Immigration:

800 Jobs Open in Springfield, Tennessee, For Americans and Legal Immigrants, January 6, 2008
More than a thousand illegal immigrants have high-tailed it out of Springfield, Tenn, - including 800 employed at a single factory - after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began enforcing the law the prohibits employers from employing illegals. But Stacey...

Cause and Effect, December 26, 2007
In the fight to reduce illegal immigration, we need more of this as it seems to be working....

New Data Released on the Illegal Immigration Crisis, November 29, 2007
nearly one third of the nation's 37.9 million immigrant residents are here illegally, says the Center for Immigration Studies in a new report that examines the size, growth, and characteristics of the nation's immigrant, or foreign-born, population as of March...

Immigration Politics, November 16, 2007
The Politico says: Immigration is becoming for the 2008 election what affirmative action/racial preferences was 15 years ago - the kind of emotional wedge issue that offers Republicans a way to split rank-and-file Democrats from their leaders.There's nothing wrong with...

Dueling Banjos, November 8, 2007
State Rep. Debra Maggart, R-Hendersonville, has issued a press release criticizing the state Comptroller's recent study asserting that illegal immigrants are a net-plus for the Tennessee economy. Maggart notes the discrepancies between the Comptroller's report and a report from the...

Minuteman Founder in Nashville Monday, November 4, 2007
Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps - the volunteer organization established to help stop the flow of illegals across the Mexican border - is scheduled to speak at Belmont University Monday morning....

Critics: State's Report on Impact of Illegals Purposely Biased, September 4, 2007
From NewsChannel5: Critics Charge State Comptroller's Immigration Report Is Biased.Several lawmakers are accusing the comptroller's office of skewing the facts and presenting a biased report to possibly shape future legislation. Another critic Carol Swain, a law and political science professor...

Solving Illegal Immigration, August 22, 2007
If I was a business executive selecting which staffing company to use, I'd certainly lean hard in the direction of using Staffmark, a Nashville company that verifies the legal status of its workers with the government's new E-Verify system, so...

Death of a Nation, June 27, 2007
Rich Hailey writes eloquently about immigration reform. Read the whole thing....

Immigration "Reform" Killed By A Flash Mob, June 11, 2007
New York Post writer John Podhoretz says the defeat of the immigration reform bill was a revolutionary moment in American political history.But there's something else notable here - something that should gladden the hearts of libertarians and all those who...

Revolving Door, June 10, 2007
Until we the people force our government to enforce the immigration laws and shut down illegal immigration, this is the kind of federal non-action we're going to continue to get. We don't need comprehensive immigration reform. We need a government...

Fence First!, June 8, 2007
Senate Bill 1348, the compromise immigration reform bill that almost nobody liked, has suffered a major defeat in the U.S. Senate, and Tennessee senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker voted the right way. Meanwhile, The City Paper has an excellent...

Alexander Offers Border Security Amendment, June 7, 2007
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, has proposed an amendment to the immigration reform bill that would prevent other elements of the legislation from being implemented until three out of four governors on the U.S. - Mexico border certify the border is...

Lost in Translation, June 7, 2007
My lunch yesterday. Okay, it isn't as big a deal as Terry Heaton's $279 empty box from CompUSA, but when you go to a Subway and ask for a "BLT" and they ask you what you want on and...

Where's the Fence?, June 6, 2007
Last year, Congress pass and President Bush signed legislation that promised 700 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. But they never funded it - the promised 700 miles of fence was nothing but an election-year con to make you...

Sen. Alexander Wants Border-State Governors to Verify Border Security Progress Before "Path to Citizenship" Begins, June 4, 2007
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, said he would try to amend the immigration reform legislation now pending in the Senate with a requirement that a group of people other than from inside the Beltway decide when the federal government has met...

Sen. Alexander Makes The Call, June 4, 2007
I just finished a 25-minute phone interview with Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, in which the immigration reform legislation now pending in the Senate was the primary topic of discussion. His office called me out of the blue today - I'd...

Fence First!, June 3, 2007
Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander got a wake-up call on illegal immigration from his constituents in Tennessee Saturday. Reports from Bear Creek Ledger and the Blue Collar Muse. The thing is, it isn't just Republicans who oppose the Senate's illegal immigration...

Boo Hoo, May 21, 2007
The City Paper reports that the new effort by the Davidson County (Nashville) Sheriff's Department to run immigration checks on every foreign-born arrestee could result in between 3,000 and 4,000 illegal aliens being deported over the next year and that...

Corker to Vote "No" on Illegal Immigration Amnesty Bill, May 19, 2007
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, has issued the following statement regarding the immigration reform bill now pending in the U.S. Senate, legislation that would, effectively, provide amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants while reducing the length of the planned border...

