Feds can't deport illegal immigrant arrested 35 times in Alabama ~ VIDEO

HUEYTOWN, AL (WAFF) -
One Alabama police department is fed up with the feds.

Officers in Hueytown arrested an illegal immigrant on drug charges recently. When they ran his name through the system, they learned he had previously been arrested 34 times in Alabama.

Despite his record, the government refuses to deport him. Federal agents said Sofyan Eldani is from Palestine, a country the United States doesn't recognize.

When Hueytown Police Chief Chuck Hagler contacted ICE agents about the recent arrest, he wasn't expecting the response he got. Sofyan Eldani was not only in this country illegally, but had a criminal history that goes back 12 years.

ICE wouldn't do anything according to Chief Hagler.

"They sent us a piece of paper called a detainer... basically telling him we are going to deport you," Hagler said. According to the police chief, ICE agents told him Eldani will "'probably just laugh at you when you give it to him, because he knows we're not going to come get him.'"

In Jefferson and Shelby counties, Eldani has been arrested 35 times for different crimes, ranging from bad checks to assault. More

Supreme Court Considers Taking on State Immigration Laws Cases

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is waging a furious legal fight against a patchwork of state laws targeting illegal immigrants, and on Monday the Supreme Court has its first chance to jump into the fray.

If the justices take the case, it would add another politically charged dispute between a Republican-dominated state and the Democratic administration to the court's election-year lineup. The immigration case would be heard and decided at roughly the same time as the constitutional challenge to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Just Friday, the justices intervened in a partisan fight over redistricting in Texas. That case will be heard in January.

Arizona is asking the justices to allow the state to begin enforcing measures that have been blocked by lower courts at the administration's request. Among those provisions is one that requires police, while enforcing other laws, to question a person's immigration status if officers suspect he is in the country illegally.

Similar laws in Alabama, South Carolina and Utah also are facing Obama administration lawsuits. Private groups are suing over immigration measures adopted in Georgia and Indiana.

The Justice Department says that regulating immigration is the job of the federal government, not states.

Arizona counters that the federal government isn't doing enough to address illegal immigration and that border states are suffering disproportionately.

In urging the court to hear the immigration case, Arizona says the administration's contention that states "are powerless to use their own resources to enforce federal immigration standards without the express blessing of the federal executive goes to the heart of our nation's system of dual sovereignty and cooperative federalism."

Many other state and local governments have taken steps aimed at reducing the effects of illegal immigration, the state says.

But the administration argues that the various legal challenges making their way through the system is reason to wait and see how other courts rule and not take this case now.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/12/supreme-court-considers-taking-cases-against-state-immigration-laws/#ixzz1gJpi2fOI

Do Illegal Immigrants Pay Taxes ???

HT~ Roy Germano, Ph.D.

YES !!! They generally pay taxes the same way you and I pay them, but without access to most of the benefits that normally come with being a taxpayer.

How they pay
Income Tax: Every time you receive a paycheck, you probably notice that something is missing. That’s because your employer automatically withholds federal, state, and local income taxes and Social Security and Medicare taxes. Immigrants also have money automatically deducted directly from their paychecks —even those who are here illegally. But how? Well, the Social Security Administration estimates that 75% of undocumented immigrants are actually on formal payrolls and are paid by check just like anyone else. They get on the payroll by using fake social security numbers or social security numbers of the deceased, which are easily available from counterfeiters for a couple hundred dollars.
Sales Tax: Every time you buy something, you pay sales tax. That money goes to state and local governments. Staying at a hotel or renting a car, you pay state and local taxes. If you fill up your gas tank, you automatically pay state and federal gasoline taxes. If you buy liquor or cigarettes, you automatically pay various local, state, and federal excise taxes. Immigrants —legal and illegal —all buy things, and thus pay these taxes as part of their purchase.
Property Tax: Local governments also collect property taxes, which are a percentage of the value of one’s home and fund services like schools, certain medical services, and police and fire stations. Immigrants —legal and illegal —pay these taxes directly if they own a home, or indirectly if they rent.

Possible instances of overpayment
Illegal immigrants pay into Social Security via automatic payroll deductions, but they can never claim Social Security benefits because they are here illegally and because their Social Security numbers are fake. It’s estimated that undocumented immigrants pay about $7 billion per year in Social Security taxes that they will never be able to reclaim.
Most Americans get tax refunds at the end of the year. Illegal immigrants don’t get refunds unless they file, which many don’t do because they fear deportation. When a refund is owed but not paid out, this is free money for the government. And according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, about half of Americans are ultimately exempt from paying income tax due to low income levels and as a result of deductions and credits. Many low-income taxpayers pay marginal amounts if they do have to pay. As a result of their low income levels, most illegal immigrants would naturally fall into either of these categories. But because many do not file out of fear of being deported, they are never refunded money that was automatically withheld from their paychecks.

