Senate Immigration Bill Not Welcome in House

The Senate immigration received a less than warm welcome Thursday from GOP leaders in the House while a bipartisan group of House members worked to produce its own bill.

Speaker John Boehner issued a statement on behalf of the GOP leadership that said the House would approach immigration reform in numerous ways that will differ from the bill under consideration in the Senate.

“The House remains committed to fixing our broken immigration system,” B...

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Gang of Eight Prevails In Senate Judiciary Committee

Moments after the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the immigration reform bill by a vote of 13-5, spectators in the packed committee room erupted in shouts of “Yes, we can! Si, se puede!”

It was just like old times, reminiscent of an Obama campaign rally in 2008. Democrats on the committee were gleeful. They basked in the crowd’s adulation, shaking hands and posing for pictures.

The celebration came after five days of deliberation that...

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They’re not listening to the people closest to the problem

The greatest irony of the immigration reform debate has been the exclusion of the law enforcement officers most responsible for border security and the detention of illegal immigrants.

When the Gang of Eight in the Senate unveiled its reform bill last month in a major Capitol Hill news conference, no law enforcement officials or officers were invited to speak. Instead, the event featured speakers from a wide array of special intere...

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Proponents of the Senate immigration reform bill repeat their talking points so often that by now they are almost as familiar as popular advertising slogans.

But like all slogans, the talking points used to advance immigration reform don’t stand up to scrutiny. Jon Feere of the Center for Immigration Studies throws cold water on all of them.

“On close inspection, however, the hoops illegal immigrants are required to jump through do not amount to much,” Feere writes in a critique of the tal...

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Senator Gail Griffin

(Phoenix, State Capitol) —-Senator Gail Griffin of Hereford has been appointed Co-Chair of the Joint Border Security Advisory Committee, Senate President Andy Biggs announced. Senator Griffin has been a member of the committee since March 2011.

Senator Griffin has a long history of working toward securing our borders and getting our message to the federal government that our borders are not safe. She knows firsthand the danger: her home sits just 15 minutes from the U....

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As the Gang of Eight and their cohorts on the Senate Judiciary Committee railroad the immigration reform bill through the Senate panel, one senator stands out as the guardian of the rule of law and the sovereignty of the United States: Jeff Sessions of Alabama.

Other Republicans on the committee have stood firm, including Senators Grassley, Hatch, Cornyn, Lee, and Cruz. But Sessions has been the strongest advocate of measures to make the bill tougher.

Sessions and his like-minded colleagues fail...

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From Heritage:

Jeff Flake Votes with Democratic Majority

It was only the first day of consideration of the Gang of Eight’s immigration reform bill, but it was clear from the outset that the fix was in.

The Senate Judiciary Committee convened Thursday to consider amendments to the 867-page reform bill. Most were approved by voice vote. Seven amendments aimed at enforcement were defeated.

Shortly after the Committee session, ranking member Chuck Grassley said he was disappointed that “alliances” seem to ha...

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Another Massive Program Without Public Support

Congress is about to make the same mistake with immigration reform that it did with Obamacare: Pass a massive program that lacks support among the voters.

Politicians live and die by the polls. They obsess over polls at election time, but they also follow polls closely as they consider crucial votes.

Not so with Obamacare. Democrats ignored public opinion throughout the healthcare debate in 2009 and passed the law on party line votes in early 2010. ...

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Heritage Foundation Puts the Tab at $6.3 Trillion

Just in time for Senate consideration of the immigration reform bill, the Heritage Foundation added fuel to the debate with an astonishing estimate of the cost of amnesty: $6.3 trillion.

The cost estimate was released as the Senate Judiciary Committee prepared for consideration of the bill in a session set for Thursday. Tuesday marked the deadline for committee members to submit amendments.

Robert Rector, the lead author of the Heritage estimate,...

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The Hot Spot is Western Free Press’s forum for letters to the editor and opinion pieces submitted by readers. If you would like to submit a piece for consideration, email us at hotspot@westernfreepress.com. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of Western Free Press.

by Glenn Hamer

And so it begins. After six years since the last substantive debates over immigration reform, the Senate Judiciary Committee last week began hearings on the Border Security, Econo...

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Govt. endorsed snitching raises vast potential for abuse

If you only paid attention to the liberal media’s depiction of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, you’d think the professional lawman had neither a concept of legal parameters nor possessed what is clearly a sterling law enforcement career. In fact, Republican Arpaio is widely respected among the law-abiding citizens who have reelected him to an unprecedented five 4-year terms.

It’s harebrained Democrat Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric...

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Representative Brenda Barton (R-Dist. 6)

STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX (April 30, 2013) – Late last night, Governor Jan Brewer provided advocates of responsible governance and Second Amendment rights with reason to celebrate. HB2455 (unclaimed property; firearms; disposition), sponsored by State Representative Brenda Barton (R-Dist. 6), was signed into law.

The bill requires state and municipal agencies to sell unclaimed or forfeited firearms. Once it takes affect, the legislation will preserve...

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by Bruce N. Eimer, Ph.D., ABPP and Alan Korwin, Author, Gun Laws of America

First in a series

Is Hoplophobia Real?

Abstract: Hoplophobia, the morbid fear of guns, is a real, extremely dangerous, widespread and clinically recognizable complex specific phobia with a number of unique characteristics, described. It has caused and continues to cause grievous harm in America. Dr. Sarah Thompson, M.D., author of two seminal papers on gun phobia, claims hoplophobia is little more than name cal...

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In March, PoliceOne conducted “the most comprehensive survey ever of American law enforcement officers’ opinions” on the subject of gun control, and the results are stunning. Simply put, law enforcement officers are overwhelmingly of the belief that more gun laws will not help reduce crime, and than guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens will.

This was no small survey, either. Over 15,000 “verified law enforcement professionals” took part, and there were 28 question...

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Arrest data manipulated. Laws ignored. Dangerous criminals released into communities.

Law enforcement warnings and concerns entirely unheeded.

America’s immigration policy is off the rails, and the Gang of Eight doesn’t look likely to get it back on track.

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America is in a gunfight. The bad guy government wants to disarm the good guy citizens. The battle: tyranny versus freedom. The Obama government has started the bleeding-out of Constitutional rights and protections for all citizens through its ramped-up attacks and erosions of Constitutional amendments. On patrol at the Constitution’s perimeter are leaders like Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, among others, who refuse to back down and bow to totalitarianism.

Few Americans are aware of the s...

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