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Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Illegal Immigrant Bought Baby For $80 In Guatemala To Get Priority Release In US

Children are being rented, bought, recycled, and kidnapped so that single adults, mostly men from Central America, can gain quick release into the United States after crossing the border illegally.

“We’ve had indications … that it could cost anywhere from a few hundred—or even in some cases, less than $100—up to $1,000 or more,” said Kevin McAleenan, acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), during a congressional hearing on July 18.

McAleenan said in one case, a 51-year-old illegal alien had purchased a 6-month-old baby for $80 in Guatemala so that he could easily get into the United States. The man, a Honduran national, confessed to border agents when he was faced with a DNA test.

“We’ve seen all manner of smuggling organizations communicating to potential customers and to those crossing the border how to bring a child with them to be allowed to stay in the United States,” McAleenan said. “They’ve been active in advertising, literally on Facebook and on the radio in Central America.”

Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE, sent 400 agents to El Paso and Rio Grande Valley, Texas, in mid-April to interview families that Border Patrol suspected were fake. In the last eight weeks, HSI special agents have identified 5,500 fraudulent families—about 15 percent of all cases referred.

McAleenan said agents have uncovered 921 fake documents and 615 individuals have been prosecuted for trafficking or smuggling a child.

“That tells me that we might be scratching the surface of this problem and the number of children being put at risk might be even higher,” he said.

“Everybody knows that if they bring a child, they’ll be allowed to stay in the United States—they call it a ‘passport for migration.’ I heard that directly from a gentleman from Huehuetenango, the western-most province of Guatemala.”

He said almost every summary of the cases he has seen mentions the same thing:

"The subject stated that he made the attempt because he heard in his hometown that anyone traveling to the United States with a child will be released.”

The southern border has become so overwhelmed that most...

ILLEGAL ALIEN RAPED 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN TEXAS

FORT BEND COUNTY, TX (The Houston Chronicle) – Alexander Cuellar, 40, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, was sentenced to a 20-year prison sentence on felony charges of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child, for raping a 13 year-old girl.

According to Fort Bend County court documents, Cuellar was living with family members in a Rosenberg apartment in September 2017 andbroke into a neighboring apartment while the girl was home alone. Cuellar held the victim down and sexually assaulted her before fleeing the apartment.

The victim immediately called police and Cuellar was later identified by both the victim’s statement and DNA evidence left at the scene. The victim reportedly told police Cueller had tried to enter the apartment several times previously while her mother was at work and she had filed a complaint with the apartment manager.

“This kind of case is everyone’s worst nightmare – to be sexually assaulted by a stranger in your own home. It’s a terrifying experience; however, this brave child did everything right by contacting the police immediately and cooperating throughout the investigation,” Fort Bend County Assistant District Attorney Alycia Curtis said in a press release. “Alexander Cuellar is the ultimate predator, and he needed to be removed from...

Dan ‘McCain 2.0’ Crenshaw Votes to Potentially Give Asylum to Millions of Third-World Socialists

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) has quickly become a favorite of conservatives across the country as a freshman lawmaker due to his laudable and heroic military record, but his voting record in Congress does not measure up. He is more John McCain than Donald Trump when it comes to matters of public policy.

Crenshaw proved this yet again after he voted in favor of a Democrat-backed bill that passed by a 272 to 158 margin in the House yesterday to potentially allow millions of third-world Venezuelan socialists to be granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the United States.

Crenshaw joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rep. Ilhan Omar (R-MN) to support H.R. 549, a measure that would open up the flood gates by giving asylum to Venezuelan migrants who have supported socialist dictators in their home country for decades. The Trump administration is firmly against the legislation.

“We would not want to open the floodgates for them,” an administration official told Breitbart News. “The Vice President, the National Security Council, and the President all share the same position, which was articulated by Ambassador [John] Bolton over the weekend, which is our priority is that Juan Guaido be elevated into power and [Nicolas] Maduro leave.”

The Trump administration is currently trying to revoke the TPS status for 300,000 Central American migrants, proving that this status is only temporary until the migrants arrive on U.S. shores. This problem may get a lot worse in the near future, thanks to Crenshaw and the Democrats supporting this legislation.