Possible instances of underpayment
Undocumented immigrants —and immigrants in general —are more likely than the average citizen to work in the informal or cash economy because these types of jobs are often the least desirable, most unstable and inconsistent, and lowest paid. Informal and cash jobs create big incentives not to claim cash income —undocumented immigrants and citizens alike find these incentives compelling. Most waiters and bartenders, for example, don’t claim and pay taxes on cash tips (or if they do, it’s usually just a small percentage). The high school student down the street usually doesn’t pay taxes on money earned from mowing your lawn or shoveling your driveway. Legally speaking, they’re supposed to claim this income. But something important to keep in mind: incomes of workers in the informal economy are generally so low that most would ultimately be exempt from paying income taxes or have extremely low tax liability even if they did file and claim cash income.

Eligibility & ineligibility for public services
As taxpayers, most of us are eligible for an array of social safety nets like food stamps and unemployment insurance. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act barred illegal immigrants from receiving any welfare benefits except in medical emergencies. It also barred legal immigrants from eligibility for welfare benefits during their first 5 years in the country. So, no, illegal immigrants do not exploit welfare services quite simply because they are not eligible to exploit them.
In Plyler v. Doe (1982), the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to deny undocumented immigrants K-12 public education. Denying education would not only be crippling to the immigrants themselves, but would have broader social impacts. But regardless, by directly or indirectly paying property taxes, undocumented immigrants pay into public education. In general, immigrants benefit from police service, firefighters, national defense, parks, and other public goods. But again, the taxes they pay contribute to paying for these services.
American-born children of undocumented immigrants are eligible for welfare benefits like Medicaid. But it’s important to remember that the recipients of these benefits are children that the 14th Amendment has deemed full citizens of United States.

Are illegal immigrants a net drain on the system?
Although certain news programs and partisan research institutes would like you to believe otherwise, there is no simple answer to this question. At the federal level, it appears that undocumented immigrants pay in slightly more than they take out. Figures vary greatly at the state and local levels. Areas with higher concentrations of undocumented immigrants, for example, spend more educating and providing emergency healthcare to undocumented immigrants than areas with lower concentrations. But this is not because undocumented immigrants are out to evade taxes and milk the system —as we learned above, most pay sales, property, and income taxes automatically and are ineligible for the vast majority of social services. Rather, the reason undocumented immigrants may take out more than they contribute has mostly to do with their status as low wage earners. Even if they use the same amount of public services as wealthier households, low-income households (be they made up of citizens or immigrants) are generally a net drain on public finances because our regressive system requires them to pay less income tax and by virtue of having less purchasing power, they pay less sales and property tax.

US scales back searches for illegal immigrants at bus, train, airport hubs along northern border

SEATTLE — The U.S. Border Patrol has quietly stopped its controversial practice of routinely searching buses, trains and airports for illegal immigrants at transportation hubs along the northern border and in the U.S. interior, preventing agents from using what had long been an effective tool for tracking down people here illegally, The Associated Press has learned.

Current and former Border Patrol agents said field offices around America began receiving the order last month — soon after the Obama administration announced that to ease an overburdened immigration system, it would allow many illegal immigrants to remain in the country while it focuses on deporting those who have committed crimes.

The routine bus, train and airport checks typically involved agents milling about and questioning people who appeared suspicious, and had long been criticized by immigrant rights groups. Critics said the tactic amounted to racial profiling and violated travelers' civil liberties.

But agents said it was an effective way to catch unlawful immigrants, including smugglers and possible terrorists, who had evaded detection at the border, as well as people who had overstayed their visas. Often, those who evade initial detection head quickly for the nearest public transportation in hopes of reaching other parts of the country.

Halting the practice has baffled the agents, especially in some stations along the northern border — from Bellingham, Washington, to Houlton, Maine — where the so-called "transportation checks" have been the bulk of their everyday duties. The Border Patrol is authorized to check vehicles within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the border.

The order has not been made public, but two agents described it to the AP on condition of anonymity because the government does not authorize them to speak to the media. The union that represents Border Patrol agents planned to issue a news release about the change Monday.

