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Pro Illegal Immigration Org Says State Needs to Fund More Services for UACs

A June 2021 report issued by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) says that Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) and the “parents or other sponsors” to whom they are released after being smuggled across the border illegally, need better post-release services.

Better yet, MPI’s report Strengthening Services for Unaccompanied Children in U.S. Communities, recommends that state and local governments and philanthropy should fund legal, medical, mental-health, economic and educational services needed by these illegal aliens. They are especially concerned about UACs who are relocated to “rural and other underserved communities.”

Major funders of MPI include the U.S. State Department, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc, National Conference of State Legislatures, Soros Open Society Foundations, and the Gates Foundation.

MPI emphasizes that immigration status and any immigration enforcement must not be connected to any post-release services provided to either the UAC or their sponsor. The disconnect between immigration status and enforcement is echoed in Mark Green’s UAC bill and was similarly ignored in 2015, when Tennessee state senators voted to reward illegal immigration by awarding in-state tuition to illegal alien students in the state.

Then state senator Green voted for that bill as did Sen. Richard Briggs who supports Green’s UAC bill and also sits on the legislative joint study committee addressing the UAC issue in Tennessee.

One particular post-release service emphasized in the MPI report is free legal representation for UACs since it dramatically increases the likelihood that immigration relief will be awarded so they can remain in the U.S.. Noted in multiple reports is the fact that UACs who do not have attorneys simply don’t show up for their immigration hearings. Per the DHS FY20 enforcement report, of the 6,105 UACs ordered removed by immigration judges 4,514 of them failed to show up in court. That was just for FY20 which one analyst says demonstrates the incentive for UACs to enter illegally because they know they can stay and also incentivizes parents to smuggle their children into the U.S..

The MPI authors claim that after the federal government makes sure to dump the arriving UACs into local communities, “most children receive no federal follow-up services.” MPI says that enhanced post-release services are needed because UACs are traumatized by their trip to the U.S. border (many of whom are smuggled by coyotes paid for by parents also in the U.S. illegally), they may be reuniting with parents who abandoned them in their home country and may have now married in the U.S. and have anchor babies, so integrating into this new environment can be stressful for the arriving UAC. 

Like Green’s UAC bill, the MPI authors acknowledge that there is “no citizenship or immigration-related requirement for sponsor (for the UAC) approval. Green’s bill goes one step further and enables an illegal alien sponsor to override a governor’s veto for UAC placement in a state. This effectively puts a state in a position of abetting illegal immigration which former federal prosecutor Josh Jones says is indisputably “linked with organized crime.”

MPI admits that parent benefit from getting UACs into the U.S.:

“The great majority of unaccompanied children who enter ORR custody are released to a parent or close relative. In FY2020 of children who left ORR custody, about 39 percent were released to a parent, 46 percent to another close relative, and 16 percent to a more distance relative, family friend, or other approved sponsor.”

The open border advocates also want schools to do more to provide support to these new students and their families but admit that not all entrants enroll in school. It is reasonable to assume that the high number of male 15-17 year olds currently entering as UACs are not coming for education. Illegal employment and gang connections are, however, reasonable assumptions based on accumulated data. MPI itself cites (and disputes) 2017 ORR data that “1.6 percent of unaccompanied children in ORR custody had gang affiliations.”

While emphasizing the economic stresses for arriving UACs and their families made worse by the COVID pandemic, MPI also confirms what should be of great concern to legislators:

“Unaccompanied children often lack health insurance and lack access to primary care after release from ORR custody. Some children with jobs cannot access health insurance through their employer if they are not eligible for work permits.” (emphasis supplied)

Anyone else wondering how and where they are working? This admission by the left should be enough for Tennessee legislators to finally require ALL businesses in Tennessee to use E-verify.

In addition, officials reported a “900 percent increase in July for the number of migrants testing (COVID) positive.” And while the federal government is putting travel restrictions in place for U.S. citizens and state and local governments are debating whether to revert to certain COVID restrictions, the Biden administration is moving UACs and other illegal aliens from the border to communities across the country.

At the same time, the Biden administration had earlier threatened Americans further by planning to lift the Title 42 public health restrictions used by the Trump administration to block thousands of illegal aliens from entering the U.S. due to COVID. With numbers increasing, rescinding the Title 42 order is on hold.

In the meantime, GOP Senators John Coryn and Thom Tillis are using the “bipartisan” approach to reward illegal immigration by proposing an amnesty for DACA grantees even while admitting that the Obama program is unconstitutional. Tennessee state legislators Mark White and Todd Gardenhire also wanted to reward beneficiaries of the unconstitutional program. Coryn and Tillis unabashedly admit that it’s about maintaining the workforce. This is no different than Tennessee state legislators who refuse to protect legal workers in Tennessee, especially lower skilled workers, by passing comprehensive E-verify. Tennessee has it’s own misguided pro-illegal immigration state legislators who also are all too willing to concede on the issue. 

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Judge Shuts Chattanooga UAC Facility But TN Legislators Support Them Coming Anyway

Last week an administrative law judge upheld the state’s license revocation for the federally contracted facility in Chattanooga housing unaccompanied alien children (UAC).

During the (misnamed) Tennessee state legislative Joint Study Committee on Refugees meeting three days prior to the judge’s ruling, the Commissioner of the Department of Children’s Services testified and was questioned extensively by Tennessee legislators about the incidents leading up to the suspension of the facility’s license.

Towards the very end of the hearing, state Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson, which is part of Hamilton County), offered some very interesting comments. First he reminded everyone that when discussing UACs and referring to them as “children” can be misleading because the data shows an “overabundance of male older youth” which he put at about 70% who are between 15 – 17 years old. 

