How Trump Proposes to Help Victims of Crimes by Illegal Aliens

With family members of three Americans killed by illegal immigrants looking on, President Donald Trump on Tuesday night used his address to Congress to bring attention to his plan for an office to help victims of crimes committed by those not authorized to be in the country.

“I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims,” Trump said in his speech. “The office is called VOICE—Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement. We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media, and silenced by special interests.”

The mention brought audible groans and murmurs from some, apparently Democrats, in the House chamber.

Trump mandated creation of the office as part of an executive order he signed Jan. 25.

But by using part of his prime-time address to highlight this little-known part of the executive order, Trump sent a message as his administration implements a series of tough immigration enforcement measures.

“The idea is to have an office that will assist and advocate for people who have been victims or family members victimized by criminal immigrants,” Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said in an interview with The Daily Signal.

“There is a legitimate need for this kind of office, and they will be busy. I don’t see it as a symbolic or political move at all.”

The Trump administration has provided little information on what exactly the office will do, its budget, or staffing level. On Wednesday, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency in the Department of Homeland Security tasked with creating the office, gave few additional details.

“The men and women comprising the VOICE office will be guided by a singular, straightforward mission—to support victims of crime committed by immigration violators through access to information and other resources, as needed,” ICE spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea said in a statement to reporters.

Information, Answers

In memos last week detailing implementation of Trump’s immigration policies, John Kelly, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, wrote that victims of crime committed by illegal immigrants “are often not provided adequate information about the offender, the offender’s immigration status, or any enforcement action taken by ICE against the offender.”

Kelly said ICE will appoint a liaison to “facilitate engagement with the victims and their families to ensure they are provided information about the offender and that their questions and concerns regarding immigration enforcement are addressed.”

Little published data exists on crime committed by illegal immigrants, and critics of the new office worry the president is exaggerating the risks to make his immigration enforcement initiatives more attractive.

A 2015 study by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute found that 820,000 illegal immigrants had criminal convictions, including about 300,000 with felony records.

“What they are trying to do is criminalize immigrants,” David Leopold, an Ohio-based immigration attorney, told The Daily Signal. “It seems this administration will stop at nothing to dehumanize and criminalize immigrants.”

Administration officials and their defenders point out that the program is aimed at illegal immigrants, not immigrants in general.

‘Providing Evidence’

In the memos, Kelly writes that the process to gather and publish information about crime committed by illegal immigrants is hampered by a previous DHS policy that protected all those on whom the agency has records through the Privacy Act of 1974, regardless of their immigration status.

The Privacy Act of 1974 governs the collection, use, and dissemination of personal information about individuals maintained in federal government records.

Kelly said DHS no longer will afford privacy rights to those who are not U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. He also ordered ICE to provide monthly reports to the public detailing the arrest and release of illegal immigrants.

“The biggest thing this new office ought to be doing, and what it sounds like it is going to be doing, is gathering information on and regularly reporting the quality and quantity of crimes committed by illegal immigrants,” said Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He added:

I don’t know of any government agency that is on a regular and consistent basis collecting this information and reporting it to the public and Congress. That is a very important way of providing evidence of the effects of not enforcing our immigration laws.

Objections of Immigration Lawyers

Immigration lawyers have expressed concerns about language in Kelly’s memo on reallocating DHS resources currently used to “advocate on behalf of” illegal immigrants to the new VOICE office.

It’s not clear what funds Kelly means, and ICE did not answer questions from The Daily Signal on that subject.

Greg Chen, director of advocacy at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told The Daily Signal that no government resources explicitly benefit immigrants who live in the country illegally.

Chen and his colleague, William Stock, president of the group, speculated that Kelly may be referencing funds ICE currently uses for “community engagement officers.”

According to ICE, community engagement officers strengthen “partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies, community organizations, local governments, civic leaders, and the public” by fostering communication regarding the government’s immigration enforcement efforts.

These ICE officers sometimes sought community assistance to identify people they were looking to apprehend, Stock told The Daily Signal.

“Because the [officers] have also dealt with issues like communication problems family members have if a loved one is detained, there has been some press labeling them and the overall Community Relations Office at ICE [as] ‘advocates for illegal immigrants’ and calling for them to be defunded,” Stock said.

‘Shooting Himself in the Foot’

If the Trump administration were to deemphasize these efforts, and illegal immigrants lost privacy protections, Chen said, he worries this will harm law enforcement investigations that depend on tips from residents.

