More than three months after Barack Obama abrogated the legislative powers granted to Congress by implementing an unconstitutional nationwide amnesty, the men and women who put themselves in the line of fire in order to protect this nation’s sovereignty have decided to challenge  this administration’s illegal usurpation of power in court. The lawsuit by filed by 10 ICE agents against Janet Napolitano and John Morton symbolizes the contempt the current occupant of the White House-and by extension, his chief deputies-have for the rule of law.

The fact that chief of staff for ICE Director John Morton has been sidelined in response to a lawsuit by male employees of the immigration agency who’ve experienced systemic discrimination shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s familiar with the way Obama & Co. operate. A good primer is Katie Pavlich’s book about Fast and Furious, which exposes how deceit, evasion, and obstruction of justice reach all the way from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, to the corridors of the Department of Justice.

Kudos to Chris Crane and the ICE agents who have taken a stand against the arbitrary tyranny of an unchecked executive branch, as well as the governors in states across the country, from Mississippi, to Nebraska, to the great state of Arizona, which have defended the interests of American citizens, a group that has become increasingly marginalized by this country’s two main political parties.

This month’s Rattle brings us a host of stories that the mainstream media didn’t cover sufficiently-preferring instead to shower accolades upon the man responsible for abandoning immigration enforcement in the name of political opportunism. We’ll cover everything from the latest spate of violent crimes committed by illegal aliens to Barack Obama’s continued roll out of administrative amnesty, which now includes directives to ignore both interior enforcement and border security.

But first, we’ll examine this administration’s ongoing obstruction of Congress’s investigation into the ever-broadening gun-walking scandals. Courtesy of Sipsey Street Irregulars-whose coverage of Fast and Furious is non pareil-we learn that the White House is blocking testimony from Kevin O’Reilly, a former staff member of the National Security Council who wants to speak with the Senate Judiciary Committee and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. This administration’s invocation of executive privilege is just the latest example of obstruction of justice  relating to Fast and Furious.

It should be recalled that last July the acting head of the ATF told Congress that his agency was paying FBI agents to ignore the law in pursuit of this administration’s bizarre and opaque political goals. Immigration control, not gun control, is a solution that Barack Obama’s Justice Department dismisses out of hand. We can only hope that, as Katie Pavlich reports in Town Hall, Chairman Darrell Issa pursues this investigation to its conclusion, which hopefully will result in a more than a few stiff prison sentences. Speaking of Katie Pavlich, she has a fantastic new book about Fast and Furious entitled-appropriately-Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal, which I urge you all to read.

Obfuscation and evasion are hallmarks of this administration, especially as it pertains to immigration and border security, as an insightful commentary from Michael Cutler published by Fox News Latino illustrates. The former INS agent and current immigration watchdog points out that Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security is effectively “cooking the books” by relying solely upon  documented arrests-a misleading statistic-in order to pretend that this administration is cracking down upon illegal entry into the United States. FAIR’s Legislative Update further dissects this policy, which is drawing increasing scrutiny from Congress-particularly Chairman Darrell Issa and Rep. Jason Chaffetz- notwithstanding what Tom Tancredo accurately describes as a bipartisan conspiracy to hobble border security and immigration enforcement. By not logging and tracking the number of illegal border crossers who were not detained, Customs and Border Protection is painting a rosy picture of a much more dire situation.

The deceit of this administration extends beyond the CBP and encompasses virtually every aspect of immigration enforcement, both at the border and inside of the United States. Even though ICE is touting the Cross Check raids it initiated earlier this month-intended to apprehend ostensibly violent criminals, absconders and  fugitives from justice-this is merely a political expedient designed for election year consumption. The truth is that Barack Obama’s administrative amnesty proceeds apace, with four cities ordered to halt deportations, according to the Dan Stein Report. Remarkably, the Executive Office for Immigration Review has closed San Francisco’s immigration court and plans to completely halt its proceedings for the entire summer. Jim Kouri reports on yet another component of Barack Obama’s administrative amnesty, the decision to suspend deportations of illegal aliens with “families,” inside of the United States.