Then Watson read an excerpt from correspondence he had received from a constituent prefacing it by stating that “it represents what I would believe is a significant percentage in my district.” He went on to read from the correspondence:

“It is heartbreaking to me to see and hear of children being dropped into our city, separated from their families and left to the government system of the United States. Tennessee must insist on the rights of their citizens in this matter. I hope that you will insist that Tennessee expedites the return of these children to their parents, in their country right away. It is not only abusive to these children, but also to require that Tennessee bear the cost of promoting this child abuse.”

Is it safe to assume that Watson read his constituent’s letter into the legislative record because he agrees with it?

If that’s true, then why is Watson supporting Mark Green’s UAC bill which allows an illegal alien living in Tennessee to facilitate the smuggling of a child to the U.S. border without any penalty, and which would override the governor’s veto regarding UAC placements in Tennessee? And to incentivize smuggling even more, the “biological relative” to whom the UAC is reunited with in Tennessee can also be an illegal alien.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has pointed out that “poorly written laws that incentivize the smuggling of illegal immigrants under the age of 18” contribute heavily to the increasing number of UACs crossing the border illegally. In 2018, then DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen cited certain draw factors for increasing the number of UACs surging at the border which included, “an immigration system that rewards parents for sending their children across the border alone…”

Regarding Green’s bill Watson was quoted in full support: “I was glad to provide my input and greatly appreciate Congressman Green seeking it. This bill fully addresses the federal government’s failure to seek Tennessee’s approval and should be passed immediately.”

Worse still, Sen. Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville), who is also on the (misnamed) Joint Study Committee on Refugees also supports Green’s bill and said, “I spoke with Congressman Green at length concerning the unacceptable relocation of illegal immigrants to Knoxville. His legislation is simple, straightforward, and provides the changes necessary to ensure our state has a say in the process.”

And finally, giving law-abiding conservative Tennessee voters a realistic taste of the direction state Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson would move the state should the rumor be true that he is vying to become the next Lt. Governor, he said in support of Green’s bill: “It is unacceptable for the Federal government to relocate unaccompanied minors into communities in Tennessee without the consent of state officials. I am grateful for Congressman Green’s leadership in addressing this pressing issue.”

Watson is chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Briggs is chair of the Senate State & Local Government Committee, and Johnson is the Senate Majority Leader.

Presumably each one of these senators know how to read and understand legislation. Each one of these Senate leaders should be questioned about their support for a bill that would have the state of Tennessee knowingly abet child smuggling and reward facilitating illegal immigration to the state.

Bo Watson – sen.bo.watson@capitol.tn.gov

Richard Briggs – sen.richard.briggs@capitol.tn.gov

Jack Johnson – sen.jack.johnson@capitol.tn.gov

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TN Must Stand Against Smuggling Unaccompanied Alien Children!

Since we can’t count on Congress to get this done, it will have to come from the state legislature. 

The federal government has known for decades that parents, other relatives and sponsors in the U.S. whether here legally or illegally, have been paying coyotes and other criminal entities to smuggle children to the border who then enter as unaccompanied alien children (UAC). But Congress is too dysfunctional (even when Republicans are in the majority), to do anything about it. State legislators on the other hand have the authority to effectively address the issue. Criminalizing child smuggling is a way that helps protect children, disincentivizes illegal immigration to the state, and makes it clear that the state government will not abet facilitating illegal immigration or turn a blind eye to anyone who does.

Ignoring this practice is unfair to the children and unfair to American citizens and legal immigrants.

Whether a person uses a child to help get them over the border more easily, albeit illegally, or pays a coyote to smuggle a child over the border to reunite with a “biological relative” who may themselves be illegally in the country, using children in this way must stop. 

The first situation was sickeningly and tragically illustrated in a recent case of a 2-year old abandoned on the highway by his father with whom he was traveling. According to the mother, the toddler would make it easier for his father to get across the border – “‘they were going through like this with minors…”’ 

2-year old abandoned by his father and the coyote; toddlers (parents in the U.S.) dropped over the wall

While Tennessee’s state legislators can’t do much about the first scenario, they do have the authority to address the situation (like the toddlers) where someone in Tennessee facilitates the smuggling of a child who will cross the border illegally as a UAC and eventually reunite with a family member or sponsor in the state.

During the General Assembly’s first Joint Study Committee on June 18, 2021, Rep. Ryan Williams (R-  Cookeville), raised an important issue relative to the UAC arrivals in Tennessee. In fact, Tennessee’s GOP Congressional delegation should also pay attention to what Rep. Williams had to say.

Williams talked about his constituent who had travelled to another state to pick up his adoptive child. But before he was able to legally bring his child home to Tennessee, he needed Williams to help him get the paperwork required by the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children corrected. This paperwork creates additional hurdles that must be satisfied before being able to legally bring a minor child across state lines and if not followed to the letter of the law, it can jeopardize the adoption.

BTW, Williams came through for this family.

So here’s the point – an illegal alien living in Tennessee can facilitate the smuggling of a child to the U.S. border without any penalty – federal or state. But a U.S. citizen or legal immigrant  can be penalized if paperwork is faulty? The issue has nothing to do with whether there is a biological connection between the adoptive parent and the child or the smuggling facilitator and the child. It’s about complying with the law.

It’s important to note that smuggling is not the same as trafficking. Human smuggling is defined as:

“the importation of people into the United States involving deliberate evasion of immigration laws. This offense includes bringing illegal aliens into the United States as well as the unlawful transportation and harboring of aliens already in the United States.”

