule of law, federal contorl of immigration, and the constitutional order of states and federal rights. • • • SANCTUARY AREAS RELEASE MS-13 GANG MEMBERS. American Thinker published an article on Thursday by Rick Moran that discusses a Department of Homeland Security report stating that "...dozens of gang members -- including members of the notorious MS-13 group -- were released from custody, instead of being handed over to federal immigration authorities for deportation, due to 'sanctuary' policies." Moran cites the Center for Immigration Studies that posted data recently showing that "two-thirds of the releases occurred in California, which has had a strict sanctuary policy in effect since January 2014," pointing to "obvious public safety problems." Moran wrote : "Just to be clear : The number-one reason given by state authorities in California for adopting sanctuary policies is that it promotes public safety. Their rationale is that illegal aliens who are unafraid of the police will cooperate in law enforcement activities. Can't you just see MS-13 members eagerly talking to police about gang activity?" • According to the DHS report, from October 2016 to June 2017, sanctuary jurisdictions refused to honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers on 142 suspected gang members -- where ICE officials ask authorities to detain criminal illegal immigrants so ICE can take custody and deport them. DHS added that the numbers may be on the conservative side as jurisdictions that do not allow ICE officials into jails make it more challenging to identify gang members : "Because ICE often determines gang affiliation through interviews, ICE cannot speculate about the number of times it was denied access to an alien in the custody of state or local authorities who may have had such an affiliation." • Fifteen of those released were suspected members of MS-13, a gang started in the 1980s by Central American immigrants and known for its gruesome crimes. The gang's presence across the country has been an escalating political issue. The Departmen of Justice said in 2016 that : "Violence is a central tenet of MS-13, as evidenced by its core motto -- 'mata, viola, controla,' translated as, 'kill, rape, control.' " • Moran states : "With two thirds of releases of gang members occurring in California, and California's sanctuary law being challenged by both the Justice Department and several local jurisdictions, it seems that the state has a poor case that its non-cooperation with federal authorities makes residents safer. You can bet that California is not tracking the criminal activity of released gang members. Or if it is, we'll never hear about it. The fact is, public safety in the state takes a back seat to the political advantages of refusing to cooperate with federal immigration officials. And from the number of local governments joining a suit against Sacramento challenging the state's sanctuary policies, it may be that a tipping point has been reached, and pushback against the sanctuary movement will result in a change in policy." • • • NY GOVERNOR CUOMO HAS ANOTHER IDEA. And, again, it is American Thinker that reveals it. On Friday, Michael Filozof wrote : "The most cynical, manipulative, Machiavellian -- and dangerous -- liberal in the nation has outdone himself once again. New York governor Andrew Cuomo has issued a pardon potentially affecting some 35,000 felons on parole, enabling them to vote -- presumably for him -- in his bid for a third term this November. The pardon will also apply to future felons on parole (although the governor reserves the right to exclude individuals on a case- by-case basis). In New York, parole is considered part of a convict’s sentence, which is not entirely served until parole is completed. Current state law only restores voting rights upon completion of parole, and the State Senate -- technically controlled by the Republicans with the assistance of one turncoat Democrat -- would not change the law to allow parolees to vote." • Filozof sais of Cuomo : "In his typical dictatorial and demagogic style, Cuomo stated that he refused to 'take no for an answer' and issued the pardon. Cuomo cynically and insincerely claimed that his pardon was an act of racial justice, contending that blacks are unfairly disenfranchised by criminal convictions and that the Fifteenth Amendment (ratified by Republicans in 1870 to grant voting rights to freed slaves) justified his actions. Cuomo announced his pardon in conjunction with Al Sharpton, a principal actor in the 1987 Tawana Brawley rape hoax." But, says Filozof: "The real reason for Cuomo’s pardon is that Cynthia Nixon, the openly lesbian 'Sex and the City' actress, is running against Cuomo on his political left, championing the legalization of marijuana as a cornerstone of her campaign. Cuomo’s poll numbers have already taken a hit since Nixon announced her candidacy. He is almost certain to lose the not-insignificant gay, queer, lesbian, transgendered, and hipster vote in New York City to Nixon -- so his scheme is to replace those votes with the votes of convicted black