And while illegal aliens are not being deported, they will be able to enjoy state-of-the-art detention facilities, including some new amenities such as beach volleyball and cable TV. Lamar Smith excoriates this administration for its skewed priorities in a must-read op-ed published in The Hill. Although this new detention manual  might seem farcical, it’s far from a laughing matter. As Jim Kouri points out in his Examiner column, the Department of Homeland Security has taken virtually no action against foreigners who overstay their visas. This negligence persists over a decade after the September 11th massacres, which were committed by a cadre of jihadists whose visa applications are symptomatic of our country’s dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy. This is not merely an hypothetical problem, even after the destruction of the World Trade Center, as the case of illegal alien Amine El Khalifi demonstrates. The fact that this indifference to the lives of American citizens continues unabated, despite repeated pressure exerted by the GAO serves to illustrate this administration’s fundamental lack of accountability.

Even as it lags behind in locating and detaining criminal aliens, the administration of Barack Obama has deigned to grant Temporary Protected Status to thousands of Syrians living in the United States. As we’ve pointed out in the past, Temporary Protected Status is anything but temporary. In fact, it is merely another expedient used to grant de facto amnesty to a group of illegal aliens who can prove “hardship” circumstances, most of which persist indefinitely-making their stay in the United States permanent. This is even more disturbing when juxtaposed against the State Department’s recent decision to bar inspection of a visiting Egyptian delegation consisting of Muslim Brotherhood officials. Of course, Egypt isn’t the only country where the Ikwhan has a strong foothold.

The problem is that Barack Obama’s ostensible opposition, i.e. congressional Republicans, are doing virtually nothing to investigate the egregious overreach of his administration on immigration matters. Quite the contrary, some are hard at work developing proposals that would only worsen the situation, such as DREAM Lite, in hopes of  cultivating the ever-elusive Hispanic vote. Republican leaders in the states are not faring much better in this regard, as the difficult struggle in New Hampshire to prevent illegal aliens from capitalizing upon in-state tuition benefits demonstrates.

In an update to a story that we’ve covered recently, the North Carolina General Assembly held another hearing on illegal immigration and potential enforcement mechanisms. Unfortunately, according to NC Listen, it was dominated by illegal aliens and their supporters in the legislature, including some of the very people who had disrupted a previous hearing about these problems. Heading further south, we learn that the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhood Act has been killed in the Mississippi State Senate. Apparently, Judiciary Chairman Hob Bryan has caved knuckled under to the Mississippi Poultry Association and its desire for cheap labor, notwithstanding the harm such a decision may inflict on innocent Mississippians. Its neighbor to the East, Alabama, has revisited HB 56, the landmark legislation that targeted illegal aliens living in that state. Rep. Micky Hammon has decided to alter some of the provisions that have been enjoined by a federal court, but maintains that he and his fellow Republicans will not repeal the law, which is welcome news.

In not so good news, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has decided to defy Immigration and Customs Enforcement and refuse detainer requests for criminal aliens housed in her county’s jails. Saul Chavez is one beneficiary of Preckwinkle’s benevolence, having fled the country upon being released from jail after killing William McCann. The carnage our government’s policies wreak is not limited to the odd vehicular manslaughter though, as the massacre at Oikos University in California makes clear to any impartial observer. Limits to Growth has an insightful story about mass-murderer One L. Goh which explains the circumstances surrounding his rampage which the main stream media willfully ignores. Oikos was apparently more concerned with harvesting tuition payments by foreign students-often with loans backed by American taxpayers-than ensuring the safety of its student body. It brings to mind  9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whose entrance to the United States was facilitated by a campus administration eager to recruit students from the Middle East, heedless of the potentially deadly repercussions.

