90 Miles From Tyranny

Friday, October 9, 2015

Girls With Guns

The recent national debate about the impact of illegal immigration on America is needed and welcomed.

Each year, 10 percent of all births or almost 400,000 children born are to those who are unlawfully in the United States. Given the more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the country today, this number is likely to continue.

These children automatically receive many of the same rights and privileges as United States citizens despite their parents’ illegal status. Birthright citizenship bestows on these individuals billions of dollars in federal benefits each year in the form of Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, refundable tax credits, nutrition and housing assistance, and eventually work authorization. Of course, taxpayers foot the bill.

Birthright citizenship also rewards illegal immigrant parents. It all but guarantees that they will never be deported. And the parents indirectly reap the government benefits going to...

Girls With Guns

Some U.S. IT workers who have been replaced with H-1B contractors are alleging discrimination and are going to court. They are doing so in increasing numbers.

There are at least seven IT workers at Disney who are pursuing, or plan to pursue, federal and state discrimination administrative complaints over their layoffs. Another Disney worker, still employed by the firm, has filed a state administrative discrimination complaint in California. These complaints are a first step to litigation.

Separately, there are ongoing court cases alleging discrimination against two of the largest India-based IT services firms, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services. The federal judges in each of cases have given a green light for the plaintiffs to proceed after rejecting dismissal efforts.

There may be federal interest in examining this issue. The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices was asked by 10 U.S. senators in April to examine the IT layoffs at Southern California Edison (SCE) and to determine whether...