Thread: Can an illegal immigrant become a lawyer?

Jose Manuel Godinez-Samperio at Capitol Hill on April 19. He is an undocumented immigrant, brought to the U.S. from Mexico as a child, who is seeking his law license in Florida in what appears to be a landmark case.

By Miranda Leitsinger, msnbc.com

Jose Manuel Godinez-Samperio was brought to the United States from Mexico by his parents when he was nine years old. Sixteen years later, he had graduated from his Florida high school as class valedictorian, become an Eagle Scout, completed college and law school, and passed the state bar exam.

But one big accomplishment eluded him: citizenship. Godinez-Samperio is in the country illegally, which could keep him from achieving another part of his American dream: becoming a lawyer.

In what appears to be a landmark case, the Florida Supreme Court is going to consider whether Godinez-Samperio has the right to practice the law -- a decision that could impact others who hope to follow in his footsteps. “It makes me feel that we’re living in a … historical moment. I really think the last time something like this happened was when African Americans and women were admitted to the bar,” he told msnbc.com. “I think if we win this, it’ll be another historical civil rights mark.”

Godinez-Samperio is pressing his case as the national debate over illegal immigration heats up. On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of Arizona’s strict anti-illegal immigration law. And last week, Godinez-Samperio was in the nation’s capitol to lobby for the Dream Act, which would provide a path to legal status to some adults who came to America illegally as children. Supporters are making a renewed push for the legislation after it failed in the U.S. Senate in 2010.

Some 11.5 million “unauthorized immigrants,” as the Department of Homeland Security calls them, lived in the United States as of January 2011. Of that, 6.8 million were from Mexico, like Godinez-Samperio, according to the department’s Office of Immigration Statistics.

Godinez-Samperio’s journey to the law began when he and his parents left their home in Pachuca, Mexico. They came on tourist visas, which they overstayed. He didn’t know English and it was a few years before he began to realize what his immigration status was and what it meant for his future.

He couldn’t get a social security number or a driver’s license, he didn’t have access to most financial aid, he couldn’t work for compensation and has been ineligible for most internships and awards, according to an essay he submitted for his law school application.

But he said he managed to get private scholarships to help pay for his education, and volunteered where he could -- such as helping domestic violence victims obtain immigration relief. “For me, it’s very important to show that I have been a contributing member of society (the) entire time I have lived in this country,” he said. “ … there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be allowed to contribute even more … with a green card.”

When Godinez-Samperio applied to take the bar exam last year, he sought a waiver because he didn’t have proof of his immigration status, which is required by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners who administer the test. States set their own requirements for those seeking to become a lawyer.

His request was granted. Godinez-Samperio took the bar exam in July and found out in September that he had passed. He was ecstatic, until he learned in November that the board was going to seek an advisory opinion from the state supreme court on whether undocumented immigrants are eligible for admission to the Florida Bar.

Cesar Vargas at Capitol Hill on April 19 to launch a Dream Act-related campaign. He is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, brought to the U.S. as a child, who is pushing for immigration law reform. “I had mixed feelings,” he said. “I knew that it was going to be an interesting trajectory that I was about to begin.”

That journey has included a number of filings from the board and his attorney, Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, as well as a few friend-of-the-court submissions from groups supporting his application, including three past presidents of the American Bar Association.

“It’s the first time it’s ever been addressed in Florida, and I think it’s probably the first time it’s been before a supreme court anywhere in the country,” said Thomas Arthur Pobjecky, the board’s general counsel.

The board determined it was “a really serious matter” and decided to seek out the court’s guidance in these types of cases, which they expect to see more of in the future. “If the law says you cannot employ -- or it’s against the law to employ -- somebody who is not legally in this country, then when we say … here is a license to practice law in this country, are they not also implying that you can hire this person and go ahead and pay him and everything else? So there is a concern,” Pobjecky said. “Once the Florida Supreme Court licenses somebody to be a lawyer, they’re putting their stamp of approval on that person.”

But D’Alemberte questioned why the board would let his client sit the exam if they did not intend to give him a license. “It just seems to us fundamentally unfair after he’s complied with every valid rule not to just go ahead and admit him to the bar and leave to the immigration service whether he is complying with immigration,” he said.