The fact that there are visa mills exploiting the F-1 Visa program should come as no surprise to people who are aware of the extensive fraud and exploitation present in the legal immigration system. Just as in Canada-which recently charged attorney Sandra Zaher with inventing false refugee claims-the United States is plagued by immigration fraud so pervasive that the conviction of Earl Seth David, aka Rabbi Avraham David, head of a New York law firm, headlines an ICE press release. The irony of an agency headed by John Morton-who’s tasked with expediting illegal immigration-spotlighting the conviction of someone for immigration fraud is apparently lost on this administration.

In another prime example of abuse, a lawsuit by two former employees of Larsen & Toubro InfoTech Limited Inc alleges systemic fraud at the India-based IT firm for which they once worked. Joining an earlier class action filed against the firm, this suit asserts that the plaintiff was forced to not only forge documents related to H-1B visas-a program rampant with corruption and fraud-but told not to report the crime to outside authorities. Read the sickening story for yourself, if you feel you have the requisite stomach. The baffling purposes of the H1-B visa program weren’t illuminated by a recent decision by Judge Gregory Frost, who ordered suppressed almost all information related to the case of  Geza Rakoczi, who is described thusly,

…a young alien man with a mysterious legal status, probably an illegal alien, who has a bachelor’s degree from a marginal educational institution, a private one that accepts all applicants, and his employer, a mortgage finance company in trouble in two different states.

Putting the lie to the idea that these visas are reserved for “highly-skilled” immigrants. More often than not they are merely convenient bodies used to replace the more demanding, highly-compensated Americans who they’ve made redundant. If you don’t believe me, just ask the wife of unemployed semiconducter engineer Darin Wedel, who is still waiting to hear back from President Obama. But do not fear, the virtual border fence is back on track,which I suppose is small comfort to the thousands of hard-working Americans like Mr. Wedel.  However, India is not the only nation to take advantage of the nebulous, easily exploitable H1-B visa program. As Phyllis Schlafly  points out, the Islamist Gulen movement in Turkey has used these same visas in order to indoctrinate Muslim students in American charter schools. The dangers posed by the Gulen movement have been explored ad nauseam in other forums, but it should be noted that even if you ascribe the most benign of intentions to the Gullenists, the idea that fundamentalist Muslim teachers are somehow highly skilled workers is implausible on its face.  Focusing on yet another rising Asian power, the New American has an interesting story about the PRC’s use of the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program in the state of Idaho which is well worth reading.

Returning to more timely issues, we discovered this past week that it’s not all that difficult to register to vote using a fabricated identity, or even assuming the persona of the current Attorney General  of the United States. Thanks to James O’Keefe we’ve discovered how simple it is to game the system, although officials at the increasingly misnamed Justice Department don’t seem to agree. Of course, acknowledging that vote fraud exists would require the Obama administration to prosecute those responsible for it, which wouldn’t bode well for the electoral prospects of Barack Obama’s party. From New York to Florida, from Indiana to Arizona, stealing elections has become quite commonplace, even as the White House-and its complaisant cronies in the media-scoff at the notion. Some Democrats, though, readily admit that trying to manipulate the outcome of elections is a routine practice, and a few even have the integrity to support measures that would rectify this betrayal of democracy.

In an ironic twist, labor unions-which were some of the most vehement supporters of President Obama’s Stimulus plan-are now complaining about some of the jobs stemming from stimulus projects going to Korean workers. I suppose the lesson is to be careful what you wish for, especially if it is over 700 billion dollars worth of taxpayer-financed boondoggles.

