Thread: Rep. Ellmers backs conditional amnesty, fuels primary challenge

Rep. Ellmers backs conditional amnesty, fuels primary challenge

01/27/2014
Neil Munro
White House Correspondent

North Carolina Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers says the federal government should allow illegal immigrants to stay in the United States, and should welcome a new inflow of foreign guest workers.

Her support for foreign workers is fueling a primary bid by Frank Roche, an economics lecturer at nearby Elon University.

At campaign events, any mention of Ellmers’ support for amnesty, Roche told The Daily Caller, ”always gets the crowd roiled up — they do not want it.”

“I’m advocating for a low level of immigration [and] no amnesty,” he said, adding that a good reform should minimize the impact on employers.

“We have significant portions of our economy that are dependent on immigrant labor,” said Roche, who worked in New York’s international banking sector for 20 years. “We need to move away from that via [greater] mechanization and a change in language to emphasize that all work is good.”

The race between Ellmers and Roche is one consequence of the push by top GOP leaders and business lobbies for an immigration bill that would sharply increase the inflow of low-wage foreign workers, despite the huge numbers of unemployed or non-working Americans.

Next week, GOP leaders will use their spring strategy session in Cambridge, Md., to push Republican legislators to back an emerging proposal that would provide a form of amnesty, sometimes dubbed “legalization,” to roughly 12 million immigrants. The proposal would also increase the current inflow of non-agriculture guest workers, now around 650,000 per year, for use in the food, retail, construction, hospitality and professional sectors.

“If there are people who have not lost their jobs to illegal immigrants, they will if Renee Ellmers succeeds,” said William Gheen, founder of the N.C.-based Americans for Legal Immigration PAC. “The tea party people are going to go with Frank Roche.”

Ellmers declared her support for more guest workers and for citizenship for illegals after they complete a number of steps in a Jan. 18 op-ed in the Fayetteville Observer.

“If an individual wants to come to this country to work, to provide for his family and contribute to his community, he should be allowed to do so,” Ellmers wrote.
The pressure for an inflow of low-wage workers comes from local businesses, Ellmers said.

“The local leaders I met with covered a variety of industries, including housing, construction, hospitality, restaurant, research and development, high tech and agriculture,” she wrote. “I was impressed with their candor and sense of urgency.”

“We just had a real hard time getting local workers,” farmer Faylene Whittaker told TheDC. Last October, she and 26 other farmers met “with Ms. Ellmers … and we told her that tomatoes can’t wait three, four, five days to be picked.”

Whittaker says her farm has to use guest-workers because Americans won’t do the stoop labor at roughly $10 an hour. “I have no clue” what wage would persuade Americans to take the stoop job, she said, adding that “I know my [foreign] workers are putting their kids through college” on the salaries they earn in the fields.

The farm also uses two-man tomato-picking machines, but those can only pick tomatoes that are intended for food-processing companies, Whittaker said.
She hire local workers for her seasonal landscaping business, she says.
Employers have a lot of clout in the state.

In August, Democrats and Republicans legislators pushed through a law allowing employers to hire illegal immigrants for up to nine months before using an electronic network to verify the workers’ eligibility to work.

North Carolina’s Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, vetoed the law, but the legislators overrode his veto.

“It has a huge loophole for probably up to 30 percent of our businesses in North Carolina to not use e-verification, which tells whether you’re hiring illegal immigrants for the jobs,” McCrory said before his veto was bypassed. “I want to save North Carolina jobs for citizens of North Carolina, especially us being the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the country,” he said.

Roche is careful not to alienate the many influential local businesses that now use low-wage foreign workers.

To reform immigration, the federal government should allow many illegals to become seasonal guest workers for farms and the hospitality industry, but should also halve the national immigrant inflow of one million per year, he said.
“There’s a way to do it that doesn’t ruin the prospects for every other American, particularly the low-skilled,” Roche said.

