Illegal immigration surged 23 percent over last year
The southwest border has cracked open over the last year as illegal immigrants into the U.S. spiked some 23 percent, according to the latest Homeland Security numbers released Monday.
Immigration Reform
The latest news, analysis and debates on immigration reform and policy.
Obama says anti-immigrant 'anxiety' in U.S. will ease
By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times
President Obama assured the rest of the world Thursday that America will overcome the "crude populism" of the far left and far right that has surfaced in this year's presidential campaign, and said voters will reject Donald Trump's argument that the U.S. system is "rigged." Published October 6, 2016
Recent Stories
Sheriff Joe Arpaio to face criminal charges for immigration patrols
Prosecutors said Tuesday they will charge Sheriff Joe Arpaio with criminal contempt-of-court for defying a judge's orders to end his signature immigration patrols in Arizona, exposing the 84-year-old lawman to the possibility of jail time.
Court rebukes Mike Pence, rules states must accept Syrian refugees
States that refuse to help resettle Syrian refugees are guilty of illegal discrimination, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, delivering a judicial rebuke to GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, who as Indiana's governor had tried to halt Syrian resettlement.
Supreme Court rejects rehearing in Obama deportation amnesty case
The Supreme Court kicked off its new year Monday by rejecting President Obama's attempt to revive his deportation amnesty, leaving stand a June ruling that left a nationwide injunction in place and leaves the big immigration questions up to voters in November.
U.S. strips visas from Gambian govt.; punishment for stopping DHS deportations
The Gambia has refused to accept nearly 2,000 people the U.S. is trying to deport, so the Obama administration has finally decided to pull the trigger and will deny visas to some Gambians hoping to visit the U.S., the State Department said Saturday.
Wash. mall shooting suspect voted in 3 elections without U.S. citizenship
Arcan Cetin, the man charged in Washington state's deadly mall shooting on Sept. 23, voted in three elections despite not having U.S. citizenship.
Refugees admitted without papers despite 'significant' number tied to terror
Refugees can be admitted to the U.S. without any corroborating documents or physical evidence, the chief of the immigration service told Congress on Wednesday — though he insisted that's not the typical situation.
Coming to America
Millions of people want to come to America. Actually, it's tens of millions or perhaps hundreds of millions. Some Americans believe our borders should be open -- that everyone has a "right" to live in the United States. That seems to me both mistaken and impractical.
Haitian immigrants cross border through Mexico, claim asylum for quick processing and entry
Haitian immigrants are surging across America's southwest border, blazing a path through Mexico to the U.S., where they have been coached to claim asylum, earning them quick processing and almost immediate entry into the country.
DHS to resume Haiti deportations halted by 2010 earthquake
Homeland Security said Thursday it will begin deporting illegal immigrants back to Haiti, six years after the process was severely curtailed in the wake of a devastating earthquake there.
Mass immigration costs government $296 billion a year, depresses wages
Immigration is a massive drain on the government, with immigrants taking as much as $296 billion more in benefits than they pay in taxes, according to a new authoritative study by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, which found the record level of newcomers is straining the country.
Obama defends refugee policy, calls crisis 'a test of our common humanity'
Hitting back at critics of his plan to accept more refugees in the U.S., President Obama said Tuesday that foreigners fleeing war zones are victims, not threats to national security.
Number of illegals holds steady at 11.1 million
Illegal immigration is holding steady at about 11.1 million unauthorized people in the U.S. as of 2014, according to the latest numbers from the Pew Research Center Tuesday that signaled Mexicans continue to drop, while Central Americans and Indians make up a greater percentage.
George Soros pledges $500 million to Obama's drive for refugee aid
Liberal billionaire hedge-fund founder George Soros pledged Tuesday to spend up to $500 million on President Obama's campaign to benefit refugees resettling.
Donald Trump Jr. likens Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles
Donald Trump Jr. has posted a message on Twitter likening Syrian refugees to a bowl of poisoned Skittles.
Ted Cruz begs Obama after terrorism-filled weekend: 'Take off the blinders'
Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday cited a terror-filled 48 hours in the U.S. over the weekend as reason why President Obama's Middle East refugee program must end.
DHS granted citizenship to hundreds of illegal immigrants from terrorist countries
They should have been deported, but hundreds of illegal immigrants from dangerous countries were instead granted citizenship by Homeland Security because officials never checked their fingerprints to find out their real identities, the department's inspector general said in a staggering report Monday.