In more border violence, two illegal immigrants were murdered just northwest of Tucson on Thursday by two camouflaged gunman, echoing an attack that occurred  near the same city in 2007. This sort of bloodshed is rare but not unheard of in Arizona, especially in the Tucson sector, where over forty percent of this nation’s  illegal aliens come through. It is yet another reason why the constitutionality of SB 1070 must be upheld by the Supreme Court, in spite of the hostility of open borders dogmatists such as the misleadingly named Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Our final story is related to our relationship to the state as individuals, and how that relationship is changing as a result of our government’s decades-long recalibration of this country’s demographics. Courtesy of the Pew Hispanic Center, we now know that over seventy percent of Latinos want the government to provide more services to Americans, not less. Limits to Growth has a fascinating summary of the survey’s other findings, which include a belief among Hispanics that they should learn English in order to succeed in the United States, but not in order to integrate into the broader society. The findings about faith in government are worth exploring though, because they reinforce something that our side has been saying for a very long time. Namely, that Hispanic voters’ support for Democrats and generally left wing political candidates has very little to do with the GOP’s position on immigration, but a lot to do with their endorsement of redistributive economic policies.

The findings of the Pew Hispanic Center demonstrate that the cause and effect most often cited in declining Republican Party affiliation among Hispanics-embodied by the specious narrative about Pete Wilson and the waning fortunes of the California GOP-is reversed. Hispanics do not support the Democratic Party because it advocates open borders, the Democratic Party supports open borders because it enhances its ability to win future elections. In effect, what is happening is that the political elite is electing a new people. This dynamic needs to be remembered whenever we hear mealy-mouthed Republicans exhorting us to abandon any attempt to impose reason upon an anachronistic immigration system that is designed to thwart the wishes of the vast majority of the American public.

It’s going to be a long, tumultuous election year.

Mississippi State Representative Andy Gipson

Taking their cue from their Alabama neighbors, the Mississippi legislature is moving forward on a bill to crack down on illegal immigrants with local enforcement.   The bill’s supporters want to preserve state services for those residents who legally deserve them, and free up the jobs taken by illegals for unemployed legal residents of the state.

“I believe that every person in Mississippi, whether they are here illegally or not, is a child of God,” said Andy Gipson, the bill’s sponsor. “We’re not trying to hurt anyone. We’re not trying to starve anyone.”

Update: Our good friend Pamela Hall has more photo and video coverage of the event on her fantastic website, The Silent Majority No More. I highly recommend checking it out for yourself.

The police presence at the anti-voter verification rally that took place in Manhattan this weekend was pretty substantial, although it still wasn’t quite as large as the security perimeter established around the diminished Occupy Wall Street protests at Zuccotti Park. In addition to the NYPD officers, there were also a series of minders brought in by the SEIU and other unions to corral unscripted protesters.

Not that there were that many unscripted messages being presented. The overriding theme seemed to be a manichaean vision that voting rights were under assault by a ruthless cabal of Koch brother-bankrolled institutions and Republican elected officials intent on disenfranchising minorities. The biblical analogy seen below was not anomalous in this regard.

Opposition against more stringent requirements of voters-who in New York are merely required to sign their names to the voting rolls in order to cast a ballot-was the central theme of this demonstration. The laws being denounced ranged from a constitutional amendment in Mississippi that would require the production of a photo ID at the polls, to LD 1376, an overturned Maine law that prohibited same day voter registration and casting absentee ballots two days prior to the election.

There were a few demonstrators with American flags…very few.

The second-largest contingent of protesters, aside from those bussed in by the NAACP, was comprised of various labor unions from New York State and the surrounding Tri-State Area.

One of the more popular signs focused on the living wage bill being debated by the New York City Council that would mandate a higher pay scale for workers on projects subsidized by the City, although the actual impact of the proposed law is subject to intense dispute.

The chief sponsor of the march was the health workers local of the Service Employees International Union, which spent 28 million dollars in 2008 in order to elect Barack Obama to the presidency and will probably spend even more on the President’s reelection.

One of the largest unions in the country, and another huge funder and bloc of votes of President Obama, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees-part of the AFL-CIO-was also there in force.

Even a North American union had a few supporters among the crowd.