Currently, the large inflow of illegals and guest workers is undermining Americans’ willingness to work in starter jobs, he said. ”Business leaders … recognize that they don’t want to work with [illegal immigrants and guest-workers] who don’t speak English, aren’t like them, and are not from this country,” he said.

The government should also scale back the inflow of university-trained guest workers, who are taking the middle-class jobs sought by American graduates and upward-bound high-school students, he said. In 2013, North Carolina companies and universities asked the federal government to provide work permits to import 11,000 foreign graduates, double the 5,000 requests in 2010.

During campaign meetings, voters talk about the loss of graduate jobs to guest workers “all the time,” he said. “Immigration is impacting Americans across the spectrum from bottom to top,” he said.

In her January op-ed, Ellmers did not suggest any limit to the inflow of either low-skilled workers or university-trained workers.

If Ellmers’ policy become law, hundreds of thousands of additional immigrants and guest workers will be allowed to compete for jobs against the roughly 340,000 unemployed North Carolina voters and the 430,000 high school kids who are expected to join the workforce over the next several years.

A 2013 Gallup survey showed that roughly 138 million foreigners want to work in the United States. North Carolina has a population of less than 10 million people.
“Limits on worker inflow are an important part of that discussion … but just because she didn’t give specifics on that in this op-ed doesn’t mean it’s not something she is investigating and learning more about,” Tom Doheny, Ellmers’ communications director told TheDC.

“Bringing our immigration system and worker visa program into the 21st century would benefit many of the business and farms across the 2nd District who are currently unable to get the workers they want and need because of our outdated and painfully slow system,” Doheny added.

Ellmers doesn’t support amnesty or a pathway to citizenship for the illegals, Doheny said.

But her op-ed also offered a way for longtime illegals — and guest workers — to get citizenship.

“We must also acknowledge that these people have lived in our communities for years and are a vital part of many farms and businesses right here in the 2nd District,” she wrote.

“I believe that in addition to securing our borders, the best course of action is one that provides an earned legal work status that would not be given indiscriminately,” she wrote. “Instead, it would be contingent on some combination of paying a penalty, admitting to violating the law, and verifying identity.”

“Only after this legal work status is obtained can individuals have the opportunity to begin the naturalization process — if that is their choice,” she continued.

That process isn’t amnesty, Doheny said, because Ellmers wrote that “when those laws are violated, there is a price that needs to be paid.”
Voters “can see right through that,” Roche responded.

Ellmers also said in the op-ed that her position was shaped by non-business advocates in her community.

The views of business leaders “were echoed by immigrants, faith leaders and reform-minded groups in the district [who] told me that their greatest fears include the threat of their families being broken apart and the inability to provide for their loved ones,” said Ellmers, who was elected in 2010 with the strong support of local tea party activists in 2010.

A June 2013 poll of likely voters in North Carolina by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that favors low levels of immigration, showed that “61% oppose the increases in guest workers authorized under the [Senate's June 2013] bill, including 42% who said the increases are ‘much too high.’”

Also, “52 percent of North Carolina voters oppose [the Senate's 2013 immigration proposal] including 33 percent who said they are ‘strongly opposed’ … and only 10 percent said they ‘strongly support’ it,” said the poll by FAIR, which wants to reduce the nation’s annual inflow of one million immigrants and 650,000 non-agricultural temporary workers.

“The most powerful thing we have to say is that Renee Ellmers is on the same side as Barack Obama on immigration issues,” said Gheen, who highlighted recent pollsshowing that moderate and GOP-leaning voters strongly oppose any immigration increase.

Ellmers won her 2010 race narrowly. After a favorable redistricting process, she won easily in 2012. In 2014, she’s facing Roche in the primary.
Ellmers’ press statements suggest she’ll focus on Obamacare, if she wins the primary.
“In North Carolina alone, nearly 473,000 people have been impacted by cancellation notices on health insurance plans they were promised they could keep,” she said in a Jan. 15 statement. “I will continue to work tirelessly to repeal this law before it can inflict any more damage on our economy and the American people,” said the statement.

