Immigration Reform
Wash Post Reports: Latinas are Swaying the Vote
Immigration reform, along with education, taxes, health care, and "values" make up the list of priorities identified by one of the nation's new and powerful political blocs: Latinas. The Washington Post reports: Latina McCain supporters give the Republican candidate enduring credit for being a champion of immigration reform, even if lately he has somewhat backed away from his former position. Meanwhile, Latina Obama supporters question McCain's continued commitment to immigration reform and see Obama as representing the sort of change that would spearhead the comprehensive immigration reform that the country needs. Latinas were also said to view immigration as a moral issue: "Yes, we're not for abortion, but immigration is a deal-breaker," Roxana Cazares Olivas of Latinas por Obama tells the Washington Post. Read More
Presidential Debates Ignore 12 Million Elephants in the Room, Bypass Immigration
What do the economy, health care, and foreign policy have in common? They are all topics that are related to a critical issue that was not discussed in the election 2008 debates: immigration. Everyone from the Latino community to immigration advocates to probing journalists have been eagerly awaiting to hear more about what the two candidates plan to do about the 12 million undocumented people living in the United States. To date, they've heard very little. Our immigration problem isn't going to disappear just by not talking about it. As Barack Obama and John McCain were preparing for their debate last night, 300 workers were rounded up in an immigration raid at a chicken processing plant in South Carolina. In fact, as the two candidates were taking shots at one another, we can guess about 100 children in South Carolina--both citizens and non-citizens--were still left stranded, not knowing where their parents were or when they would see them again. Read More
Immigration: The Elephant in the Presidential Debates
After two presidential debates and one vice-presidential showdown, the American public is still waiting to hear what John McCain and Barack Obama have to say about the elephant in the room: immigration. Everyone from the Latino community to immigration advocates to probing journalists have been eagerly awaiting the immigration topic to be addressed by both candidates. Obama and McCain have been more than willing to address immigration in their conflicting Spanish-language ad campaigns. The debate is an opportunity for both candidates to set their records straight once and for all, including: Who really was responsible for the fall of 2007's immigration bill? What should be done about the 12 million immigrants here in the U.S. without papers? How will Obama and McCain address the problem of unscrupulous employers who hire workers, take advantage of them, and undercut their competitors? Opponents to a path to citizenship say anything that provides legal status to those here illegally is amnesty: how do Obama and McCain define amnesty? Do they support amnesty? If not, what do they support? How can Obama and McCain promise they will actually fix our immigration system rather than pass reforms that perpetuate the problem and lead to another 12 million coming in illegally in the future? Read More
Menendez-Kennedy Raids Bill Reintroduces Rule of Law to DHS
Last week, Senators Menendez (D-NJ) and Kennedy (D-MA) introduced a bill that promises to reintroduce the rule of law and the basic principles of fairness and humanity to the enforcement of our country’s immigration laws. The Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act (S.3594) seeks to establish minimum standards of treatment for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and immigrants who are impacted by immigration enforcement operations. In recent months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has dramatically stepped up interior enforcement efforts and it’s no secret that hundreds of ICE detainees have been grossly denied not only due process protections, but also the fair treatment that every person, regardless of their immigration status, deserves. This failure to abide by the rule of law has resulted in utter chaos: U.S. citizens and lawful residents have been mistakenly detained; workers have been retaliated against for exercising their rights to organize in the workplace; and DHS officials have raided private homes without a warrant. Read More
McCain Feels the Heat from Anti-Immigration Movement
John McCain was an early supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, but in this presidential campaign, McCain has changed his position to come down harder on the issue. Many political analysts say he did so to appease anti-immigration activists in key swing states-Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, and Nevada. Read More
Lou Dobbs and Immigrant Hate Groups Put Fear First, Leave Solutions Behind