A strong conservative lawmaker, Freedom Caucus member Mo Brooks (R-AL), tore the bill to shreds while speaking on the House floor:

This bill proposes a tsunami of people coming to our country who are ill-equipped to support themselves. And, let’s put that into the perspective of where we are a nation. We just blew through the $22 trillion debt mark earlier this year. This year, we are looking at a roughly $900 billion deficit. A deal that has been reached that will only increase our deficit by $2 trillion over the next two years pushing our debt up to $22 trillion. This is money we do not have, have to borrow to get, and cannot afford to pay back.

How does that relate to H.R. 549? Well, let me share some numbers with you. Sixty percent of households with a lawful immigrant in them are on welfare, living off the hard work of others. Seventy percent of illegal alien households are on welfare, living off the...

ILLEGAL ALIEN CHARGED WITH SEXUALLY ABUSING CHILD IN ALABAMA

BOAZ, AL (WAAY) – A man discovered to be in the country illegally was arrested in Boaz and charged with sexually abusing a child.

On Thursday, July 18, Boaz Police arrested Felipe Juan Miguel, 25, who was living in Boaz. He was arrested around 8 or 9 p.m.

According to Boaz Police Chief Josh Gaskin, the victim was known to Miguel, but for the sake of the victim’s privacy, he could not disclose how they knew each other.

Based on information gathered during the investigation so far, Boaz Police said that Miguel inappropriately touched the victim. Investigators are working to determine when the alleged abuse initially began.

After conducting interviews through translators, investigators determined that Miguel had only been in the United States for three months and that he came from Guatemala illegally.

Gaskin said as of Sunday evening, Miguel is in the Marshall County Jail and is...

Of Progressive Carnivores and Cannibals

By: Victor Davis Hanson

The Obama-era Democratic Party bears little resemblance to the themes embraced just 11 years ago by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primaries.

The parameters of marriage, in Obama’s words “between a man and woman,” has now transmogrified beyond gay civil unions to legal gay marriage to transgendered fixations.

Obama once protested that he was no king who could open the border and grant amnesties by fiat. Yet his view of immigration has metamorphosed well beyond DACA and Dreamers into Democratic candidates going into Mexico to escort aliens unlawfully into our country, and 500 sanctuary jurisdictions in which federal immigration law is all but null and void. An American citizen convicted of using a fake Social Security Number and phony ID is a felon who is all but unemployable; an illegal alien who commits the same crimes learns quickly that these are not deportable offenses and mostly never prosecuted.

In a nanosecond, Betsy Ross’s iconic colonial flag, which once emblazoned the backdrop of the 2012 Obama inauguration ceremony, have become racist icons—or so Nike pitchman Colin Kaepernick has decreed, ordering his corporate bosses to remove them from commemorative sneakers.

Obamacare has abruptly morphed into “Medicare for All”—including illegal aliens who are to be eligible the moment they cross the border, despite never having paid a dime into the system.

The old affirmative action protocols designed to accommodate the historical grievances of blacks and Mexican-Americans have been reinvented with revolutionary speed as “diversity”—loosely defined as anyone “not white.” Thus, the vast new rubric is inclusive of wealthy Chinese-Americans, recent South American middle-class immigrants, well-off Punjabi arrivals, upscale Middle Easterners and almost anyone else, including those who fake a nonwhite identity in the manner of Elizabeth Warren or Ward Churchill. Suddenly the “woke” nonwhite were no longer 15-20 percent of the population, but comprised a supposed 30-40 percent powerful “constituency,” all united by their loathing of supposed “white privilege” and victimization from “white supremacy.”

The progressive-socialist party has absorbed what is left of the old Democratic Party. Its iconoclasts are not satisfied with erasing the images or commemorations of old white public enemies of the past—Father Serra, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson—but have quite logically turned their identity politics venom on all old white people of the present, including some...

CEDAR FALLS, IA (KCRG) – A man is facing charges after he allegedly kidnapped a 16-year-old off a front porch and tried to sexually assault her.

According to Cedar Falls police, the 16-year-old girl was babysitting and sitting outside with the child Tuesday afternoon. That’s when Saul Santos Vasquez-Martinez, 43, grabbed her and forced her into his home at 708 West 18th Street.

Police said Vasquez-Martinez then forced her into a bedroom and tried to pull down her shirt and put his hands down her pants. She resisted and escaped, running back to the home where she was babysitting.