The possibility that undocumented immigrants could receive law licenses doesn’t sit well with some. “I know what the policy ought to be, which is that … someone who doesn’t have the right to be in the United States shouldn’t be admitted to the bar, period,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that supports tighter immigration controls.

“This is trying to steal a base. In other words, they’re trying to skip over the debate over whether people in his situation should get legalized,” he added. “It’s one more way of trying to create a de facto legalization.”

Cesar Vargas, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who has passed the bar exam and is in the process of applying for his law license in New York, has started a group, the Dream Bar Association, to advocate for people in his position. Membership numbers about two dozen, and includes those interested in going to law school to those who have passed the bar. “We’re basically throwing the judicial branch into the immigration debate … through our cases,” he said.

In California, Sergio Garcia, 35, an illegal immigrant, has been awaiting a decision since he passed the bar exam in 2009. Because the admissions process is confidential, neither Garcia nor the bar could speak about his application, though a bar spokeswoman said the application for admission doesn't require citizenship.

Thomas Fitton, of conservative Washington watchdog Judicial Watch, said the idea of an undocumented immigrant working as a lawyer in the U.S. was “preposterous.”

“These are kind of, in some ways, public relations stunts, but you know, we’ll see what happens … the whole notion of it is at odds with the rule of law and undermines federal immigration law,” he said. “I think those who’ve passed the bar should focus on making themselves legal as opposed to bypassing the law.”

But others feel that admission should be done on a case-by-case basis, taking into account whether a specific applicant has met the moral character test of the application, said Stephen N. Zack, a former ABA president who has filed a brief in support of Godinez-Samperio. “You can’t take one finite point and say that that is an absolute determination of a person’s character,” he said. “You have to look in a holistic way at the person’s life story and here, you have an exceptional person.”

He also noted that bar candidates like Godinez-Samperio could offer some unique services, with the nation heading to a “majority minority” status in the decades to come.

“We need people who can reach out and provide access to communities that … have historically not had access, and this is the kind of person that is ideal to provide that to the future generations,” he said.

Godinez-Samperio, who would like to work in immigration law, continues to research his case and to work on promoting the Dream Act. “This is a huge fight for me and for a lot of people,” he said.

Despite the challenges and the uncertainty, he doesn’t regret going public before a Florida legislative committee in April 2011 with his status, which few were aware of before. “I decided to come out with my story because I’m undocumented, unapologetic and unafraid,” he said. “In telling the truth, I am risking my liberty, but that’s what a lawyer is about, is about telling the truth … so I’m being as honest as I can possibly get, even to the point of risking my liberty.”

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...-a-lawyer?lite

comments

How can he uphold the law while being so contemptious of the law ?

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He has broken the law plain and simple. Go home and come back legally. Just because he got educated does not offset that he is a law breaker as long as he is in this country.

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I guess my biggest question here is this:

If he's had all this time to go to school, get an education AND pass the bar exam...then why hasn't he become a legal citizen of this country? He's obviously got enough time and money to do those other things. After all, you don't get the education necessary to become a lawyer overnight.

While I appreciate the fact that he didn't come here illegally by choice, the fact of the matter remains that this man is not a legal citizen of the US. Therefore, he should not have the legal right to practice law in this country until he IS a citizen.

How can a person be expected to practice the law when they are already breaking it??

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Once again, it's great he was able to get an education and he has done well by applying himself to school.........

BUT the fact remains HE IS HERE ILLEGALLY, STOP SKIRTING THIS ISSUE WITH ALL THESE FEEL GOOD STORIES OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

HE IS HERE ILLEGALLY.

Give the same opportunities to the legal immigrants and I'm fine with that.

we continue HANDOUTS TO THESE ILLEGALS AND IT DILUTES WHAT IT REALLY MEANS TO BE AMERICAN.

You want citizenship then DO THE RIGHT THING. FOLLOW OUR LAWS.

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There is an easy solution to the problem...go back and apply to become a legal resident. Plain and simple. It will only be opening the flood gates if he is allowed to practice law without first becoming a legal resident. Of course, maybe he is afraid of not being accepted as a legal resident because, after all, we need another lawyer in this country about as much as we need more national debt.