I’m not sure what conceivable interest ham radio operators have in the administation of U.S. election law, but they were in attendance as well.

The Civil Service Employees Association, a New York based local of AFSCME which wields enormous influence on state politics, was also a participant in the march to the United Nations.

As was the Professional Staff Congress, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers which represents staff at the City University Of New York. Like most of its counterparts at the rally, the PSC was part of the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti.

The fact that organized labor is becoming synonymous with public sector workers was reflected in the composition of the protest march. In addition AFSCME and the PSC, the Organization of Staff Analysts, which represents workers employed by New York City, was also present.

The Jewish Labor Committee, a secular, left wing 501(c)3 that coordinates with Big Labor, also had representatives participating in the anti-Koch march.

Interestingly enough, there was also an environmental activist group fighting against natural gas development and harnassing natural resources for domestic energy consumption. While it might seem strange to see a group created by radical environmentalist and anti-industrialist Bill McKibben yoking itself to a union-heavy demonstration, apparently there is a history behind this alliance. The inherent tension between backers of projects like the Keystone Pipeline and vociferous opponents of any American energy development has been noted by others.

There were also anti-war groups pounding the pavement. Although there was no ostensible link between the themes of the march and their cause, I have yet to see a demonstration in the past decade in which they did not participate, regardless of the cause being promoted.

Those from the Occupy Wall Street movement were perhaps more in sync with the motivations of the organizers, trumpeting the theme of wealth redistribution and denouncing the Koch brothers for assorted political and philanthropic activities they took issue with.

The anti-capitalist message was a popular one.

Including yet another denunciation of Citizens United, a Supreme Court decision that struck down unconstitutional speech restrictions placed upon labor unions, corporations, and political activists by McCain-Feingold. This is a theme that has particular resonance in liberal quarters, as this piece in Slate by Dahlia Lithwick illustrates.

The protestors did not stint on their enmity, which was almost universally directed at Republicans and those perceived to be helping the GOP, including the libertarian Koch brothers.

Notwithstanding the OWS contingent, the sectarian and radical nature of some of the organizations included in the roster of participants was hard to deny. The Peoples Organization for Progess, a Newark-based group that supports reparations extracted from white Americans to atone for slavery, rigid racial quotas, and confiscatory tax rates-and has been supportive of former Democratic congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney-had a sizable contingent taking part in the demonstration.

It’s difficult to see how “ending racism” and discriminating against racial groups different from your own can be logically reconciled, but I’m sure they’ll figure it out.

The Party of Socialism and Liberation-see if you can spot the oxymoron in that phrase-which is an offshoot of the Worker’s World Party did nothing to add to the luster of this march’s presentation.

Of course, The Militant-a publication of the Socialist Workers Party-was frequently on display.

Local socialist organizations, such as the new left Citizen Action of New York were also there.

On the other hand, this was priceless:

Unfortunately, the graybeard did not seem to recognize the cognitive dissonance inherent in attending a voting rights rally wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the image of someone not exactly known for his love of participatory democracy or election rules. Then again, who needs free elections when you can choose between socialism or being killed?

Who knew that Muncie, Indiana’s favorite orange, cartoon tabby was a liberal?

And what would a left wing march in New York City be without percussion instruments?

One of the benefits of going to these sorts of events is that you meet interesting characters. Like this fellow here, who apparently couldn’t locate his 2011 New Year’s novelty glasses in time for the demonstration.

Message overload:

I’m not quite certain what the purpose of the horns are, other than to display more buttons. Personally, my favorite is the Mobs Mabley button, although I’m not sure what possible relevance it has to the Koch brothers or state election statutes.

As the march was getting under way it came in sight of this amiable fellow, a restaurant worker who decided to make his own political statement with which I will conclude this photo-essay. Pepe the Bull is for the People! At least, that’s the portion of the hand-scrawled sign that I could make out-those of you who can come up with a better translation are free to provide it in the comments section below. Whatever the significance, it made just as much sense as the Garfield button-plus, he should be given points for his improvisational ability.