Trafficking on the other hand, is about the exploitation of people using force, fraud or coercion for a sought after objective. It can include for example, sex trafficking, debt bondage and involuntary servitude.

Lt. Gov. McNally and Speaker Sexton are so concerned about Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) being ferried into Tennessee, that they authorized a joint legislative committee to look into the issue; presumably with some intent to determine legislative options in response.

The committee has already held one meeting and has another scheduled for July 13th providing a platform for Blackburn and Hagerty’s offices to wave their consultation bill around and yack about the importance of “transparency”. 

Blackburn’s been in Congress long enough to know that bringing home a “transparency” bill with the laughable “consultation” provision which is legislator talk-speak for sounds good, doesn’t really do anything of consequence to address the problem at home. Shows you how little Hagerty understands that he just obediently tags along after Marsha. 

And like Mark Green’s new UAC bill, Blackburn and Hagerty appear to be unwilling to take on the child smuggling problem. Green’s bill allows a child smuggled over the border to override the governor’s veto regarding UAC placements in Tennessee. And the “biological relative” in his bill can also be an illegal alien.

Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson), who is on the Joint Study Committee, has said he doesn’t want the Chattanooga facility to reopen or any other facility like it to open in Tennessee. Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga), who is also on the Joint Committee, has made it clear that he wants more of these children brought to Tennessee so they can be reunited with “loved ones”. As it turns out, UAC smuggling is more often than not, financed by the parents who themselves are in the U.S. in violation of the immigration laws.

Only time will tell whether the Joint Study Committee is a pro forma or whether state legislators are serious about trying to address the problem. If instead they insist that “immigration is a federal issue” then remind them that 2022 is just around the corner and it looks like that four of the Senate members on the Joint Committee could potentially face a primary if necessary.

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Critical Race Theory..The New Bullying. Part 2

 

Critical Race Theory is not about “telling the truth “about history.  It is not about exceptionalism, and a child reaching their maximum potential. It is not about student growth and preparedness for a good future. It is not about students constructively, or fairly learning the sins of our nation.

Critical Race Theory is about the destruction of your children’s educations. It is about dividing children into classes based on their skin color. It is about reparations for events that happened before any teacher or child was born. It is about hate. It is about enhancing a flawed, and deceptive view on history to benefit a race that blames everyone for what they feel is oppression.  It is based on lies.

So why are teachers, unions, and organizations pushing this tale?  To create mini social justice activists that in time, will rise against the basic institutions and beliefs the United States of America was founded on.  It will turn children away from their parents, and the values they instilled in them. It will create a country filled with radicals that seek to dismantle and alter the fabric of our Constitution and faith.

This is why so may states have passed legislation to ban the teaching of a “theory”.

This is also why the largest teachers union, the National Education Association (NEA) has proclaimed they will defend and protect teachers who break their state laws. At a recent virtual annual meeting and representative assembly, an “action” was adopted that promotes the following.

This is not education, this is indoctrination. 

In an article published in the Dailywire by Luke Rosiak on June 21 2021, he exposes hundreds of teachers throughout the country that have vowed to teach CRT, despite many of their respective states banning it. The following is the names of teachers in Tennessee that have made this pledge.

Alcoa, Tn

Nancy Kemp

Antioch, Tn

Daven Oglesby

Arlington, Tn

Laura Braytenbah

Brentwood, Tn

Teresa Dunleavy

Chattanooga, Tn

Allison Aubrey, Lydia Rose, Nancy Schurr

Christiana, Tn

Valarie Gibson

Cleveland, Tn

Shara Troutner

Cookeville, Tn

ELISABETH Jones

Dickson, Tn

John Toomey

Germantown, Tn

Jasmin Chairez

Johnson City, Tn

Kristin Waite

Knoxville, Tn

Clarence Burress, F Berman, Shelly Higgins, Steven Rodgers, Theresa Hopkins

Lebanon, Tn

Tara Mielnik

Memphis, Tn

AUREAL CARLOCK, Adam Jones, Adam Patrick, Alex Iberg, Angel Carmona, Cynthia Belfleur, Daphnee Moragne, Eddie Walsh, Heather Johnson, Jenny Barrett, Jill Torres, Johnathan Clayton, Justine Brunett, Kathryn McRitchie, Kathryn Berlin, Laura Taylor, Leigha Walton-Bayne, Molly Scott, Nicholas Smith, Will Kelley, sandra boyer

Murfreesboro, Tn

Jane Marcellus

Nashville, Tn

Angelica Dunsavage, James Horn, Jon Robertson, Kelly Hill, Kimberly L, Lindsey Hamilton, Megan Broad, Megan Troutman, Melanie Edwards, Phyllis D.K. Hildreth JD, Rhonda Stewart, Victoria Morrow

Newport, Tn

Ashlyn Neas-McCaul, Luke Valentine

Spring Hill, Tn

Louise Braswell

 

Parents, no matter what school district you live in..city, county, big or small..it is imperative you fight this. In Tennessee, the Teachers Education Association and it’s smaller affiliates like the Coffee County Education Association, all fall under the National Education Association. It is up to the parents, and the community to hold not just the local districts responsible, but individual teachers who whether openly, or privately have decided to break the law. 

As discussed in Part one, Tennessee’s Education Commissioner, Penny Schwinn has been given approval to withhold state funds from any districts that are found to be teaching CRT. The problem with that is many districts need that funding, and eventually it will be those students will suffer the most. Perhaps it is time we rethink who is responsible, and hold teachers breaking the law to the same standard any other law breakers face. Steep fines, and the loss of their teachers license would profoundly affect those that defy the law.