The teen locked the doors and called for help.

She had minor injuries, police said. The child who was being babysat was not hurt.

Vasquez-Martinez was booked on...

Why is CBP ignoring mandate to collect DNA from migrant detainees?

According to a team of government whistleblowers who spoke with Fox News this week, the Trump administration’s ongoing DNA testing of illegal aliens isn’t nearly as comprehensive as it should be.

While it’s true the administration has been collecting basic DNA and fingerprint samples to test whether purported illegal alien families are actually families (often they’re not), the administration is supposed to also be conducting more extensive DNA tests to ensure that the illegals crossing into the U.S. aren’t listed in the FBI’s database of violent criminals.

But the whistleblowers claim this program isn’t being executed.

“There is no current pilot program. It’s basically dead in the water,” whistleblower Fred Wynn said.

Listen to him and his fellow whistleblowers below:

“We have a great tool that was mandated by and approved by Congress as a law and we’re not using it,” fellow whistleblower Mark Jones added. “We are allowing ourselves to apprehend individuals and process them and by not taking the DNA sample, we’re not giving our law enforcement — both state and federal — the additional tool to solve these outstanding crimes.”

According to the whistleblowers, an extensive DNA-test pilot program was supposed to have gone into effect as early as 2010 but was put on hold by then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano after she obtained a waiver from then-Attorney General Eric Holder.

Yet years later, and even with President Donald Trump, a Republican, now in the White House, the program still remains permanently stalled — and despite a vow from then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen back in 2018 that the program was in a “planning stage.”

In fact, Jones claims that during a 2018 Homeland Security conference call he participated in, the unnamed officials present appeared to suggest they wanted the program to fail.

“The folks in that conference call said, we’ll pick places we can make it fail,” he claimed.

Prior to this week, these were just...

At Least 14 Illegal Aliens Amongst 22 MS-13 Gang Members Charged with Murderous Machete Attacks

At least 14 of the 22 MS-13 gang members charged with murdering victims with machetes came to the United States as illegal aliens, Breitbart News can confirm.

Last week, 22 Los Angeles-based members of the violent El Salvadorian MS-13 gang were arrested and charged with a string of gruesome murders that included cases where victims were allegedly hacked with machetes to death and had their hearts cut out from their chests.

Records obtained by Breitbart News confirms that of the 22 MS-13 gang members charged with the vicious murders, at least 14 came to the U.S. as illegal aliens. Thirteen of the illegal alien gang members came from El Salvador and one arrived from Honduras.

In multiple cases, the illegal aliens were ordered to be removed, petitioned to bring relatives to the U.S., were granted or denied work permits, attempted to get asylum, and claimed to be the victims of crimes.

Four of the 22 gang members were born in the U.S. and granted birthright citizenship, while another four have unconfirmed immigration statuses and are presumed illegal aliens until proven otherwise.

The case sheds light on how the MS-13 gang has been highly effective in smuggling its members and potential recruits across the U.S.-Mexico border and avoiding deportation by claiming asylum or petitioning for special immigrant visas.

In some scenarios, illegal alien MS-13 gang members are even released by sanctuary cities. In May, officials with the sanctuary city of Prince George County, Maryland, defended releasing two illegal alien MS-13 gang members who are charged with allegedly murdering a 14-year-old girl, as Breitbart News reported.

The MS-13 gang is primarily made up of illegal aliens, Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs), and newly arrived immigrants living in the U.S. Today, the gang operates largely in...

Twice-Deported Illegal Alien Charged With Three Murders — Two Were Children

An illegal immigrant from Guatemala, who has twice been deported, was arrested Tuesday in connection to the murders of an Iowa woman and her two children.

Marvin Oswaldo Escobar-Orellana, 31, was arrested after he allegedly shot the family with which he lived in Des Moines, Iowa, and called 911 on himself. Orellana is the suspect in the murder of 29-year-old Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez and her two children, Grecia Daniela Alvarado-Flores, 11, and Ever Jose Mejia-Flores, 5, according an Associated Press report.

Orellana was deported in both 2010 and 2011, and convicted of illegal entry. He crossed the border around Laredo, Texas, was sentenced to 15 days in jail and ordered not to return — a command by which he did not abide, ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer confirmed with AP.