felons." • Filozof point out that Cuomo is selective about the constitutional amendments he champions : "While pretending to be solicitous of the Fifteenth Amendment rights of black felons, he tramples on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding taxpayers who have never committed a felony. New York, which already has the most drastic gun laws in the history of the US, just added ten misdemeanors -- including trespassing -- to a list of misdemeanors that ban someone from having a gun for life." • Filozof's prediction is not reassuring : "Voters in the rest of the nation should expect that Cuomo will win re-election this fall, and then run for president in 2020 on a platform that will be so radically and unapologetically left-wing he will make Barack Obama look like a John Bircher by comparison." • • • CUOMO ALSO FINDS ANOTHER WAY TO SPEND TAX DOLLARS. Fox News reported last week that : "York state plans to spend spend $18.5 million to fund programs aimed at keeping young people on Long Island from joining MS-13, a gang linked to brutal murders and violence across the state. Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, announced the funding this week in a bid to prevent youths from joining the gang, the Wall Street Journal reported. 'Let’s stop the young people from getting caught in the gang pipeline to begin with, rather than just treating them as criminals once the gang takes over,' the governor said at a news conference. 'Let’s not treat the disease, let’s prevent the disease.' ” • NY state officials say that $16 million will go to after-school, job-training and social-service programs for young people. About $2.5 million will be allocated to support violence-reduction efforts. Fox reports : "Cuomo said law-enforcement measures are important in tackling the gang, but stressed that more needs to be done to prevent young people from becoming 'easy prey' for MS-13 recruiters. The announcement marks a shifting tide among Democrats, who previously accused Republicans and President Donald Trump of exaggerating the threat that the gang poses. Trump previously pledged to arrest and deport gang members who turned the streets into 'blood-stained killing fields.' ” • In his State of the Union address in January, President Trump welcomed the parents of a teenager killed by the gang in Brentwood, NY -- one of New York City's Long Island suburbs. Nisa Mickens, 15, was brutally murdered in 2016 along with her friend, Kayla Cuevas, 16. The parents at the time criticized House and Senate Democrats for declining to stand and applaud when Trump honored them. • MSNBC star Joy Reid mocked Trump at the time for bringing up MS-13. She suggested the President inflated the threat : “He gives a speech tonight, in which he makes it sound like the biggest issue in the United States, the biggest threat, is MS-13, a gang nobody that doesn't watch Fox News has ever heard of. So he makes it sound like they're the biggest threat." BUT, on the same evening on MSNBC, US Senator Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, offered a different view, saying “MS-13 is an example of some of the worst of criminal gang behavior.” • In anotehr sanctuary affair, the New York Post reported in late March that : "California Governor Jerry Brown has pardoned five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two who fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia four decades ago. The men were among 56 receiving pardons Friday. Brown commuted the sentences of 14 others. Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach both face deportation to Cambodia. Pheach was born in Thailand. Chhan was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs. His wife says he is in federal custody. Also pardoned was Daniel Maher, convicted of kidnapping and robbery and facing deportation to China. Two men whose home countries were not immediately known were also pardoned." But, pardons do not prevent deportations. • Perhaps, if Governor Cuomo were more cooperative with President Trump's efforts to round up and jail or deport MS-13 gang members and other illegal aliens, and Senator Harris were slightly less to the left and prevailed on California Governor Jerry Brown to cooperate with ICE officiers in ridding California of MS-13 and other illegal aliens, less taxpayer money would need to be spent and Americans would be safer in their homes and on their neighborhood streets. • • • AMERICANS WEIGH IN WITH TRUMP ON IMMIGRATION. In late March, a Rasmussen poll found that the majority of Americans, about 54% do not believe that states and localities should have the right to ignore federal laws they disagree with. The poll also revealed that less than 24% of likely voters believe that states should be allowed to ignore federal laws they don’t like. About 70% of Republicans, 38% of Democrats, and 60% of swing voters said states should not be allowed ot ignore federal laws. • Trump’s immigration policies were front and center in his campaign message and the number one attack against him from Democrats. The Rasmussen poll makes it clear that Americans will not allow