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Obama Lies Again: Claims Immigration Bill Requires Illegals to Learn English

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

In his weekly address, President Barack Obama claimed the Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill would require illegal immigrants to learn English to earn their citizenship.

“This bill would provide a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million individuals who are already in this country illegally–a pathway that includes passing a background check, learning English, paying taxes and a penalty, and then going to the back of the line behind everyone who’s playing by the rules and trying to come here legally,” Obama said.

While that claim would quell a lot of criticism of the bill if it were true, it simply is not accurate.

As Breitbart News has previously reported, when illegal immigrants apply for “registered provisional immigrant” status under the provisions of the bill, the first step in legalization, they do not need to demonstrate that they can speak English. When they apply for renewal of their RPI status, they still do not need to prove they can speak English.

Only when illegal immigrants apply for their “legal permanent resident” status, or green card, would they be required to demonstrate their ability to speak English or prove that they are currently enrolled in a course “to achieve an understanding of English and knowledge and understanding” of civics.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rubio: Amnesty Guaranteed Under Immigration Bill No Matter What Happens with Border Security

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Photo Credit: AP

Sen. Marco Rubio said Friday that illegal immigrants will get legal status no matter what happens with border security, but said the Senate will have to stiffen enforcement in order to win the 60 votes needed to pass his bill through his chamber.

“Nobody is talking here about preventing legalization. Legalization will take place,” Mr. Rubio told Univision in an interview scheduled to air Sunday.

“First comes legalization, then comes this border security measure and then comes the permanent residency process. What we are talking about here is the permanent residency system,” the Florida Republican said, according to the English translation of the interview.

“Regarding legalization, a vast majority of my colleagues have already accepted that: that it must take place and that it must start at the same time we start with what has to do with security. That is not conditional. Legalization is not conditional.”

As one of the eight authors of the immigration bill, Mr. Rubio is fighting to keep it on track, arguing that it does not have the support to clear a filibuster in the Senate right now. But he said it could earn that support if his colleagues will do more to specify where security will be enhanced.

Read more from this story HERE.

The Wall Street Journal Spins for the Senate Immigration Bill

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

The Wall Street Journal editorial board took a strong stance Monday in favor of the Senate immigration bill, arguing that “immigrants will be crucial” to saving Social Security. The proof: a projection that immigrants will contribute $4.6 trillion (in today’s dollars) towards the Social Security trust fund over the next 75 years–nearly half the $9.6 trillion shortfall (for some reason, the Journal cites last year’s $8.6 trillion estimate.)

Even if true, that does not dispose of Social Security’s problems–and it may be misleading to consider the effects on Social Security alone, when new immigrants will also be making use of a host of other entitlement programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and now Obamacare.

That is not an argument against immigration, but reminds us that using immigrants to shore up failing welfare state programs may be a recipe for failure.

It certainly has been in Europe.

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Rubio Has Long History of Blocking Immigration-Enforcement

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller Sen. Marco Rubio blocked numerous immigration-enforcement bills when he served as speaker in the Florida House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009.

“Rubio blocked any efforts to deal with the problems of illegal immigration on the local or state level,” one former politician from South Florida, who has known Rubio since his city councilman days in West Miami, told The Daily Caller.

“He said it was because we had bigger things to deal with on the state level. Maybe that’s true. But he didn’t even let bills to the floor when they sailed through committees,” the politician, who declined to speak on the record, added.

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Obama Meets In Oval Office With Illegal Aliens

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Photo Credit: Official White House Photo/Pete SouzaPresident Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met in the Oval Office on Tuesday with three people who are in the country in violation of U.S. immigration laws but who have received “deferred action” allowing them to stay in the country under the terms of a “memorandum” issued unilaterally last year by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

While conceding that she had no legal authority to change the “immigration status” of illegal aliens or provide them with a “pathway to citizenship,” Napolitano instructed the top officials at Customs and Border Protection, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use what she called “prosecutorial discretion” in not enforcing the immigration laws against certain classes of immigration lawbreakers.

These included illegal aliens who arrived in the United States before their sixteenth birthday, had graduated from high school or served in the military, had not been convicted of “significant” or “multiple” misdemeanors, and had not yet turned thirty.