The winner of the primary will face a well-funded Democratic opponent in November.

The Democratic primary will include Keith Crisco, a former state commerce secretary, and Houston Barnes, a lawyer. A musician, Clay Aiken, may also run for the seat.

http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/27/el...ary-challenge/

THE END OF THE AMERICAN DREAM - 10 Things That Will Happen If Barack Obama Continues To Systematically Legalize Illegal Aliens

Illegal Aliens Taking U.S. Jobs (2013)

Illegal aliens come to the United States to take jobs that offer them greater opportunity, and they are often welcomed by U.S. employers who are able to hire them for wages lower than they would have to pay to hire U.S. workers.

This employment is illegal under a law enacted in 1986, but some employers ignore the law and hire illegal workers in the underground economy. Others simply accept fake employment documents and hire the illegal workers as if they were legal. Because there is no requirement to verify documents presented by workers, employers can easily evade compliance.

The illegal alien workers are mostly persons who sneaked into the country — nearly all Mexicans or Central Americans who enter from Mexico. There is also, however, illegal entry across the border with Canada, with apprehensions by the Border Patrol of more than 6,000 aliens in 2010. There is also a significant portion of the illegal alien population that arrives with visas and stays illegally. These ‘overstayers' are estimated variously to between one- third and 40 percent of the illegal alien population.

The defenders of illegal aliens — ethnic advocacy groups, employer groups, and church-based groups — often assert that illegal aliens only take jobs unwanted by U.S. workers. This is patently false because they are working in jobs in which U.S. workers are also employed — whether in construction, agricultural harvesting or service professions.

If the hiring of illegal alien workers is prevalent in a sector of the economy, as it has become the case in seasonal crop agriculture, the willingness of foreign workers to accept lower wages because of their illegal status acts to depress wages and working conditions for all workers in that occupation.

This in turn makes employment in that sector less attractive to U.S. workers who have other options. The result is a form of circular logic, i.e., the more that illegal aliens are able to take jobs in a sector of the economy, the less attractive the sector becomes to U.S. workers, and the greater appearance of validity to the lie that only illegal aliens are willing to take jobs in the sector. Only by enforcing the immigration law against employment of illegal alien workers can this spiral to the bottom be broken and employers forced to restore wages and working conditions to levels that will attract U.S. workers and legal foreign workers.

How Many U.S. Jobs Are Taken by Illegal Aliens?

Just as the size of the illegal alien population can only be estimated, the number of illegal aliens working in the United States is also subject to estimation. A large share of the illegal alien population is generally accepted as being in the workforce because that is what motivates most illegal immigration. However, there are some family members, especially children of illegal aliens not in the labor force, while others may be in prison.

One recent estimate by researchers at the Pew Hispanic Center puts the number of illegal aliens in the workforce at 8 million out of an overall population of 11.2 million illegal aliens, i.e., 71.4 percent.¹ That estimate is generally accepted as reasonable.

FAIR's estimate of the illegal alien population in 2010 is slightly higher than that of the Pew estimate, i.e., 11.9 million. FAIR's estimate of the number of illegal aliens in the workforce — using the share estimate of the Pew study — is similarly slightly higher, i.e., about 8.5 million jobs encumbered by illegal alien workers.

Where Are the Jobs Taken by Illegal Aliens Located?

Below is a listing of the estimated number of jobs encumbered by illegal alien workers by state (and Washington, DC). The estimate is proportional to FAIR's estimate of the illegal alien population residing in each state. The listing does not include an estimate for those states that have estimated illegal alien populations of 5,000 or fewer (Maine, Montana, North and South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming).