states like California to exempt themselves from federal immigration laws. • Just how bad the California refusal to abide by federal immigration laws is obvious. Consider that Lizbeth Mateo, an attorney who was born in Mexico and came into the United States illegally at the age of 14, was recently apointed by California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (a Los Angeles Democrat) to the California Student Opportunity and Access Program Project Grant Advisory Committee. Immediately, Mateo announced her intention to use her position to represent her fellow illegal aliens, saying in an interview with Fox News that : “While undocumented students have become more visible in our state, they remain under-represented in places where decisions that affect them are being made.” • The issue here is, of course, the fact that US government officials are supposed to represent the interests of US citizens. Individuals who are in the country illegally should not be granted representation in government, as representation in the US government is a right held only by US citizens. The problem is the fact that Mateo now holds office while living in the US illegally all the while promising to use her newfound power to represent other individuals who are breaking US law. While Mateo is not the first illegal alien appointed to office in California, she is the first unprotected illegal to hold office in the state -- the two illegal alien appointees before her were portected by DACA status, but, Mateo is not. Rather, Mateo is in every sense of the term an illegal alien who is in direct defiance of federal immigration laws. • Describing Lizbeth Mateo, Kevin de León -- who is running against Dianne Feinstein for a seat in the US Senate -- said that Mateo is “a courageous, determined and intelligent young woman who at great personal risk has dedicated herself to fight for those seeking their rightful place in this country.” • There will be no uproar in the mainstream media or the Washington Swamp about Mateo’s appointment, just as there was very little uproar over the Oakland mayor’s obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, the fundamental principles the Republic was founded on continue to be eroded. • • • TRUMP AN THE GOP FIGHT BACK IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Fox News reported just after Easter that : "Democrats are banking on a changing political tide in Southern California to win a handful of Republican-held seats in the region and propel them toward taking control of the US House. But recent efforts by Republicans lawmakers -- including growing opposition to the state’s so-called sanctuary city laws -- suggest that voters in the region still hold conservative values and support President Trump. Huntington Beach, in the heart of Orange County and a place where Democrats are especially focused, voted Monday to challenge California’s 'sanctuary' laws that effectively protect illegal immigrants from being deported. The city council voted 6-to-1 in favor and intends to back the Trump administration in its court challenge to the state laws -- joining Orange County in the suit and following neighboring city Los Alamitos, which recently passed a resolution opposing the laws that limit cooperation between local agencies and federal immigration agents. San Diego County is also reportedly considering challenging the laws." Fox reported that the votes in Huntington and Los Alamitos each attracted about 100 people, "huge for a local-government event," with many wearing “Make America Great Again” caps. • California GOP Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a top midterm target for Democrats, also attended the Huntington vote. Rohrabacher’s office said the congressman told a local CBS-TV station, “I am very proud of the USA....I would suggest that those who advocate for sanctuary states are betraying the American people.” Eight Democrats are trying this year to unseat the 15-term congressman in the state’s 48th congressional district, as part of the Democratic Party’s larger effort to win roughly 26 GOP-held seats and take control of the House. Since shortly after the 2016 White House race, Democrats began targeting four Orange County congressional districts held by Republicans but that Hillary Clinton won in 2016, becoming the first Democratic presidential nominee to win there since the Great Depression. Besides the Rohrabacher seat, Democrats have also targeted the seats of GOP Representatives Darrell Issa (retiring), Ed Royce and Mimi Walters, whose districts include at least part of Orange County, as well as a few other Republican-held seats up and down the state. • Of course, with Orange County’s influx of Hispanic residents, who according to the 2010 census make up 34% of the county population, compared to roughly 23% in 1990, Democrats see an opportunity. However, Latino voter turnout could be problem. Their voter registration increased in states across the country in 2016. But, says Fox News, Latino voter turnout that year was flat, at 48%. More registered Latino voters stayed home in the presidential