Orellana allegedly killed the family after an argument ensued in their shared home, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. He then dialed 911 and allegedly fabricated a story about Rodriguez killing the two children, saying he had to kill her in self-defense, the AP reports.

Investigators are uncertain about why the murders occurred, but they did not buy Orellana’s story.

“That’s probably one of the harder parts for the families and sometimes the first responders is, everybody wants to know why. The community wants to know why this happened, particularly the two precious little kids and the sad part is we...

Murder, Rape, Assault, Burglary: 6 Examples of California’s Sanctuary Policies Leading to More Crimes

Illegal immigrants released by local police in California after their arrests for minor offenses go on to be charged with more serious crimes such as murder, rape, and assault, according to a new government report.

Those crimes could have been prevented if these sanctuary jurisdictions had turned over those accused to federal immigration officials for deportation, the report suggests.

In one case, police in San Francisco arrested an illegal immigrant from Honduras again and again over nine months as he repeatedly was released and then booked again for more offenses rather than turned over to federal officials.

The cases are documented in the newly published quarterly Declined Detainer Report from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement covering January, February, and March 2018.

The report focuses solely on California jurisdictions, although most large municipalities across the country adopted “sanctuary” policies that prohibit local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration authorities. California is a sanctuary state.

When ICE determines an illegal immigrant accused of a criminal offense is in police custody, the agency issues a detainer. The paperwork is supposed to ensure the alleged offender will be transferred to federal authorities at the conclusion of his or her time in the local jail, instead of being released.

But sanctuary jurisdictions—as a matter of policy—ignore the detainers, which in some cases means the criminal illegal immigrants are released and able to commit new crimes rather than be deported.

The report says:

Additionally, some jurisdictions willfully decline to honor ICE detainers and refuse to timely notify ICE of an alien’s release, and may do so even when an alien has a criminal record. Unfortunately, a number of aliens who have been released under these circumstances have gone on to commit additional crimes, including violent felonies. ICE maintains that most of these crimes could have been prevented if ICE had been able to assume custody of these aliens and remove them from the country in accordance with federal immigration laws.

ICE released the report as the agency seeks to deport illegal immigrants whose cases were adjudicated and received final deportation orders.

Numerous mayors have vowed not to cooperate with ICE enforcement actions. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, with Police Chief Michel Moore at his side, told illegal immigrants over the weekend: “Your city is on your side.”

Critics of ICE’s current enforcement actions say, among other things, that the Trump administration should focus on criminal illegal immigrants.

The new report notes an irony to the outcome of sanctuary policies.

“Ultimately, a jurisdiction’s decision to ignore ICE detainers increases the need for ICE’s presence in communities and requires additional resources to locate and arrest removable aliens,” the report says.

Among local law enforcement agencies cited in the ICE report is the San Francisco Police Department.

“The San Francisco Police Department does not enforce immigration laws and department policy prohibits SFPD members from placing administrative immigration holds or detainers on...

ILLEGAL ALIEN CHARGED WITH CHILD MOLESTATION IN NORTH CAROLINA ‘SANCTUARY CITY’

ASHEBORO, NC (Fox News 8) – An Asheboro man has been charged with 4 counts of felony indecent liberties with a child among several other charges, according to Randolph County Sheriff’s Office news release.

The release says deputies received a report on July 5 about allegations of sex offenses involving a minor.

An investigation into the allegations showed evidence that Victor Estuardo Diaz, 22, of Asheboro, committed acts against a child under 15, deputies say.

Deputies also say warrants for arrest were issued and on Friday, Diaz was arrested and taken to the Randolph County Detention Center.

There Diaz was charged with felony disseminate obscene material to a minor, four counts of felony statutory sex offense with a child under 15, four counts of felony indecent liberties with a child and...

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a report detailing how far the state of California goes to protect illegal immigrants from deportation even after they have been charged with crimes against Americans.

The report, extensively outlined by Breitbart, reveals the sanctuary state “routinely” released illegal aliens charged with drunk driving. California also released an illegal alien who was arrested for drug possession–one month later that same alien was arrested for murder and is currently in ICE custody. Those charged with rape have also been released.

Breitbart detailed examples of the ICE report:

In one case, a 25-year-old illegal alien from Mexico was arrested in March 2018, April 2018, and September 2018 – all on drunk driving charges – by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. In every case, the illegal alien was taken into custody, ICE issued a detainer, and rather than turn him over to ICE agents for deportation, Ventura County released the illegal alien back into the community.