Immigration Update, May 18, 2007
As the debate over Congress' "compromise" immigration reform bill rolls on, Sen. Bob Corker, Sen. Lamar Alexander and Tennessee's nine House members should Mary Sadler....

No Amnesty For Wrong Vote on Illegal Immigration, May 17, 2007
Remember when U.S. Senate candidate Bob Corker ran that ad with him down at the Mexican border walking along that border and talking tough on illegal immigration? Well, now the time has come for Sen. Corker to show that he...

Illegals Driving No Mas, February 19, 2007
Ever since he won re-election after running a flood of ads touting his promises to get tough on illegal immigration, Gov. Bredesen hasn't said much about the subject, but The Tennessean reports that Bredesen does plan to undo one of...

Text Still Not Found, February 6, 2007
Back in early September I made a prediction that Gov. Phil Bredesen - who was at the time running tons of campaign commercials stressing his commitment to addressing illegal immigration - would drop the issue after he was re-elected. I...

Count 'Em All, January 19, 2007
A story in the Boston Herald reports that officials in Massachussets want to make sure they get an accurate count of illegal immigrants living in the state as part of the 2010 census, so the state doesn't lose a congressional...

Stop Breaking the Law!, December 11, 2006
Some good news today in the battle to make Tennessee less of a magnet for illegal immigrants - all of the "driver's certificates" that the state of Tennessee stupidly gave to illegals a few years ago are set to expire...

Amnesty Likely for Illegals as Issue Drops Off Bredesen's Radar, November 20, 2006
The Tennessean reports that the takeover of Congress by Democrats makes it more likely that illegal immigrants living in the United States "are more likely to find paths to citizenship" in any illegal immigration reform passed by Congress. "Paths to...

Illegal Mortgages, November 12, 2006
The Sunday edition of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports on some local banks that are making mortgage loans to illegal immigrants, happily undermining U.S. immigration laws. It ought to be illegal federally in this country to sell mortgages to people...

Bryson Promises to Get Tough on Illegal Immigration; Bredesen Still Tinkers Around the Edges, October 24, 2006
Tennessee Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Bryson is out with a new campaign ad on illegal immigration. Also, watch this clip from a debate between Gov. Phil Bredesen and Bryson each responding to a question about illegal immigration. Bredesen's response...

Tennesseans Overwhelmingly View Illegal Immigration As Bad for the State, October 10, 2006
The latest statewide poll from the Middle Tennessee State University Survey Group finds that Tennesseans by landslide proportions believe illegal or "undocumented" immigrants make life worse for Tennesseans, even though a majority of Tennesseans believe immigration (the legal kind) is...

While Bredesen Talks Tough, Bryson Proposes "Strictest Immigration Laws in the Nation", October 4, 2006
While Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen talks tough on illegal immigration but takes little action beyond photo-ops and press conferences, his Republican rival in the governor's race has unveiled a tough but doable 10-point plan that would give Tennessee the toughest...

Hit Head On, September 26, 2006
Donna Locke emailed the following in response to a Tennessean story about Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Bryson's new campaign ad, in which a Bredesen staffer tries to portray Bredesen (falsely) as taking tough action on illegal immigration: Locke writes:Gov. Phil...

Report from a Town Hall Meeting on Illegal Immigration, September 20, 2006
Donna Locke attended a forum on illegal immigration Tuesday night in Columbia and files this report...I returned a little while ago from the Columbia town hall meeting to address illegal immigration. It was like many town hall meetings I have...

Bredesen Postures as Nashville Tackles Illegal Immigration, September 5, 2006
The city of Nashville is taking steps to combat illegal immigration. I don't think they can do that - after all, Tennessee Gov. Phil "Pass-the-Buck" Bredesen has long claimed that illegal immigration is the federal government's problem. Of course, Political...

Bus-ted: When Good Federales Go Bad, September 2, 2006
A drug bust along I-40 in Western Wlliamson County, Tennessee has nabbed a member of Mexico's federal police force traveling with a 15-pound bale of marijuana on a bus bound for Nashville. The officer was legally in the U.S. -...

The Mounting Toll of Illegal Immigration, August 23, 2006
A man thought to be an illegal immigrant from somewhere south of Texas stands accused of killing a Nashville woman. A few quick points: 1. If the federal government was doing its border-control job properly, illegal immigrants' homicide victims wouldn't...

Illegal immigrants up ER costs, August 11, 2006
by Rick Forman The Republican Tour! "TennCare pays about $15 million yearly in emergency care for illegal immigrants, and Vanderbilt paid about $3.8 million for the same group during the past 12 months." From National Center for Health Statistics study...

