06/30/09 Earlier this year, we reported that, in light of changing demographics, the Boy Scouts of America is spending more and more marketing dollars to recruit Latino youth, understanding that Latinos: [A]re projected to make up one quarter of the nation's population by 2050. And this week TuscaloosaNews.com confirms that the organization is hoping to recruit more Hispanic members, even making the process easier by hiring bilingual recruiters and not requiring social security numbers or identification cards to join... "The welcoming approach has resonated with immigrant parents" The irony here is that a recent New York Times article reports that the same Boy Scouts of America is now training young scouts to hunt down and arrest "illegals"
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06/30/09 Think Progress' Wonk Room blogger Andrea Nill found this clip of Mark Krikorian (of Keith Olbermann Worst Person in the World fame) trying to pin the problems with our healthcare system, including our "uninsured crisis" on immigrants. Big surprise there. Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a restrictionist "think tank" that plays prominently within the network of anti-immigrant organizations beholden to John Tanton, a man with clear ties to white nationalism.
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06/29/09 "The meeting was more encouraging than that. It led to a persuasive show of unity among Republicans and Democrats. Both sides made the case for getting a comprehensive reform bill written and passed this year, or early next. Mr. Obama announced that the homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, would lead a working group of both parties and houses of Congress to do that."
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06/26/09 Yesterday, the White House hosted a meeting of bipartisan lawmakers from both chambers of Congress to begin the conversation of how to move immigration reform forward this year. Kos, founder of the progressive blog Daily Kos, reports in "Immigration reform headed for passage this year:" "Both the White House and Senate Democratic leadership have reiterated that they expect to pass meaningful immigration reform this year or early next year."
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06/26/09 Weekly feature by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger: "President Obama has often stated that immigration reform cannot be approached in a piecemeal fashion, and that his administration would tackle the issue in 2009. This week, Obama will be meeting with members of Congress to kick off a bi-partisan approach to reform. These meetings don't guarantee any legislative action will take place this year, but are at least an encouraging sign."
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06/25/09 THE PRESIDENT: "Hello, everybody. We have just finished what I consider to be a very productive meeting on one of the most critical issues that I think this nation faces, and that is an immigration system that is broken and needs fixing. We have members of Congress from both chambers, from parties, who have participated in the meeting and shared a range of ideas. I think the consensus is that despite our inability to get this passed over the last several years, the American people still want to see a solution in which we are tightening up our borders, or cracking down on employers who are using illegal workers in order to drive down wages -- and oftentimes mistreat those workers. And we need a effective way to recognize and legalize the status of undocumented workers who are here."
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06/25/09 This afternoon, a select, bipartisan group of Members of Congress met with President Obama at the White House to talk immigration solutions. The President summed things up this way, according to a release from the White House: "After all the demagoguery, we've got a responsible set of leaders who want to get things done."
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06/25/09 More disturbing profiles in extremism this week. After a mother of six died in Monday's tragic Metro crash, a group of what appear to be anti-immigrant activists are calling up Ana Fernandez' family and asking for the family's papers. Their justification? Apparently "Fernandez" sounds "illegal." This kind of extremism, as NBC Washington points out, does nothing to advance the immigration debate.
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06/24/09 Yesterday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) reiterated that he's got the votes to move immigration reform forward, and soon. Today MSNBC's Mark Murray reports: Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, said it was smart policy and smart politics to take up immigration reform. He noted that Obama was elected in no small part because independent voters thought he and the Democrats were best able to find solutions to challenging problems like immigration. Roll Call's Jessica Brady reports in "Schumer Says Immigration Reform Will Happen:"Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) maintained Wednesday that Congress will tackle comprehensive immigration reform this Congress, and perhaps even this year.
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06/24/09 On June 25th, President Obama is convening a bi-partisan meeting to discuss the prospects for moving on comprehensive immigration reform later this year. If he asked me about the politics of immigration reform in this economic climate, this is the memo I would send to him: "Reform advocates point to the pledge you made on the campaign trail, to make immigration reform a "top priority in my first year." Yet skeptics argue that the economic crisis makes your campaign promise moot."
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06/23/09 Just in case there was any doubt the first time around... In "Reid claims he has votes for reform," Politico's Alex Isenstadt reports: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said once again Tuesday that he has the votes to pass comprehensive immigration reform." As Thursday's White House meeting on immigration approaches, reform advocates will be looking to the President and Congress to provide a road map for getting it done.
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06/23/09 I just came back from attending a graduation ceremony organized by United We Dream, a coalition of student advocacy groups from all over the U.S advocating for the DREAM Act. What's the DREAM Act you say? Each year about 65,000 U.S.-raised students, who would qualify for a status-adjustment under the DREAM Act, graduate from high school with few real prospects for the future. These include honor roll students, star athletes, talented artists, homecoming queens, and aspiring teachers, doctors, and U.S. soldiers.
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06/22/09 While Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has come out swinging in support of moving comprehensive immigration reform this year, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs seems equally determined to lower advocates' expectations in advance of this Thursday's big White House immigration meeting.