Last year, a 30-year-old illegal alien from Mexico was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department for drug possession. ICE issued a detainer the same day, but the illegal alien was released. A month later, the illegal alien was arrested again and this time charged with murder. He is currently in custody though ICE agents fear Los Angeles County will release him again against their wishes.

In December 2017, a 28-year-old illegal alien from Mexico was arrested by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office for violating his probation. ICE issued a detainer, but the request went ignored and he was released. A month later, the illegal alien was arrested and charged with rape and...

DAVIDSON COUNTY, NC (Fox News 8) – A registered sex offender from Lexington was arrested after deputies say he was on the property of South Lexington School on two occasions, according to the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office.

On May 14, the Davidson County Sex Offender Registration Unit learned that Pablo Arias, 23, of Lexington, had been on the school’s property.

Deputies investigated and obtained warrants for his arrest.

On Thursday, Arias was arrested.

He received a $25,000 secured bond and was...

Illegal Alien Accused of Killing Illinois Father of Two Locked Up on $1M Bail

An illegal alien accused of killing father of two, Corey Cottrell, is now being held on a $1 million bail after pleading not guilty following a deadly hit-and-run in the sanctuary state of Illinois.

Jose Rodriguez, a 27-year-old illegal alien from Honduras, is accused of running a red light on June 22 in Bloomington, Illinois, causing him to hit and kill 39-year-old Corey Cottrell, a father of two daughters, who was riding his motorcycle at the time and was on his way to see his mother, Kathy.

Prosecutors said Rodriguez fled the scene of the crash after hitting Cottrell. The following day, the illegal alien turned himself into law enforcement officials and has since been charged with causing a deadly hit-and-run and driving without a license.

Corey Cottrell, 37-years-old, was killed on June 22 when an illegal alien allegedly killed him in a hit-and-run crash. (Photo via Facebook)

On Friday, while the Cottrell held services for Corey, Rodriguez pleaded not guilty in court to causing the deadly hit-and-run and was given a $1 million bail in response by McClain County, Illinois, Judge Bill Yoder. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were nearby ready to take the illegal alien into custody should he have been released.

The Cottrell family was worried weeks ago when they found out that Rodriguez had been released from prison on a $10,000 bail. Family friend Cheryl Wendland said they were concerned that the illegal alien may attempt to flee the United States.

Instead, Wendland said Rodriguez being back in custody was the best news they could have gotten.

“We got to go tell his mother that we have such beautiful news that the man who killed your son is back in custody,” Wendland said. “That was glorious.”

“We may be living in Illinois, but maybe they’re taking care of us in McClain County,” Wendland said. “Someone listened to us and realized how wrong this...

DEATH BY OPEN BORDER: SEVEN YEARS AGO TODAY, THIS YOUNG MAN WAS STOLEN FROM US BY AN ILLEGAL ALIEN

On July 12, 2012, Dominic Durden, a 30-year-old Riverside County, California sheriff’s dispatcher was on his way to work, when Juan Zacarias Lopez Tzun, 24, made an illegal left-hand turn in his pickup on Pigeon Pass Road, striking Durden’s motorcycle. Durden’s injuries were massive and he died at the scene.

 Tzun, an illegal alien, was charged with vehicular manslaughter and for driving without a license. Despite the fact that Tzun killed an innocent young man, he was booked into the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside, on only $7,500 bail.

On April 3, 2013, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Raphael A. Arreola sentenced Tzun to 90 days in jail and to 180 days in a work-release program. Tzun had already spent 56 days in jail, and only served an additional 30 days, before being released on May 2, after which, he was eventually deported.

Not surprisingly, the crash that killed Durden was not Tzun’s first run-in with the law…what follows is Tzun’s criminal history in California:

• On May 13, 2012, he was arrested, and charged with suspicion of driving under the influence and not having a license.

• In November 2010, he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and was sentenced to three years’ probation, 10 days in jail, and a $1,660 fine. Under the terms of his probation, he was required to obtain a driver’s license…he never did.

• In 2009, he was charged with grand theft auto.

Despite these charges, Tzun was never reported to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials for possible deportation, and was allowed to roam freely, continuing to place the citizens of Riverside County, in grave danger.

