11/30/09 As the Catholic News Service reported last week: "A new postcard campaign in 2010 will urge Congress to take up as its next priority comprehensive immigration reform that would reunite families, regularize the status of an estimated 12 million people in this country illegally and restore due process protections for immigrants."
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11/30/09 If you were still in a tryptophan-induced turkey coma when the Associated Press published this piece last weekend, you should check it out today. In "Immigration reform activists diversifying ranks," Suzanne Gamboa reports on the widening movement to pass real immigration reform: "Against this backdrop, the collection of voices clamoring for overhaul is expanding — Caribbean-Americans, evangelical churches, labor unions and law enforcement, besides the NAACP. And businesses, too, are becoming increasingly active."
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11/25/09 We know that immigrant workers are a crucial, though often invisible, part of the American workforce. However, as we sit down to pumpkin pies with whipped cream on top this week, it's important to remember just how many American businesses --dairy farming firmly among them -- rely on immigrants to run.
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11/25/09 This Thanksgiving week, as end-of-year celebrations commence, faith groups across the country stress the moral urgency of immigration reform. These groups have played an important role in the immigration debate, although the process has not been without controversy.
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11/24/09 Looks like a group of Republicans are seeking to impose a litmus test on candidates seeking party support. We think it's time for the Republican Party to ask themselves which America they want to live in: the "shining city on a hill" or the electrified livestock pen, with the $300 billion price tag.
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11/23/09 It's time to share the good news: Lou Dobbs is one less turkey on TV this Thanksgiving. That's one big step toward bringing our country together to debate real solutions on immigration. We've created a fun Thanksgiving e-card you can share with your family and friends, so take a look, have a laugh, and pass it on. We all know that the bigger the movement grows, the stronger each of our voices are.
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11/23/09 Newsflash: Forget all that controversy surrounding CNN's Latinos in America series earlier this fall (CNN came under heavy fire for keeping incendiary host Lou Dobbs as a mainstream news anchor while trying to reach out to Latino audiences). Apparently, Lou Dobbs should now be known as Latinos' "great friend," according to... well, Lou Dobbs. To give Lou some credit, he did find a way to incorporate Latinos, especially Latino immigrants, into just about every "Lou Dobbs Tonight" broadcast, even when the topic was completely unrelated. Heck, Dobbs even gave Latino immigrants credit for a new wave of leprosy in the United States.
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11/20/09 We just got word that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated a hate group, is holding a casting call in Atlanta tomorrow for a new web video that will change the hearts and minds of the average American. Think you have what it takes to be a mouthpiece for hate?
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11/20/09 On Wednesday night, 60,000 people joined what was an incredible call to action on overhauling our nation's broken immigration laws. Today, we're releasing a new video that features Congressman Luis Gutierrez unveiling his principles for reform in October, and which calls on all of us to help build the movement for real immigration reform.
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11/20/09 First it was immigrants from Mexico, now Muslims in the armed services. After the tragic shootings at Fort Hood, conservative pundits are verbally attacking Muslims and Arab-Americans, much like they have vilified the immigrant community. The complexities of Islamic faith are being glossed over and "Muslim Terrorist" is stamped upon any act of violence involving their community. As a result, nuanced voices are buried in favor of suspicion and violence.
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11/19/09 This past weekend, ALIPAC organized anti-amnesty "tea parties" across the country -- although perhaps "organized" is too generous a term for what turned out to be pretty weak events. It's not surprising that ALIPAC's tea parties -- 53 of them in total, according to the group—turned out to be what the media calls "sparsely attended." After all, the anti-immigrant group's "Unite Against Amnesty" Web site lists only 5,572 "against amnesty supporters." Compare that to the number of people who tuned into last night's "Families, Freedom and Faith" national tele-town hall and house parties for immigration reform: over 60,000. That's over ten supporters of immigration reform for every anti-immigrant "tea partier."
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11/19/09 So Lou Dobbs was paid $8 million to leave CNN after the network came under increasing fire for giving Lou Dobbs a primetime slot to incessantly trash immigrants and Latinos. Kudos for CNN for finally doing the right thing. We've rounded up some of the funniest reactions to a man who doesn't deserve to be taken seriously.
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11/18/09 I'm not convinced Washington has awakened to the reality yet -- but the 2010 Census is going to shake things up politically in this country, and politicians would do themselves a favor to wake up and smell the coffee in advance. This is about raw political power -- something politicians of all stripes, understand. Washington Post: "The study's authors note that most of the gains come in traditionally red or purple states as Latinos move beyond the nation's largest cities into smaller, rural communities."
