Why can't an Ivy League graduate become a U.S. citizen?

The immigration reform debate has been raging for years, but rarely do we see the perspective of actual immigrants, and their experiences working through our dysfunctional system. Contrary to popular belief, becoming an American citizen or gaining legal residency is not a matter of "getting in line" and filling out paperwork. Just ask William Han.

Han is from New Zealand, and came to America on a student visa, with dreams of one day becoming a U.S. citizen, until those dreams hit reality. Han has earned two degrees from Ivy League colleges, and for the past 15 years, has tried to become an American citizen. In a recent essay for Vox.com, he has documented perhaps the most complete breakdown of how difficult it is to become an American, and outlines the various obstacles and costs even he has been unable to overcome. If an Ivy League graduate cannot navigate our dysfunctional system, how does a family from Central America or Asia with little money and no legal resources stand a chance? This is why we have illegal immigration; many of these immigrants do not want to flaunt our laws; they are often left with no other choice.

While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be tracking down true criminals like Kate Steinle's murderer or gang members, they focus on easy targets for deportation, like families trying to gain legal status or students like Han. Here's an excerpt from his essay:

When the rest of the world send America its best and brightest, America says 'Go away.' Numerous American friends, when the subject of my immigration status came up, have said to me things to the effect of, "Why don't you just become a citizen?" To the Americans I have known, it really seems that people, or at least law-abiding people like me, should be able to just go down to the DMV, fill out some paperwork, and get citizenship. Time and again I have had to disabuse my friends of this misconception. What matters when it comes to obtaining citizenship is your "status" while you're in America, and your status can be difficult to change. Years spent as a student do not count. Neither do years on a work visa unless your employer is willing to sponsor your green card. 

To read his entire piece, click right here to visit Vox.com.

Fearmongering doctor finds fame attacking border kids

Dr. Elizabeth Vliet

Dr. Elizabeth L Vliet isn't an expert on infectious diseases, but she plays one on TV. In fact, she is a board-certified psychiatrist who is using the recent furor over immigration to make a name - and maybe some money - for herself.

Dr Vliet has appeared several times on Fox News warning that the refugee children from Central America, who are fleeing to the United States to escape drug and gang violence at home, are bringing a number of dangerous infectious diseases with them. There isn't any actual proof to any of this, and there has been no outbreak of major diseases among the children detained along our border. Because she is a doctor, however, her statements are taken as fact without verification.

Last June, Vliet penned a column for The McAllen (TX) Monitor in which she claimed border kids were bringing in every disease short of Mad Cow into the country. Again, she cited no proof or examples, but instead provided a rundown of a list of terrible diseases and their effects. Her column, however, led to her TV appearances on both Hannity and Justice with Judge Jeanine, who both took anti-immigrant stances and used Vliet's statements to validate them.

Vliet's misleading statements have also been adopted by anti-immigrant activists and bloggers, who use them to justify their racist rhetoric by blaming immigrants (particularly children) for anything and everything. The website The Federalist Papers actually used Vliet's statements to blame the measles outbreak at Disneyland on illegal immigrants, even though all the evidence points to a Disneyland employee (and U.S. citizen) as the source of the outbreak.

The Gateway Pundit also used Vliet's arguments to blame the measles outbreak on illegal immigrants, stating that 72 cases of measles reported in 2011 were "imported" from other countries. While The Gateway Pundit tried to blame those cases on illegal immigrants, the source they used stated the exact opposite. The source, For The Record, could find no instance in which a case of measles could be attributed to an immigrant, legal or illegal. Of the 72 cases "imported" from other countries, 52 were caused by American citizens who brought the disease back while traveling abroad, while the remaining 20 were brought in by foreign tourists.

Vliet's campaign against immigrants isn't the first time she has ventured outside her expertise to gain a little notoriety. Besides being an expert on demonizing immigrant children, Vliet has parlayed her experience as a psychiatrist into a successful money-making venture - as a hormone health expert. Her website bills her as specializing in "preventive and climacteric medicine for women and men."  She has also written at least five books on the subject, including "It's My Ovaries, Stupid," all promising answers on how to improve your health by addressing hormone imbalance.

Although she often promotes herself as an expert on various issues, some of her former patients take issue with her professionalism. On the Vitals.com website, Vliet earned a 2.5 star rating, with some patients complaining about her bedside manner, and others complaining that they couldn't speak with her on the phone unless they paid an extra fee. One patient even called her "mean and nasty," claiming one phone consultation left her in tears.

For now, however, Dr. Vliet seems content on being an expert on the issue that brings her the most attention: feeding the fear and hatred of immigrant children.

