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Chuck Smith is opposed to all forms of illegal immigration. Current Federal legislation makes it a crime to enter the U.S. in any place other than designated by immigration officers, and punishment for violating that statute is imprisonment for up to 6 months, and for a second offense, up to 2 years. Two thousand people per day violate that statute. Officials estimate that there are 20 million illegal aliens in our country today.
State representatives have been begging Congress and the Federal Government for decades to just enforce the federal laws on the books, and the federal government has repeatedly refused to enforce the laws and deport the illegal aliens.
Arizona is facing a crisis as wave after wave of illegal aliens cross into their state every day. Federal agents arrested 500,000 illegal aliens entering Arizona in eight months. It is estimated that the border patrol only catches one out of five illegals. These millions of illegal aliens that cross the border bring with them crime, drugs and poverty that places a tremendous burden on the people and law enforcement officers of Arizona.
Our nation spends more than 4.7 billion dollars per year treating illegal aliens in hospitals, and over 17% of those in federal prison are illegal aliens. Officials estimate that we spend over 30 billion dollars per year to educate illegal aliens in our public schools. Arizona has the second highest number of kidnappings in the WORLD, just behind Mexico City. Can you believe that Arizona (yes, here in America) is the second kidnapping capital of the world? Al Qaeda terrorist organizations are showing in their training videos how to sneak into America exploiting vulnerabilities in our southern border.
Under normal circumstances, it would seem that Arizona would not need to enact a law protecting its own borders, because the federal government is charged with the responsibility of protecting our borders. However, given the fact that the federal government has miserably failed in it’s duties to protect the citizens of Arizona, the people must rise up and defend themselves against this onslaught of criminals violating both federal and state law. The Arizona law, is no more restrictive than the federal law, and merely acts to supplement it; so that state law enforcement officers can help the federal officers do their jobs.
The rhetoric from the left regarding this new Arizona law is just purely false. The new Arizona law is not cutting any new ground, or making new crimes. The Arizona immigration law merely mirrors current federal law. Title 8 of the U.S. Code, section 1304 requires that every alien carry with him or have in his possession certificate of alien registration or registration receipt card. Section 1306 of the US Code requires an alien to apply for registration and be fingerprinted, and failure to do so can result in criminal prosecution. There are only two sections of the Arizona law that do not mirror existing federal law, first, the new law makes it illegal to pick up a day laborer in the street; and second, the law allows citizens to sue the government for failure to enforce the law.
The Arizona law actually holds state law enforcement officer to a HIGHER standard than federal officers when approaching a suspect regarding their immigration status. The Arizona’s law requires the officer to have made a lawful stop and have reasonable suspicion. The US Supreme court has already ruled that a federal agent does not have to have a lawful stop or reasonable suspicion, but can ask any one for their papers any time.
Arizona has passed a law that is more restrictive on their law enforcement officers than the federal counterpart so that state law enforcement officers can assist federal officers in defending their border.
Chuck Smith is in favor of dramatically increasing border patrols, building a real fence that protects our border, and enforcing all current immigration laws.
Posted by Policy, Chuck Smith for Congress, 2010
July 14, 2010 5:21 pm
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Posted by Team Chuck Smith
November 23, 2009 10:41 pm
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Obama and his administration are making another historically bad mistake.
What have they done now?
The administration has elected to move the trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed to New York Federal District Court. This is a huge mistake on so many levels that it defies logic or prudence.
Civil courts are designed to discharge justice on criminal and civil matters involving citizens and aliens that have been in the custody of civilian authority. This is not the case of K.S. Mohammad. He has been in the custody of military authority at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since he was captured. As the admitted mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington D.C., he committed acts of war against the United States. War is a military act and thus a military tribunal is more appropriate a venue for seeking redress against this man.
There are many issues that need to be considered, and Mr. Holder has not done so to any objective standard that can be judged reasonable. In fact, there is no known legal process in place to deal with this sort of situation.
First, as this will be a civil trial, how will the issues of military pretrial confinement (Guantanamo Bay), detention and treatment at the hands of CIA and military interrogators (the water boarding sessions) and lack of Miranda Rights (he was captured on the battlefield, not “arrested’ by cops on the street) be addressed? If he prosecuted in a civil court, aren’t the issues involving the lack of correct civilian treatment and observation of customary civil procedure and defendant rights going to be an issue? After all, any criminal is entitled to those protections and since he didn’t get them, doesn’t it logically follow that the possibility exists that there could be a mistrial or outright acquittal on the grounds that the defendant didn’t get due process protections and was denied his “civil rights”? On this, Mr. Holder is silent.
Secondly, there is the issue of his confession. He confessed his role in 9/11 and was later water boarded in order to extract additional information. It might be argued by the defense that his confession was coerced as well and that since he was “tortured”, he should be released. The “cruel and unusual punishment” issue will come up at some point too.
