h/t: New York ICE

Living in this city your entire life gives one the opportunity to experience things you would not normally encounter in any other part of the country. Many of these experiences are deeply unpleasant and disturbing, including periodic attempts, with varying degrees of success, by terrorists to blow up large sections of it, along with its inhabitants. Putting aside the preternatural feeling that I’m living in a very bad Michael Bay film-as if there is any other kind-there aren’t many things that occur to or in  New York that shake me out of the existential torpor which stems from spending most days trying to avoid 8 million people.

That said, if you had told me a decade ago that there would be another nationwide, star-studded telethon created with the intention of raising millions of dollars for relief and recovery efforts ostensibly helping the victims of an epic disaster in New York City, I probably would have scoffed. Granted, New York has seen its share of momentous climatic events, including nor’easters, earthquakes, and even tornadoes. Yet not many people expected a natural disaster that would kill over forty people in this city, nearly half of whom came from Staten Island.

The idea that there would be scenes of devastation less than two miles from my home which echoed images from catastrophic tsunamis across the globe is something that I still have trouble reconciling with my conception of New York City. The dislocation experienced by thousands of New Yorkers was something that hadn’t occurred since September 11th, and which will probably persist well into the next decade.

Living within the borough that has born perhaps the biggest brunt of Hurricane Sandy was disconcerting, but not because of any hardship I had experienced personally. Thankfully, except for some damage too miniscule to speak of I came out of the storm relatively unscathed. I wish I could say the same of my friends, some of whose lives were completely upended, an experience that included being driven from the places into which they had invested blood, sweat and tears for decades in order to make a home for their families.

Despite the regrets I have about leaving Brooklyn two years ago-and I still miss it every day-I don’t think I can properly express the gratitude I have for the people of Staten Island-friends, acquaintances, and in some cases complete strangers-who’ve shown me over these past two months the quality of character they have, regardless of how trying the circumstances they face might be. These are people who didn’t wait to be rescued by some benevolent factotum from the Office of Emergency Management or staffer from the Red Cross.

They banded together to help their neighbors and their community recover, even if their lives had been devastated by the effects of Sandy. They cleared debris, provided provisions to desperate families, and raised money earmarked for the neighborhoods which had been effaced by one of the worst natural disasters this city has ever experienced. In my town, they even created a  toy drive-complete with Santa and his helpers-which brought smiles to the faces of scores of young children whose families didn’t have the resources to give them a normal Christmas in 2012.

I recognize the cleavage that exists between newcomers to this borough and native-born Staten Islanders-a split that increases as thousands of other New Yorkers move to the borough and inevitably clog its traffic arteries with their cars-but one of the greatest impressions I was left with in the wake of Sandy was the sense of solidarity that extended throughout the broader community. Granted, this sentiment wasn’t universal, but the generosity of spirit and lack of ill will reflected an essential goodness about the people who live here.

Growing up, I thought of this borough as a place my family would periodically visit in order to shop at the Staten Island Mall-even as we rolled up the windows in order to diminish the odor wafting from the Fresh Kills landfill-or to see a peripatetic relative who now lives in Florida. I never envisioned it as a place where I would spend a significant portion of my life; even after living here for two years I had an emotional remove from this part of the city.

But after witnessing firsthand  Staten Islanders response to the worst of circumstances-including dealing with officials attempting to compound castrophe with their own callous disregard for those suffering in Sandy’s aftermath-it’s hard not to identify with this borough. It’s a response to be proud of, even if it goes unrecognized much of the time. One of my resolutions for the coming year is to see that I’m more cognizant of the spirit of self-reliance and community that characterizes my new home.

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.

Today is the 236th anniversary of the United States Marines Corps, and we at American Rattlesnake would like to extend our most heartfelt thanks to the courageous, dedicated men and woman who have served or are currently serving in the USMC. I’d like to single out fallen Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who prior to defending the American homeland served as a police officer in Michigan and as a United States Marine. Even as the craven leadership of the Justice Department continues to obstruct a probe into the causes of Agent Terry’s death, to the consternation of his family, the questions of how and why he died remain unanswered. 