Before Napolitano issued this unilateral order allowing the illegal aliens to remain in the country in violation of the law, President Obama’s allies in Congress had failed to secure passage of the Dream Act, which would have allowed such persons to became legal residents in the United States.

In all, Obama and Biden met on Tuesday with eight people who are advocating immigration reform, according to White House readout of the meeting. The White House readout listed three of those as having received “deferred action.” Most others were legally in the United States with relatives who were illegal aliens.

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Laura Ingraham: ‘I’m Thinking of Moving to Arizona’ to ‘Primary Challenge Sen. Jeff Flake Myself’

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreOn her Wednesday radio show, conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham attacked a number of Republican senators that voted to support the immigration reform bill on Tuesday, saying that she was thinking about moving to Arizona to primary Sen. Jeff Flake, who is up for re-election in 2018.

“Let me tell you — I am thinking of moving to Arizona,” Ingraham said. “You know why? I will primary challenge Sen. Jeff Flake myself, if that’s why this requires. Jeff Flake, living up to his last name, backed down from a previous promise his spokeswoman made to Breitbart. This is just like Marco [Rubio] breaking his promise, basically, that he would consider voting in favor of amendments to the Senate’s immigration bill that would close a loophole of allowing illegal immigrants access to state and local welfare. Jeff Flake voted with the liberals against the Ted Cruz amendment.”

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Yes We Can’ Chant Breaks Out as Senate Panel Passes Immigration Bill

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Photo Credit: eResumes4VipsThe Senate Judiciary Committee’s passage of a sweeping immigration bill was expected. But the explosion of chants of “Yes we can! Yes we can!” and “Leahy! Leahy!” came as a surprise.

The “Gang of Eight” bill passed by a wide 13-5 margin early Tuesday evening. Amid the cheering, Democratic committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont could be seen motioning spectators to come up and participate in the celebration.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rep. Steve King: ‘I Have No Moral Obligation’ to Help Illegal Aliens Stay in USA

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Photo Credit: APIn an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, straight talking Rep. Steve King (R-IA) makes a seldom heard argument that cuts to the heart of the immigration problem. Congressman King said:

I was talking to someone about immigration reform and I told him what I thought was wrong with the approach on the bill.

He looks at me and he says “What are you going to do? How are you going to solve this problem of eleven million illegal immigrants?”

So, I gave my answer which is not a new idea; seal the border. But as I drove home that night I realized I didn’t give the correct answer.

My real answer is, “Why do I have to do anything to solve a problem that people created willingly for themselves?”

Read more from this story HERE.

Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform

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Photo Credit: National Institutes of HealthThe immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.

Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation (.pdf) is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.

Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.

This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet. Think of it as a government version of Foursquare, with Big Brother cataloging every check-in.

“It starts to change the relationship between the citizen and state, you do have to get permission to do things,” said Chris Calabrese, a congressional lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union. “More fundamentally, it could be the start of keeping a record of all things.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Koch Sponsors Pro-Amnesty Buzzfeed Event (+video)

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Photo Credit: BreitbartAn event touting itself as an evening of immigration reform discussion with a “diversity of opinion” turns out to be slanted heavily towards “comprehensive immigration reform.” The BuzzFeed Brews Special Edition: Immigration Summit, sponsored by the Charles Koch Institute, will take place Tuesday, May 14th from 6 PM – 8 PM Eastern Time. The Charles Koch Institute is an educational offshoot of the Charles Koch Foundation.

It’s an unusual pairing: BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith has a reputation for liberal bias (he recently blamed “the right” for conditions of Kermit Gosnell’s abortion clinic) will be the moderator; Charles Koch, founder of the libertarian CATO Institute, is one of the people most reviled by the left.

The goal of the event is described as follows:

[W]e believe one of the best ways to turn conversations into solutions is through the challenge of assumptions and exchange of ideas. Our event on immigration aims to do just that by bringing together a diversity of opinions for a thoughtful dialogue.

At first glance, the panel appears diverse: the six invitees include a Democrat politician, a Republican politician, two members of conservative organizations, one from a liberal Hispanic/Latino organization, and one from a libertarian think tank.

Read more from this story HERE.