World leaders at U.N. approve plan for refugee crisis
With more people forced to flee their homes than at any time since World War II, global leaders on Monday approved a declaration aimed at providing a more coordinated and humane response to the refugee crisis that has strained resources and stoked divisions from Africa to Europe.
Immigrant voter surge fails to drum up revenge against Donald Trump
The anti-Trump immigrant voter surge has failed to materialize, as advocates' hopes of recruiting 1 million green card holders to become citizens in time to vote have fallen short.
Donald Trump gives unparalleled platform to families of illegal immigrants' victims
A few years ago, they were the forgotten story of the immigration debate — the families of victims of crimes perpetrated by illegal immigrants who were ignored by the press and left begging for meetings with government officials.
German nationals, refugees come to blows in giant brawl; 100 cops called in to stop fight
A giant brawl between German nationals and refugees required roughly 100 police officers to quell the violence.
Obama administration demands 30 percent boost in refugees
President Obama wants the U.S. to take 30 percent more refugees next year, top administration officials told Congress on Tuesday, calling for Americans to do more on the world stage at a time when many voters are already balking at the current pace.
Illegal immigration surged in August, illegal families set for worst year on record
Illegal immigration across the southwest border surged 10 percent in August, defying the usual pattern of a late-summer slowdown as the Obama administration struggles to keep families from pouring in from Central America.
Obama marks Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha with call to accept refugees
President Obama marked the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha Monday with a call for the U.S. to welcome refugees and immigrants.
Illegal immigrant deported twice before charged with daughter's murder
An illegal immigrant who was deported twice from the U.S. was seen smiling in court Tuesday while pleading not guilty to the murder of his daughter.
UK to build wall to stop illegal immigration from France
The U.S. is still debating the value of fencing on its southwest border but the U.K. is moving forward, preparing to erect a 1 kilometer wall to protect the departure point from France to Britain, according to reports Wednesday.
Sketchy government statistics undermine illegal immigration debate
Donald Trump could get a head start on his promise to deport illegal immigrants if only the government knew how many are even in the U.S.
Hillary Clinton didn't press countries to take back their criminal aliens
Jean Jacques was fresh out of prison for attempted murder in 2012, and immigration agents wanted to deport him back home to Haiti -- but the island nation's government refused to take him back, saying it couldn't be sure Jacques was who he claimed to be.
Donald Trump will end complacency on the illegal immigration crisis
The mainstream media and the Democrats have become complacent on the issue of illegal immigration. President Obama and Hillary Clinton clearly see it as the norm simply to shrug and accept the idea that people can illegally enter the United States and stay indefinitely without penalty. For them, even raising the idea of curbing illegal immigration makes one a bigot or a xenophobe.
Donald Trump allows for 'softening' in immigration stance once border security is tightened
Donald Trump said a "softening" in his stance toward illegal immigrants will come in the future, once the country has stiffened border security and figured out ways to better deport people.
Vicente Fox, former Mexican president: 'We are not going to pay for that F wall'
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox held himself back from some potentially salty language Thursday in proclaiming that his country is not going to pay for Donald Trump's wall on the United States' southern border.
AP FACT CHECK: Donald Trump on immigration
Wednesday was supposed to be the day Donald Trump clarified his immigration stance. But in a key speech on that subject, he misstated facts about immigration policy, life for those in the country illegally and their impact on the U.S. economy.
Trump still plans to build border wall; Pena Nieto says he won't pay for it
To some, it's the friendship fence. To others, including, most famously, Pope Francis, it's an unneeded and un-Christian symbol of division.
Donald Trump recedes: 'Great respect' for Mexicans
Donald Trump vowed to hold the line on illegal immigration Wednesday but toned down his harsher anti-Mexican jibes as he strode onto the world stage, making his first visit with a foreign head of state and winning concessions on free trade.
Donald Trump's campaign manager: Mexico visit a 'decisive presidential move'
Donald Trump's campaign manager said Wednesday that Mr. Trump's newly announced visit to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is a "presidential move" and that Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is "following the leader."
Donald Trump accepts Enrique Pena Nieto's invitation to visit Mexico
Donald Trump has accepted an invitation to make an unlikely diversion during his Wednesday trip out west to outline his immigration policies -- Mexico.
White House mocks Trump deportation plans
The White House ridiculed Republican nominee Donald Trump Tuesday for seeming to change his stance on deportations.
Donald Trump's campaign: There will be a physical wall that Mexico will pay for
Ahead of Donald Trump's speech on illegal immigration Wednesday in Arizona, his campaign is reiterating that there will indeed be a physical wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the plan.
