Elections
Steele Rewords, not Redefines GOP’s Immigration Stance
New RNC Chairman, Michael Steele declared in his acceptance speech that it's "time for something completely different." Yet when it comes to immigration, Steele is side-stepping pragmatic politics and choosing to stick with the same hard-line position that soured Latino and immigrant voters and contributed to the GOP's devastating losses this past election year. When pressed by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, who asked Steele if the GOP needs to change its position on immigration reform and reach out to Hispanics and let them know that they have a home in the Republican Party, Steele replied: Read More
NY’s Gillibrand Softens on Immigration
"In a lot of these [immigration] issues, it's a case of learning more and expanding my view," said Kirsten Gillibrand-the new Senator of New York who has recently indicated that she's rethinking her hard-line approach to immigration and opting for more pragmatic solutions. Gillibrand's change of heart in part has to do with the 8,142,871 votes of New Americans who will be flocking to NY polls with immigration as one of the issues at the forefront of their minds in 2010. However, Gillibrand has also shown that having access to bonafide facts and information is critical to understanding the issue. And with an overwhelming number of myths and misinformation pervading the immigration debate, it's not always easy to differentiate fact from fiction. Read More
Anti-Immigrant Groups Invite GOP to Join Their Sinking Ship
This week at the National Press Club, anti-immigrant groups Team America PAC and American Cause (chaired by regular CNN and MSNBC contributors Bay Buchanan and Pat Buchanan) hosted an event to discuss why the GOP should continue to use an anti-immigrant platform in order to save their party and bring them back to majority status. Their basic premise is that America (for now) is still a majority white nation and the only way to win back majority status is to focus on and win the "White" vote. Participant Peter Brimelow went as far as to pine about the idea that, had this last presidential election taken place in 1975, and had McCain won the same percentage of the white vote he won against Obama, then McCain would have beaten Jimmy Carter. Read More
Candidate for RNC Chair Chip Saltsman Stirs Controversy with “Star Spanglish Banner”
At a time when the GOP should be warming up to key Latino and immigrant voting blocs, Chip Saltsman-candidate for the next chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC)-chose to ring in the New Year with a song called "The Star Spanglish Banner." Saltsman, who is also known as the former head of the Tennessee Republican Party who managed the Mike Huckabee campaign, included the song on his controversial holiday CD that he sent to RNC members as a Christmas gift. The story-which NDN's Melissa Merz officially broke-exposes yet another example of the xenophobic and bigoted rhetoric put forth by reckless public figures that has fueled rising hate crimes and violence against Latinos. Today's Huffington Post's head-lining article, "Star Spanglish Banner: RNC Candidate Chip Saltsman Causes Immigration Stir," described the song as: Read More
CIS Ignores the Facts: Immigration Important Concern for Latino Voters
The Center for Immigration Studies tries to snatch anti-immigrant victory from the jaws of electoral defeat in a new report about Latino voters in the 2008 election. According to the report, the widespread perception among Latinos that the Republican Party is hostile to immigrants played no appreciable role in their decision about whether to vote Democratic or Republican last November. Read More
Gov. Paterson Stuns Immigrant Community With Gillibrand Senate Pick
The State of New York has, throughout its history, been both a haven and a hotbed for immigrants and diversity. That's why New York State Governor David Paterson's decision to pick Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton as U.S. Senator raises deep concern among immigrants and advocates in the state and across the country. Read More
Push Still Strong for Immigration Reform in Early Obama Administration
Today, Barack Obama stepped into the Oval Office on his first full day in the White House as President of the United States and met with economic advisors to start "making early progress on the change he promised." In the spirit of both economic recovery and social change, immigration should be addressed in President Obama's early conversations. Latinos are demanding it ought to, experts and advocates are confident it will. Read More
Napolitano Brings New Day to the Department of Homeland Security
Although many questions were left unanswered at the confirmation hearing of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano this week, make no mistake that she has always been a vocal supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. She has made countless numbers of statements in support of smart, sensible and thorough solutions to our broken immigration system. Watch the speech she made in June of 2007 at the National Press Club. Read More
Presidential Leaders Want Comprehensive Immigration Reform on Front Burner
President Bush counted immigration reform as one of his major regrets this week when cautioning the GOP not to be perceived as so "anti-somebody." While Bush's promise of comprehensive immigration reform took a back seat to the Iraq War back in 2001, current headlines suggest Obama's immigration reform campaign pledge is similarly taking a backseat to our economic woes. But in a step toward more immediate immigration reform, President-Elect Barack Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon yesterday for lunch at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C., to discuss, among other things, comprehensive immigration reform as a priority. Read More
Bush Regrets Not Pushing for Immigration Reform
This week, in an interview with Cal Thomas of the Washington Times, George W. Bush admitted that he regretted concentrating so much on Social Security and not pushing for immigration reform after his '04 reelection: Q: And biggest do-over? Knowing everything you know now, what would you have done over again? THE PRESIDENT: I probably, in retrospect, should have pushed immigration reform right after the ´04 election and not Social Security reform. Read More
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