The information was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the allegedly conservative-leaning Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). The information obtained was apparently juicy enough that Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala), the newly appointed chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration jumped on the information like a duck on a June bug, calling for an investigation.
“This request has unearthed the operation of a shadow immigration system previously unknown to the American public,” said Sessions, one of Capitol Hill’s most outspoken critics of President Obama’s immigration policy. “A full investigation is warranted.”
The claims made by the Center for Immigration Studies
Jessica Vaughn is the study author and the center’s director of policy studies. She is following the well-heeled line of CIS rhetoric when she argued the Obama administration figured out a way to issue permits outside the authority of Congress, and this method has become “the vehicle” for Obama’s executive actions, allowing him to offer deferred deportation to millions of people now in the country illegally.
Following are the three categories of immigrants that CIS claims received work authorizations under what the group is calling “shadow” authorizations, as reported by Breitbart.com
1.Approximately 1.8 million new work permits were issued to aliens with temporary visas or who entered under the visa waiver program. Of these, about 1.2 million (67%) had a visa status for which employment is not authorized by law, such as foreign students and independents of guest workers.
2.About 982,000 new work permits issued to illegal aliens or aliens unqualified for admission. Of these, 957,000 were aliens who crossed the border illegally (Entered Without Inspection). Inexplicably, 1,200 new work permits were issued to aliens who were denied asylum, were suspected of using fraudulent documents, were stowaways, or were refused at a port of entry.
3.About 1.7 million, were issued to aliens whose status was unknown, not recorded by the adjudicator, or not disclosed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that processes the applications.
This alleged evidence is great for Senator Sessions, a well-known pro-life, anti-same-sex marriage advocate as well as someone who has a great deal of distaste for our immigration policy. That he is burdened with a checkered past due to racial comments allows him to fit right in with the CIS.
Here is what people don’t know about the Center for Immigration Studies
The Center for Immigration Studies claims to be a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent research organization with a benign-sounding motto, “Low Immigration, Pro Immigrant.” Republicans adore them, as do any right-wing extremists. But did you know that the group was founded by a Michigan ophthalmologist named John Tanton, well-known for his racial statements against Latinos, as well as his affiliations with white nationalists and Holocaust deniers. Oh, he is also known for his publication of ugly racist materials.
While Tanton has never actually ran CIS, his ideas and passions for a “white-European” majority in the U.S. are unmistakable in the work CIS pursues. He has raised millions of dollars for his little think-tank, using his racist journal, The Social Contract. He now has a friend he was able to get on the board of CIS who also has the same interests in eugenics that he likes to expound on frequently. The CIS has been in the cross-hairs of the Southern Poverty Law Center for some time now, and they say the CIS claims of immigration wrongdoings are false.
The Daily Beast points out there is no question that the latest CIS report is focusing on the negative effects of immigration, particularly immigration enforcement under the present administration. Actually, the author of the report, Jessica Vaughan, admits as much. Vaughan said what CIS is hoping to do is “raise questions about the Obama administration’s management of enforcement resources, as well as its enforcement plans and priorities.”
So why would a major news network take on this story? I guess shooting themselves more than once in the foot lately has numbed them to the consequences of reporting news from one side of the street only.