“If Trump’s real goal is to improve national security and public safety, he is shooting himself in the foot,” Chen said. “Immigrant communities will be less likely to use local law enforcement services to report crimes, and that is what law enforcement needs.”

Regardless of this program’s fate, Vaughan, of the Center for Immigration Studies, contends that victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants deserve more support. She said:

Every law enforcement agency in the country at the state and local level has a victim advocacy office. It seems only fair you should have something dedicated to those harmed in a crime that is committed by someone here illegally that would not have occurred if that person wasn’t in the country to begin with.

(For more from the author of “How Trump Proposes to Help Victims of Crimes by Illegal Aliens” please click HERE)

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Trump’s 5 Health Care Principles, Explained

President Donald Trump didn’t shy away from asking Congress to unwind Obamacare during Tuesday night’s joint address, and he presented lawmakers with a list of five policies to consider as Republicans craft their replacement for the health care law.

During his speech, Trump called on lawmakers to repeal and replace Obamacare, and reform the health care system to “expand choice, increase access, lower costs, and at the same time, provide better health care.”

“Mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for our country,” Trump said. “The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that’s what we are going to do.”

The president offered few specifics on what reforms he would like to see Congress pursue as they work toward a replacement for Obamacare.

But Trump did outline five policies he supports in a proposal that will dismantle the health care law.

Many of the policies are in line with those backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. But some have been met with resistance from the House and Senate’s most conservative members.

The GOP conference hasn’t yet united around a plan to repeal and replace the law, and Trump’s comments seemed to tip the scales in favor of leadership’s suggested reforms.

But, conservatives have said they’ll oppose any legislation that doesn’t fully repeal Obamacare, and their hard line sent Republican leaders back to the drawing board.

Here are the policies Trump said he would like to see in an Obamacare replacement plan, and where they stand in the context of the current debate.

1. “We should ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage, and that we have a stable transition for Americans currently enrolled in the health care exchanges.”

Obamacare’s pre-existing conditions provision has become one of the health care law’s more popular measures. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies were prohibited from discriminating against consumers with pre-existing conditions.

Trump, Price, and congressional Republicans have repeatedly said they want to make sure Americans with pre-existing conditions have access to health insurance.

Most replacement plans include a provision barring insurers from discriminating against customers with pre-existing conditions if the person maintained coverage continuously, and a draft proposal—viewed as the leading plan—leaked to the press last week penalized individuals who let their coverage lapse by raising their premiums 30 percent for a year.

2. “We should help Americans purchase their own coverage through the use of tax credits and expanded health savings accounts—but it must be the plan they want, not the plan forced on them by our government.”

Republicans across the board agree on expanding health savings accounts, or medical savings accounts.

In fact, GOP leaders want to see the expansion of health savings accounts included in the bill that will repeal Obamacare.

But where Republican leadership and conservative lawmakers are at odds is in the financial assistance available to customers buying individual market coverage.

Tax credits were a staple of Obamacare replacement plans rolled out by Price and Ryan, and the leaked repeal document created refundable tax credits based on age—ranging from $2,000 for consumers under 30 to $4,000 for consumers over 60.

But conservatives object to the idea of refundable tax credits and say they’re a form of “Obamacare lite.”

They’re not ruling out all forms of financial assistance for consumers, though. Last month, the House Freedom Caucus, a group of approximately 40 conservatives, backed an Obamacare replacement plan from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., that created a $5,000 tax credit for those who contribute to their HSAs.

By referencing tax credits explicitly, Trump seemed to side with Ryan and Republican leadership.

However, conservatives after the speech suggested that Trump didn’t explicitly endorse “refundable tax credits,” which leadership’s plan calls for, and which they object to.

3. “We should give our great state governors the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out.”

Trump hasn’t offered specifics on which changes to Medicaid he would prefer. However, he seemed swayed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, after a meeting at the White House on Friday—Trump suggested Kasich meet further with Price and chief of staff Reince Priebus to discuss Obamacare’s future more.

Kasich is opposed to repealing the Medicaid expansion, but favors making changes to the Affordable Care Act.

Governors who decided to expand the program, as well as Republican senators representing those states, have opposed a rollback of the Medicaid expansion, which expanded eligibility.

Still, Republican governors are working with congressional leaders to discuss potential changes and come up with a plan for the future of the Medicaid program.

Trump’s call for giving governors “resources and flexibility” with Medicaid seems to go along with Republican plans to block grant the program.

