Border & Immigration News

The Daily Signal provides border and immigration news, including reporting, analysis, and commentary on policy, enforcement, and political debates.
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    • News

    That DC Limo Trump Protesters Torched Belonged to a Muslim Immigrant

    The limousine liberal protesters set on fire in Washington, D.C., Friday in response to Donald Trump’s inauguration belonged to a Muslim immigrant who now faces up to $70,000 of damage to his property. An angry mob attacked one of Muhammad Ashraf’s limo drivers while he was sitting in the vehicle on 12th Street in the northwest…
    Rachel Stoltzfoos
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    • News

    Trump Day One Executive Actions Could Include Immigration, Obamacare, ISIS, and Trade

    President-elect Donald Trump plans to use “four or five” executive actions on Friday after being sworn into office, incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters. “We’ve talked about that for a few months now—Obamacare, the fight against ISIS, he talked about immigration, key issues that have been important to him throughout the campaign…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    3 Takeaways From Gen. John Kelly’s Homeland Security Confirmation Hearing

    On Tuesday, retired Gen. John Kelly, the nominee to be secretary of homeland security, went before the Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee for his confirmation hearing. Here are the top three takeaways from that hearing. 1. The Department of Homeland Security’s management and morale are a top focus for Congress and for Kelly. Multiple…
    David Inserra
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    • News

    4 Key Things to Know About Building Trump’s Border Wall

    President-elect Donald Trump has legal authorization to move forward on his core campaign promise of building a border wall; he just needs the money to do it. Trump said he still intends to require Mexico to pay for the wall, but needs congressional appropriation to expedite the process. The dishonest media does not report that…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    Texas Governor Pledges to Sign Anti-Sanctuary City Bill

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he expects the Legislature to pass an anti-sanctuary city bill this year, opening a new front in the battle over “local control.” Weighing in on the intensifying national immigration debate, the Republican governor pledged to sign S.B. 4, which would require municipalities to enforce migrant detainers at local jails and withhold state…
    Kenric Ward
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    • News

    Deported Immigrants Get Taxpayer-Funded Grants From Obama Administration

    The Obama administration is using a taxpayer-funded program to award business grants to Salvadoran migrants deported from the United States. Run by the nonprofit Instituto Salvadorno Del Migrante and funded through a $50,000 grant from the taxpayer-backed Inter-American Foundation, the program “facilitates [deportees’] reintegration into their communities and supports their enterprises by offering financial education,…
    Kenric Ward
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    • Opinion

    How Donald Trump Can Put an End to Sanctuary Cities

    Just a few weeks ago, President-elect Donald Trump said, “Cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars.” And I absolutely agree. Since 2007, I’ve been fighting to end the dangerous existence of sanctuary cities by introducing legislation every Congress. During the Obama administration’s tenure, over 300 cities—including my hometown of…
    Sen. David Vitter
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    • News

    In Texas, Republicans Fight New Sanctuary Cities in Wake of Trump Victory

    In the border state of Texas, the Republican governor and state Legislature are promising to combat a new trend since the election of Donald Trump, in which cities and localities vow to limit how much they assist federal authorities with removing immigrants living illegally in their communities. Sally Hernandez, the Democratic sheriff-elect in Travis County,…
    Josh Siegel
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    • News

    Nation’s Largest College System Says It Will Protect Illegal Immigrants From Trump

    The head of California’s community college system, the country’s largest, has joined other education leaders in the state by declaring that he will resist any effort by the federal government to deport illegal immigrants within his student body. Eloy Ortiz Oakley is chancellor of California Community Colleges, a network of some 113 campuses and the largest unified…
    Blake Neff
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    • Opinion

    Does Current Immigration Economically Benefit Ordinary US Citizens?

    Does current immigration economically benefit ordinary non-immigrants?  A recent major report indicates that most immigration does not. In September, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) published a major report on “The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration.” The report shows that, other than small number of scientifically educated immigrants, immigration produces little or no overall economic gain…
    Robert Rector
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    • Opinion

    Conservatives Could Imitate Left’s ‘Sanctuary City’ Approach

    For more than a half-century, it has become abundantly clear that our nation faces increasing irreconcilable differences. At the root is the fact that there is one group of Americans who mostly want to be left alone and live according to the rule of law and the dictates of the U.S. Constitution, while another group…
    Walter E. Williams
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    • News

    Grounded Surveillance Operation Nabbed 110,000 Illegal Immigrants at Border

    While surveillance helicopters were grounded in Texas, the head of Customs and Border Protection called the flights critical to “countering illegal immigration” from Mexico. Records bear that out: A government report credited Operation Phalanx with apprehending 110,000 illegal border crossers. CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske stated in a Nov. 16 letter that Phalanx “provided tangible benefits…
    Kenric Ward
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    • News

    Colleges Look to Create Sanctuary Campuses for Illegal Immigrant Students

    Presidents from at least two colleges have pledged to make their campuses safe havens for illegal immigrant students. “We steadfastly support all members of our community regardless of their immigration status,” John Kroger, president of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, said last week in an announcement that his college will be a sanctuary campus. Students…
    Leah Jessen
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    • News

    Sanctuary Cities Defy Trump’s Pledge to Defund Them. How He Can Fight Back.

    Leaders of sanctuary cities that protect illegal immigrants from deportation are responding defiantly to threats by President-elect Donald Trump to withhold federal funding from them. Local governments from cities including the District of Columbia, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Boston over the past few days have said that despite the financial cost they…
    Josh Siegel
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    • Opinion

    Trump Has Effective Plan to Curb Illegal Immigration, Secure Border

    To stem the tidal wave of illegal immigration engulfing America, the most important first step that Donald Trump can take is to order the Department of Homeland Security to enforce our existing immigration laws. That is exactly what he promised to do, and not just in numerous speeches. It’s an official policy statement on the…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • News

    Is the Wall Possible? What Trump Can Do on Immigration

    When Donald Trump is inaugurated as president in January, he has the authority to dramatically reshape immigration policy by himself. While Trump would need Congress to appropriate money to fund his biggest campaign promise—building a wall across the southern border—he can act alone in other areas, just like President Barack Obama has, in deciding how…
    Josh Siegel
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    • News

    Poll Shows Americans Want Less Immigration, More Enforcement

    A majority of Americans, including 51 percent of Hispanics, believe that the government has not enforced immigration laws enough, according to a poll conducted by Pulse Opinion Research.    According to the poll, commissioned by the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for less immigration, 54 percent of Americans believe there has been “too little effort”…
    Jamie Gregora
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    • News

    What’s Causing the Surge of Illegal Immigration? Lawmakers Want Answers and Action

    Four members of Congress are calling on the Obama administration to quickly address the recent spike in illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border. In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, the four lawmakers ask the administration to “take immediate action and mobilize all available resources of the department to stop the…
    Rachel del Guidice
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    • Opinion

    College Subsidies for Illegal Immigrants Get Their Day in Court

    A few weeks ago, we reported on a lawsuit in California brought by a resident and taxpayer against the Board of Regents of the University of California. Earl De Vries claimed that by giving in-state tuition benefits to illegal immigrants at all University of California schools, the regents were in violation of federal law. A…
    Cully Stimson
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    • News

    The ‘Untold Threat’ Responsible for 40% of Illegal Immigrants

    While the debate over illegal immigration tends to focus on how to control and treat those who make it across our nation’s borders, a more enduring challenge for the U.S. government has been what to do to stop legal entrants from overstaying their allotted time here. The problem of so-called visa “overstays”—which make up about…
    Josh Siegel
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