So what can parents and community members do? Considering children are our most important assets for our future, start attending school board meetings! Learn who your elected school board members are and contact them. Ask those uncomfortable questions, and demand answers. Now is not the time to be afraid to speak out..our future depends on it. 

Look at who  your local school district union leaders are. What are their beliefs? What statements have they made on social media or in school resource papers? In Coffee County, English teacher Mike Stein, had this to say regarding the teaching of CRT which was published in the TN Chalkbeat news. 

 

The blatant disregard and deceptive description of what CRT is by those charged with teaching our children is not only disgraceful but dangerous. Not only is it putting your child’s school in danger of losing funding, but further instills a sense of violating laws is ok to do if you disagree with them. 

Wake up folks, your children are today’s target. It is time to get involved. Say no to Critical Race Theory and to those who teach it.

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Critical Race Theory.. The New Bullying. Part 1

 

Imagine your child being bullied in school, not just from other children but from their teacher. In most states, and their respective school districts, there are strict policies outlining the protocol for reporting and responding to cases of bullying. In Tennessee, on the TN Dept of Educations website, they define bullying here in part:

How many parents would allow their child to be bullied? What if the teacher is doing the bullying? Using Coffee County TN school board policy on bullying as an example, it states :

 

Wake up parents, when your children to return to school this fall, they will be bullied, but in the form of a new curriculum based solely on race..the white race. It is called Critical Race Theory, and it is bullying at the most dangerous level. In fact, many states, including Tennessee have banned the teaching of CRT due to its anti-white, anti-American agenda. Despite Tennessee’s General Assembly passing a law CRT cannot be used in Tennessee public schools, so far 56 teachers throughout the state have declared they will in fact break the law. Tennessee’s Education Commissioner, Penny Schwinn will have the ability to withhold state funds for school districts that break the law. But where is the accountability and disciplinary action for the teacher who puts the school district in that position? If charges for bullying lead to termination, the same should be done for teachers breaking the law. Revoking their teaching license should also be considered. 

To be clear, social justice activist teachers want you to believe Tennessee law bans critical thinking involving unpleasant history, so here is what Tennessee law allows, just as it has in the past.

(1) The history of an ethnic group, as described in textbooks and instructional materials adopted in accordance with present law concerning textbooks and instructional materials;

(2) The impartial discussion of controversial aspects of history;

(3) The impartial instruction on the historical oppression of a particular group of people based on race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion, or geographic region; or

(4) Historical documents that are permitted under present law, such as the national motto, the national anthem, the state and federal constitutions, state and federal laws, and supreme court decisions.

The Tennessee law does prohibit, as it should :

  (1) One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex;

(2) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously;

(3) An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individual’s race or sex;

(4) An individual’s moral character is determined by the individual’s race or sex;

(5) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex;

(6) An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individual’s race or sex;

(7) A meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist, or designed by a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex;

(8) This state or the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist;

(9) Promoting or advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government;

(10) Promoting division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class, or class of people; or

(11) Ascribing character traits, values, moral or ethical codes, privileges, or beliefs to a race or sex, or to an individual because of the individual’s race or sex.

 

Do not believe for one second the leftist, radical narrative that CRT will teach the truth about history. There is nothing truthful or constructive teaching a false history that whites have been, and still are oppressors, and blacks have been, and still are the oppressed.  That is called racism. White children are being set up to believe they are privileged and are responsible for our nation’s historical sins. Black children will be taught they are oppressed by their classmates, and despite their ability to excel, will be made to feel inferior.

Activist teachers and their unions, have declared they will continue to push this curriculum, no matter what laws will be broken, all at the expense of inserting their opinions as to what your child needs to learn. Teachers who teach children to hate others, and themselves is not about history, but rather relieving themselves of their self-inflicted white guilt.

Critical Race Theory is the bullying of white students, and as bullying is not accepted in classrooms, CRT should not be either. 

Next in Part 2, learn who the 56 teachers are, and what parents must be prepared to do.

 

 

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Useless Bills on UACs Arriving in Tennessee

There’s the Bill who as the chief executive of the state government either doesn’t have a clue what is going on in his administration or what his politically appointed commissioner is doing to facilitate the welcoming of the arrival of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) who were smuggled into the U.S. illegally more often than not, by parents who are also here illegally. But more than likely, and from all indications, he’s actually known all along.

Haslam feigned the same surprise about UAC arrivals during the 2014 surge. And we all know that Haslam was okay with illegal immigration going so far as to try finishing his run as governor by giving illegal alien students the parting gift of in-state college tuition.

The other useless bills are the ones being filed by Tennessee’s U.S. Congressmen who also have no clue what’s going on in the state they represent .

Blackburn, Hagerty and Fleischmann are giving each other high fives for quickly filing a bill that makes it look like they are doing something to address the arrival of the UACs.

Maybe someday the “Migrant Resettlement Transparency Act” will get yet another untimely after-the-fact federal report published but their bill is both unlikely to see the light of day and is highly unlikely to stop federal dumping of illegal aliens in Tennessee. Tim Burchett is a co-sponsor of Fleischmann’s bill.

The trio insist that before the federal government transports more UAC illegal aliens into Tennessee, details about the kids must be disclosed and that the “Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security consult with governors and mayors of affected jurisdictions before any federally directed, administered or funded resettlement, transportation, or relocation of illegal aliens”. 