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He has broken absolutely no law that you can point to. If you feel otherwise, cite and quote the particular law you are refering to. What you really mean is that you object to his very existence on Nativist and bigoted grounds. All Americans deserve the same rights and privileges. If YOU can't compete with immigrants, go back to school and acquire more skills. As a nation, we can't afford to discriminate against millions of Americans just because you feel that YOU need an unfair advantage over other people.

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But he's not an American. He's Mexican. He would be undermining federal immigration law if he practiced law here and that's not fair to American citizens and all the other immigrants who are trying to get their green cards legally. Why is it ok for him to jump ahead of the line? We've already supplied his education.

I'm sure he is a very nice person who has the best intentions in life. I think he would probably be an attribute to American society. But he's got to do it legally, just like everyone else in his position.
Here lies the problem. While it is commendable that he was validictorian of his high school class, attended, college, law school, and passed the bar exam, he is not truly a functioning member of society. He has not paid into the society which has afforded him these options. If he were to be allowed to practice law, how woudl he pay taxes on the income he has earned. I AM NOT a pro-tax person, but lets be real here. The reason he is undocumented is because he has chosen to remain that way. He indicates that the choice refused him access to public scholarships, grants, and employment, but all of this is by choice. Had he become a citizen, he would have had access to everything. IT is another wayt o beet the system. And for all of us that work hard and do pay our taxes, it is a slap in the face. Again, I commend him for hte hard work, but a lawyer shoudl abide byt he law! Many lawyers are dispbarred by breaking laws of much less consequence. And if you wanted to retain your Mexican citizenship, then oyu could have gottentyour law degree and gone back to Mexico to practice. You cannot have hte best of both worlds...as it is unfair for those who have no other choice because they are born in America and those who shoose to become citizns of this great country!

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While the outcome is pending he should be deported. After he applies for residency or to become a citizen then he can come back. Why are we even debating whether or not he can practice law??? He is an ILLEGAL alien!! He has broken the law and is still breaking the law. We want him to practice law here?

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The Florida Supreme Court's ruling must be based on the legal practice of law in the state. Most state licenses have requirements regarding legal status, convictions, residency, etc. It's purely an issue of the letter of the law. Seeing as this guy is currently breaking laws, I don't see how he can be allowed to practice law.

On the topic of his not being a citizen, did he think he was just going to get away with never becoming a citizen? Does he have a social security card so that he can pay his taxes? Did he get loans for his education- from whom and didn't they have a LOT of ID requirements? Does he have a green card or worker's visa(I know he doesn't)?

The right way to deal with this guy and other illegal immigrants is to reform immigration laws. We need to start the line with the LEGAL immigrants requesting citizenship(on visas, paying their taxes, getting their legal representation, going to their immigration meetings, etc.- doing the process the right way) in the front, followed by those here on legal visas seeking residency, followed by illegals. They should not get to go to the front of the line. They should not be allowed amnesty just because as many like to advocate. Ask ANY legal immigrant/citizen just how much work it was and if they think that illegals should catch a major break. They'll likely say no.

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He should have spent some of his time becoming a true and legal citizen. Our government wants YOU to work until you are 70 and not have Medicare, while doling out entitlements to people who have never paid a dime into the system. Our country has become a joke and is on the downhill slide.

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Yes, he has broken the law. He is undocumented. There is such a thing as personal accountability as well. After the age of 18 he couldn't point to his evil parents being the reason he is illegal. It's his fault. He never bothered. Being illegal is ILLEGAL, which would, in turn, be breaking the law.

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commensense, please see the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. You can find this on the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

And no, I don;t believe we are "bigoted". Most of us are completely in support of legal immigration. I am the osn of an immigrant mother and a father whose father was an immigrant. Both came over through legal means, showiung respect to the country they wanted to call home.

How exactly is it bigoted to expect people who come here to follow the laws of the nation?

And how is is "descrimination" to expect those laws to be followed by those who chose to be here?

Try responding in a way that leaves out the hot buttons you like to include, and the name calling.

