Trump considers signing new immigration order

Trying times in Trumpland (Washington Diary)

New York, Feb 11 (IANS) Far from increasing incidents of crime, immigration is actually linked to reductions in some types of crimes in the US, says a study that found no support for the commonly held notion that more immigrants lead to more crime.

"Our research shows strong and stable evidence that, on average, across US metropolitan areas crime and immigration are not linked," said study lead author Robert Adelman, Associate Professor of Sociology at University at Buffalo in New York. 

"The results show that immigration does not increase assaults and, in fact, robberies, burglaries, larceny, and murder are lower in places where immigration levels are higher," he added.

"The results are very clear," Adelman said of the study published in the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice.

The findings dismissing the claim that there is a relationship between immigration patterns and increased crime. 

"Facts are critical in the current political environment," said Adelman. 

"The empirical evidence in this study and other related research shows little support for the notion that more immigrants lead to more crime," he added.

For the study, the authors explored whether larger scale immigration patterns in communities could be tied to increases in crime due to changes in cities, such as fewer economic opportunities or the claim that immigrants displace domestic workers from jobs.

The authors drew a sample of 200 metropolitan areas as defined by the US Census Bureau and used census data and uniform crime reporting data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a 40-year period from 1970 to 2010.

"Communities experiencing demographic change driven by immigration patterns do not experience significant increases in any of the kinds of crime we examined. And in many cases, crime was either stable or actually declined in communities that incorporated many immigrants," Adelman said.

Trump considers signing new immigration order

Washington, Feb 11 (IANS) US President Donald Trump vowed to order new security measures by next week intended to stop terrorists from entering the US, even as aides debated whether to ask the Supreme Court to reinstate his original travel ban that has now been blocked by lower courts.

A day after a three-judge panel rebuffed him, Trump said he might sign "a brand new order" by Monday or Tuesday that would be aimed at accomplishing the same purpose but, with a stronger legal basis, the New York Times reported. 

While he vowed to keep fighting for the original order in court, he indicated that he would not wait for the process to play out to take action.

"We will win that battle. The unfortunate part is that it takes time statutorily, but we will win that battle. We also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand new order," Trump told the media on Friday aboard the Air Force One.

Asked if he would do that, Trump said, "We need speed for reasons of security, so it very well could be."

"We will be extreme vetting," Trump had earlier said during his White House press conference. "We will not allow people into our country who are looking to do harm to our people."

White House officials denied news reports that the President would not appeal the case to the Supreme Court. 

"All options remain on the table," Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary, said late Friday.

Emboldened by the appeals court, Democrats attacked Trump for trying to subvert American values.

"I promise you, we will fight back," Representative Joseph Crowley of New York, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said in his party's weekly radio and Internet address. 

"We will resist. We will resist on behalf of what is American. And we will resist on behalf of the immigrants who came here in the past and who will come here in the future," he said.

Trump's original order mandated a temporary pause in admission of refugees, a 90-day prohibition on entry by residents of Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen, and an indefinite suspension of admission of Syrian refugees.

The administration can ask for a review of the panel's decision by the full 9th Circuit, or it can seek intervention by the top court, according to the report. A tie in the Supreme Court would allow the appellate ruling to stand. Roughly 1,000 State Department career employees have signed a memo denouncing the executive order.

White House officials could draft a new order that would address some of the concerns raised by the judges, the newspaper reported. A new order, for instance, could explicitly state that it did not apply to permanent legal residents holding green cards. 

Trying times in Trumpland (Washington Diary)

By Arun Kumar 

Washington, Feb 11 (IANS) The thrice-married President didn't get any time for his "political honeymoon". But Donald Trump is all set for an extended "court-ship" of a different kind.

"SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!" an angry President thundered in all caps -- the equivalent of shouting.

The tweet came minutes after an appeals court refused to restore his controversial ban on travel from seven terror-strewn Muslim majority nations.

"A disgraceful decision!" he tweeted again hours later, amazed that the court had failed to appreciate his "beautifully written" executive order that even "a bad high school student" would understand.

In leaving alone a nationwide halt on the ban by a "so-called judge" in Washington state, as Trump called him to the horror of chatteratti, the court saw "no evidence" that immigrants from the seven nations had committed acts of terror in the US.

It also did not buy the argument that the President's decisions on immigration policy, particularly when motivated by national security concerns, were "unreviewable."

An elated Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic presidential rival, quickly chimed in with a short and sweet tweet, "3-0," a reference to the three-judge panel's unanimous decision.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also advised the President "to see the writing on the wall, abandon the proposal, roll up his sleeves and come up with a real, bipartisan plan."

But even as Trump's own Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch appeared to express dismay over his tweets about the judiciary as "demoralizing" and "disheartening," Trump showed no signs of stepping back.

As the Justice Department under his just-sworn-in Attorney General Jeff Sessions mulled its options, Trump asserted onboard Air Force One: "We will win that battle."

"The unfortunate part is that it takes time statutorily, but we will win that battle," he declared.

Instead of appealing to a one judge short of an evenly-divided Supreme Court, Trump "very well could" issue a brand new executive order after dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

In the midst of the court battle, media reports said immigration authorities had, over the last couple of days, made a series of arrests in at least half-a-dozen states across the US to sweep up scores of illegal immigrants.

Trump has vowed to deport some three million "bad dudes" first, but reports suggested that raids targeted even those without criminal records in an apparent departure from the Obama administration's policy of focusing on criminals.

In the face of dogged opposition of the Democrats to all things Trump, he also won the Senate confirmation of three more cabinet picks.

Vice President Mike Pence had to come in to cast a tie-breaking historic vote to get Education Secretary Betsy DeVos across the line after two Republicans declined to vote for the wealthy Republican donor.

Outside the political arena, Trump courted another controversy with a presidential tweet when a major mall stopped selling his daughter Ivanka's clothing line, citing poor sales.

"My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!" he wrote.

And following the boss' lead, his close adviser Kelly Conway went on TV from the White House briefing room to urge viewers to "go buy Ivanka's stuff."

But unlike the President, who is exempt from the conflict of interest rules, Conway ran afoul of the ethics police. However, Trump graciously accepted her "apology" after she was "counselled" by the White House on her lapse.

Nordstrom, according to the conservative Washington Times, is just one of more than 250 companies and products who have landed in the Democratic crosshairs.

Trump opponents have called for a boycott of stores like Walmart and Kmart to online shopping sites like Amazon or Zappos selling Trump brands and products from Miller or Coors beer to See's candies.

A few Trump supporters have also called for their own boycotts like those of Budweiser beer over a pro-immigration ad.

"At this rate, you may need to churn your own butter, brew your own beer and cobble your own shoes" to avoid annoying the boycott brigades of either hue, warned the Times.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)