Some Obamacare replacement plans call for Medicaid to be turned into a block grant, or a lump sum of money allocated to the states. Others, though, favor a per-capita allotment.

Like the tax credits, the future of the Medicaid expansion is a point of contention for conservative lawmakers.

House and Senate conservatives are urging Republican leaders to bring a bill from 2015 rolling back key provisions of Obamacare, including Medicaid expansion, before members vote again.

Any proposal that falls short of that legislation won’t earn their support, and Medicaid expansion, specifically, is a sticking point for the conservatives.

4. “We should implement legal reforms that protect patients and doctors from unnecessary costs that drive up the price of insurance, and work to bring down the artificially high price of drugs, and bring them down immediately.”

Trump’s fourth policy calls for medical malpractice reform.

The issue hasn’t been prominent in debates over Obamacare’s future, though, Price and Ryan did say in the past they wanted to make tort reform part of their replacement plan.

On drug pricing, though, Trump has criticized the “artificially high price of drugs” before. During the campaign, the president said he was in favor of letting Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices.

Last month, White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed Trump hadn’t changed his stance. But the high cost of prescription drugs has largely been left out of discussions surrounding Obamacare’s replacement.

5. “The time has come to give Americans the freedom to purchase health insurance across state lines—which will create a truly competitive national marketplace that will bring costs way down and provide far better care.”

The ability to purchase health insurance across state lines has been the one health care reform Trump has consistently advocated.

And on this policy, in particular, Republicans are in agreement.

Some Obamacare replacement plans floated by GOP lawmakers over the years would allow consumers to buy coverage across state lines, including Ryan’s “Better Way” plan, Price’s proposal, and the Paul-Sanford replacement bill.

Trump and his fellow Republicans believe allowing insurers to sell across state lines will increase consumers’ access to coverage.

This proposal is beneficial for insurers based in states with strict regulations that can drive up the cost of plans, since they would be able to sell coverage in others with less stringent mandates.

However, it’s not the only thing that needs to be done to lower costs and boost competition, according to Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University. (For more from the author of “Trump’s 5 Health Care Principles, Explained” please click HERE)

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Trump Reform Could Admit More Self-Sufficient Immigrants

President Donald Trump’s gesture for bipartisan immigration reform seemed to call for replacing the current legal immigration system that prioritizes family reunification with an economic merit-based system.

If that’s the direction, then some pro-enforcement groups seem willing to listen.

“Right now, just 16 percent of illegal immigrants came because they were sponsored by an employer,” Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Daily Signal. “Ample research shows that immigrants admitted for employment are more likely to be self-sufficient, an economic plus, and on balance less of a fiscal burden.”

Critics of the focus on family reunification say it has led to chain migration.

Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and David Perdue, R-Ga., last month introduced the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act, which would rebalance the legal immigration system toward employment-based visas and immediate family households, rather than extended family members.

The sponsors project that if enacted, the legislation would lower overall immigration to 637,960 people per year, and to 530,958 immigrants in the second year. That’s down from 1.05 million immigrants admitted in 2015.

During his address to a joint session of Congress, Trump noted that Canada and Australia are among countries with a merit-based immigration system.

“It is a basic principle that those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves financially,” Trump said. “I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: to improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nation’s security, and to restore respect for our laws.”

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., chairman of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who dismissed the view that the president was making a bipartisan appeal for reform, said what Trump spoke about would limit Hispanics coming to the United States.

“[Trump] envisions an immigration system where quotas for Ph.D.s are set in Washington and the multitude of immigrants who built this country and who keep it flourishing would not be welcome,” Gutiérrez said in a statement. “The Latino community won’t forget and won’t let that happen. And the millions of allies we have who support immigration as a fundamental and integral aspect of America’s greatness will not forget either.”

Vaughan said that numbers of immigrants admitted to the U.S. are an issue even in a merit-based system.

“We have to be careful with the numbers and we don’t want American workers to be displaced,” she said.

A merit-based green card system would differ from a guest worker program because it would be more stringent for both the employer and the immigrant in proving they have skills and can contribute to the economy, Vaughan said.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the president is not compromising his principles.

“One of the network anchors said, if anyone can get a deal, it would be [Trump]. Obviously, he was pleased with that, because it’s true,” Spicer said. “He recognizes that a comprehensive solution has alluded our nation for a long time and it’s a big problem. If he can get it consistent with his principles, he will.”