In fact, The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported that the California Highway Patrol refused to investigate Tzun’s immigration status, following his first DUI arrest.

Furthermore, the paper also reported:

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department does not inform ICE of impending releases after receiving an immigration detainer, Sgt. Mike Manning said.

In addition to serving as a sheriff’s 911 dispatcher, Durden was a volunteer firefighter, and an accomplished pilot. “Dom,” as his mother, Sabine called him, loved animals and was the “ultimate prankster, …who would do anything to make you laugh.”

It was Durden’s lifelong dream to become a police officer, and he spent much of his 30 years on Earth helping others and...

ILLEGAL ALIEN REPEATEDLY MOLESTED 7-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN NORTH CAROLINA

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – A Raleigh man is facing multiple child sex charges in connection with a case out of Johnston County that dates back to January, according to a Wake County arrest warrant.

Alejandro Duarte Aldama, 32, was arrested Tuesday and charged with indecent liberties with a child and statutory sex offense – child less than 13; defendant 18+.

According to the warrant, Aldama “attempt[ed] to engage in a sex act with…a child who was under the age of 13, namely 6 years old” on Jan. 4.

Aldama is being held in...

President Donald Trump is signing an executive order directing every agency to assist in getting a reliable count of citizens and noncitizens in the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, and others agencies that have population data will be required to share with the Commerce Department to get an accurate count—after a setback by the Supreme Court last month.

Liberal activist groups have been vigorously opposing the Trump administration’s push to ask a citizenship question on the census.

“It will not stop us from collecting the needed information and I think in greater detail and more accurately,” Trump said in the Rose Garden beneath cloudy skies, flanked by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr.

Today I will be issuing an executive order to put this very plan into effect immediately. I am hereby ordering every department and agency in the federal government to provide the Department of Commerce with all requested records regarding the number of citizens and noncitizens in our country. We will use these vast government databases to gain a full, complete and accurate count of the noncitizen population.

Democrat-allied liberal groups accused Trump of promoting partisanship in the constitutionally mandated process for counting the American population. Other experts note there have apparently been ample politics to go around on the census.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling on June 27, handed Trump a temporary loss, as an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts scolded the administration for supposedly misleading the court about the political intent of including a citizenship question.

But Roberts seemed to leave open the possibility that the administration could return to the court with a different rationale.

A citizenship question was on the decennial census forms from 1820 to 1950. After that, it was only included on the long-form census form. In 2010, the question was removed entirely by the Obama administration.

The question remains on the American Community Survey, an annual population canvass that the Census Bureau conducts.

After early reports that Trump might sign an executive order, later reports indicated Trump would direct the Commerce Department to collect the data through other means.

Now with Trump’s announcement of the executive order, it appears there is no path forward for a citizenship question on the census.

That said, there are at least four reasons the left cares so much about the census.

1. Immigration Debate

The liberal Campaign Legal Center said in a post after the Supreme Court decision: “An addition of the Census question would have chilled minority participation in the 2020 Census and made it less accurate.

“For now, the quality of the census is protected from the hasty addition of a politically-motivated question.”

An amicus brief in the case, filed by a coalition of liberal groups—including People for the American Way, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund—sought to explain why the immigrant population broadly would be discouraged from filling out a census form.

However, the brief never made a distinction between legal and illegal immigrants.

“Amici and our constituencies have spent decades in the field, working with communities to ensure full participation in the census,” the liberal coalition’s amicus brief said. “Our experience and the findings of social scientists and other census experts all confirm that including the citizenship question will lead to depressed participation, particularly among families that include immigrants, young children, and people of color.”

The organization also didn’t explain why a legal resident might be discouraged from filling out a census form because of a citizenship question.

The immigration debate factors into the resistance to a citizenship question, Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, said.

“We are in this vigorous debate about immigration policy in this country. I think the official estimates in the number of aliens who are in the country illegally are way low,” von Spakovsky said.

“I think the census numbers, if we could ask this question, which would give us an accurate read on exactly how many noncitizens there really are in the country. I think the number is going to be surprisingly larger than people think it is,” he said. “I don’t think the left wants people to know that.”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, already knows how many noncitizens are in the country legally.