As we honor the heritage of America’s Marine Corps, let’s not forget the service this country’s few and proud have rendered to this country both in and out of uniform. And let’s remember that some, such as Agent Brian Terry, have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country.  

Semper Fidelis.

One of those most inexplicable aspects of immigration policy in developed, Western nations is the tendency to give refuge to people who want to eradicate-or utterly transform-our way of life. While the media in this country often highlight the unresolved issues that stem from our shared border with Mexico, it rarely if ever discloses the fact that many migrants entering the country illegally are not Latin Americans, let alone Mexicans. The number of  aliens from state sponsors of terror-or merely Arab-Muslim nations where anti-Americanism and Islamic extremism are rife-crossing our border is increasing. What’s more, even the immigrants who come to this country legally pose grave risks to Americans, especially when they retain the same deep-rooted values that made their countries of origin so hellish they were forced to flee to the United States.

Unfortunately, the September 11th massacres, the July 7th bombings launched by British Muslims against London, and every subsequent attempt-successful or failed-at obliterating markers of Western culture or annihilating non-Muslims inside of the West has been met with a collective shrug by those ensconced in power, who continue to extol the virtues of open borders and espouse multiculturalist dogma. And while the efficacy and constitutionality of Anwar al-Awlaki’s assassination is debated throughout the blogsophere, no one asks why his parents-born in a country where antipathy towards Americans and Western norms is nearly universal-were allowed to immigrate to the United States in the first place. Only in certain quarters, which up to this point have not influenced immigration policymaking, is the notion that some immigrants might not be potential Americans even suggested.

To find concrete examples illustrating the insanity following this policy to its logical conclusion produces, you need not look very far. In Australia, an Algerian-born illegal alien was recently spared trial for conspiring to murder scores of Australian civilians. In the United Kingdom, yet another Islamic terrorist has been granted virtual immunity for his crimes by the British legal system. The generous freedoms afforded to defendents in our culture’s criminal justice systems, in concert with the decadent multiculturalism that has prevented the assimilation of foreigners, combines to undermine the fundamental structure of our society. The solution, of course, is to prevent this conflict from occurring in the first place, i.e. imposing rational, sensible immigration reforms. However, that is unlikely to occur so long as the ruling class in the United States, Europe and elsewhere are possessed by mania that prizes diversity and multiculturalism over the lives and values of their ostensible countrymen.

On this day, ten years ago, the firemen of the City of New York saved lives when death rained from the sky.

A tribute in their own words.

American Rattlesnake readers are welcome to post their thoughts and remembrances in the comments.

Today is a day of mourning, remembrance, and reflection. However, it is also a day to rededicate ourselves to ensuring that Americans never again experience a monstrous atrocity like that committed on 9/11/01. Towards this end, I’d like to present a short video created by 9/11 Families for a Secure America, which has spent the better part of a decade fighting to secure our borders from the enemies of our nation, which too often include the elected representatives sworn to defend and protect it. Let us honor the memory of those who were murdered a decade ago by making sure America is a free and secure nation once again.

 Today I attended the counterprotest held by supporters of Representative Peter King’s investigation into Islamic radicalism. A rally that was held approximately three blocks away from an event staged by radical leftists and Islamic extremists opposed to the very notion of Rep. King’s proposed hearings. Sponsored by the Liberty Alliance-and co-sponsored by numerous anti-sharia organizations throughout the area-it attracted a wide variety of individuals, including many New Yorkers opposed to the construction of the Ground Zero mosque, such as the man pictured above.

The rally was in large part organized and emceed by Andy Sullivan from Blue Collar Corner, an indefatigable opponent of Islamic extremism and supporter of the men and women who sacrificed so much in the hours and days after the 9/11 attacks.

He was assisted by Beth Galinsky of the Jewish Action Alliance, an organization dedicated to fighting those who seek to demonize Israel and the United States and/or advance an agenda of stealth jihad.

There was also an impassioned plea by one of Andy Sullivan’s fellow construction workers, who urged the crowd gathered in the unrelenting rain to fight back against the media campaign engineered by individuals like Imam Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan.

There was also Anne from New Jersey, a last-minute speaker who voiced the concerns of many who are looking to Rep. King for answers about the extent of Islamic extremism in their country and plans for what they can do to address this unsettling development politically.