I’d just like to add one last note regarding yesterday’s elections, which did not produce the results we were hoping for at American Rattlesnake. But as I emphasized in an earlier post, we are engaged in a long term battle to retake this country and the vicissitudes of individual political battles should not dictate how we approach matters as grave as the territorial integrity of the United States. Notwithstanding that caveat, one aspect of Election Day I did not enjoy was having to say goodbye to Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.

For the better part of three decades Mr. Levy has ably served the people of Suffolk Couny in one capacity or another, maintaining a record of fiscal stewardship and popularity that would be the envy of any politician. What’s more, and unlike almost every craven, pandering pol in this state, he has consistently supported the interests of Americans over those of the La Raza lobby. Perhaps that’s why he has earned the enmity of every open borders advocate in the Tri-State Area, yet retained the admiration of hundreds of thousands of patriotic citizens who still believe in the Empire State. Although his attempt at securing the Republican nomination for governor several years ago was thwarted by an arcane, undemocratic proecedural maneuver at the GOP’s state convention, we continue to hope that Mr. Levy does not completely retire from this state’s political realm. We can only hope that he makes a bid for statewide office in the near future. After all, this state is in desperate need of real leadership.

Wherever his future endeavors take him, we at American Rattlesnake would like to wish Steve Levy the best of luck.  He is the embodiment of true public service, and reminds us that sometimes taking a principled stand is rewarded by intelligent voters.

As we mark the end of the old year and the beginning of something new, it’s wise to take a step back and assess the accomplishments and setbacks of our movement. 2010 was probably the most significant year in terms of advancing the debate over immigration enforcement within the body politic of this country in recent memory.

The most notable event, of course, was the decision by Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona to sign into law Senator Russell Pearce’s signature piece of legislation, SB 1070. As a quick reminder, the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act makes it a misdemeanor to be an illegal alien, requires the enforcement of all relevant federal immigration laws by state and local law enforcement officials during their regular duties, and targets those who hire, shelter, or harbor people living in Arizona illegally.

Although large parts of the law have been enjoined by Judge Susan Bolton, Governor Brewer and the state of Arizona are appealing that injunction. In fact, the likelihood that this law will eventually reach the Supreme Court, as another Arizona law targeting employers of illegal aliens already has, is high. But even more importantly, the decision by President Obama’s Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Eric Holder, to sue the state of Arizona served as a litmus test moment in the broader immigration debate we’ve been engaged in since Californian’s approval of Proposition 187 in 1994.

Taking the side of special interest groups like the National Council of La Raza, LULAC and other opponents of immigration enforcement in the United States, such as the ACLU and the government of Mexico, against the state of Arizona, as well as the vast majority of the American public, told us all where the Obama administration stands on this issue. It also galvanized public support for the stance of Governor Brewer and spurred efforts to enact similar laws in other states, as this New Year’s article by UPI points out.

But SB 1070 wasn’t the only major national development in the world of immigration reform. 2010 also saw the attempt by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his deputy whip, Senator Dick Durbin, to foist the DREAM Act upon us after being rebuffed repeatedly by Congress in the decade since it was first conceived. Thankfully, opponents of DREAM, led by the indefatigable Senator Sessions and his allies at Numbers USA, were able to defeat their backdoor attempt at amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.

As gratifying as this victory was, it was not the only success we had over the course of the past year. 2010 also saw the widespread adoption of Secure Communities, a program mandating local authorities share the fingerprints of arrestees with ICE, by  states and localities around the country, including ones run by governors with notoriously weak records on this issue, such as Massachusetts and our very own New York State. While perhaps a small step in the right direction, it is an indication that the Obama administration can be prodded into immigration enforcement when it is politically pressured to do so.