election than went to the polls, following a trend since 1996, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. • These local efforts to oppose California sanctuary laws come at the same time Trump and his administration are going after the state’s Democratic-controlled government. This week, the Justice Department sued California over a law that would give the state power to override the sale of federal lands. And the administration is vowing to undo the state's tough vehicle-emissions laws. President Trump has also attacked outgoing Democratic Governor Jerry Brown for pardoning 56 felons who faced deportation : “Governor Jerry 'Moonbeam' Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want?” • • • THE DOJ SUES CALIFORNIA OVER SANCTUARY LAWS. The Washington Examiner reported that on March 6, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against California over "sanctuary" status. California Governor Jerry Brown is one of the targets of the DOJ lawsuit aimed at abolishing three state laws the DOJ says obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration law. The Justice Department's lawsuit was filed in federal court in Sacramento and is asking for Assembly Bill 450, Senate Bill 54, and Assembly Bill 103 to be nullified statewide. Justice Department officials told reporters ahead of the filing that the three laws -- which were all passed within the past year -- are pre-empted by federal law and therefore violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. • Assembly Bill 450 prevents private employers from voluntarily cooperating with federal immigration officials, for example when worksite visits are conduced. Assembly Bill 103 puts federal immigration detention in state officials’ hands, and Senate Bill 54 prohibits state and local law enforcement from voluntarily telling federal immigration authorities when they will release an illegal immigrant from their custody. • In a June 2017 letter, former Attorney General Eric Holder wrote a letter to Sessions about SB 54, saying it “fully complies with the Constitution and federal law.” BUT, the Justice Department’s lawsuit is similar to a lawsuit filed in 2010 by the Obama administration against an Arizona state law that actually required state and local law enforcement to crack down on anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. The lawsuit eventually reached the US Supreme Court, where it struck down parts of the laws as unconstitutional because they countered Congress’ ability to create federal immigration policy. • • • UNDER SESSIONS, DOJ DEPORTATION ORDERS RISE. Breitbart reported on April 6 that : "Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ immigration courts have returned deportation orders back up to the rate that existed before former President Barack Obama’s pro-migration policies. But the backlogs created by Obama’s pro-migrant policies are still keeping hundreds of thousands of Central Americans in US jobs, and are still inviting many additional poor Central American migrants to ask for asylum at border posts in Texas and California. The number of illegals beating deportation orders has fallen by half since Obama departed, according to data provided by Syracuse University....only 75,556 migrants were ordered home in fiscal 2016, but the departure number under AG Sessions is on track to reach 120,000 in 2018, says the university’s newest data at the Transactional Record Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). In fiscal 2016, 56% of immigrants defeated deportation cases in the immigration-court system run by Obama’s Attorney Generals. But, that percentage has quickly dropped to 29% in 2018 under Sessions’ oversight, which is slightly above the pre-Obama level which existed before 2009. • The same TRAC data shows the rising percentage of people who were ordered home by judges in the immigration courts. Under Obama, the deportation percentage fell from 76% of cases in fiscal 2008 down to 43.7% in fiscal 2016, which started in October 2015. Under Trump, that deportation percentage has moved back up to nearly pre-Obama levels -- roughly 70%. • The Sessions DOJ has also been able to process more of the young Central American juveniles who are seeking asylum and green cards, often as “Unaccompanied Alien Children.” In 2018, he won almost 12,000 removal orders and 2,400 voluntary departures, compared to Obama’s 10,000 orders and 800 departures in 2016 when there was a similar number of roughly 42,000 juvenile cases. Under Sessions, almost no juveniles were offered “prosecutorial discretion” in 2017, compared to 2,130 offers in 2016. Each of those offers effectively provided permanent residency to the migrant. The value of these Sessions gains were highlighted by April 2 statement from the White House about a police operation dubbed “Operation Matador.” The statement said : "Ninety-nine individuals arrested during this operation crossed the border as unaccompanied minors, all of which were confirmed as MS-13 gang members. 