Reform
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
Pelosi Joins the Hispanic Caucus’ Call for Reform, Not Raids
This past weekend, House Speaker Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took a stand on immigration raids and met hundreds of families Saturday evening at a church in San Francisco's Mission District to demand an end to deportations and the separation of families. Pelosi's stop was part of a larger, 17-city national "Family Unity" tour led by leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in response to immigration raids. An estimated 3.1 million US citizen children have at least one parent who is undocumented. Many others have at least one parent who is a permanent legal resident who can be subject to deportation for minor legal infractions or errors while filing for a change of immigration status. Every year thousands of children are either separated from a parent who has been deported, or forced into exile. Read More
CIS Stokes Terrorism Fears to Promote Anti-Immigration Agenda
In yet another attempt to use the “t” word to promote its restrictionist agenda, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has recently put out a video blurring the line between violent terrorists and hard-working immigrants who come to this country with hope -- not hostility -- towards the American Dream. The video, narrated by former 9/11 Commission border counsel Janice Kephart, claims that “terrorist travel” is “indistinguishable” from undocumented immigration. Yet it’s Kephart who fails to distinguish between terrorists and busboys entering the country. The 9/11 Report itself contradicts Kephart’s loaded comparison. In Staff Statement No. 1 Entry of the 9/11 Highjackers into the United States, the Commission's staff detailed how the 9/11 terrorists got their visas to come here. 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
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
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
Prince William County Crusader Hangs Up Anti-Immigration Hat
Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman, Corey Stewart, has been at the forefront of an anti-immigrant crusade, setting the gold standard for local law enforcement "crackdowns" on the immigrant community in the last few years. Recent shifts in the political wind, however, have conveniently blown this Virginia Republican away from his undocumented immigration crusade toward more hot ticket topics, like the economy. Following the example of many GOP leaders who have recently softened their anti-immigration tone, Stewart, who built his ticket by cracking down on illegal immigrants as a social imperative, is now whistling another tune. According to the Washington Post, Stewart is changing his image in response to ‘plummeting home values, statewide Republican electoral defeats and widespread economic instability.' Read More
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
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