Even this liberal group thought Obama's executive order was unconstitutional

You know President Obama has gone over the line when even liberals are calling him out. The Isenberg Center for Immigration Empowerment (ICIE) in Dallas is a self-described liberal immigration group, but they have no problem calling out any politician of any party when they do not follow the Constitution. They have been highly critical of President Obama's high deportation rate and the lack of due process many immigrants experience. In fact, founder Ralph Isenberg is quick to point out that Republican Presidents tend to be pro-immigrant in their policies, while Democratic Presidents often fall short (he cites Bill Clinton's disastrous immigration reform of 1996 as a prime example).

After a federal judge struck down President Obama's executive order on immigration, ICIE issued a press release praising the move, pointing out that Obama had violated the Constitution and overstepped his authority. He points out that while adjustments should be made to ensure due process in the immigration process, it should be initiated by Congress, not the President.

The statement issued by ICIE is as follows:

The Isenberg Center for Immigration Empowerment (ICIE) in Dallas has reviewed the decision of the Federal District Court in Dallas concerning President Obama’s Executive Order in November expanding the Deferred Action Childhood Arrival program (DACA) and delaying the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program (DAPA). The presiding judge issued an injunction while the lawsuit moves forward, and ICIE is not surprised by the actions of the Federal Court. 

ICIE, which helps hundreds of foreign nationals and their families remain together in the United States each year, often finds itself at odds with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its policies. However, in this case, ICIE will be the first to point out that immigration is a matter the Constitution left to Congress. 

According to ICIE founder Ralph Isenberg, “The Congress is free to use the Executive Branch to implement policy but the President is not free to get in the way of what Congress desires. The Supreme Court has been very clear on this matter, which is called ‘plenary power.’ The President has no right to alter the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 (INA 1952), which remains the core document of laws relating to immigration.” 

Isenberg feels the INA of 1952 should be modified to repair the damage done by the passing during the Clinton Administration of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which would open more opportunities to resolve millions of immigration matters without any immigration reform act.

Note: When Liberals Attack editor Victor Medina works with ICIE and Mr. Isenberg to report on the immigration issue and find bipartisan solutions. 

Obama's immigration executive order helps his Democratic lawyer allies, not immigrants

We all agree that our current immigration system is broken. Unfortunately, little has been done to correct the main problems keeping good people from immigrating legally: a cut in the bureaucracy in the application process, and the elimination of President Obama's detention quotas and visa limits. While Republicans should be addressing the red tape in the immigration process, their failure to act has opened the door for President Obama to grandstand on the issue with his recent executive order. However, that doesn't mean he is actually helping immigrants.

Ralph Isenberg, an immigration activist and founder of The Isenberg Center for Immigration Empowerment (ICIE), posted this editorial on his organization's website today, addressing the recent moves by both the President and Congress on the immigration issue. Isenberg believes the President's moves are geared to benefit immigration attorneys (who tend to be Democratic) over the immigrants who truly need relief. Isenberg, for some time, has spoken out against attorneys he feels take advantage of immigrants, while his group provides their services to immigrants at no charge. His statement follows:

Ten facts showing immigrant children aren't spreading the Enterovirus

You've probably heard political pundits contending that the recent outbreak of Enterovirus 68 in the midwest was spread by unaccompanied immigrant children who settled there after being released by U.S. Border Patrol. We decided to look into that and verify the claim, but found that there is no proof of a correlation between the two. Here are ten facts about Enterovirus that will change your perception about the outbreak, along with sources for each fact.

1. Enterovirus 68 is not new in America. It was first reported in 1962 in California, and it could be related to earlier enterovirus outbreaks in Asia. Enterovirus 68 has been reported in the United States every year since 1987. What is unusual this year is the higher number of cases. Source: CDC.

2. It is common for outbreaks of Enterovirus this time of year. The virus usually begins infecting people in late summer and into the fall, but the number of cases decreases as fall moves on. Children with asthma or similar respiratory diseases are more susceptible to the virus. Source: CDC.

3. The first cases of Enterovirus 68 were reported in Kansas City, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The location of the outbreak is important, as it does not correlate with large numbers of immigrant children in those areas. Source: CDC.

4. Missouri and Illinois are not significant destinations for unaccompanied immigrant children. Contrary to some reports in online media (none from reputable news sources), the areas affected by the outbreak did not receive large numbers of immigrant children from the border surge. The entire state of Missouri only received 173 immigrant children, ranking them at #34 out of 50 states in terms of number of immigrant children received. Illinois received 437 children, ranking them #18 out of 50. Source: US Office of Refugee Resettlement.

5. The top ten states receiving immigrant children have seen no major Enterovirus 68 outbreaks. Texas, New York, California, Florida, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana, the top ten states receiving immigrant children, have not seen significant Enterovirus 68 outbreaks. Source: U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.