“If they know there is a certain number of legal noncitizens in the country, and the census data comes back and says this is the number of noncitizens in the country, they can then figure out how many people are here illegally, because they know how many are here legally,” von Spakovsky explained.

Unidos US, a Hispanic advocacy group formerly known as the National Council of La Raza, stressed the importance of the 2020 census, saying on its blog that many “Latinos currently live in hard-to-count Census tracts, and in 2010, the undercount for Latino children was twice that of White children—and this has led to reduced money and resources for our communities, schools, and neighborhoods.”

2. ‘Trifecta’ Politics

That same Unidos US blog post noted that, among other things, census data are used to “[d]etermine the number of congressional seats each state gets, and district lines that define state legislatures, city councils, and school boards.”

The census is a major part of the left’s overlapping strategy, said Hayden Ludwig, an investigative researcher at the Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank that investigates nonprofits.

“The census is one part of a trifecta to winning elections for Democrats,” Ludwig told The Daily Signal. “Voter turnout is another, but you have to know the right numbers to get them to turn out.”

The third component, he said, is redistricting. He pointed to Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder’s group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, that seeks to reverse the Republican advantage in drawing state legislative and congressional districts that resulted from the 2010 GOP victories in most state legislative chambers.

“The most obvious first priority is to bump up the populations in blue states to get more Democratic districts and access more federal resources,” Ludwig said.

Noncitizens, legal or not, do not have voting rights in federal elections, though some municipalities have extended voting rights for illegal immigrants in municipal elections.

Political power has been a key motivator in seeking to prevent an accurate picture on the citizenship count.

“Reapportionment is based on total population. For example, California has probably five or six congressional seats it would not have but for the illegal alien population,” von Spakovsky said.

3. Money, Money, Money

The amicus brief from the liberal groups also said:

The constitutionally mandated census is central not only to apportioning political power at every level of government, but also to shaping the annual allocation of more than $800 billion in federal funding, along with countless policy and investment decisions by government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private enterprise.

After the Supreme Court decision on the citizenship question, Sam Berger, the vice president for democracy and government reform with the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, said, “The citizenship question would discourage millions of people from participating in the census and [compromise] federal funding for critical programs across the country.”

The aforementioned Unidos US blog post shows a chart of the top census-guided programs.

The first is Medicaid, which doles out $312 billion annually, followed by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), which spends $69.5 billion a year; Medicare Part B, $64.2 billion; and highway planning and construction, $38.3 billion. Section 8 housing vouchers round out the top five at $19.1 billion.

“I also think they don’t want that information available because of federal-funding programs that depend on how many citizens a state has, and they don’t want federal funding reduced if people know how many noncitizens there are in a particular state,” von Spakovsky explained. “The overarching theme is the left does not want accurate data about the number of noncitizens in the country.”

4. Identity Politics

Identity politics have also been part of the mix, Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow for foreign policy at The Heritage Foundation, notes.

The Obama administration sought to use the census to create a new ethnic group—MENA, for people of Middle Eastern and North African derivation.

Gonzalez has written, “the government needs to get out of the unsavory business of conjuring up new pan-ethnic groups intended to divide us as a people and which have no...

Previously Deported Illegal Alien MS-13 Member Gets 17 For Years for Discussing Racketeering Conspiracy During Prison Calls With Clique Leader

BOSTON – An MS-13 member was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston to racketeering conspiracy.

Nelson Cruz Rodriguez Cartagena, a/k/a “Inquieto,” 25, a Salvadoran national illegally residing in Everett, was sentenced to 17 years in prison and three years of supervised release. Rodriguez will be subject to deportation proceedings upon completion of his sentence.

In April 2019, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, commonly referred to as RICO conspiracy. Rodriguez was arrested in Everett after law enforcement determined that he had reentered the United States after having been deported in 2016.

Rodriguez is a full member, or “homeboy,” in MS-13’s Everett Locos Salvatrucha (ELS) clique. On recorded prison calls with a detained ELS clique leader, Rodriguez discussed buying guns for the ELS clique; maintaining and supervising the clique’s marijuana trafficking business; the need to collect dues from clique members; the need to send money to MS-13 leaders in El Salvador due on the 13th of each month; and reporting on the clique’s day-to-day racketeering activities. When the clique leader began to suspect that a member of the ELS clique had cooperated with...