Rise In Local, Federal Perks For Illegal Immigrants

Throughout the country, federal and local governments are going out of their way to accommodate illegal immigrants by offering them rights, privileges and costly perks never before available to those who violate the law.

In New York City for instance, officials have created a special scholarship fund specifically for undocumented aliens who want to attend college but don’t qualify for publicly-funded aid because they live in the U.S. illegally. The unique program was launched because state and federal lawmakers haven’t taken appropriate action to help illegal aliens. In New York state proposals to make government financial aid available for illegal aliens are currently pending in the legislature.

A couple thousand miles away in Texas the feds have opened a rather innovative, multi-million-dollar “detention” facility for illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. It’s more like a taxpayer-funded resort with scenic landscaping, a salad bar, library, internet access, cable television, indoor gym, soccer fields and basketball courts. Unarmed “resident advisors” patrol the facility in civilian clothes instead of armed guards.   

The new center cost U.S. taxpayers $32 million, according to a recent newspaper report, and houses 608. It sits on 29 acres of what was once farmland and was designed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to give detainees more freedom. It’s part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to reform the immigration detention system so that it’s more humane. Two similar centers are in the works in south Florida and northeastern Illinois. 

Earlier this month the administration issued new federal detention standards offering arrestees awaiting deportation a number of outrageous perks, including female hormone treatments for transgender men, abortions for women and “ethnically diverse” diet options. The “revised standards” will also improve medical and mental health services, increase access to legal services and religious opportunities, improve the process for reporting and responding to complaints and offer detainees with limited English proficiency translators.

Illegal immigrants will also receive generous and ethnically diverse options for a “nutritionally balanced diet,” an increase in visitation and better recreation programs and facilities. For instance, undocumented aliens in U.S. custody will now have access to a variety of exercise equipment, mandatory outdoor time in natural light and recreational options such as soccer, volleyball and basketball. Board games and television will be available as “sedentary activities.”

A Texas congressman who chairs the House Judiciary Committee says the new ICE detention manual sounds like a “hospitality guideline for illegal immigrants.” In a written statement posted on the committee’s website, the lawmaker, Lamar Smith, points out that the revised standards dramatically expand privileges and resources to illegal immigrants in federal custody “far and beyond” what’s required by law.       

In Arizona open borders advocates are designing a cell phone application to help illegal aliens who get arrested under the state’s new immigration control laws. It’s not clear if the app will receive any public funding, but the Latino rights group (Respect Respeto) behind it is affiliated with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) which annually rakes in millions of taxpayer dollars. In fact, the NCLR’s federal funding has skyrocketed since one of its top officials got a job in the Obama White House.