Immigration

[O Really]

O Really, I understand the women's wishes, but can govt keep such info secret from the taxpayers?

Yeah, probably, unless and until somebody had a compelling reason to know and went through some legal process to release it.

But who knows - likely depends on particular facts and circumstances:

https://www.rcfp.org/journals/the-news- ... locked-aw/

[Vrede too]

2 US citizens detained for speaking Spanish in Montana store settle border patrol lawsuit

Two U.S. citizens have settled a lawsuit with Customs and Border Protection after they were detained by a Border Patrol agent who heard them speaking Spanish at a convenience store in Havre, Montana, and demanded that they show identification.

The monetary settlement was announced on Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Ana Suda and Martha "Mimi" Hernandez, alleging their constitutional rights were violated.

The amount of the settlement was not disclosed at the request of the two women, said Cody Wofsy, a staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project in San Francisco....

O Really, I understand the women's wishes, but can govt keep such info secret from the taxpayers?

Yeah, probably, unless and until somebody had a compelling reason to know and went through some legal process to release it.

But who knows - likely depends on particular facts and circumstances:

https://www.rcfp.org/journals/the-news- ... locked-aw/

Thanks. I don't know what weight the recipients' privacy should be given legally, but in principle I dislike secret govt spending on non-secret things.

In this case my "compelling reason" is that I want to celebrate the women making out like bandits thanks to the bigoted CBP jerk.

Did you ever negotiate a secret govt settlement?

[O Really]

Did you ever negotiate a secret govt settlement?

Maybe, depending on how you define "government" or "secret." In representing cities, counties, or their administrative units, any settlement of a discrimination charge had a confidentiality requirement. I'm a believer in the "need to know" principle and don't personally believe that a person being a "tax paying citizen" should give them automatic and unlimited access to any and all public business. I do believe in oversight, and I support the FOIA, but I also think there should be a "need to know."

[Vrede too]

Maybe, depending on how you define "government" or "secret." In representing cities, counties, or their administrative units, any settlement of a discrimination charge had a confidentiality requirement. I'm a believer in the "need to know" principle and don't personally believe that a person being a "tax paying citizen" should give them automatic and unlimited access to any and all public business. I do believe in oversight, and I support the FOIA, but I also think there should be a "need to know."

I can understand some provisions being kept secret, but don't taxpayers have an automatic "need to know" how much of their money is being spent on what, especially when it's the result of civil rights abuses of the public - as opposed to personnel matters - that the government perps may or may not have been held accountable for?

[O Really]

I can understand some provisions being kept secret, but don't taxpayers have an automatic "need to know" how much of their money is being spent on what, especially when it's the result of civil rights abuses of the public - as opposed to personnel matters - that the government perps may or may not have been held accountable for?

I don't think it's necessary that all and every citizen has a need to know where every dollar is spent. "We the people" elect representatives (albeit sometimes unwisely) and they hire administrators and staff, etc. There are processes (that work more often than not) to discover malfeasance. And government units do report their budgets in reasonable detail. I don't see how it would improve government performance or financial responsibility if every yayhoo got to kibitz and armchair quarterback on every expenditure.

[Vrede too]

I don't think it's necessary that all and every citizen has a need to know where every dollar is spent. "We the people" elect representatives (albeit sometimes unwisely) and they hire administrators and staff, etc. There are processes (that work more often than not) to discover malfeasance. And government units do report their budgets in reasonable detail. I don't see how it would improve government performance or financial responsibility if every yayhoo got to kibitz and armchair quarterback on every expenditure.

Thanks. I understand, but budgets are already public and I'm unaware of any other expenditures running, I assume, into the tens of thousands of dollars that are kept from us, not counting truly secret programs. Maybe there are lots of them.

[O Really]

"Tens of thousands of dollars" is less than pocket change for the CBP. I'm sure they spend more on car washes to clean up after the babies they haul away to cages.

[Vrede too]

Judge orders restoration of DACA, opens program to new applicants

, for the moment.

[Vrede too]

Biden to propose 8-year citizenship path for immigrants

7 years would be better.

[billy.pilgrim]

Biden to propose 8-year citizenship path for immigrants

7 years would be better.

but 9 would have been worse.

[Vrede too]

Biden to propose 8-year citizenship path for immigrants

7 years would be better.

but 9 would have been worse.

viewtopic.php?p=129467#p129467

[Vrede too]

Biden introduces sweeping immigration reform bill, rolling back Trump orders

Reversing former PINO's hateful EOs is great, but immediately introducing an immigration overhaul as his first piece of major legislation is amazing.


No predictions here, but it will be helped by the ability to tie opposition to the White supremacist Capitol riot.

[Vrede too]

This will really piss off the bigots:

Biden administration plans to stop calling immigrants ‘aliens’

"noncitizens" instead.

Stephen Miller attacks Joe Biden’s immigration plan in first ever tweet
Trump’s longstanding immigration adviser slammed on Twitter for comments

...



Twitter users were quick to slam Mr Miller over the policies he had helped bring in over the last four years.