Consult ? A completely meaningless standard. Consult is the same requirement in the Refugee Act of 1980, which simply means that the federal government tells the state what the federal government intends to do but the state has no option to stop the federal government from doing what they told the state they would do. Consult means like when the Biden administration asked Bill Lee’s office if Tennessee would open an emergency shelter for UACs and Lee said no, but not to worry, because his administration had already approved the Baptiste Group in Chattanooga to take care of the problem.

Let’s imagine the consultation with comrades Nashville Mayor John Cooper and Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon:

Feds: Buenos días mayor. Have you talked to the parents who want their children brought to them? Do you have the list and can you tell us how many children we will be transporting? Are the parents all paid up with the coyotes or are you covering the cost?

Mayors: We are all set to go here! We assured the parents that it doesn’t matter if they are also here illegally because we at least can say we are good Christians and that always trumps lawbreaking.

Then there’s Mark Green’s new bill which he’s using to try and recover from his first UAC bill disaster. In a recent interview, Green still insists that UACs are refugees even though the law is clear that UACS don’t magically get converted into refugees just because the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement takes custody.

“Making those guys be classified as migrants keeps the legal status in a way that the federal government can’t force them on Tennessee.”

What is Green talking about? The UACs already have a status and it’s called illegal. The federal code, as in U.S. law, clearly states that UACs have “no lawful immigration status in the United States” – they are illegal aliens! There is no “automatic refugee status” as Green claims. Even funnier is that a Tennessean reporter gets that as Green admits, his bill still lets DHS house UACs in HHS contracted facilities like the one run by Baptiste Group in Chattanooga.

So while Hagerty, Blackburn, Fleischmann and Green try to out-UAC each other, they continue to ignore the growing adult worker illegal alien population in Tennessee which is a MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM. Just take a look at the numbers reported by Customs & Border Protection and see how much cheap labor Republicans protect for their big dollar cronies. 

And why aren’t they talking about what Biden and his DOJ are doing to make asylum more easily and more widely available? Shortly after taking office Biden issued an executive order directing the new Attorney General Garland to put new regulations in place to undo the multiple ways in which the Trump administration tightened some of the vaguest and most flexible standards for getting asylum including based on domestic violence and family relationships. So now, “married women in Guatemala who are unable to leave their relationship” can once again be used as a reason to be granted asylum.

As Julie Kirchner who writes the Immigration Journal points out, the “dramatic” asylum changes are coming at the same time that the Biden administration will be rescinding the Title 42 public health authority which the Trump administration used to turn people back from the border. Once Biden pushes these and other changes through, loosening and opening all avenues to enable pretty much any illegal alien to enter and stay in the U.S., all this GOP yakking about transparency and reclassifying UACs, will prove meaningless. Check out these numbers from CBP:

 

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Why Isn’t Tennessee Helping to Fight the Border Battle?

It’s not as if illegal aliens crossing Biden’s open border aren’t settling in Tennessee.

Last week Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton spent a half hour talking with Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian, about everything his state is doing to push back against Biden’s open border for illegal immigration.

Paxton is an AG who understands the value of lawfare and that states cannot remain complacent indentured servants to the federal government. To date, Paxton’s office has filed five lawsuits challenging the Biden administration on immigration actions.

Tennessee’s AG Herb Slatery on the other hand, appears to be sitting out the fight which is easier to get away with when you don’t have to answer to the voters. Texas and forty-two other states, unlike Tennessee, elect their AG. And the Tennessee General Assembly isn’t willing to give that power to voters.

Viewed through the laissez-faire illegal immigration lens of Tennessee’s AG and the lack of legislative enthusiasm for insisting that every business in Tennessee use E-verify to help avoid employing illegal aliens, why should we expect anything else.

Add to this that Haslam, who campaigned opposing illegal immigration ending up endorsing actions that encouraged more illegal immigration to the state. For example, in the waning years of Haslam’s second term when he thankfully was going to not be the governor anymore, he was pushing in-state tuition for illegal alien students. Did he stop to even question how many came as UACs (unaccompanied alien children)? Then he cowardly refused to sign the anti-sanctuary city bill that Tennessee needed to make the law effective.

That bill became law without his signature anyway.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xQxqgJxAgY

When it comes to the UACs crossing the border illegally and arriving in Tennessee, Bill Lee can deny any and all knowledge about it til the cows come home but good luck to him putting a credible spin on the paperwork which the Times Free Press reporter diligently unearthed and which makes Lee look like a ____(feel free to fill in the blank yourself).

So far according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services data which is only current to April 2021, Tennessee has received 1,111 putting the state in the top ten receiving states. The same data which only tracks counties that receive 50 or more UACs shows the following county numbers – Davidson – 436, Shelby – 213, Hamilton – 99, Knox – 53, Rutherford – 71, Sevier – 51.

U.S. Customs & Border Protection data for the total number of illegal border crossers in the current fiscal year, including family units, accompanied minors, single adults and UACs current to May totals 929,868 individuals. The UAC totals current to May are 79,948 crossing illegally.

By the end of March 2021, the latest data available, 2,946 UACs were released to a parent or step-parent in the U.S. and another 2,991 UACs were released to a relative (see category definitions here).

According to U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, HHS data from 2018-2019 shows 79% of these sponsors were “without status” – that means here illegally.

If you have any doubt, read this April story: 

“Lorena, a Guatemalan mother living in Atlanta, recalls getting a 4:25 a.m. call from her teenage daughters on March 12, a day after they’d crossed into the United States. The girls had borrowed a hidden cellphone from another teen being held in a packed Border Patrol tent in Texas. ‘We’re here,’ said Nancy, 16, crying. ‘When can you come get us?’ That was more than a month ago. The girls were transferred to a makeshift shelter at a San Diego convention center, where the younger daughter – Britney, 15 – became sick with covid-19. ‘I just want them to give me my daughters,’ said Lorena, who wanted her last name withheld because she came to the United States illegally.

