Legislation
Marching Forward: Thousands Gather in Washington, D.C. to Demand Immigration Reform
Yesterday, an estimated 200,000 from at least 35 states gathered in Washington, D.C. to raise their voices for comprehensive immigration reform—reform President Obama promised to address within his first year in office. The National Mall and surrounding streets were full of supporters carrying signs with messages such as “Family Unity,” “Reform Not Raids,” “Friends Keep Their Promises” and “$1.5 Trillion to the U.S. Economy.” Representing a broad coalition of supporters, the immigration rally came on the heels of a series of White House meetings on the issue as well as Sens. Schumer and Graham’s rough legislative blueprint of an reform bill expected later this year. Read More
Strength in Numbers
The positive impact of Sunday’s rally on the mall for immigration reform is already in evidence. Yesterday, after months of pressure, Senators Schumer and Graham finally released their blueprint for immigration reform and President Obama immediately pledged to help push bipartisan legislation forward. Next was Senator Reid who promised to make time for legislation on the floor this year and Senator Leahy also pledging his support. Read More
Is Senator Graham Sending Mixed Signals on Immigration Reform?
Two days after President Obama met with Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Graham (R-SC) to discuss moving forward on immigration reform, Senator Graham appeared on a Sunday morning talk show where he criticized President Obama and his “unwavering commitment” to immigration reform as “political spin” in response to plans for a large immigration rally next week. Graham delivered a one-two punch, chastising the President not only for pursuing reconciliation in order to pass healthcare reform, but for failing to get his hands dirty on immigration. On the one hand, Graham made it clear that he will continue to work with Senator Schumer to produce a public document laying out reform principles, but on the other he challenged the President to put his commitment on the line by writing his own bill. No matter how you read the statement, the evident frustration in Graham’s voice suggests that there is something more here than political grandstanding. Read More
After White House Meetings, What’s Next for Immigration Reform?
In the midst of trying to wrap up health care, President Obama carved time out of his schedule yesterday to meet with reformers and key Senators on comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). After yesterday’s meetings, some are reporting that the President is again committed to moving CIR this year. Supporters of immigration reform are wary, but hopeful, that this time he means business. Read More
Restrictionist Front Group Still Pushing Green Xenophobia
In a new report, Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR)—a front group for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)—regurgitates an argument as tired as it is flawed: that immigration hastens the destruction of the environment in the United States. Specifically, the report claims that immigration-driven population growth is increasing the nation’s “ecological footprint” and exceeding the country’s “carrying capacity.” This is a faulty line of reasoning that overlooks the degree to which destruction of the environment is a function not of population size, but of how a society utilizes its resources, produces its goods and services, and deals with its waste. Read More
Is President Obama Doing Enough to Move Immigration Reform?
This week, President Obama is scheduled to meet with two key congressional players in the movement for immigration reform—Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC)—who are working together behind the scenes to draft a bipartisan immigration bill. The President is expected to ask Sens. Graham and Schumer to produce a reform bill blueprint that “could be turned into legislative language.” While some will interpret this week’s meeting as another positive signal from the White House and others as a “last-ditch effort in an election year,” the White House affirms that the President is still committed to reforming our immigration system. Read More
The Economic and Political Stakes of an Accurate Census Count
This week, the U.S. Census Bureau began distribution of the questionnaires for the 2010 Census. The results of the Census will form the basis for the apportionment of congressional districts and the distribution of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds, as well as serving to guide community-planning decisions across the country. However, Census 2010 has not been without its share of controversy. In October of last year, for instance, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) proposed an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and State appropriations legislation which would cut off financing for the 2010 Census unless the survey includes questions about immigration status. Additionally, some pro-immigrant activists have suggested that immigrants sit out the Census this year to protest the federal government’s failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform. Yet this would be self-defeating given the high economic and political stakes of an accurate count, and that fact that immigrants are already among those demographic groups who are typically under-counted in the Census. Read More
Proposed “Start-Up Visa Act” Would Help Create American Jobs
With the passage of the $15 billion jobs bill in the Senate last week, job creation is certainly at the top of the Congressional priority list. As a way to further stimulate the economy, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), introduced the Start-Up Visa Act of 2010 last week which incentivizes job creation through the promise of legal residence status—that is, “drives job creation and increases America’s global competiveness by helping immigrant entrepreneurs secure visas to the United States.” Read More
Budgeting Immigration: Secretary Napolitano Talks Dollars and Programming
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano spent the past two days testifying in front of congressional committees addressing concerns over President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2011 DHS budget. Mixed in among the complaints over proposed cuts in cyber security and the Coast Guard were a number of budget decisions with immigration implications. Chief among those decisions were a cut in border patrol agents, the status of the troubled SBInet program, and worksite enforcement efforts—including the oft-maligned E-Verify program. Read More
An Opening for Republicans on Immigration Reform
Immigration and Latino advocates continue to take stock after last week’s State of the Union Address, which some interpreted as the final nail in immigration reform’s coffin for 2010. Predictably, Democratic leadership reasserted their ongoing commitment to immigration reform legislation the day after. Less predictably, however, Senator Schumer’s main Republican partner in the Senate, Lindsay Graham, came out the following day in support of moving forward on reform in an interview with The Atlantic: Read More
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