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I'm generally appalled at the flaunting of our laws illegals are doing and border-running going on today, but, I'm sympathetic to kids at the mercy of their parents. [Lets clean up all of our own unemployment and welfare problems first!] I have to agree with Wizard and might add, it occurred to me that he might not have wanted to "out" his parents by applying for legal status when he reached legal age, but clearly he's not afraid of that now and the cat's out of the bag. Painful as it is, he would be culpable at legal age by not disclosing the whereabouts of his illegal parents and since he knew, stayed and wouldn't risk their place here by reporting himself and seeking amnesty and citizenship, I say make him go home, risk going through all the steps and try to come back. It's not in the least cruel, at the worst he's already cleaned up by getting a fine American education, and is polished and bilingual. We have to stop this hemorrage, not only of space, welfare and American jobs, but also of respect for us. There needs to be some mechanism and might already be of amnesty for children brought here as dependents by their real parents (anything less limiting and specific and we'll have tribes of street kids dumped here with commercial 'guardians' getting citizenship easily.)

Some 11.5 million “unauthorized immigrants,” as the Department of Homeland Security calls them, lived in the United States as of January 2011. Of that, 6.8 million were from Mexico, like Godinez-Samperio, according to the department’s Office of Immigration Statistics.

Statistics: Crimes Commited by Illegal Aliens
FBI/INS Releases Numbers
Angela Russell, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jul 11, 2007

Illegal immigrants cause many problems for The United States. Sometimes referred to as Illegal Aliens, these people have entered the United States via illegal methods. The FBI recently issued a set of statistics regarding crimes committed by illegal immigrants in the United States. The numbers are alarming.
In Los Angeles, over 95% of arrest warrants issued for the crime of murder are for illegal aliens. At least 83% of arrest warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens. The number climbs to 86% for Albuquerque. The most wanted lists for each of these cities is comprised of at least 75% illegal aliens.

The problem of prison overcrowding in California has been in the media many times over the past few months. Governor Schwarzenegger has attempted to gain relief from the overcrowding problem by shipping inmates to facilities in other states. Nearly 25% of the California prison population is comprised of illegal aliens. In Arizona, illegal aliens make up over 40% of the prison population and in New Mexico, the number is nearly 50%.

Illegal aliens account for nearly 30% of prison populations nationwide. This includes both state and federal prisons. The cost to house these illegal aliens is more than $1.6 billion dollars each year.

Statistics from 2005 indicate that over 75% of automobile thefts that occurred in Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas, and New Mexico were either stolen by illegal aliens or used to transport illegal aliens. Almost half of the drivers stopped in California for traffic violations have no driver's license, insurance, or registration. 92% of those are illegal aliens. In Arizona, 63% of those stopped have no license, registration or insurance and 97% of those people are illegal aliens. New Mexico's percentages are 66% stopped with no license, insurance and registration and 98% of those are illegal aliens.

Each year nearly 400,000 babies were born to illegal alien parents in the United States. Being born in the United States automatically makes you a U.S. citizen. Illegal aliens who come to the United States and give birth to children are referred to as having "anchor babies." These illegals will not be deported because they are now 'anchored' in the United States by their American born children. American taxpayers foot the bill for over 97% of these births.

Many United States citizens feel that action must be taken to thwart illegal aliens' attempts to enter the country. The plan recently released by President George Bush has come under fire for its leniency. Many Americans feel that immediate action must be taken to close our borders.

America has long been known as the land of opportunity and is comprised of many cultures, ethnicities, and races. There are a set of guidelines for those wishing to come to this country to live. Many of those who are willing to follow the law and come to this country legally have expressed outrage at the number of illegal aliens who have entered this country, and under the president's plan may be allowed to stay by paying a fine.

http://voices.yahoo.com/statistics-c...ns-434946.html

2006 (1st Qtr) INS/FBI Statistical Report on Illegal Immigration.