64 individuals arrested during this operation obtained Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJ) after entering the country, all of which were confirmed as MS-13 gang members. Of the 99 UACs, 64 had SIJ status." • BUT, despite these successes, the overall number of pending immigration cases continues to rise as migrants arrive faster than Session’s current 330 immigration judges can process them. Nationwide, the backlog grew from 223,000 in Obama’s first year, up to 513,000 in fiscal 2016 and then continued growing to 629,000 in 2017. The 2018 backlog is likely to reach 684,000, says TRAC. That number includes 90,000 cases in New York, 67,000 in Los Angeles, 53,000 in San Franciso, 49,000 in Houston, and 40,000 in Arlington, Virginia. Sessions has taken several steps to reduce Obama’s backlog. For example, he is hiring 100 extra judges, requiring judges to process cases faster, and is reversing time-consuming or generous precedents that helped more migrants win residency. • Sessions’ reforms have enraged wealthy advocates of greater immigration. David Leopold, an immigration lawyer and the former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, slamed Sessions, saying : "While ICE agents all across the US dutifully execute Trump’s brutal anti-immigrant crackdown, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is turning the nation’s immigration courts into deportation assembly lines where asylum seekers, battered women, unaccompanied children and others seeking justice are processed for removal like cattle to the slaughter." • Sessions is doing a great job, but Fox News says his task is huge : "the backlog delays average immigration cases to more than three years, effectively offering migrants a valuable three-year work permit in exchange for just asking for asylum. This federal offer of temporary work-permits via the backlogged court system provides a huge incentive for poor migrants in Central Americans -- many of whom hope to work hard for their poor families -- to take the expensive and risky journey to the US border posts so they can make a claim for asylum in the backlogged immigration courts. That incentive is what Trump is trying to reduce by deploying the National Guard to the border." The backlog creates a cheap-labor loophole which puts 300,000 to 600,000 migrants into jobs -- such as New York restaurants -- throughout the United States. That huge semi-legal workforce reduces marketplace pressure on US companies to pay higher wages, to recruit marginalized workers and to invest in labor-saving machinery or training efforts. Many white-collar progressives scoff at the impact of this cheap-labor pipeline on their blue-collar fellow Americans. Max Boot, a columnist for the Washington Post, wrote : "And what horrors will be visited upon the United States if it were to act with a smidgen of kindness and allow a few of the Hondurans in? We would undoubtedly be getting hard-working newcomers who, like most immigrants, will make our country even greater than it is..." • If he US needs new pools of unskilled labor, the correct apporach is to allow entry through regular immigration processes. But, what is happening now is that the Swampy Congress is kowtowing to employers -- some in Siulicon Valley who make big campaign contributions -- by doing nothing to help President Trump and AG Sessions in their efforts to re-establish control over America's borders. • • • THE GOP IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. In the midst of this Progressive obsession with a wrong-headed notion of sanctuary, a new reaction is making its appearance. Cal-Exit. A billionaire has collected enough signatures for a ballot initiative that would split California into three states. Tim Draper, who made his money through Hotmail and Skype, has gathered 600,000 signatures supporting the split -- far more than the 364,000 needed. Those who want to break up California believe it would boost educational standards and reduce the political power of Sacramento, the state’s capital. If state authorities agree that the signatures are genuine, a referendum on the issue will be held this November alongside other mid-term elections. Draper met Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, just weeks after Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016 to learn from Farage's experience in successfully leading the Brexit campaign. Draper, in England to meet with Farage, told the Telegraph : “This is an unprecedented show of support on behalf of every corner of California to create three state governments that emphasise representation, responsiveness, reliability and regional identity,” adding that the support was a “milestone” and sent a message that people across California would “create a brighter future for everyone.” The proposal is to split California into three separate states -- Northern California (San Francisco, Sacramento and San Jose); Southern California (San Diego); and California, which includes Los Angeles. Conservatives in Orange County and across Southern California are enthusiastic, but with three states, two of which would likely be Progressive, such a split could actually dilute GOP votes in the Senate by adding two