This Issue: Senate passes major defense bill without amnesty and foreign worker increases

Fri, Jul. 28^th

The Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) late on Thursday night free of any bad immigration amendments.

Thanks to all of you who sent messages to your Senators over the last two weeks, urging them to keep immigration out of a bill that's viewed by many as must-pass legislation!

Both the House and Senate have left Washington for the month-long August recess and won't return until after Labor Day.

We had been monitoring three immigration amendments that Senators were looking to add to the NDAA.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) was pushing to include the Afghan Adjustment Act that would have given green cards to approximately 85,000 mostly unvetted Afghan nationals who were able to escape the country during the U.S. withdrawal two years ago. None of the Afghan nationals who would have qualified are eligible for the special immigrant program offered to translators who assisted U.S. troops.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was pushing to include two amendments -- the DREAM Act and the Keep STEM Talent Act. Most of you are familiar with the Dream Act that would grant amnesty to more than 3 million illegal aliens who claim to have entered the country before reaching the age of 18 and meet certain other qualifications. The Keep STEM Talent Act would allow any foreign student who graduates from a U.S. university or college with a job offer and a masters degree or higher in a STEM field to receive a green card and not count towards the annual numerical caps.

Obviously, none of these immigration provisions belong in legislation that establishes policy priorities for the Department of Defense. But as I noted above, the NDAA is viewed by many as must-pass legislation, so it's one of the few opportunities for Members of Congress to try and get their policy priorities passed regardless of their relevance to the underlying legislation.

When Congress returns in September, their focus will shift to funding for the federal government before existing funding expires on Sept. 30. The House Homeland Security Appropriations bill contains expansions for both the H-2A agricultural guest worker program and the H-2B non-agricultural guest worker program. We'll continue to monitor this bill and the other spending bills over the next two months.

Please be on the lookout for Van's town hall alerts over the month of August. Asking your Members of Congress questions at a town hall or meeting with them in person in their district is one of the most impactful actions a citizen activist can take.

ChRIS CHMIELENSKI

Washington Times: NumbersUSA CEO James Massa commented on the ongoing border dispute between Texas and the federal government.

The federal government is likely in the right legally in the border dispute with Texas, according to NumbersUSA CEO James Massa, though he argues that Abott's moves make for good politics.

"Legally, the Constitution and federal law is very clear that it is the responsibility of the president and Congress to protect the nation, including securing the borders," Massa said. "However, with over 2 million illegal immigrants pouring into the United States every year, clearly that is not being done at the federal level."

Breitbart: NumbersUSA's Andrew Good commented on high immigration's impact on the housing market.

President Joe Biden's flood of legal and illegal migrants is inflating the costs that ordinary Americans and their grown children must pay for housing, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"Global Migration Boom Keeps Housing Costs High: Surging immigration is boosting rents and supporting home prices, complicating inflation flight," said the headline above a July 15 article in the Wall Street Journal...

"Of all the worrisome trends in the American economy, the easiest one to turn around with the greatest downstream positives is to stop artificially juicing demand for housing through loose border policies," Andrew Good, an analyst at NumbersUSA -- an immigration reform group -- told Breitbart News.

DHS Dismisses 92K Deportation Cases in Single Year

Fri, Jul. 28^th

Republicans, led by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), are demanding answers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for closing or dismissing nearly 92,000 deportation cases last year, Breitbart News reported.

Wherefore Art Thou, Labor Shortage?

JARED CULVER

Fri, Jul. 28^th

According to the Wall Street Journal, there were 171,000 fewer Information Technology (IT)-related jobs across companies in the United States in June. This caused a .3% increase in the IT unemployment rate in just one month.

VP Harris' Missed Opportunity

JEREMY BECK

Thu, Jul. 27^th

The Democratic Party platform proclaims promises to "protect wildlife habitats and biodiversity...by conserving 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030." But anyone familiar with NumbersUSA's sprawl studies understands that promise is undercut by immigration-driven population growth.

Monogram Meat Snacks Caught Using Child Labor

JARED CULVER

Wed, Jul. 26^th

The child labor boom continues with Monogram Meat Snacks paying a $30,000 fine and agreeing to increased oversight from the Department of Labor (DOL) after being caught hiring teenagers in their dangerous Minnesota facility. This is only the latest meatpacking company to be caught using child labor.

Biden Admin. Responsible for Largest Expansion of Immigration in 30 Years

Fri, Jul. 21^st

The Biden Admin. has imported well over half a million migrants under programs designed to funnel illegal aliens into the country and hide the border disaster it created, regardless of existing law, public opinion, or the national interest.