62% of all “undocumented immigrants” in the United States are working for cash and not paying taxes, predominantly illegal aliens, working without a green card;

95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens;

83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens;

86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens;

75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Albuquerque are illegal aliens;

More than 380,000 “anchor babies” were born in the United States in 2005 were to parents who are illegal aliens; making those 380,000 babies automatically U.S. citizens. 97.2% of all costs incurred from those births were paid by the American taxpayer;

More than 66% of all births in California are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers;

24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally;

40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally;

48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally;

29% (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually;

More than 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages

More than 53% of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens;

More than half of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border;

More than 43% of all Food Stamps issued are to illegal aliens;

More than 41% of all unemployment checks issued in the United States are to illegal aliens;

58% of all Welfare payments in the United States are issued to illegal aliens;

Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties in the United States are illegal aliens;

14 out of 31 TV stations in L.A. are Spanish-only;

16 out of 28 TV stations in Phoenix are Spanish-only;

15 out of 24 TV stations in Albuquerque are Spanish-only;

21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish-only;

17 radio stations in Phoenix are Spanish-only;

17 radio stations in Albuquerque are Spanish-only;

More than 34% of Arizona students in grades 1-12 are illegal aliens;

More than 24% of Arizona students in grades 1-12 are non-English-speaking;

More than 39% of California students in grades 1-12 are illegal aliens;

More than 42% of California students in grades 1-12 are non-English-speaking

In Los Angeles County, 5.1 million people speak English. 3.9 million speak Spanish;

More than 71% of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by illegal aliens or transport coyotes”;

47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens;

63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63%, 97% are illegal aliens;

66% of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66%, 98% are illegal aliens;

Less than 2% of illegal aliens in the United States are picking crops , but 41% are on welfare;

Over 70% of the United States annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration;

The cost of immigration to the American taxpayer in 1997 (latest known calculation. Can you imagine what it must be in 2006? WOW!) was a NET (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) $70 BILLION a year, [Professor Donald Huddle, Rice University];

The estimated profit to U.S. corporations and businesses employing ILLEGAL aliens in 2005 was more than $2.36 TRILLION dollars;

The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average adult Mexican ILLEGAL alien is $55,000.00 cost to the American taxpayer in a 5-year span. You, personally, are giving $11,000 every year to ILLEGAL aliens.

In 2000, more than half of California’s 5.5 million Latinos age 25 and older did not have a high school diploma.

32.6 percent - Less than a ninth-grade education

20.8 percent - Ninth to 12th-grade education, no diploma

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

25 Reasons to Deport illegal aliens:

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServe

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fisca

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fisca

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers. http://http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCRI

9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the United States. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroine and marijuana, crossed into the U. S. from the Southern border. Homeland Security
Report: http://www.house.gov/mccaul/pdf/In

12. The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period." National Policy Institute

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. http://www.contracostatimes.com/ml

14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States". Deborah Schurman-Kauflin, Ph.D. - Criminal Profiler : Crime & Terrorism investigation resources

15. Every day 12 Americans are murdered by an illegal alien. Another 13 Americans are killed by uninsured drunk illegal aliens and Eight American Children are victims of a sex crime committed by an illegal alien each day! (Toto, we´re not in Kansas anymore.) http://www.house.gov/apps/list/heari

16. Today, criminal aliens account for over 29 percent of prisoners in Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities and a higher share of all federal prison inmates. These prisoners represent the fastest growing segment of the federal prison population. Incarceration of criminal aliens cost an estimated $624 million to state
prisons (1999) and $891 million to federal prisons (2002), according to the most recent available figure from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServe

17. "Illegal Aliens and American Medicine". "Many illegal aliens harbor fatal diseases that American Medicine fought and vanquished long ago, such as drug-resistant
tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, plague, polio, dengue and Chagas disease."The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Journal of the American Physicians and Surgeons - Vol. 10 No. 1 18. In 2002, HIV/AIDS was the third leading cause of death among Hispanic men aged 35 to 44 and the fourth leading cause of death
among Hispanic women in the same age group. Source (CDC): http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/fa

19. If enacted the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA, S. 2611) would be the most dramatic change in immigration law in 80 years, allowing an estimated 103 million persons to legally immigrate to the U.S. over the next 20 years - fully one-third of the current population of the United States.