Thirdly, what about the defense for the accused? In a civil trial there is a discovery process. In this process, the prosecution must surrender all its information used to formulate its case and release a list of witnesses. That information will now be in the hands of people who are under no obligation to the nation to ensure that confidential elements don’t leak out. That means that potential witnesses on that list will now be known and at possible risk of retribution. National security data used in the arrest, and the content and scope of information extracted from the defendant during interrogation will most certainly make its way into the public domain, potentially destroying its value to those who are charged with the defense of the realm. This process will allow our adversaries worldwide information useful to them in countering our intelligence gathering efforts against them or allow them to gauge the knowledge of what we know from interrogations that were conducted in the past.
That begs the questions: What will be admissible? What will not?
Many of these issues make it possible that this process could go badly for the government, and in fact, could have many unforeseen consequences. There is the nightmare scenario of the defendant being found not guilty or this proceeding being declared a mistrial, or the judge could simply order him released on some technicality.
When asked what would happen if the defendant were found not guilty or the case thrown out; Attorney General Holder said “Failure is not an option”.
What is that supposed to mean? Does that mean that the fix is in on the terrorist trial?
Does that mean this is all just one, big kangaroo court...all for show, just like the old Soviet show trials that we saw in the bad old days of the Cold War?
There is also the issue of security.
Would you want to sit on a jury in this trial and risk becoming a target of jihadist cells here if you found him guilty or the target of ire and/or violent revenge from your fellow Americans if you found him innocent? Would you want to risk your families?
Would you want to be a judge in this trial for the same reasons?
What about the fact that now New York is now back in the spot light again? The terrorist element has a new reason to target New York and vicinity, as if they needed another reason to do something to that city and its people...
What about trial security? These folks love car and truck bombs and other such things. This makes a rational person wonder if anyone with intelligence and forethought considered any of these possibilities.
What about a possible escalation of terrorist activity to our nation or to our interests abroad? As Islamo-fascists worldwide see this legal evolution, it may become an impetus to act against us more than they have already.
The questions and issues abound. Attorney General Holder has no answers, just platitudes, assurances and no game plan that is discernable. He claims all is well and that the system will work as promised.
Are the people of this country ready to take the word of a man who helped get FALM terrorist released? How about trusting the motivations of a man who lets the likes of the New Black Panther Party get away with intimidating voters with clubs outside voting stations in California during the last general election? Do we trust the words and judgments of this man or his boss, Barack Obama, to make this work?
In my mind, the jury is still out on that trust.
Posted by Benjamin F. Snowden, Jr.
November 19, 2009 12:02 pm
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As we come to the close of the year, we have many challenges facing the country. These challenges seem nearly insurmountable. This very morning, I learned that the dollar, the currency that has been the world\'s reserve currency for nearly 65 years, is facing disaster. The government has so inflated the money supply that the currency is nearly worthless on the world markets. We have so much debt that the world believes us incapable of anything resembling fiscal responsibility. There are rumblings that the world financial community might even throw the dollar \"under the bus\" in favor of the Euro or the Yen or a commodity like gold or a combination of all of the above. This would be a disaster for us as a country as we have relied on dollar supremacy to fund the ridiculous spending practices of our government.
In the seminal work, \"Democracy in America\", by Alexis de Tocqueville, the author stated \"a democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it\". Both major political parties, Republicans and Democrats have been guilty of this. He further stated, \"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public\'s money\". In that, Masseur de Tocqueville was a prophet. We have now reached the point where reason has been suspended in favor of more largesse for the people at public expense. The costs of which can be funded or financed via taxes or debt which can be deferred. The congress and the executive branch have seemingly lost control of themselves in an effort to see who can give away the most to the greatest number of people, thus \"buying\" the votes necessary to remain in power. The level of dependency on selling our debt overseas has reached critical mass. What\'s more, the major holders of the mortgages (Communist China, Russia, and the Persian Gulf oil monarchies) that have been written on our futures are seemingly positioning themselves to call the notes.
What of the responsibility of the people in this rising tide of financial and social decay?
They, the people, are absolutely responsible for what we suffer today and must now reassert the common sense and fiscal responsibility necessary to reverse certain disaster. True conservatives must stop being so one-dimensional in their views, so stuck strictly on a single issue like reproductive rights, gun rights, gay rights or indeed, \"rights\" of any group or individual. We must begin to look outside our own pet concerns and worry about the very survival and solubility of the republic. Without our fiscal, monetary, and general economic issues being addressed and made secure, those other concerns become immaterial as the nation will cease to exist. The people must stop electing politicians to office just because they bring home the cash and benefits they have become accustomed to. We must realize that we can\'t expect government to provide for our every need and want, to \"level the playing field and ensure prosperous outcomes for all\". We must insist instead on the freedom to pursue our own means and insist government stop spending beyond its means and financing all manner of government give-aways on the backs of those of us who are productive and taking care of ourselves.
All men (and women) may have been created equal endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, such as Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, but nowhere, anywhere does it say that all will have an equal outcome of their pursuits or that they will all attain Happiness, even at the expense of their fellow man, thus depriving them of their full and just due.
