Border Security and Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration has been an important issue for decades.  There has been a debate over how to solve this issue for the same amount of time.  Some people believe that improved border security is the solution to this problem, and others believe that amnesty is the best solution.  I believe, like another group of people, that a guest work visa program would be the best solution to help lessen this problem.  This would have the least impact on the economy.  Illegal immigration has an impact on the economy.

This video highlights the problems associated with illegal immigration.

 11.3 million illegal immigrants 8.1 million are working.  This makes up about 5.1% of the labor force in the United States.  In the past a work visa program worked pretty well.  In the 1950's there was a Bracero work visa program that drastically reduced the number of illegal immigrants, and this allowed the border patrol to manage the smaller number of illegal immigrants.  Amnesty, like the program Reagan enacted in 1986, only reduces the number of immigrants for a short amount of time.  Border security alone will not solve this problem either.  Since 1992, there has been a 500% increase in border patrol agents and patrol hours.  This has not increased the number of apprehensions at the border.  Border security alone cannot solve the problem of illegal immigration, it must be combined with another program.



Sources
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-smart-way-to-stop-illegal-immigration/article/2559393
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/19/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/

Useful Links
https://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/illegal-immigration.html
http://www.visanow.com/immigration-blog/a-brief-history-of-illegal-immigration/
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/topics/border-security

Supreme Court Corruption Case

May 2, 2016
Unit 4 Judiciary
link to article

Former governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, faces two years in prison after being convicted of public corruption.  His case has made its way all the way to the Supreme Court, and the justices are likely to side with McDonnell.  Justices from both ends of the ideological spectrum have said that the laws give prosecutors to much power to say that normal political favors are corruption.  McDonnell was convicted for arranging meetings and attending events with a businessman who had given him gifts.  A federal appeals court upheld the jury's conviction.  A supporting brief, from several former White House counsels, warned the court that if McDonnell's conviction was upheld it would cripple the ability of elected officials to complete their jobs.  Because the Supreme Court has allowed McDonnell to stay out of prison while the Supreme Court decided whether or not to hear the case, it is likely that they will side with McDonnell.  While it is likely that the justices will side with McDonnell, it is still hard to say if they will agree on a rational.  This is a difficult case that will have implications on all elected officials.

McDonnell's case is a criminal case that began in the Federal District Court before moving to the appellate court.  The case eventually made it to the United States Supreme Court after the justices granted McDonnell a writ of certiorari.  The justices have heard briefs from the parties and amicus curiae briefs about this case.  This case has traveled through the entire court system and will eventually receive a decision from the Supreme Court.  That decision is McDonnell's last hope to escape conviction.

Hacking is Nothing New for the F.B.I.

April 17, 2016
Unit 4.3
link to article

Recently the F.B.I. has been in a battle with Apple about hacking into an iPhone.  The F.B.I. wanted Apple to remove some security features on an iPhone so that they could guess the password after they could not get around the encryption.  Information was wanted off of the iPhone as a result of the investigation of the San Bernardino terrorist attack.  This was not the first time that the F.B.I. has had to break through encryption as part of an investigation.  Over a decade ago in 2003 they needed to access encrypted emails during the investigation of an animal welfare group called Operation Trail Mix.  The group was involved in ecoterrorism and was using encryption to keep their emails secure.  A process was developed that allowed the F.B.I. to read the emails.  This operation was a secret until documents were obtained during a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit.  This case shows that the F.B.I.'s recent fight with Apple is not over a new issue, it is just a continuation of a decade old debate.

The United States is run by a very large and complex bureaucracy.  The F.B.I. is an example of a federal bureaucracy.  It must follow the regulations from the Department of Justice which is part of the cabinet.  When needing to hack into the iPhone and emails the F.B.I. needed to use discretionary authority to determine exactly how to go about solving this new problem.  The public would not have known about these operations at all if documents were not released through the Freedom of Information Act.

Obama Faces A Balancing Act

March 31, 2016

Unit 4 Presidential Post

link to article

On Thursday President Obama will meet with dozens of foreign leaders at a summit meeting in Washington.  President Obama is planning to meet with President Jingping of China one-on-one during the summit.  The two will discuss a disagreement the two countries are having over the South China Sea.  The United States wants to maintain a strong military presence in the Pacific and China wants to increase its power in the region.  Both countries could help with their relations by agreeing to reduce their military presence in the area.  Foreign policy experts believe that China's expansion in the region is pushing its Asian neighbor's away, which is the opposite of what President Jingping wants to achieve.  There is a very small chance that anything substantial will be accomplished in this short meeting between the two presidents.  President Obama will also meet with the leaders of two of the United States chief Asian Allies, the President of South Korea and the Prime Minister of Japan, during the summit.