"Orders have been sent out from Border Patrol headquarters in Washington, D.C., to Border Patrol sectors nationwide that checks of transportation hubs and systems located away from the southwest border of the United States will only be conducted if there is intelligence indicating a threat," the release says. Read More:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45082147#.TqtmcUMr2n
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Illegal Workers Used Tax Credit to Pocket $4.2 Billion, Audit Shows

Talk about a tax loophole. 

Undocumented workers collected $4.2 billion in a certain tax credit last year, up from less than $1 billion five years ago, according to a new audit. 

The report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration looked only at a tax benefit known as the Additional Child Tax Credit, a refundable credit meant for working families. The audit found that as a result of vague U.S. law -- as well as an expansion of the tax credit in stimulus legislation and other measures -- the number of illegal workers collecting the money has skyrocketed

The inspector general's office expressed concern about the trend and urged the IRS and Treasury Department to determine once and for all whether that money should be paid out. 

"The payment of federal funds through this tax benefit appears to provide an additional incentive for aliens to enter, reside and work in the United States without authorization, which contradicts federal law and policy to remove such incentives," the report said. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/02/undocumented-workers-pocketed-42-billion-in-tax-credits-audit-shows/#ixzz1Wp9KDWSh

Illegal Immigrant Wins Lottery, and asks boss to cash in ticket so he wouldn’t get deported !!!

Texas to Begin Deporting Foreign Convicts !!!

AUSTIN, Texas –  Texas parole officials can soon use a new state law to begin deporting some of the 11,000 foreign citizens who are incarcerated in state prisons.

The Austin American-Statesman reports the deportations could save taxpayers millions of dollars.

The state law, which takes effect Sept. 1, allows the parole board to approve convicts for parole on the condition that they are deported to their home country. The law covers foreigners convicted of both violent and nonviolent crimes.

During a meeting Wednesday in Austin, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was assured by federal immigration officials that foreign citizens who are deported -- most probably back to Mexico -- will actually be sent to their home countries and not turned loose in Texas.

Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assured state officials convicts not deported will be handed back to state prison officials.

"That's nothing we can't take care of," Cari Cephas-Kimbrough, an ICE assistant field office director in Houston, told the board.

Parole officials are worried about how to implement the new law because in recent years, several hundred foreign-born felons were paroled and released to federal officials for deportation but were instead allowed to remain in Texas on parole at the cost of state taxpayers.

No one could say Wednesday how many parole-to-deport cases might be approved, or when they would start.

"I think several hundred would be a good start, as soon as they can," said state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, who sponsored the legislation last spring.

Bryan Collier, deputy executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said about 11,500 of Texas' 156,000 state prisoners are not U.S. citizens, and about 6,000 of those currently have a deportation order pending.

Texas lawmakers have debated such a deportation program for nearly 20 years, with several unsuccessful attempts at legislation.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/25/texas-to-begin-deporting-foreign-convicts/#ixzz1W5k8D2JB

Judge Prohibits Texas From Denying Driver’s Licenses to Legal Immigrants !!!

A judge this week ruled this week that Texas can no longer deny driver's licenses to legal immigrants with temporary visas and must issue standard licenses instead of non-standard ones approved by a state panel three years ago.

Judge Orlinda Naranjo said in a ruling Wednesday that the Texas Department of Public Safety exceeded its legal authority when it adopted a policy in 2008 as part of a crackdown on identity theft and fraud that requires immigrants applying for driver's licenses to prove they're in the country legally.

Gov. Rick Perry, a popular choice among Republicans looking for a 2012 GOP presidential contender, supported the policy that was a blueprint for a new law that is set to take effect at the end of this September. Under the law, all legal immigrants with visas authorized for less than one year or scheduled to expire in less than six months are still entitled to standard-issued driver's licenses.

"The governor continues to support requiring driver's license applicants to prove they are in the country legally before being issued a license," Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said in an email to FoxNews.com.

The debate over driving privileges for illegal immigrants has raged across the country with most states prohibiting it but others considering a two-tiered licensing system. But driving privileges for legal immigrants is more standard fare in the states.

In Texas, the ruling is a victory for immigrant rights groups who said that thousands were denied standard-issued licenses even though they had valid immigration documents issued by the federal government.

"The unlawful DPS attempt to deny licenses to immigrants violated our national tradition and aspiration, so we welcome the court's wise ruling," said Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a Latino civil rights group.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/29/judge-prohibits-texas-from-denying-drivers-licenses-to-legal-immigrants/#ixzz1TYyfId7I