6. No cases of Enterovirus 68 have been reported in Arizona. Despite its location along the border with Mexico and the fact that 217 immigrant children were released there, no cases have been found in Arizona. Source: CDC.

7. Enterovirus 68 is not a common virus in Central or South America. Since 2008, outbreaks of Enterovirus 68 have been reported in the United States, Asia and northern Europe, but not Central or South America. Since the 1960s, only a handful of cases have ever been reported in the region. Source: CDC.

8. Texas has seen only scattered cases of Enterovirus 68. Despite receiving the most immigrant children, over 6,000 in fact, very few cases have been reported here. Most are in the Dallas area (10), and none have been reported in areas along the coast and border, including the Valley, San Antonio, and Houston, were large numbers of immigrant children were released to the public. Source: KENS 5, San Antonio.

9. California has only seen 32 cases of Enterovirus 68. Despite receiving over 4,000 immigrant children, only 32 cases of Enterovirus 68 have been reported in the state, out of 691 nationwide. The cases are spread throughout the state in major urban centers, not along the Mexican border. Only five cases in San Diego have been reported. Source: ABC News.

10. Unaccompanied border children have higher rates of vaccination than children in Texas. Earlier this year, as the border surge began, many claimed we would see outbreaks of diseases like Tuberculosis, brought over by border children released to their families across America. The outbreaks never materialized, because the countries the children came from (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) have all vaccines paid for by the government. For example, 93% of children from those countries are vaccinated against the measles, higher than the rate of American children vaccinated against the disease (92%). Source: Texas Observer.

Reports of diseased immigrant children mirror Nazi propaganda

This Nazi propaganda poster from 1941
tells Polish residents that Jews are
carriers of Typhus

This column was originally posted on CafeConLecheRepublicans.com. Bob Quasius also contributed to the piece.

The surge of refugee immigrant children to America’s southern border has ignited a vehement anti-immigrant tone in reporting by many independent news organizations and bloggers. In an effort to create justification for the deportation of these children without granting refugee status, many of these reporters are echoing propaganda tactics eerily reminiscent of the Nazi campaign against European Jews during World War II. 

The techniques used by today’s reporters and bloggers include not-so-subtle characterizations of the children, including the repeated use of the term “illegal alien” over “refugee” or “undocumented immigrant,” which is the far more correct legal designation. The loaded term “illegal alien,” and the often-unfounded implications it carries, is the reason why respected news organizations like Associated Press no longer use the term in general.

A far more insidious technique employed by writers in anti-immigrant press, however, takes a page out of the Nazi propaganda handbook. It involves using legitimate examples of sick immigrant children with various ailments, some serious, and depicting it as far more widespread and dangerous than it actually is.

Rockwall Conservative to GOP: Alienate Hispanic voters at your own peril

The Rockwall Conservative is at it again! With so many blogs out there, it's hard to find the diamonds in the rough, those conservatives who are saying some truly profound things we should hear, not just regurgitating talking points and preaching to the choir. That's why I'm pretty picky with the folks I link to; I only want to list sites that I feel are worth your valuable time. The Rockwall Conservative is certainly one of them.

This past weekend, the Texas State GOP Convention was held in Ft. Worth, and an uprising of some Republican activists had the party's immigration platform removed. The platform, dubbed the "Texas Solution," not only acknowledged our system was broken, but set out common-sense reforms for the system, including a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for undocumented and illegal immigrants. Instead, the immigration platform now in place offers no reform or solution of any kind, and supports a stance that will keep our broken system in place for years to come. This is because the new immigration platform (and those who support it) insist that the border be secured first before reforms are made, a goal that could take decades to achieve, if ever. Meanwhile, millions of decent future Americans are subjected to mass poverty, high crime, drug-fueled violence, and socialistic governments. Our misguided hubris on this issue is costing lives south of the border.

I've posted on this site before that I feel comprehensive immigration reform is a concept supported by conservative principles, free-market capitalism, and Christian ethics. This concept is undermined by those who use vague buzzwords like "amnesty" to derail the process. The anti-reform forces in our party are amassing a political toll as well, one that we will pay in elections to come.

The Rockwall Conservative points out in a new column just what this sort of political grandstanding (and the shrill rhetoric that accompanied it) will cost us in terms of support by Hispanic voters. "I don’t know everything, but I do know some things well," he says in the column. "For example, I know the defeat of the Texas Solution is taken as an assault on legitimate Hispanic citizens and legal residents. Ah! Just what the Democrats wanted!"

To read the entire column, please click here to visit RockwallConservative.me.