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11/18/09 Today, November 18th, Representative Luis Gutierrez will hold a national telephonic town hall to lay out how we are going to win this fight. Thousands of people will be joining the call to hear what Rep. Gutierrez has to say and to ask their questions and voice their concerns. Oh, and we should probably mention there are nearly 900 house parties happening across the country that night.
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11/17/09 Today America's Voice released a report entitled, "The New Constituents… How Latinos Will Shape Congressional Apportionmention After the 2010 Census" at an event at NDN in Washington, DC. The paper examines the role Latinos will play in shaping the next Congress, after the 2010 Census. Projections show that nineteen states are poised to see changes in their Congressional representation: eight states will gain at least one House seat, while eleven states will lose at least one seat in Congress.
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11/16/09 First, CNN paid off Lou Dobbs to take his ranting and raving about immigrants and immigration reform elsewhere. Then, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano made it clear in a major address at the Center for American Progress that the Obama Administration is committed to moving immigration reform in early 2010; a commitment reiterated Sunday by David Axelrod. Finally, over the weekend, the best efforts of the anti-immigrant movement to utilize the conservative "Tea Party" movement as a vehicle for their extremist views turned out to be a bust.
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11/16/09 Via Huffington Post (This last line is priceless-- watch it): ""Saturday Night Live" went after Lou Dobbs this week, claiming he retired from CNN because he thinks the "C" stands for the Spanish word "si." Dobbs, played by Darrell Hammond, went on to refer to his replacement, John King, as "Juan" King--a man he says may have paid for his dapper appearance with drug money."
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11/13/09 Today, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano stressed the need to fix our nation's badly broken immigration system. Napolitano argued for a comprehensive immigration reform plan that emphasizes both strong national security provisions and a pathway to earned citizenship for the undocumented.
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11/13/09 This morning, we'll be live-tweeting this event at the Center for American Progress: A Discussion on Immigration Policy with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "As Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano brings to her job a deep understanding of immigration and border issues from her experience as Governor, Attorney General, and U.S. Attorney in the State of Arizona."
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11/12/09 Last night, Lou Dobbs aired his final broadcast on CNN. So tonight, when viewers tune in to CNN primetime, the hate TV will be gone. According to the New York Times, CNN President Jonathan Klein said: "Lou Dobbs will carry the banner of advocacy journalism elsewhere." Help us spread the word and grow our movement for change!
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11/12/09 Via the New York Times Media Decoder Blog today, news of Dobbs' replacement: "John King will replace Lou Dobbs as the new 7 p.m. anchor on CNN, the network told its employees Thursday morning.Mr. King is currently the anchor of "State of the Union," CNN's Sunday political news show."
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11/11/09 We told you Dobbs was resigning... here's the proof. Via Media Matters, video of Dobbs' resignation. It will be interesting to see what Dobbs' next "contribution" to public life might be. Eric Burns, head of Media Matters, states, "This is a happy day for all those who care about this nation of immigrants and believe in the power of media to elevate the political discourse."
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11/11/09 This just in, from the New York Times Media Decoder Blog today, very big news for those of us who've been calling on CNN to drop its anti-immigrant anchor, Lou Dobbs. In Update: Lou Dobbs to Quit CNN, Brian Stelter and Bill Carter report: "Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views have made him a TV lightning rod, plans to announce Wednesday that he is leaving the network, two network employees said."
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11/11/09 My story is similar to that of thousands of other immigrants in the United States Armed Services. Yesterday, Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey introduced a bill to provide immigration relief to the thousands of immigrants and their families serving overseas. Simply, the bill aims to keep the families of US service members together while they fight for our freedom. At the very least, service members have earned the right to be united with their closest family members on a permanent basis without fearing that they will face unfair and unexpected deportation.
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11/11/09 In the aftermath of Saturday's landmark passage of a health care reform bill in the House of Representatives, many Republican Members of Congress are scratching their heads and wondering how they could have allowed the bill to pass. They are questioning why their leadership didn't agree to use the immigration issue to kill the bill by offering a tough anti-immigrant amendment at the end of debate.
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11/10/09 This morning, the Associated Press and Minnesota Public Radio reported that 1,200 undocumented janitors had been fired from Twin Cities company ABM under pressure from the Department of Homeland Security. ICE worked with ABM, giving employees a few months to produce documentation and then firing those who couldn't in four waves throughout October in what might be called a "silent raid." None of the janitors were arrested, and ICE hasn't yet fined ABM.
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11/10/09 Andrea Nill at the Wonk Room reports: "This weekend, in an interview with Fox News' Geraldo Rivera, action star and conservative activist Chuck Norris pointed out that most undocumented immigrants are "good and law abiding" and even proposed a three-step plan for providing them with a path to legalization. Norris went as far to suggest that friend and political idol, Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AK), might support his proposal." Chuck Norris: conservative activist, voice of reason on immigration reform.
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