more ProgDems to its ranks. It is something to think about. • Another Silicon Valley alumni is not as interested in using constitutional means to resolve the divisions in California and across the United States. The Daily Caller recently reported that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey labeled a Medium article “great” that claimed there’s no “bipartisan way forward” in the United States and that the country is engaged in a “fundamental conflict between two worldviews that must be resolved in short order.” Dorsey shared the Medium article on his personal Twitter account, with the acclaim that it was a “great read.” Author and media consultant Peter Leyden and political commentator Ruy Teixeira argued in the article titled “The Great Lesson of California in America’s New Civil War” that America is already in the midst of a second major domestic conflict of sorts and the way out is for the rest of the country to imitate California : “In this current period of American politics, at this juncture in our history, there’s no way that a bipartisan path provides the way forward. The way forward is on the path California blazed about 15 years ago.” Essentially, the authors called for a complete marginalization of the Republican Party and its voters since they only care “about rule by and for billionaires at the expense of working people” and not “average citizens.” California, they wrote, despite its mass wealth inequality, growing lack of social cohesion, poverty, and soaring housing costs “provides a model for America as a whole.” Interestingly enough, they claimed the state’s economy is booming, although arguably not for long. They also oddly claimed the state is running on surpluses without acknowledging its debt crisis : “The public is happy with its political leaders.” Right -- California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, has a 44% approval rating , and tens of thousands of residents leave California annually. Leyden and Teixeira didn't call for Democrats to try to understand their political adversaries. They proposed Americans “take the Republican Party down for a generation or two” in order to save the country : “America can’t afford more political paralysis. One side or the other must win. This is a civil war that can be won without firing a shot. But it is a fundamental conflict between two worldviews that must be resolved in short order." Of course, Twitter CEO Dorsey would agree -- Twitter has banned a number of right-wing accounts that it says violate the site’s terms of service. Critics say that the site is selective in who it punishes and that it engages in so-called “shadowbanning,” which effectively makes a user’s post invisible to others without officially taking the account down. Twitter denies this. We could ask Dorsey to explain just how he intends to "take the Republican Party down." He offered no concrete proposal -- just a "second Civil War." It seems that, like Governor Brown and most ProgDem leaders in California, Dorsey feels no obligation to help steer America away from collapse. He simply wants to destroy the Republic. • • • DEAR READERS, Dorsey and Brown woud do well to consider their neighbor to the south -- Mexico -- which will be electing a new president in July. The real issue for Mexicans in the election campaign is not Trump, or Californaia' suicidal sanctuary policies. The main issues are crime and corruption. This election report quoted by American Thinker tells the story : "The Peña Nieto administration’s inability to deal with three major issues concerning a majority of Mexican citizens drives the debate in Mexico today. Recent Ipsos polling illustrates these trends. We find that 65% of Mexicans say crime and violence are one of the greatest worries facing their country. This is followed by 53% who cite corruption and 40% who call out poverty and inequality as one of their top concerns. These statistics emerge from real-life experiences : The homicide total hit over 29,000 last year as cartel violence spreads, and bribes and fraud rarely get exposed, much less prosecuted." American Thinker asks : "So, what's wrong with the major candidates? They are not talking about insecurity, corruption or proposing polices that create jobs. So what happens in July? One of three men will win with less than 40% of the vote. He will govern a very angry nation that wants results. A Mexican businessman told the American Thinker writer : "We may be electing the last president of Mexico." When asked to clarify if he was talking about a military coup, he answered "not necessarily" but the country is demanding "un hombre fuerte" or a strong man. He added that he is hoping that whoever wins is a very strong man against crime. • Perhaps crime in Mexico is why the country keeps pushing its questionable citizens to become illegal aliens in the sanctuary of California. But, perhaps, too, Dorsey and Brown ought to listen to what Mexicans really yearns for -- and provide it for their own legal California residents before those residents break up the Golden State for good and for the good of the Republic.