Lorena left her daughters with her mother in their rural village outside the city of Huehuetenango more than a decade ago, soon after splitting up with their father.

She earns $14 an hour in a carpet factory in Atlanta, and lives with her 4-year-old U.S.-born son, a brother her daughters have never met. When the eldest began showing symptoms of acute anxiety and a sense of abandonment, Lorena decided the time had come for them to join her in Atlanta.

In November, she paid a smuggler $5,000 to bring the two girls to the Mexican border where they could surrender to U.S. agents. The Trump administration used an emergency health order to deny the girls’ release into the United States and flew them back to Guatemala.

Lorena paid smugglers $5,000 again in February. The Biden administration has pledged to no longer return minors to their home countries, so the girls were allowed in. Lorena said she is filling out all the paperwork, but she’s scared to travel to San Diego because her Guatemalan passport is her only legal identification.”

Human smuggling much? Apparently it’s the best known non-secret in Congress. Even Reuter’s is writing about it.

Are passive states like Tennessee complicit? Are passive federal and state legislators complicit?

And it’s not just people from Mexico and Latin America.

Both Haslam and Lee have feigned shock and surprise upon “discovering” that UACs were being delivered to parents and other relatives living in Tennessee. Surely these governors know that the illegal alien population has been growing for some time in Tennessee. Will Bill Lee pretend he doesn’t know about this either? 

Tennessee’s AG is super soft on illegal immigration going so far as to advocate for amnesty for the “dreamers” after meeting with the director from the TN Immigrant & Refugees Rights Coalition. When was the last time the AG asked your opinion about endorsing illegal immigration?

If your state legislator tells you there’s nothing the state can do about illegal immigration because it’s all in the hands of the federal government, suggest this – take back the $7.3 million dollar grant the state handed over to Catholic Charities of Tennessee to spread their operations into more counties and instead, send it to Texas to help build the wall. 

It’s the least our state elected officials can do.

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Every TN State Legislator Should Have to Watch this Video

Ten state Republicans, five from the House and five from the Senate have been chosen to serve on a joint task force to examine the issue of the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) being transported to and housed in a federally contracted facility. The trafficking of these minor children is being abetted by the pastor of the church which has leased its property to the federal contractor identified as the Baptiste Group.

Sen. Todd Gardenhire who was appointed to serve on the task force has made it clear that he wants more of these children brought to Tennessee so they can be reunited with “loved ones”.

This past March, very disturbing video from the border was captured and posted showing exactly what happens to these children at the hands of the human traffickers often paid by the parents and other “loved ones” to smuggle the children across the border, or in the case of the three and five- year old sisters in the video, have them literally dropped over the 14-ft. border wall and left to fend for themselves until rescued by border patrol.

The story of these two toddlers is made worse yet with the admission that their parents who are already in the U.S. and likely here illegally themselves, paid the coyotes and entrusted these strangers with their very young children. Fortunately, border patrol rescued these children.

Every Tennessee legislator and in particular, Gardenhire needs to see this video before they start yammering about welcoming these children and creating the incentive for children to be trafficked. And for sure, they need to watch this video before they start moralizing to American citizens and legal immigrants about supporting the smuggling pipeline.  

At the very least, make sure you send the video to your state legislators and especially the ten appointed to the task force. The ten are:

Senators – Dawn White, Todd Gardenhire, Ed Jackson, Richard Brigss and Bo Watson; House Reps – Chris Todd, Dan Howell, Scotty Campbell, Bruce Griffey, and Ryan Williams.

 

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Bill Lee and Todd Gardenhire – The Foxes Guarding Our Immigration Hen House

It’s bad enough that Bill Lee wants more legal immigration to Tennessee in the form of refugee resettlement. Never mind that it forces state taxpayers to pay both the state and federal cost of the voluntary federal program. Never mind that it violates the Tenth Amendment. And, never mind that it illegally usurps the exclusive power of the state legislature to appropriate state funds, and these aren’t even the worst aspects of Bill Lee’s avid support for the federal program. 

Even more odious, is Todd Gardenhire’s push for more illegal immigration to Tennessee even if it means encouraging more human smuggling and trafficking of children 18 years old and younger which is more often than not, financed by the parents who themselves are in the U.S. in violation of the immigration laws.

Gardenhire has long been a cheerleader for illegal immigration to Tennessee going so far as to adopt the left’s politically deceptive label of “undocumented” instead of the accurate statutory label of illegal alien. 

Gardenhire has tried four times to magnetize the state by rewarding illegal alien students with taxpayer subsidized in-state college tuition. When he couldn’t get his first bill passed, he tried rewarding the recipients of Obama’s unconstitutional DACA program with in-state college tuition. And when that failed, he tried broadening the scope of his next bill to cover UACs – Unaccompanied Alien Children who generate huge profits for the cartels and other human smugglers. The UACs enter the country illegally and Gardenhire believes they are the model students Tennessee taxpayers should support. 

Sen. Todd Gardenhire

Gardenhire is so enamoured of the illegal population in his district that he publicly denigrated families of White and African American children who he said don’t get involved in their kids’ education. Speaking in the context of a 2018 bill that dealt with illegal immigrants, Gardenhire all but admitted that the “enormous amount” of Latino parents in his district are illegal aliens. As he said:

“In my district we have an enormous amount of Latino students. Let’s just get right down to the chase of it. We have an enormous amount of Latino students and these parents want to be involved. They’re involved more than any other segment of the population are. And if we exclude them because they can’t show some ID [identifying them as legal] and get into the building and participate, we’re doing the students and the teachers and the principals a disservice….If you go to East Ridge High School in Chattanooga and you go to the parents that come involved, it’s not the White parents that show up to be with the kids, it’s not the African American parents that show up with the kids. It’s Latino parents that want to show up and be with their kids and be with the teachers and find out the best way to get educated.” 