20. U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) today unveiled an impact analysis that shows the Senate immigration bill - should it become law - would permit up to 217.1 million new legal immigrants into the United States over the next 20 years, a number equal to 66 percent of the total current population..

21. The number of illegal immigrants in the United States may be as high as 20 million people, more than double the official 9 million people estimated by the
Census Bureau. 1/3/05 http://www.bearstearns.com/bscport

22. Cases of Leprosy on The Rise In The U.S., The New York Times. "While there were some 900 recorded cases in the United States 40 years ago, today more than
7,000 people have leprosy." Leprosy is an airbourne virus, it can also be spread by touching and coughing. http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/20 http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-leprosy

23. Organizations Protesting Immigration Reform, State by State. Won´t you join in? http://www.oregonir.org/Immigration

24. America Welcomes Illegal Alien's Contagious Diseases. http://www.rense.com/general64/ill.h

25. Mexico is the 4th Richest Oil Nation in the World. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/a

I realise this data is several years out of date ... the scary thing is ... you know it has only gotten worse ... Illegal immigration data is ALWAYS, at best, an estimate. We can’t have accurate data as long as schools and ERs are prohibited from inquiring about immigration status. We only recently began to obtain data on illegal alien crimes and prison populations. Many pro-illegals consider any inquiry into the immigration status of foreigners, to be racial profiling and discrimination.

How do you expect to find credible sources for a phantom group who hide behind aliases; who use stolen and fake SSNs; who work under the table; who are protected by special interest groups, sanctuary laws, and bleeding heart citizens? They aren’t “lies,” they are simply estimates based on the best “available” data. If citizens knew the true magnitude of this problem, the outrage would resonate across the Atlantic and the Pacific; and the lives of our so-called representatives, and the unscrupulous employers of illegals, would be a living hell. I believe it is far worse than any of us could possibly imagine.


See also http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/taxes.asp

2012 Presidential Hopefuls' Immigration Stances
Updated: 04/10/12

https://www.numbersusa.com/content/a...n-stances.html

Yearbook of Immigration Statistics


The Yearbook of Immigration Statistics is a compendium of tables that provides data on foreign nationals who, during a fiscal year, were granted lawful permanent residence (i.e., admitted as immigrants or became legal permanent residents), were admitted into the United States on a temporary basis (e.g., tourists, students, or workers), applied for asylum or refugee status, or were naturalized. The Yearbook also presents data on immigration law enforcement actions, including alien apprehensions, removals, and prosecutions. The Yearbook tables are released as they become available. A final PDF is released in August of the following fiscal year.

In addition to the Yearbook, the Office of Immigration Statistics Annual Flow Reports and Annual Reports provide text, tables, and charts on legal permanent residents, refugees and asylees, nonimmigrant admissions, naturalizations, and enforcement actions. The Annual Flow Reports and Annual Reports have replaced the text chapters in the earlier editions of the Yearbook.

To view the entire Yearbook, click on the link below. To view only the data tables (in Excel format) or the report for a subject, such as "legal permanent residents," "naturalizations," or "nonimmigrant admissions," click on the link under the subject matter heading.

http://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/.../yearbook.shtm


Written testimony of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, Transnational Crime and Public Safety Division Deputy Assistant Director Waldemar Rodriguez for a House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement hearing titled “Document Fraud In Employment Authorization: How an E-Verify Requirement Can Help.”

Release Date: April 18, 2012
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/testimony/2...fraud-hjc.shtm


Immigration and Crime: Assessing a Conflicted Issue
By Steven A. Camarota, Jessica Vaughan November 2009

This study examines academic and government research on the question of immigrant crime. New government data indicate that immigrants have high rates of criminality, while older academic research found low rates. The overall picture of immigrants and crime remains confused due to a lack of good data and contrary information. However, the newer government data indicate that there are legitimate public safety reasons for local law enforcement to work with federal immigration authorities.

http://cis.org/ImmigrantCrime

Can an illegal immigrant become a lawyer?

How can he take an oath to uphold the law and the Contsitution when is is knowingly, willingly and defiently - in his own words "undocumented, unapologetic and unafraid" - in violation of the law? Yes, his parents brought him here as a child, but he has had years to apply for legal citizenship status and has rejected it.