Perhaps the single greatest achievement of 2010, though, was the electoral victory of November 2nd, when the forces of immigration enforcement and reform defeated Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s deputies across the nation. And even though there were some blots on an otherwise great score card, the overall results represented a huge shift away from the House of Representatives that passed the DREAM Act in a lame duck session. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, whose comical efforts I’ve chronicled in the past, will be replaced in the new Congress with immigration hawk Steve King, while the former chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, anti-fence, anti-enforcement Rep. Bennie Thompson, will be replaced with a congressman familiar with that territory, Rep. Peter King.

And even though the campaign to unseat amnesty proponent and panderer Harry Reid fell short, we did see the replacement of several dreadful members of the U.S. Senate this year, including the defeat of DREAM Act supporter Bob Bennet, and the retirement of former co-sponsor Sam Brownback-who is now the governor of Kansas. Overall, the November elections marked a huge shift in favor of immigration enforcement and common sense tools like e-Verify, which is a priority of new House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith.

Overall, I think we can look back on the past year with a great degree of pride in our achievements and determination to correct those mistakes that were made in the course of this struggle. The focus of most of our energies over the past year has been in thwarting potentially disastrous legislation on the federal level, such as the DREAM Act and AgJobs, and helping states pick up the slack of the federal government, as was the case with SB 1070. I think 2011 will mark a transition to a focus on the federal government assuming its proper, but long-neglected, role in border security and immigration enforcement. The success of Secure Communities proves that state-federal cooperation can be an effective tool in stemming the flow of illegal immigration.

Rest assured, this website will continue to bring you news of any developments on that front as the year progresses.

From the liberal, online news site The Independent comes word of a surprising reversal by the national anti-illegal alien political action committee known as ALIPAC, which has decided to retract its endorsements of two prominent, blue dog Democrats who have been vocal in their support of tough immigration enforcement measures. As the report details, denying Congressman Mike McIntyre its endorsement might have an outsized effect upon his re-election campaign. Not only because he had previously touted its seal of approval-which by itself demonstrates a degree of good faith on his part-but because although it is a national organization, ALIPAC is based in the state of North Carolina, which often sees its most sustained and effective political campaigns.

As to whether or not deciding to embrace the Republican opponents of these two incumbents is a wise decision, only time will tell. It has to be said that in a caucus led by individuals like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Luis Guitierrez, and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, Rep. McIntyre does distinguish himself by defending, for the most part, American sovereignty, as this report card by Numbers USA illustrates. On the other hand, as Mr. Gheen points out, his record is far from perfect, and he is running against an opponent who-regardless of his other flaws-espouses a pretty hard line on border security.

Like his Democratic colleague, Rep. Jim Marshall has also represented his constituents pretty well during his short tenure in Congress. In fact, if we are to judge based upon the analysis completed by Numbers USA, he has done slightly better in standing up for secure borders and sensible immigration policies. But again, this Democratic incumbent faces an opponent who also has a very compelling position, and laudable policy proposals, with regard to immigration, as demonstrated by his platform.

But there are other factors that need to be weighed by prospective voters before they cast their ballots in either of these two very competitive congressional races. For example, they have to consider the question of who each man will vote to elect as the next Speaker of the House, should he be re-elected and his party represent a majority in the House of Representatives next year. Are Rep. McIntyre’s and Rep. Marshall’s compelling stances on immigration matters outweighed by the possibility that they might invest Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer with ultimate authority when the next congressional class is sworn into office?

In the end, I don’t think that voters in either North Carolina or Georgia who are concerned first and foremost with this country’s misguided immigration policy should be concerned about the outcome of these races. I think a much more important dilemma that ALIPAC faces is the question of what to do about Rep. Peter DeFazio, who occupies the unique position of being an otherwise liberal Democrat  who has a pretty solid position on immigration. Although he has displayed some disturbing tendencies to pander to pro-illegal alien voter sentiment-illustrated vividly in this response to an open borders lobbyist who supports the DREAM Act-overall he’s exhibited a rather solid record of support for immigration enforcement, particularly with respect to the dreadful, guest worker schemes floated perennially by agribusiness lobbyists looking for yet more corporate welfare.