State	Jobs Taken
Alabama	89,550
Alaska	7,165
Arizona	279,395
Arkansas	39,400
California	1,887,695
Colorado	139,700
Connecticut	85,965
DC	25,075
Delaware	21,490
Florida	587,440
Georgia	322,375
Hawaii	21,490
Idaho	21,490
Illinois	394,015
Indiana	85,965
Iowa	46,565
Kansas	50,145
Kentucky	35,820
Louisiana	42,985
Maryland	211,335
Massachusetts	136,115
Michigan	82,385
Minnesota	71,640
Mississippi	21,490
Missouri	42,985
Nebraska	28,655
Nevada	143,280
New Hampshire	10,745
New Jersey	293,720
New Mexico	71,640
New York	537,295
North Carolina	293,720
Ohio	78,805
Oklahoma	60,895
Oregon	121,785
Pennsylvania	128,950
Rhode Island	25,075
South Carolina	50,145
Tennessee	85,965
Texas	1,296,670
Utah	71,640
Virginia	186,260
Washington	197,010
Wisconsin	68,055

Updated March 2013

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1. Passel, Jeffrey S. and D'Vera Cohn, "Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, 2010," Pew Hispanic Center, February, 2011.

Uploaded on Feb 16, 2012
This is an amazing video. Nearly all news coverage of immigration in America has only one narrative- Immigration Good, all people that want less immigration are BAD.

However,this TV News report is completely different from the usual anti American worker pro immigration propoganda. This report bravely documents evil Corporations that use loopholes and fraud with worker visa programs to steal American jobs and depress our wages. This anti American worker attack has been happening for decades all over the country, and not just in construction and manual labor trades, but in other industries too.

On January 31, Jennifer Wedel asked Obama in a video conference why he is giving away so many American jobs to foreign workers via the H-1b visa program. The media ignored the question. Some, like Jon Stewart, ran clips edited to make the woman that asked the question seem like a fool and omitted the part where she brought up the H-1B visa program taking American jobs. In this video, you can see the effects of a similar fraudulent worker visa program, the H-2B visa program.

According to Norm Matloff,Over 1.8 million Americans with engineering degrees can not find work in engineering. yet the media constantly cheerleads for multinational global corporations that want an ever increasing and endless supply of younger and cheaper workers brought in via mostly fraudulent worker visa programs.

Obama is not the only president to screw the American worker to please big multinational corporations, George Bush can be considered our first Mexican president based on his one sided immigration policies favoring massive amounts of immigration that has reduced wages and taken job opportunities for Americans for decades.

Obama crows he has added 3 million new jobs, but omits the fact he has continued to add 125,000 new foreign green card workers each month since he has been in office, well over 3 million new LEGAL foreign workers to take our jobs.

When will this stop? Have you had enough?

Go to http://numbersusa.com
find the voting record of your weasel in Washington,
and vote the weasels out.

Please subscribe if you like my videos and add information about numbersusa in your online videos and comments to spread the word.
Every little bit helps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YItkuxv7dhU

It is not about picking tomatoes and lettuce - that is nothing but a smokescreen.

Illegal Immigrants Do Take Jobs That Americans Want




Uploaded on Mar 20, 2011
http://www.standwitharizona.com/busted Jobs Americans won't do, huh? As we have shown repeatedly, not only do illegals steal low paying jobs from teens and the working poor, but also good paying jobs in concrete, plumbing, and other construction trades. Here, SWA's JobCam investigators question workers for Forcine Concrete, a subcontractor of Whiting-Turner, about immigration status at a Presby Inspired Life construction project in Pennsylvania. Note how 2 of them claim their employer gave them a tax ID # to use - if true, a Federal crime.
REPOST OF VIDEO WE 1ST POSTED JULY 12, 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7otZ-eJfKiI

Originally Posted by Newmexican

Rep. Ellmers backs conditional amnesty, fuels primary challenge

01/27/2014
Neil Munro
White House Correspondent

North Carolina Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers says the federal government should allow illegal immigrants to stay in the United States, and should welcome a new inflow of foreign guest workers.

http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/27/el...ary-challenge/

Added to Homepage--

http://www.alipac.us/content/rep-ell...hallenge-2593/