We have to make fundamental changes in what we can expect government to do, and indeed what it should do. If we don\'t, the rest of the world will force the issue, and when it happens (not \"if\"...) it will be very ugly indeed. Already Russia, Communist China, the Arab oil states in the Persian Gulf are beginning to make loud noises that in the near future, they won\'t take our dollars for oil and other goods we rely on everyday. If that happens, if they kick the dollar to the curb as a reserve currency, this nation will see financial and economic damage worse than anything that was seen in the 1930\'s. For those who think this can\'t or won\'t happen, I ask them to consider that the nations that hold our debt are in much better shape economically than we are and that they are developing nations who could survive any economic hit that would occur if the dollar collapses. They have the mineral and economic resources, the political will, a singularity of purpose and an intrinsic dislike of America and her institutions that would allow them to make the calculation to dump the dollar and/or call our Treasury Notes at the first opportunity, and failing to pay back what we owe, the world would and could simply let us go, and we would be powerless to stop the disaster that would follow.
I am reminded once again of Masseur de Tocqueville and his view of Americans. He said in his book \"The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.\"
I think we have the time to correct what needs to be corrected if we muster the will to end the liberal penchant to create dependency. We can reverse course from certain disaster if we revive conservative practices and instill conservative principles into the next generation. We must elect conservative candidates to elective office so that they can begin to dismantle and reverse the destructive policies of their predecessors. We must completely discard the antiquated 19th century tax system and system of financial supports and ruinous bail-outs that are crippling the private sector and impoverishing the nation by removing capitol from the system to support failing businesses because they are allegedly \"too big to fail\". We must make it possible to utilize our natural resource base again and to revitalize our industry so we can employ Americans and make the products that Americans can buy. We must encourage businesses to start here or come here instead of outsourcing or moving off-shore, especially in the manufacturing sector. We must free the people of this country from the crushing burdens that government has placed on them by casting off old ideas of entitlement and dependency and encourage self-sufficiency and enterprise that built this nation in the beginning.
We have always been the nation of big ideas and even bigger accomplishments. We can still be that if we return to the roots of what made us that for over two hundred years. The time to repair the faults is at hand.
Posted by Benjamin F. Snowden, Jr.
October 14, 2009 7:19 pm
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ACORN has filed suit against the 2 young film makers that exposed massive corruption within that organization. The suit, filed on Wednesday, came in the wake of notification by the IRS that it has severed ties with said organization. The IRS had supported efforts by ACORN to help some three million low income taxpayers prepare and submit their income tax forms.
This was the latest blow to hit the liberal activist group that has many deep ties to the Obama administration and the Liberal Democratic Party. The Census Bureau last week cancelled plans to employ ACORN to assist with census data collection in the wake of the incriminating videos showing ACORN workers giving advice to a couple claiming to be a pimp and prostitute seeking assistance in acquiring housing. The housing was sought as a residence and as a place to conduct her “adult business” activities. Those activities not being controversial enough, the stakes were raised in this sordid affair when the undercover couple indicated that many of the prostitutes that would be residing in the house would be children, trafficked into the
The lawsuit that was filed in
ACORN is seeking damages, both compensatory and punitive, as well as a court order to prohibit further distribution of the damning videos.
ACORN C.E.O. Bertha Lewis said in an interview,” Although we do not condone what our former employees did, no matter how entrapped they were, we are also committed to our 500,000 members.... that we will hold the defendants civilly and criminally responsible for their violations of Maryland laws and for the damages inflicted upon ACORN’s reputation.”
With the termination of their federal funding by votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate last week, and with the cancellation of 2 major government partnerships, it may be too late to save ACORN’s vaunted “reputation”. The Massachusetts Attorney General has announced that they will begin an inquiry into ACORN activities, and the Justice Department’s independent Inspector General plans to review the grants and funding received from that department of government.
ACORN is clearly making an attempt to swing back on the offensive in the media and on the legal front but the damage has already been done. The lawsuit filed against these 2 splendid young investigative reporters shows the desperation of this corrupt organization to salvage the unsalvageable and to switch the focus from their own corruption to the people who exposed that corruption. 12 states are currently investigating ACORN for voter fraud and there have been multiple convictions in 2 other states for that crime, where voter registration forms were turned into state governments bearing names like “Mickey Mouse” and “Barry Bonds”.
What needs to happen is an immediate R.I.C.O. investigation of this organization that clearly has an immense amount of questionable if not outright illegal activities occurring within its various chapters and activities. No corruption this sweeping can be viewed as isolated acts by a few misguided employees. There must be a corporate culture corrupt enough to allow this sort of criminal behavior to flourish to the degree that it has. That means that the entire organization from the Board of Directors to the operating officers, down to the rank and file personnel, need to be subjected to a detailed and all-encompassing investigation to root out the corruption. This certainly needs to happen before any additional funds from the public purse are given to this organization. We also need an accounting of the millions of dollars in grants given to ACORN for its many programs over the years. That audit should begin immediately.
Posted by Benjamin F. Snowden, Jr.
September 25, 2009 11:55 am
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