There were representatives of almost every major faith in attendance, including Judaism:

Hinduism:

And Christianity:

The testimony from Simon Deng, who was once enslaved by Arab-Muslim neighbors in his homeland of South Sudan but who is now a human rights activist who leads the annual Sudan Freedom Walk, was particularly inspiring. As were the many creative signs on display throughout the afternoon.

Overall, I’d say the event was a success, and hopefully achieved the goal of its organizers. Namely, to exert whatever influence we have upon Rep. Peter King to continue his pursuit of answers to questions that have yet to be fully resolved. Hopefully, his investigation will be a fair, thorough examination of what the Muslim commuity believes, and give us an inkling into how it has participated in the domestic front of our nation’s war against terror.

Last night, I had the distinct pleasure of attending one of the first New York City screenings of The Ground Zero Mosque: Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks. Produced and directed by Pamela Geller, with the assistance of her friend and colleague, scholar Robert Spencer, the documentary attempts to explore the at times dubious motivations behind Cordoba House’s financiers and spokespeople, including Imam Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan.

As you can see from the pictures below, the film attracted a capacity crowd, one that was very animated in its opposition to the concept of locating what many view as a triumphal mosque within walking distance of the site where thousands of Americans were murdered on September 11, 2001. 

One of the highlights of the evening was the Q&A session which followed the conclusion of the film, during which family members of those who perished in the 9/11 massacres voiced their unique perspective, which has very seldom been aired by media outlets intent on supporting the aims of Sharif el-Gamal, Imam Rauf, and other Park 51 mosque benefactors. 

There was a moving testimonial from Nelly Braginskaya, whose son Alex-an employee at Reuters-was taken from her on September 11th. There were other families who had lost brothers, sons, and daughters on that horrific day who spoke passionately of their opposition to the mosque, including Sally Regenhard, whose son Christian had served with valor as a Marine Corpsman for five years before becoming a probie with the FDNY and ultimately being murdered by Al Qaeda on 9/11/01. 

Founder and Chairwoman of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, Sally has not only traveled throughout the country in order to prevent the construction of the planned mosque at Ground Zero, she has also devoted countless hours to battling city and state authorities that continue to ignore the pleas of 9/11 families who want a fitting burial for the remains of their loved ones. To that end, she has created an organization dedicated to preserving the memory of those who can no longer speak for themselves, which you can contact by going to a website she established, Respect Human Remains at the 9/11 Memorial. 

Also present throughout the evening were Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, the two individuals who more than anyone else put together the evening, and are responsible for raising legitimate questions about the rationale behind Park 51′s creation, the motivations of its founders, and the questionable past of many of its benefactors and trustees. 

For more information about what you can do personally to get involved in their efforts, I’ve posted some photos with information about their organization Stop the Islamization of America, as well as their websites, Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch, below. 

You would think that after the September 11th massacres, the United States would be a little more selective about who it allows to participate in flight-training programs. You would think, but you would be wrong. According to the New York Times, 33 Brazilians in this country illegally-and awaiting deportation-were allowed to take lessons at a flight academy just outside of Boston. They were taught (quelle surprise!) by an illegal alien, who just happens to be from Brazil.

Now, what does this story tell us?

1. Despite the rosy picture painted by the Department of Homeland Security, the implementation of recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission Report is sorely lacking, and in some cases, non-existent.

2. While the Transportation Security Administration serves some purpose in making a dent in this country’s chronic unemployment, more often than not it does not fulfill its intended purpose, unless that purpose is to lull the public into a false sense of security.

3. Finally, and most importantly, this report substantiates the charge that the hierarchy of ICE is more concerned with face-saving measures and publicity stunts, and policies that are astoundingly irrelevant the agency’s mission, than actually ensuring that its agents receive adequate support to bolster this nation’s defenses against threats originating overseas and potentially lethal foreign nationals transgressing our borders.

In short, ten years after the ineptitude of federal agencies allowed Islamic terrorists to enter our country and obtain the weapons necessary to murder thousands of American citizens, we are still stumbling along in the dark.