DHS ponders end to private prisons for illegal immigrant detainees
The Homeland Security Department may stop using private jails to detain illegal immigrants, Secretary Jeh Johnson said Monday, taking his cue from the Justice Department, which announced earlier this month it was phasing out the use of private prisons.
30,000 more Syrian refugees waiting in the wings as Obama hits 10,000 goal ahead of schedule
The U.S. welcomed its 10,000th Syrian refugee Monday afternoon, achieving President Obama's goal with more than a month to spare in the fiscal year -- and there are some 30,000 more waiting in the wings and ready to be resettled if the administration can handle them.
Donald Trump: 'Major speech' on illegal immigration coming Wednesday in Arizona
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is planning to give a "major speech" on illegal immigration on Wednesday in Arizona, where he'll get the opportunity to more clearly lay out what his plans will be after a week of mixed messages.
Trump campaign reaffirms commitment to fighting illegal immigration
Donald Trump's campaign Sunday downplayed his stated willingness to "soften" the stance on deporting illegal immigrants, reassuring his conservative base that he wasn't waffling on the get-tough agenda that helped propel him to the Republican presidential nomination.
10,000th Syrian reaches U.S. this week in resettlement program
The U.S. will reach its target this week of taking in 10,000 Syrian war refugees in a year-old resettlement program, the U.S. ambassador to Jordan said Sunday, after meeting families headed to California and Virginia.
Jeb Bush: Donald Trump's shift on immigration 'abhorrent'
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says Donald Trump is turning into a typical politician with his recent comments on illegal immigration, saying Mr. Trump is correct to try to reach out to new constituencies but that it's anyone's guess what he might actually believe.
Donald Trump open to 'softening' deportation stance, promises border wall
Donald Trump said Tuesday he's open to "softening" his stance on deporting illegal immigrants with deep ties to the U.S., adding still more confusion to where the GOP presidential nominee stands on one of the core issues he rode to victory in this year's primaries.
Donald Trump pushes back planned speech on immigration
Donald Trump's campaign manager said Tuesday that Mr. Trump is delaying an immigration policy speech he was to deliver Thursday in Colorado, saying it's a complex issue and he's been receiving advice from different people on it.
Donald Trump on immigration: 'I just want to follow the law'
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says he simply wants to "follow the law" on immigration, saying if and when he wins, the "bad ones" are going to get sent out of the country.
Germans fear more terror attacks over Angela Merkel's immigration open-door policy: poll
GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump calls it an unmitigated disaster for Germany, but Germans themselves are more evenly divided over Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy for migrants seeking to enter the country from Syria, Afghanistan and other world crisis spots.
Joe Biden says U.S. must welcome more immigrants from Central America
Ahead of a meeting with the president of Costa Rica Monday, Vice President Joseph R. Biden blasted Republicans' "inflammatory rhetoric against immigrants" and said solving the migration crisis from Central America requires "hard trade-offs."
Donald Trump: 'I'm not flip-flopping' on immigration
GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said Monday he's not "flip-flopping" on immigration, calling for a "fair but firm" answer and saying that "we have to be very, very strong" when people enter the country illegally.
Voters -- including immigrants themselves -- back Trump call for 'extreme vetting'
Immigrants themselves support Donald Trump's call for a stiffer ideological test for newcomers to the U.S., according to a surprising new poll that suggests the GOP presidential nominee's plans strike a chord.
House chairman orders AG Lynch to start revoking fraudulent asylum
A top House lawmaker told Attorney General Loretta Lynch Thursday to start revoking bogus asylum cases after the Justice Department admitted it was aware of more than 3,700 applications that were granted despite being part of a massive New York City fraud ring.
Donald Trump wants 'extreme vetting' to stop terrorists at border
Donald Trump called for "extreme vetting" to root out potential terrorists attempting to enter the United States, as the Republican presidential nominee Monday rolled out a three-pronged strategy to fight and win what he described as an ideological war pitting radical Islamists against the West.
Illegal immigration surges past 2015 total with two months still to go in fiscal year
Illegal immigration in 2016 has already surpassed 2015 with two months still to go in the fiscal year, driven by a renewed surge of illegal immigrant children and families from Central America attempting to sneak into the U.S.
Justice Dept. lawyers ordered to take ethics classes after misleading judge in amnesty case
The Justice Department will order all of its civil division lawyers to take an hourlong remedial ethics class, hoping to head off even worse punishment from a federal judge who is furious about the way Obama administration attorneys misled him in the case involving the president's deportation amnesty.
