08/31/11
As we've written about in post after post, a seismic demographic change is underway in the U.S., but both political parties still seem to be ignoring the facts and their electoral implications.
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Blog Archives
August 2011
Written in August 2011
08/31/11
The Obama Administration's announcement that it will bring its deportation practices in line with common sense law enforcement priorities has generated the predictable outcry from mass-deportation advocates, who incorrectly have characterized the sensible policy announcement as a "backdoor amnesty." But, immigrants should listen to Rep. Gutierrez and ICIRR, not Lamar Smith and the scam artists he's enabling.
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08/31/11
There's been a lot of discussion about the Obama Administration's new deportation policy. One thing that is crystal clear is that the policy is well within the President's authority. At The New Republic, Nathan Pippenger explained this, and Mark Krikorian agrees.
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08/30/11
We've heard a lot of talk about the new immigration deportation policy. Soon, we're going to see what it means for undocumented immigrants who are in deportation proceedings. Over the weekend, the Omaha World-Herald published the story of Luis Cervantes. He's a candidate for the relief under the new policy, thanks to Secure Communities.
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08/30/11
To honor the DREAM Act, and call attention to the ten years that have passed without it becoming law, Mariano Cardoso—a DREAMer from Connecticut himself—interviewed two fellow undocumented students, Melvin Rico and Sophia Campos. Watch their stories below.
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08/29/11
According to the Associated Press, Judge Blackburn has blocked enforcement of the Alabama's anti-immigrant law.
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08/29/11
In rural Alabama lies Cullman County, recognized as the "state's top agricultural community." David Palmer of The Cullman Times interviewed two farmers who express concern over Alabama's new anti-immigration law, which is scheduled to take effect in three days on September 1st. Both farmers come to the same consensus. To put it succinctly: this new law stinks.
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08/29/11
After a long, hot summer of protests and lawsuits, Alabama's tough new immigration law is scheduled to begin taking effect this week.
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08/26/11
A Washington Post editorial notes that Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) is just the latest candidate to use "the usual Republican crutch to justify his position, insisting that the border must be made secure before reform is possible. But the border is more secure than it has been in decades, as measured by the soaring federal presence and plummeting rates of illegal crossings and crime on the frontier.
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08/26/11
Rep. Lamar Smith, leader of the Congressional Mass Deportation Caucus and self-appointed leading pundit, recently sent a "Dear Colleague" letter pushing cherry-picked polling information to further his agenda.
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08/26/11
The Secure Communities Task Force hearing in Arlington, Virginia last night was not my first protest, but it was my first exposure to what we call "antis"—people from the anti-immigrant crowd. Some were reasonable, and some were not. Some were people I felt I could have a conversation with, and some were so unbelievable in their comments and beliefs that I thought they must be joking.
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08/25/11
After seeing walkouts in Los Angeles and arrests in Chicago, DHS' Secure Communities Task Force came to Arlington, Virginia last night for the last in a series of four hearings designed to gather public input on the deportation program.
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08/25/11
Last week, we reported that the White House has announced a new policy which says that DREAM Act youth and immigrants who haven't committed serious crimes, and who meet other reasonable criteria, won't face deportation.
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08/24/11
Local and national immigration experts spoke on a call with reporters to relate stories and highlight concerns that Secure Communities and other police-immigration collaboration efforts are destroying the relationship between police and immigrants and making communities across the country less safe.
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08/24/11
In advance of the final DHS Secure Communities Task Force hearing in Arlington Virginia, America's Voice Education Fund (AVEF) will release a new report, "Public Safety on ICE: How Do You Police a Community That Won't Talk to You?" which documents the "chilling effect" that police-DHS collaboration has on immigrant crime victims and witnesses, and describes how programs like Secure Communities (S-Comm) actually make all of us less safe.
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08/24/11
Last week, the Obama administration released new guidelines for deportations, and we've spent the days since compiling press releases, editorials, and other statements responding to the announcement. Some have lauded the development, some have criticized it, some have adopted a wait-and-see approach, and some have, well, expressed their anger in a somewhat controversial manner.
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08/23/11
According to Senator Rubio, President Reagan "basically defined the era in which I grew up in, in every way possible. And to this day, so much of what Reagan stood for is still what we're still debating about." Unfortunately, it seems Senator Rubio hasn't read the chapter on immigration in President Reagan's history book.
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08/23/11
Rep. Jeff Flake continues to run from his record on immigration reform. The GOP Congressman from Arizona, who is now running for Senate, launched an attack on the Obama administration's new deportation policy. He used to be a champion for comprehensive reform.
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08/23/11
His name is Antonio Diaz Chacon, he's a New Mexico resident, he is 23, he is a hero, and he is undocumented. Before last week Monday, Diaz had not known the feeling of being a hero of a small town. That was until a 6-year-old girl in Albuquerque was abducted as she walked home on a suburban street.
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08/22/11
For the most part, the Obama admnistration's new policy on deportation is being welcomed by editorial boards from major newspapers across the country. We provide a sampling of the reaction.
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08/22/11
A raucous week of protests against Secure Communities continued last week in Chicago, where protesters angry about deportations rallied outside an immigration hearing. Ten people were eventually arrested by police.
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08/19/11
Yesterday's announcement of the Obama Administration's important step towards bringing deportation practices in line with its enforcement priorities already is generating predictable responses from many Republicans and their mass-deportation allies.
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08/19/11
As we've been reporting, we received good news from the Obama administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) yesterday: new immigration and deportation guidelines have been announced, which if implemented to their fullest could mean the end of deportations for DREAMers.
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08/19/11
As you can imagine, there have been lots of reactions to yesterday's announcement from the Obama administration about the new deportation policy. We've complied some of the comments and statements from a range of our allies and colleagues. For the most part, this is viewed as a good first step. There's still more that can be done, but this is progress.
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08/18/11
Today the Obama Administration announced significant changes to deportation practices bringing them in line with enforcement priorities. The Administration responded to the call for administrative action with significant changes that, if implemented fully and fairly, will focus immigration enforcement on the worst of the worst, not the best and the brightest.
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08/18/11
Earlier this month, there were news stories circulating on the interwebs about a mysterious announcement Senator Durbin had made in a meeting with the Chicago Tribune's editorial board.
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08/18/11
A scathing editorial today in the Washington Post blasts the Republican Party's "scare tactics" on border security and calls out Senator John Cornyn for trying "to have it both ways." The conclusion notes that by promoting "myths" about border security, "politicians perpetuate both a lie and the national disgrace of a dysfunctional policy."
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