If He Wasn't Here, His Victim Wouldn't Be Dead, August 3, 2006
A report in today's today's Nashville City Paper on a traffic crash that killed a Nashville man says this:...the man charged with vehicular homicide, drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident is believed by authorities to be an...

Bredesen Continues to Play Catch-Up on Illegal Immigration, July 23, 2006
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is continuing to play catch-up to likely Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Bryson on the issue of illegal immigration, an issue Bredesen cared nothing about until it became a hot topic in an election year. Note that...

Padding the Photo Op, July 21, 2006
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has upped the size of the backdrop for his inevitable "I really am tough on illegal immigration" campaign ad. Never mind that he has consistently opposed any efforts to actually make Tennessee less of a magnet...

One Editorial Gutted, Please, July 1, 2006
The Tennessean has an editorial in the Saturday edition slamming Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Bryson for his illegal immigration politics. I was going to write a response gutting the editorial for its shallowness of thinking, its flawed logic and its...

A Simple Proposal, June 27, 2006
Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Bryson on Monday promised state-level reforms to combat illegal immigration, and incumbent Gov. Phil Bredesen again showed his indifference to the problem and his predilection to pass the buck by saying illegal immigration isn't his problem,...

Failing You, June 23, 2006
The Friday Nashville City Paper has details on how the criminal justice system repeatedly put illegal immigrant Gustavo Reyes Garcia back on the streets instead of in jail or on a bus back to Mexico. Now, two Americans are dead...

Illegal Immigrant Kills Two, June 13, 2006
A couple of Americans from the Nashville suburb of Mt. Juliet are dead because the federal government refuses to secure its southern border and enforce its immigration laws. The Tennessean incorrectly refers to the killer as "a Madison man," though...

Immigration Non-Reform, May 30, 2006
Donna Locke of Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform sends along this summary of what the state legislature did - or, I should say, didn't do - to combat illegal immigration. Locke also updates progress - or lack thereof -...

Green Lite, January 8, 2006
By Donna Locke Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform Wintermute, a Memphis-area blogger, has a post about overpopulation. A news story he links to is worth reading. That story reminds me of a letter to the editor I sent to...

Feel Safe Yet?, January 6, 2006
By Donna Locke Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform While Congress is in recess, President Bush has picked his crony Julie Myers, who has no actual law enforcement experience, to be Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, heading up U.S. Immigration...

More or Less, January 5, 2006
By Donna Locke Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform As we fill in for the blogfather, I've cast about for topics and have decided to write about, well, immigration. Immigration is actually my least favorite thing to write about, but...

Fruit and Carpet in Court, January 4, 2006
By Donna Locke Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform The end of 2005 delivered unto us the first-ever settlement of a RICO lawsuit over illegal hiring (of illegal aliens). "RICO" refers to the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.William...

Break on Through to the Other Side, December 28, 2005
By Donna Locke Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform U.S. Border Patrol agents estimate that for every person caught crossing our borders illegally, four to seven slip by. Some of those caught are repeat crossers. From Oct. 1, 2004, to...

Invasion?, December 20, 2005
Arnold Garcia Jr., the editorial page editor of the Austin, Texas, American-Statesman, criticizes proposals for building a wall along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border to stop illegal immigration, in a column in which he, probably unintentionally, likens illegal immigration to a...

U.S. House Passes Immigration-Control Bill, December 17, 2005
By Donna Locke Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform The U.S. House on Friday passed The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437) to target illegal hiring, provide for a border fence, stop catch-and-release enforcement...

Call, or Cast Your Fate to the Wind, December 16, 2005
By Donna Locke Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform U.S. House floor action on H.R. 4437 (The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005) will continue today, Dec. 16, following Thursday's votes on a number of amendments...

Action Hero, December 12, 2005
By Donna Locke Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., is calling for drastic action to secure the borders and for a change in birthright citizenship law so that at least one of the parents must...

Bills and Builders, December 8, 2005
By Donna Locke Tennesseans for Immigration Control and Reform Here's a news story about a border and immigration control bill approved by a U.S. House committee Thursday. The bill, sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., ignores President Bush's call for...

Quote Unquote, December 8, 2005
One of my regular readers and commenters, who is usually in agreement with ths blog and is a very smart guy, has been on a personal crusade lately against Donna Locke, who I recently invited to begin posting here about...

Rubicon, December 6, 2005
Tennessee had the tenth-highest influx of legal and illegal immigrants from 2000-2005, according to a Center for Immigration Studies analysis of new Census Bureau data. The CIS analysis of the data shows that the immigrant population (legal and illegal) reached...