While defeating Rep. DeFazio might seem appealing to conservative voters in the short term, it might in fact turn out to be a pyrrhic victory. Especially if in two years time his Republican replacement is ousted from this typically liberal, Eugene-based congressional district by an equally left wing candidate who has none of Mr. DeFazio’s redeeming qualities, which in this case amount to a remarkably candid opposition to blanket amnesty and disdain for disastrous bracero programs. That’s why I think William Gheen made the right decision in maintaining ALIPAC’s endorsement of Peter DeFazio, even if it might ruffle some feathers.

As you might have noticed, with Election Day imminent, I’ve turned the website’s focus to some very competitive political races throughout the country whose outcomes might have a significant impact on immigration policy on either a state/local or national level.

I’ve drawn attention to races that I consider pivotal to the outcome of the immigration debate, including the exciting gubernatorial race in Colorado, which features a surprisingly strong campaign by maverick Republican, and current Constitution Party nominee, Tom Tancredo. I’ve also focused on the highly publicized campaign by former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina to oust open borders incumbent Barbara Boxer in the California Senate race, as well as the highly-charged contest between Sharon Angle and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

However, for the next five days I intend to highlight several underreported races taking place right now that could have an equally significant impact on American immigration policy in this country going forward. I’d like to begin this coverage by examining one congressional race that has escaped scrutiny thus far due to the incumbent’s presumably insurmountable advantage over any prospective Republican opponent. The contest involves Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the current chairman of the House Homeland Security Commitee.

Thompson was elevated to that post after the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in 2006, replacing then Chairman Peter King, a man with impeccable national security credentials and a fairly good record on border security and immigration issues. Unfortunately, his successor is the complete opposite of King, going out of his way to diminish border security, demand that citizenship be conferred upon millions of illegal aliens, and thwart any attempt at reforming our nation’s most dysfunctional immigration policies. For a full report exploring just how bad Rep. Thompson is on immigration/border security, I suggest you read this dossier.

Fortunately, voters in Mississippi’s second congressional district have a choice this year, unlike in most election cycles where their congressman handily wins re-election in a heavily gerrymandered seat. That choice comes in the form of challenger William Marcy, a man who not only has a distinguished career in law enforcement-who better to police our border than a former policeman-but one who offers a refreshing departure from Mr. Thompson’s siren song of open borders. In fact, Bill Marcy is a staunch advocate for shoring up our porous southern border, as a quick perusal of his website indicates.

Whether recent polling suggesting a neck and neck race is an accurate reflection of voter sentiment remains to be seen. However, what can’t be denied is that many of his African-American constituents-and it should be noted here that Rep. Thompson serves a majority-minority district-have finally begun to rebel against a congressman who arrogantly pursues open borders policies in spite of the astronomical employment rate among black Americans and the empirical evidence demonstrating that illegal aliens undercut black American citizens in the labor market.

Hopefully, people in the 2nd District will express their displeasure with their errant congressman’s immigration stance at the ballot box this coming tuesday.

Open borders advocates have done us a huge favor in the form of listing public servants that they despise. Courtesy of the Huffington Post, we now know who to vote for  in upcoming elections. And, with the exception for J.D. Hayworth-who was, unfortunately, defeated in his bid to unseat Senator John McCain-they’re all up re-election this year! Perhaps the most amusing aspect of this petulant list is the fact that Ms. Novick insists upon labeling the entirely accurate report exposing President Obama’s stealth amnesty  as a misleading disinformation campaign.

Putting that intentional deception aside, the fact that this woman felt compelled to highlight the alleged obstructionism of these ten political figures merely demonostrates the fact that they are ten of the most useful, productive public figures we have in the United States today. And for that, we salute them.