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06/22/09 Irony of ironies- it turns out, according to Think Progress' Lee Fang in "Under Misspelled Banner, Buchanan And White Nationalist Brimelow Argue For English-Only Initiatives," that American Cause luminaries actually convened under a misspelled banner to promote their hardline, English-only agenda. For more, check out our background briefing on the American Cause National Conference, nicknamed, "The cauldron where extremists, right-wing media and conservative politicians cook up racist rhetoric."
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06/22/09 The AP reports in "Obama says immigration overhaul is essential:" WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Friday he is committed to a comprehensive immigration overhaul that includes a way for illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens.
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06/19/09 For those of us who cover immigration issues and deal with the extremists all the time, none of this is new. Nor is the fact that so-called "legitimate" spokespersons deliver hate-filled messages that show up in angry faxes to Congress, the Ku Klux Klan and even Minuteman leader Shawna Forde – accused of gunning down a 9 year old Latina girl.
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06/18/09 On May 30, 29-year-old Raul Flores and his 9-year-old daughter Brisenia Flores were shot to death, purportedly by a group of far-right anti-immigrant activists who broke into the Flores home by posing as police officers. On Friday, Shawna Forde, anti-immigrant activist and Executive Director of the Minutemen American Defense, (MAD) along with accomplices Jason Eugene Bush and Albert Robert Gaxiola were arrested on two counts of first-degree murder and burglary charges related to the Flores murders.
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06/17/09 Almost a full week since local Arizona media and progressive and pro-migrant bloggers began covering the horrific story of Brisenia Flores and her minuteman killers, the story is finally catching the eye of the mainstream media. Turns out the point-blank murder of a little nine-year-old-girl by anti-immigration extremists is newsworthy, after all.
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06/15/09 Shawna Forde, the alleged ringleader and one of three suspects arrested in a deadly home invasion in Arizona on Friday, heads up a border vigilante group known as the Minuteman American Defense (MAD). Forde is suspected of having plotted and executed the kiilling of a nine-year-old girl named Brisenia Flores in order to raise money for her vigilate group.
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06/13/09 Yesterday the White House rescheduled the immigration meeting set for next Wednesday, June 17th to the week of June 22nd. The meeting will bring together key leadership in Congress and kickoff the Adminstration's work on immigration reform. It was originally scheduled for June 8th, but was delayed as a result of the President's travel schedule abroad. The stakes are high. (But you wouldn't know it to hear the political class chatter).
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06/11/09 After a gunman with clear ties to white nationalism opened fire yesterday at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, a new video that ties Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio to his neo-Nazi supporters is gaining attention.
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06/10/09 "Shortly after opening fire at the National Holocaust Museum today, James Wenneker von Brunn, the suspected shooter, was identified as a white supremacist with a "history of associations with prominent neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Brunn's hateful rhetoric followed by today's violent outburst chillingly echoes a controversial warning issued by the Department of Homeland Security concerning a rise in "rightwing extremist activity."
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06/10/09 Today the New York Observer reported that Lou Dobbs' ratings have taken a severe nose dive. Plummeting over 30% this past year, Dobb's ratings have left many speculating about the cause. Salon.com, in, "Lou Dobbs needs to fence in his audience," writes: "Apparently accusing immigrants of spreading leprosy and alienating Hispanics just doesn't make for good TV like it used to."
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06/09/09 Another positive ruling yesterday, from the Associated Press, overturning some of the worst of the worst of the failed Bush-era immigration enforcement policy: "HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) � Federal agents violated the constitutional rights of four illegal immigrants in raids that critics say were retaliation for a New Haven program that provided ID cards to foreigners in the country illegally, a federal judge has ruled. The sweeps in New Haven on June 6, 2007, came two days after the city approved issuing identification cards to all city residents, regardless of immigration status."
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06/08/09 Lots of coverage (both positive and critical) of the Reform Immigration For America Summit last week, including Maegan (La Mamita Mala) of Vivir Latino (here, here, here, and here), Kyle Debausset of Citizen Orange (here, here, here, and here), Rachel Labruyere of Standing FIRM, and Dave Neiwert of Crooks and Liars. While many bloggers focused their coverage on pieces of reform that didn't receive enough attention at the summit, one common thread between all of it was a feeling of great momentum and renewed energy to get reform done, and get it done soon.
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06/05/09 Yesterday Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) committed to making the reform of our nation's dysfunctional immigration system a top priority in Congress, after healthcare and energy. Well, today Cecilia Mu�oz, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House, summed up a week's worth of townhalls, testimonies, and strategy sessions with a simple message. Watch part of her keynote address to the Reform Immigration for America Summit today.
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06/04/09 Yesterday I went to witness the launch of the Reform Immigration For America campaign at the National Press Club. Momentum is building for comprehensive immigration reform, and speakers from NCLR, NAACP, SEIU/Change To Win, AFL-CIO, AAJC, CHIRLA, and many others described a clear and bipartisan effort building to fix our broken immigration system.
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