Someone in Gardenhire’s district should ask him about 16-year old UAC Edwin Mejia who entered illegally from Honduras and was reunited with his brother, also an illegal alien, living in Madison, Tennessee, just north of Nashville. Gardenhire’s UAC Mejia was drag racing drunk in Nebraska when he killed a U.S. citizen college graduate who was out celebrating her accomplishment.

In his op-ed Gardenhire says he wants the joint study committee to focus on facts and not “get caught up” in the politics which are swirling around the unprecedented surge of illegal UAC border crossers. Yet, Gardenhire self-righteously uses his participation on a church mission trip to Chiapas to try and shame other Christians into supporting and paying for illegal immigration. 

How very leftist of him.

Gardenhire also accuses those who unlike himself, are bigots who don’t care about other people like the Cambodians who were resettled in Chattanooga. The Cambodians, however, were neither smuggled nor trafficked by their “loved ones” but were legally admitted by the U.S. government. 

While announcing his appointment to the House-Senate joint study committee created in the wake of news reports about the UAC arrivals in Chattanooga, the arrogant Gardenhire throws shade on Bill Lee, Senators Hagerty and Blackburn, and Reps. Green and Fleischmann, for being clueless about what is going on in their state and using the UAC issue for political posturing.

Gardenhire says the focus of the joint committee should be on “just the facts.” First fact for Gardenhire is to acknowledge to the legal citizens and legal immigrants living and working in Tennessee who pay his salary and healthcare benefits, that the UACs are illegal aliens and start using the correct and accurate statutory terms. He is a lawmaker after all.

Gardenhire is one of ten Republicans that make up the newly announced joint study committee. Tennesseans can only hope that the remaining nine committee members understand that the facts related to the UACs and illegal immigration overall, do not benefit the state or those living and working here legally.

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Is Mark Green Conflating Illegal Aliens With Refugees?

It’s anybody’s best guess why Green’s explanation of his bill, H.R.3500, doesn’t match what he’s telling folks it’s supposed to do.

Green’s press release about his new bill, “Leads Fight to Block Refugee Resettlement Without State Consent” states in part:

“Last week, in the dead of night, unaccompanied migrant children were flown into Tennessee without our approval or consent. I am alarmed that the Biden Administration would use taxpayer resources to transport refugees into Tennessee without transparency or coordination with state authorities. This overreach and secrecy has to stop.”

In a recent interview with WRCBtv Chattanooga, Green said that he drafted the bill in response to what happened in Chattanooga and that “this bill would mandate permission of the state before they move illegal migrants to Tennessee.”

One really obvious problem is that U.S. law recognizes refugees as legal immigrants who enter the country with express permission of the U.S. government in conformance to specific criteria in U.S. law defining who is a refugee.

The “illegal migrants” Green refers to are Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) who are either dumped at the border by human traffickers or like 16-year old killer Edwin Mejia who was sent to his illegal alien brother in Tennessee, cross the border on their own.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) which refers to itself as Congress’ “think tank” writes, “[u]naccompanied alien children are statutorily defined as children who lack lawful immigration status in the United States, are under age 18, and lack a parent or legal guardian in the United States or a parent or legal guardian in the United States who is available to provide care and physical custody.”

If the UAC is from a contiguous country, meaning Canada or Mexico and is not a victim of trafficking, Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) can send them back. If however, the UAC is from a non-contiguous country, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) takes custody. These UACs can apply for asylum or other relief like the Special Immigrant Juvenile Visa (SIJV) which allows them to remain in the U.S. and puts them on a path to citizenship.

Unlike refugees who are legally admissible to the U.S. before they arrive, UACs are subject to removal until and only if they end up with a legal immigration status.

Importantly, the transfer to ORR custody does not in any way convert the UAC into a refugee. In 2002, Congress passed the Homeland Security Act which did many things including moving custody of the UACs from the former Immigration & Naturalization Services to ORR. This change evolved from a series of lawsuits and consent decrees but did not magically make UACs refugees.

An April 2021 CRS paper notes that “[a]ccording to CBP data, almost all apprehended UAC originate from Mexico and the ‘Northern Triangle’ countries – Honduras, ElSalvador, and Guatemala” and that up until FY19 most UACs were coming from Mexico but then flipped to 86% coming from the Northern Triangle countries.

This is a very important data point relating to Green’s bill. Whether he realizes it or not, the way he explains his bill’s purpose is precisely what the Obama administration tried to do in 2014, with the Central American Minors (CAM) program to administratively expand U.S. law on refugees and create a refugee resettlement program for this group. Refugees and asylees must show persecution on account of membership in certain groups, such as nationality or race. The CAM program allowed the ill-defined “particular social group” category to be applicable for various new conditions, such as single motherhood. If it were to be applied system-wide to refugee resettlement it would represent the largest expansion of the definition of the term “refugee” ever seen in the history of the resettlement program. 

 As Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry said:

“I am pleased to announce that we have plans to expand the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in order to help vulnerable families and individuals from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and offer them a safe and legal alternative to the dangerous journey that many are tempted to begin, making them at that instant easy prey for human smugglers who have no interest but their own profits.”

Trump ended the CAM program in 2017. 