“You helped incite a terror attack on Congress and ordered the stealing of babies from their parents,” tweeted political analyst Mehdi Hasan.

“National security cannot be a facade for racism. He’s not the first but he needs to be the last,” said former CIA analyst Nada Bakos.

What kind of monster settles on such lying hatefulness for his inaugural tweet?

It’s hilarious that you think anyone gives a shit about your opinion. Slink away, Steve.

He just won't flush will he

Sorry, are you someone?

In case you haven’t noticed, America’s biggest terror threat is within our borders already.

Don't you have a white robe to launder?

[neoplacebo]

I support the owl.

[O Really]

Biden could say he proposed reinstating the immigration/citizenship program that existed under Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton.

Since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act did not address the status of children of undocumented migrants who were eligible for the amnesty program, Reagan (yes, that Reagan) issued Executive Orders to legalize the status of minor children of parents granted amnesty under the immigration overhaul, announcing a blanket deferral of deportation for children under 18 who were living in a two-parent household with both parents legalizing or with a single parent who was legalizing. That action affected an estimated 100,000 families.

But the policy was to be improved. The first week of September 2001, US and Mexican presidents jointly announced a new policy framework regarding migration, proposing a sweeping comprehensive immigration reform plan that would "increase border security, create a new temporary worker program, and provide legalization to unauthorized immigrants." That plan went into the dustbin on 9/11. Since then, "security" has been the dominant focus of immigration policy, to the detriment and damage of all - citizens as well as immigrants.

[Vrede too]

Biden could say he proposed reinstating the immigration/citizenship program that existed under Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton....

First steps:

House passes bills with path to citizenship for "Dreamers" and farmworkers

The House on Thursday passed two proposals that would legalize subsets of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission, as Democrats gauge the chances of approving immigration legislation and sending it to President Biden's desk.

Joined by nine Republicans, all House Democrats voted to approve the American Dream and Promise Act, which passed by a vote of 228 to 197. The proposal would allow more than 2.3 million "Dreamers," or unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors, as well as beneficiaries of certain temporary humanitarian programs, to gain permanent legal status and eventually, U.S. citizenship.

H.R.6 - American Dream and Promise Act of 2021

Roll Call 91 | Bill Number: H. R. 6

yea: 228
nay: 197
not voting: 5

Republican yeas:
Bacon Nebraska
Diaz-Balart - Florida
Fitzpatrick - Pennsylvania
Gimenez - Florida
Newhouse - Washington
Salazar - Florida
Smith - New Jersey
Upton - Michigan

not voting:
Brady - Republican Texas
Gohmert - Republican Texas
Kinzinger - Republican Illinois
Wilson - Republican South Carolina
Young - Republican Alaska

By a vote of 247 to 174, the Democratic-led House also passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of farmworkers living in the U.S. without authorization. Thirty Republicans voted in favor of the bill, and one Democrat voted against it.

H.R.1603 - Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021

Roll Call 93 | Bill Number: H. R. 1603

yea: 247
nay: 174
not voting: 8

Republican yeas:
List of 30 does not include my Cawthorn, billy.pilgrim's Gaetz or Whack9's Timmons.

Dem nay:
Golden - Maine

not voting:
Brady - Republican Texas
Fortenberry - Republican Nebraska
Gaetz - Republican Florida
Gohmert - Republican Texas
Kinzinger - Republican Illinois
McHenry - Republican North Carolina
Wilson - Republican South Carolina
Young - Republican Alaska

... Immediately after the farmworker bill passed, Senators Michael Bennet, a Democrat, and Mike Crapo, a Republican, issued a statement saying they would be introducing "companion legislation" in the Senate that "appropriately addresses the needs of both the industry and the farmworkers that uphold it." ...

, for now.

[Vrede too]

“It's a beautiful country we have and yet it's not beautiful when we condemn, call people names and scare people about immigration....

“I would describe it (GOP) as isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist. It's not exactly my vision as an old guy, but I'm just an old guy that's put out to pasture.”
-- George W. Bush

[neoplacebo]

“It's a beautiful country we have and yet it's not beautiful when we condemn, call people names and scare people about immigration....

“I would describe it (GOP) as isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist. It's not exactly my vision as an old guy, but I'm just an old guy that's put out to pasture.”
-- George W. Bush

Honorably human. But it makes me wonder if he still thinks invading Iraq "makes us safer."

[Vrede too]

Honorably human. But it makes me wonder if he still thinks invading Iraq "makes us safer."

Shrub’s consistent. He did not have a problem with our uninvited, unjustified, armed, illegal "immigration" into Iraq, either.

More seriously, it would be interesting to know whether he has regrets over the hundreds of lies and the tragic consequences. I suspect that he will never make any public, if they even exist.

[O Really]

Bush the Younger will never be seen as a great President or maybe even not the best hammer in the bag, but I think he's got more character than he's been given credit for. Probably if he'd simply picked better, less evil advisers things would have gone better. Or maybe he just looks better after seeing Trump.