While Barack Obama is president of the United States (POTUS) two of his most important roles are acting as Chief Diplomat and Commander-in-Chief.  President Obama has an expressed power of maintaining relations with other foreign countries.  He must act as a diplomat to maintain these relations, these meetings will help to maintain positive relationships with these three countries.  Reducing some military presence in the South China Sea could improve relations with China, and President Obama could achieve this by fulfilling his role of Commander-in-Chief.  These meeting are unlikely to lead to any executive agreements.  Executive agreements are an example of an inherent power of the president.  They are often used to improve foreign relations.  Meeting with the leaders of these Asian countries will help President Obama fulfill his roles as POTUS.

Representative Mike Conaway

March 20, 2016
Unit 4.1 Post


Mike Conaway is the representative in the House of Representatives for Texas' 11th district. Rep. Conaway has been a U.S. Representative since 2005. He served in the Army before working as an accountant. President George W. Bush appointed him to the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy before he was elected to the House of Representatives. The largest contributor to his campaign in 2014 was the Texas Right to Life PAC. Currently Conaway is serving his 6th term in the House of Representatives, and he acts as a deputy Republican whip. Conaway is the Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture. He also serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The 11th district in Texas fits into the category of Republican Suburban Agriculture because it relies on agriculture for its income, but it is near both Austin and San Antonio Texas.

I believe that Rep. Conaway would be apposed to the bill on the Encryption Act. He serves on the Select Committee on Intelligence and this bill would prevent encryption from being made illegal. Allowing encryption to remain legal makes the gathering of intelligence and other evidence much more difficult or even impossible.

I believe that Rep. Conaway would support the bill on aviation reform. Conaway supports reducing spending and if this bill is passed federal spending on aviation would be reduced drastically.

I believe that Rep. Conaway would also support the sentencing reform bill because like the aviation reform bill reducing the number of inmates would reduce spending.

The Last Chance to Stop Trump Will be After Super Tuesday

March 1, 2016
Unit 3
link to article

A large number of delegates will be awarded for both parties today as several states hold their primaries on Super Tuesday.  Very few delegates have been awarded so far in either party, but by the end of March over half of the delegates will have been awarded.  By the end of March it will be clear if there will be a brokered convention for either the democrats or the republicans.  For the first primaries all of the states award their delegates proportionally, which has allowed the republican candidates other that Trump to stay alive.  After March 15, the democratic party still awards its delegates proportionally, which can make it easier for the loser of the primaries.  But for the republicans, March 15 is a very important date.  For the primaries after March 15 on the republican side the states can award their delegates in a winner take all format.  This would allow a candidate other than Trump to win the nomination without winning a majority of the delegates on Super Tuesday.  For another candidate to win the republican to win the nomination it will be key to win the primaries in the winner take all states after March 15.

This article discusses primaries and caucuses.  It focuses on the need to earn delegates in order to get the nomination for the general election.  The importance of winning the primaries after March 15 when the winner take all system is in place is also stressed if Trump is to be defeated.  The national conventions were also discussed with the possibility of having a brokered convention.  The next month will have a large impact on the presidential campaigns heading into the national conventions later this year.

The Polls Were Wrong

2/21/2016
Unit 2
link to article

Contrary to what one poll said Bernie Sanders did not win the majority of the Hispanic vote in the Nevada caucus.  Entrance and exit polls showed that Bernie Sanders won the majority of Hispanic votes and beat Hillary Clinton by 8 percentage points.  This has since be found to be false.  The poll was conducted at a very small number of precincts (there were only about 200 Hispanic respondents), the sample was not random (precincts had to be selected based on race), and the interviews were not necessarily given in the Spanish language.  This entrance/exit poll had an extremely high margin of error of at least plus or minus 7 percent.  Based on results from other polls and precinct results Hillary is still leading among Hispanic and Black voters.  This false report shows the importance of having accurate polls and researching the accuracy of a poll before believing the results.

People rely on polls to tell them how a particular candidate is faring in the election, or as in this case, how a particular candidate is faring among a particular race.  There was a recent exit poll conducted after the Nevada caucus.  This poll had an extremely large sampling error leading to an incorrect result.  It also shows the importance of having a random sample because not having a random sample led to an even higher sampling error.  The poll following the Nevada caucus was focused on identifying the opinion of one particular demographic, which led to a sample that was not random and a large sampling error.  Polls play an important role in giving people information during an election year and that is why the polls need to have a certain level of accuracy.