Looking at Obama’s attempt to expand who qualifies as a refugee, Center for Immigration Studies senior researcher Dr. Nayla Rush questioned whether Central American children even meet the legal definition of refugee. She makes the following points :

    • “the UN says most are not refugees” 
    • the Migration Policy Institute* appears to agree that – “…being forced to join a gang or experiencing violence do not generally qualify as a basis for refugee status or fall readily into one the the [U.S. law] refugee definition categories.”
    • out of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world in 2015 (excluding those undergoing a war), four are in the United States: St Louis, Detroit, Baltimore, and New Orleans.25 Latin America, it is true, remains far ahead, with 41 cities included in the ranking. But are children who flee gang violence in St. Louis, Baltimore, or the other American cities that made it into the top of the most dangerous cities chart ‘potential refugees’? No one would even think to make that claim. 

One of the problems with Obama’s CAM program was that the parent had to be in the U.S. legally to obtain the coveted refugee status for  their child in Central America. In fact, many of the parents in the CAM program are themselves illegal aliens. 

In her conclusion Rush lets the real genie out of the bottle – it’s the children who, if they obtain refugee status, offer the route through which parents and siblings may obtain legal status in the U.S.

The libertarian Niskanen Center think tank also acknowledges that UACs are ineligible for refugee status. They argue that UACs could get refugee status if U.S. law would expand to include forced conscription, gang recruitment and gender discrimination.

It is a very real possibility that the Biden administration will like Obama, use administrative actions to expand who qualifies as a refugee. This is precisely how the U.S. refugee admissions program under Obama created the resettlement program for the LGBT refugee. 

Green’s bill and his explanation of its purpose confuse UACs with refugees – precisely what Obama and the open border leftists want and the reason they categorize every illegal alien as a “refugee”. 

Even if Green is trying to “cleverly” pre-empt a move by the Biden administration to recreate an Obamaesque CAM program, the mandate that “States Have a Say” will fall on deaf ears for the majority of Republican governors who turned down President Trump’s refugee resettlement opt out in 2019.

 

The plain language of Green’s bill says it will amend 8 USC 1522 – the section of federal law that addresses refugee admissions and which by reference to another section of the code, defines the legal term “refugee” – a term which does not include Green’s “illegal migrants”.

Even assuming Green is relying on the language of Trump’s presidential determination on refugee admissions for FY2021, UACs would still have to meet specific criteria to qualify as a refugee.

All of the legal mumbo jumbo aside, what Tennessee taxpayers should really be concerned about with Green conflating UACs and  refugee resettlement, is the lessons learned from Tennessee’s 10th Amendment challenge to the federal resettlement program. The big take-aways simply put are:

    • upon arrival to the U.S. refugees are immediately able to access all forms of public assistance  on the same basis as U.S. citizens
    • refugees must adjust their status to legal permanent resident (green card) status at year one after admission
    • the federal government has admitted that it shifts the massive cost of this program to state governments
    • and, BILL LEE HAS PASSIONATELY DEFENDED BRINGING MORE REFUGEES TO TENNESSEE 

If one accepts Green’s explanation of his bill, then any objection voiced by Bill Lee to the UACs should be questioned. When Trump gave Lee the choice to say “no” to continued refugee resettlement in Tennessee, Lee abandoned the state’s sovereignty in favor of his personal agenda regarding refugees. Then when he was challenged on his decision, he doubled down and in contravention of Trump’s Executive Order, claimed he had the authority to consent to refugee resettlement for the entire state.

Tennessee’s Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House have decided to convene a joint study committee prompted by the delivery of UACs to the state. Lt. Gov. McNally’s office issued a press release about the joint study committee and seems to be the lone voice at this time that understands that refugees, migrants and immigrants are not all the same and have different immigration statuses.

As a first, they need to change the name of the study committee from the misnomered “Joint Study Committee on Refugee Issues” to the more accurate “Joint Study Committee on Refugees, Illegal Aliens, Migrants & Immigrants”.

And as seems to have become the norm, the news about what the Lee administration’s role in another mishandled and mangled state government function, is not good. It seems that another one of Lee’s departments may have facilitated the arrival of the UACs. Some reports suggest that Lee’s Department of Children’s Services knew and approved that the Chattanooga facility applying for a state license was “to provide housing, personal care, supervision and monitoring to up to 100 unaccompanied minor children . . . ideally up to 30 days, until they are reunited with a sponsor home or appear at an immigration hearing.”

Sounds just like the set-up to receive and care for UACs.

If this report is accurate, Lee put some big egg on the faces of every Tennessee U.S. and state elected official yelling for transparency.

At the very least, we can only hope that the new joint study committee looks to real experts in the field on these issues. As for Mark Green, he should take a cue from the Lt. Governor and get some help from experts like Dr. Rush and figure out what he’s really trying to do with his bill. 

For starters though, Green should stop advancing the idea that there is a legitimate connection between illegally entering UACs and refugees and would do well to recall the multiple documented instances when MS-13 gang members entered the U.S. as UACs and were then awarded with refugee status – here, here and here. This should be of paramount concern now that under Biden, USCIS will stop asking about gang-related information when evaluating adjustment to legal permanent resident, aka, the green card which UACs who are awarded either asylum or the SIJV status are eligible to apply for.

At the very least, Green’s voters should expect an informed discussion of the issue.

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*”The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) is a think tank that produces research and policy analysis advocating for permanent legal residence for undocumented immigrants in the United States and increased legal rights for migrants and refugees worldwide. Migration Policy Institute receives funding from a variety of left-of-center ideological funders, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and George Soros’s Open Society Foundations.”