In response to a later question, Spicer said: “I think he was making it clear that the results of our immigration system don’t yield one that reflects a merit-based one.”

Congress broadened the merit-based system in 1990, but left the family reunification-based system in place. A merit-based system should replace the family-based system in order to be more effective, Vaughan said.

If illegal immigrants could prove they have a particular skill set, this might open the door for a limited, economic-based amnesty, or legalized status for illegal immigrants, Vaughan said. However, this would be an economic-based granting of legal status to those who can be self-sufficient.

“Democrats might be on board if they saw a chance to get something in return, like amnesty,” Vaughan said. “It may be reasonable to look at, but it would require legislation.”

The chief focus is on legal immigration, though, and tackling the problem of chain migration, said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform.

“It would be about families and children, instead of siblings, which brings the biggest pressure, because those siblings bring spouses, who bring in-laws,” Mehlman told The Daily Signal. “The point is to have an objective assessment for letting people enter the country, who will complement, not compete with, our workforce.”

Mehlman noted the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform in the 1990s that called for limits on immediate nuclear family and employment-based immigration. The commission was chaired by former Rep. Barbara Jordan, D-Texas, and was endorsed by then-President Bill Clinton. (For more from the author of “Trump Reform Could Admit More Self-Sufficient Immigrants” please click HERE)

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Lawmakers Praise Trump’s Joint Address, Call It a ‘Home Run’

After President Donald Trump gave his first joint address to Congress Tuesday night, numerous lawmakers voiced support for Trump’s tone and agenda.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said Trump’s message was “critical” to Americans and noted Trump’s “strong” message on Obamacare.

“I was pleased to hear President Trump address many issues critical to everyday Americans, such as job creation, tax reform, national security, supporting our military and veterans, and improving addiction treatment services,” Scott said in a statement, adding:

The president made a strong call for the principles that will guide the replacement of Obamacare. I look forward to passing legislation that repeals Obamacare and builds a sustainable system for all American families.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called the address a “home run.”

“That was a home run,” Ryan said. “President Trump delivered a bold, optimistic message to the American people.”

Ryan also said that Congress and the White House are on the same page in their stance on Obamacare.

“Obamacare is one of the biggest challenges that the American people face,” Ryan said. “Congress and the White House are united in our promise to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a patient-centered system.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also reaffirmed his support for the full repeal of Obamacare.

“The vast majority of people in the country have been hurt by Obamacare,” Cruz said Tuesday morning in an interview with MSNBC and tweeted his support for full repeal of Obamacare during the joint address.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voiced support for Trump’s message to coal miners.

“We have undertaken a historic effort to massively reduce job-crushing regulations, creating a deregulation task force inside of every government agency; imposing a new rule which mandates that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated; and stopping a regulation that threatens the future and livelihoods of our great coal miners,” Trump said in the address.

In February, Trump signed legislation that removed regulations on coal mining provisions.

Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., who also serves as chairman of the House Budget Committee, said she is excited to see Trump putting actions behind his words.

Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., said he supports Trump’s agenda for the military.

“I support the president’s efforts to rebuild our military and protect our communities,” Brat said. “As Congress considers spending levels, the firewall between defense and discretionary spending must be torn down. I believe our men and women in uniform must have the capabilities to defend our country against current and future threats.”

Trump told Congress Tuesday night that “ … to keep America safe we must provide the men and women of the United States military with the tools they need to prevent war and—if they must—to fight and to win.”

Freshman Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said he appreciated Trump’s message of unity.

“I applaud the president for his bold vision and for his message of national unity,” Bacon said. “I also look forward to working with this administration, and with congressional colleagues on both side of the aisle to renew our belief in America’s spirit so that we can guarantee our future generations the same opportunities that have been the hallmark of American greatness for over two centuries.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Trump’s address showcased his commitment to the American people.

“We have a fundamental task,” Jordan tweeted. “Do what the voters sent us here [to] do.”

Democrats also commented on the speech.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., praised Trump’s tone and said the president’s message was timely, Breitbart News reported.

“I loved the presidential tone,” Manchin said. “The tone was good. It was exactly what we needed to hear.”

Following the address, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called for recognition of “undocumented immigrants.”

“We must recognize our undocumented immigrants deserve the dignity of a pathway to citizenship,” Pelosi said.

(For more from the author of “Lawmakers Praise Trump’s Joint Address, Call It a ‘Home Run'” please click HERE)

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