When did extreme become mainstream?--That's the question immigrant advocates, labor leaders, civil rights groups, and Latino organizations are asking in a full page ad in Capitol Hill newspapers this week as supporters of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) march into the offices of Congress, demanding an impractical and hateful agenda of mass deportations, worksite raids, and other expensive and ultimately ineffective approaches as part of their "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" gathering. The September 10 broadcast of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight program will further stoke FAIR's flames as it airs live from the site of the annual "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" event, along with dozens (or so FAIR claims) of radio hosts from across the country. Hateful extremism is a difficult challenge and sad reality that our nation faces. However, its appearance in mainstream politics and media marks a disturbing social regression for the United States as hate groups and extremists are allowed to define the debate on immigration. Read More
Rep. Virgil Goode’s Attack on Children of Immigrants
Rep. Virgil Goode repeatedly used the derogatory term “anchor babies” during a Wednesday debate. Last week, the habitually offensive Representative Virgil Goode (R-VA) callously attacked the US-born children of immigrants. Goode repeatedly used the term "anchor baby," a notoriously derogatory term employed by anti-immigrant organizations and restrictionists to describe the children of non-citizens who were born in the US and therefore "facilitate" immigration through family reunification under the longstanding provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. In his attack, Goode claimed: Only those who want to coddle and cater to the illegals say that they are beneficial to the workforce...And I gave you one very specific: the anchor baby. Which means you come over in this country, have a kid, and the kid's an automatic citizen. A huge cost. Yet Goode's analysis is naive, simplistic and plainly misinformed. Aside from using dehumanizing rhetoric to suggest the government should repeal the 14th amendment which provides for natural-born citizenship, Rep. Goode overlooks the national benefits of family-based immigration: Read More
E Pluribus Unum and the GOP English Mandate
As expected, the Republican platform contains lots of tough immigration-enforcement language as well as an outright rejection of “amnesty.” Yet one of the more paradoxical sections is on immigrant integration and the English language. According to the platform: One sign of our unity is our English language. For newcomers, it has always been the fastest route to prosperity in America. English empowers. We support English as the official language in our nation, while welcoming the ethnic diversity in the United States and the territories, including language. Immigrants should be encouraged to learn English. English is the accepted language of business, commerce, and legal proceedings, and it is essential as a unifying cultural force. It is also important, as part of cultural integration, that our schools provide better education in U.S. history and civics for all children, thereby fostering a commitment to our national motto, E Pluribus Unum. Maybe immigrants should be encouraged to learn Latin so they can keep up with all of our American ideals.Did the Republican drafters really fail to catch the irony there? Ninety-nine percent of the GOP’s paragraph is indisputable. English is an empowering, unifying force. But making English the official language of the U.S. is not going to force anyone to learn English any faster. By including this point in their platform, the GOP stokes Americans’ misguided suspicions that immigrants don’t want to learn English. Shame on the GOP for playing into fears and stereotypes. Read More
What Obama’s Speech Means for Immigration
Immigration was not overlooked during Barack Obama's momentous closing speech on Thursday night. "Passions fly on immigration," said Obama, "but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America's promise - the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort." At the very end of a Democratic National Convention during which immigration was often shadowed by the politics of the race and the burning issues of Iraq and the economy, Obama made sure that immigration was written into his history-making speech. Read More
DNC Live: National Hispanic Leadership Agenda
Yesterday the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA)--a nonpartisan association of Hispanic organizations and leaders--announced a bold new policy agenda at the DNC, calling upon elected officials, candidates, political parties, the media and the general public to consider and adopt the NHLA platform. The Hispanic Policy Agenda addresses prime policy issues facing Hispanics in six main issue areas: Education Civil rights Immigration Economic Empowerment Health Government Accountability NHLA Chair and President of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF), John Trasvina, began by introducing the purpose of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda as being the establishment of a set of principles and priorities that the candidates need to adopt if they want to gain the support of the Latinos. "We need to make sure that the truth is spoken about immigration and the needs of the Latino community and we don't let others define what we are," said Trasvina. Read More
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