Legislation
Condoleezza Rice Wants Undocumented Immigrants Out of the Shadows
Like many in the Bush administration who recently recognized that comprehensive immigration reform is not a roadblock but a vehicle to America’s economic recovery, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice highlighted the need for comprehensive reform last week as an economic and social imperative at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research summit. Now a political science professor at Stanford and senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, Rice put the Bush administration’s failure to achieve real reform of our immigration laws ahead of the Middle East conflict in terms of her “deepest regret” as secretary of state. Read More
A Taste of Real American Justice for Sheriff Arpaio
Even immigration hardliners have to shake their heads at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose anti-immigrant publicity stunts have angered countless across the nation. The Arizona Sheriff's latest immigrant exploit, which reads like something out of a super villain's Do It Yourself manual, involved rounding up immigrant detainees, shackling them and forcing them to march to a segregated tent city surrounded by an electric fence-something even Lex Luthor might think twice about. Read More
Congress Should Leave Community Policing to the Police
Over the last several years, Members of Congress who oppose comprehensive immigration reform have cast themselves as the law-and-order crowd, and mostly gotten away with it. But they went too far when they set their sights on attacking state and local police. By trying to punish local law enforcement agencies that refuse to put the deportation of undocumented workers before the arrest and prosecution of dangerous criminals, they're exposing what really motivates their policy proposals: concern over dishwashers and day laborers, not the safety of American communities. Read More
Obama Assures Mexican President He’s Committed to Immigration Reform
The Associated Press reports that President Obama has once again told President Felipe Calderón of Mexico that he is committed to immigration reform. President Calderón, however, understands that the economy is Obama’s number one priority and acknowledges that “fixing the U.S. economy is the best thing the American president… Read More
Hilda Solis Confirmed as Department of Labor Secretary
After several weeks of delay, Congress has confirmed Representative Hilda L. Solis to be the Secretary of Labor in the Obama administration. Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice commented: “Secretary Solis understands how our dysfunctional immigration system leads to worker exploitation. When millions of undocumented workers are without… Read More
Immigration Reform Gets Boost from a “Higher Power”
A broad interfaith coalition has begun a series of nationwide prayer vigils to raise awareness of the need for comprehensive immigration reform. "Prayer, Renewal and Action on Immigration" is the name of the campaign launched this week with help from U.S. Reps. Luis V. Gutierrez and Mike Honda. The coalition has also prepared a platform on immigration, signed by over 500 congregations from coast to coast, which asks the new President and Congress to uphold family unity, along with creating a process for earning legal status, implementing worker protections, restoring due process and facilitating immigrant integration. Read More
McCain Discusses Immigration and Arpaio on CNN
This past Sunday, John McCain appeared on CNN's State of the Union and had an extensive conversation with news anchor John King in which he once again expounded the need for comprehensive immigration reform: Read More
House Judiciary Committee Calls For Federal Investigation of Sheriff Arpaio’s Abuses
The House Judiciary Committee released a letter today calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct a federal investigation of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s enforcement tactics in Maricopa County (AZ). Arpaio has transformed his police department into an immigration-enforcement agency, gaining international notoriety in the process. Armed with a… Read More
H-1B Restrictions Harm, Not Help Economy
Everyone agrees that we urgently need to fix the economy, but there are many different ideas about how to do it. In the latest Congressional debate over the stimulus bill, restricting immigration came up as a way to protect U.S. workers. While the final language of the bill is still in flux, what's troubling is the ease with which the Senate--by voice vote--passed a measure that would bar companies that receive stimulus funds from bringing in high skilled H-1B workers. While perhaps superficially appealing, measures that keep foreign talent out hurts the nation as a whole. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times considered the recent battle on the stimulus bill when he wrote: Read More
Communities Across the Nation Rethink Hard-Line Immigration Laws
Amidst a deep economic recession and a growing climate of fear and alienation within immigrant communities, many states, cities and counties that "plunged into the immigration debate are having second thoughts," reports USA Today. In states like Texas, Alabama and elsewhere, hard-line immigration legislation has been repealed or modified by lawmakers that have come to terms with the fact that the time and expense associated with implementing such policies has made their anti-immigrant position less popular among their constituents. In Iowa and Utah, legislators are proposing similar reversals. Accusations of racism and a surge in anti-immigrant hate crimes are also cited by USA Today as reasons for the about face. Read More
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