Obama administration's Syrian refugee surge could approach 30,000 in next year
After a massive surge of effort, the administration is on pace to blow past President Obama's goal of 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year, and could end up taking in more than 12,000 if the pace continues -- locking the next president into an even bigger 2017.
Obama administration to go beyond 10,000 Syrian refugees
Administration officials said Friday that the 10,000 Syrian refugees President Obama wants to welcome this fiscal year is a floor, not a ceiling, and they can go even higher than that total.
Clinton: I can force House Republicans to pass immigration reform
Predicting that she can succeed where President Obama failed, Hillary Clinton on Friday said flatly that she will be able to "force" the Republican-led House to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill, including a path to citizenship, if she becomes president.
DHS grants Syrians temporary amnesty
Homeland Security granted a new temporary amnesty Monday to more than 8,000 Syrians living in the U.S. right now, saying they can remain for up to 18 months longer no matter what their legal status.
DNC host Philadelphia denies sanctuary city status, but Justice Department says otherwise
The city of Philadelphia insists it's not a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, but a Justice Department report says otherwise -- and now the city that just hosted the Democratic National Convention is in danger of losing millions of dollars in federal funding for breaking the law.
Recent Opinion Columns
The U.S. immigration system in chaos
Germans proving they're not sheeple are rejecting their mass-immigration-promoting ruling party in elections. The U.S. immigration system, in chaos, "mistakenly" gives citizenship to 800 immigrants ordered deported. Two foreign-born Islamists go on terror rampages in the United States.
Pope hurling stones at Trump from glass Vatican
Looks like Pope Francis needs to go to confession. At the very least, the pontiff should seek an audience with real estate mogul Donald J. Trump to ask for forgiveness over slandering him and denouncing his Christian faith.
Donald Trump hits mark on immigration, quickly grasps complex problem
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi (or somebody)
Welcome to lawless Obama's America, hombres!
Just when President Obama thought it was safe to show his face in an American courtroom again, in walks John Wayne in a black robe to deliver one of the greatest legal beatdowns ever suffered by a sitting president.
Unspoken goal of Obama's amnesty: To kill the notion of American exceptionalism
Diluting American power and sovereignty is what President Obama's border and immigration policy is all about: Flood the zone and watch American exceptionalism melt away.
Black voters for Obama get nothing but disrespect
President Obama discounted November's election results because turnout is lower in midterm than in presidential elections, but there is reason to believe that his treatment of his base contributed to the decision of many Democrats to not bother going to the polls in what everyone recognized as a crucial election.
From The Vault
Border Patrol agents say GOP's border security bill is weak 'window dressing'
Border Patrol agents' labor union announced their opposition Friday to the House GOP's new border security bill, calling it "window dressing" that doesn't add any new agents or updated their firepower to get the job done in sealing off the U.S.-Mexico border.
Most Americans fear illegal immigrants hurt U.S. culture, economy: Poll
An overwhelming majority of Americans say they have deep worries that illegal immigration will erode the country's culture and economy, revealed a new poll.
RNC's Priebus: 'General consensus' that something big has to happen on immigration
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday that there's a "general consensus" in his party that something big needs to happen on overhauling the country's immigration laws and that more specifics would be unveiled this week at House Republicans' annual retreat.
Latino group targets $20M to oust GOP: ‘We know who we’re going after’
Calling it a “pivotal moment,” a band of Latino donors has launched a $20 million campaign to unseat those in the House who stand against President Obama’s immigration proposals and oppose Democratic Party reform bills.
Illegal immigration on the upswing, up to 11.7 million: report
The U.S. illegal immigrant population has begun to tick back up with the improving economy, rising to 11.7 million last year, according to the latest estimates Monday from the Pew Hispanic Center.
U.S. releases illegal immigrants who are sex offenders
The news last week that federal authorities had to release 2,837 convicted sex offenders back onto the streets has renewed focus on a Supreme Court case that requires the government to release immigrants whose home countries won't take them back.
Immigration officers union says agency can't handle legalization
The union that represents the people who would have to decide who gets legalized under any new immigration law said in a letter Tuesday that the Obama administration is not ready to handle the influx of applications.
Business bosses pressure House to pass immigration bill
The American business community weighed in Tuesday on immigration, firing off a letter to House leaders urging them to find the political will to pass an immigration bill this year.