06/29/12 Earlier today, there was a report from the right-wing site, NewsMax, where Mitt Romney was talking about his immigration record: As for children of those who came to this country illegally, “I want to make sure they have a permanent answer as to what their status will be.” He then suggested he would go beyond [...]
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06/29/12 Cross-Posted at Huffington Post: The June 27th headline in the Wall Street Journaltrumpeted the arrival of a new era in the politics of immigration. “Obama Gains Among Latinos: Poll Finds Strong Support Among Public for Softer Stance on Youth Deportations.” The piece noted: “Americans by a wide margin favor President Barack Obama’s new policy of halting [...]
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06/29/12 It’s been an interesting month for politics. So far in June, the Obama Administration made the decision to provide relief for undocumented immigrant youth who would be eligible for the DREAM Act. Then the Supreme Court struck down most of the provisions of Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, SB 1070. And just yesterday, the Supreme Court upheld [...]
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06/29/12 Cross-Posted at The Sanctuary: President Barack Obama’s announcement on June 15, 2012 granting deferred action for eligible undocumented youth has lifted DREAMers’ hopes about their ability to obtain work permits and removed the fear of deportation. However, with the excitement comes the need to do whatever it takes to start the application process as soon [...]
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06/29/12 Post-health care decision analysis from Francis Wilkinson at Bloomberg notes that the ruling might provide a short respite for Romney from his ongoing immigration debacle: The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Democrats’ Affordable Care Act has saved the Romney campaign from its recent message muddle. Romney ran into turbulence as soon as the U.S. Department of [...]
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06/28/12 Yesterday, Latino Decisions and America’s Voice released the latest installment of their Latino voter poll in five battleground states (AZ, CO, FL, NV, VA). In an on-the-record webinar and press briefing, Matt Barreto of Latino Decisions and Frank Sharry of America’s Voice reviewed the most recent poll findings and demonstrated how a ground-breaking online tool [...]
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06/28/12 During the closing remarks of the DREAM Act mock graduation ceremony on June 26, 2012, I heard for the first time a real emphasis on the mental health concerns of DREAMers. The student delivering the remarks spoke about Yanelli Serrano Hernandez, an undocumented youth who attempted suicide while being held in a detention center, and [...]
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06/28/12 On the Senate floor yesterday, Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has been a champion for immigration reform and the DREAM Act, noted there is currently only one decisive Republican on immigration reform: Mitt Romney. Of course, as Reid pointed out, Romney is decisive in the wrong way. Reid also (again) asked Republicans to work with [...]
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06/27/12 At the Lutheran Church of Reformation on Tuesday, Dream Activist held its annual mock graduation.  Much of the ceremony proceeded with undocumented youth dressed in caps and gowns and a group of  speakers telling their stories, proclaiming “I’m undocumented and unafraid!” But there was certainly a change of atmosphere this year due to Obama’s recent [...]
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06/27/12 In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on SB 1070, many have been left wondering what does this mean, what happens now and where do voters stand on this decision?  A fact sheet and polling round-up from America’s Voice Education Fund helps sift through the legal implications and next steps after the decision as [...]
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06/27/12 Immigration reform champion Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) took to the House floor this morning to discuss the Supreme Court ruling on SB 1070, Arizona’s “show me your papers” law. Gutierrez gave a quiz titled, ”Pick Out The Immigrant.” Watch the speech below.  You’ll hear Gutierrez ask how Arizona officials determine which of the following are immigrants [...]
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06/27/12 During the GOP nomination battle, Mitt Romney couldn’t talk enough about his anti-immigrant views. He vowed to veto the DREAM Act; called Arizona’s immigrant-crackdown a “model for the nation”; touted support for “self-deportation“; and courted hard-liners like Jan Brewer and Joe Arpaio. But the game has changed for Mitt Romney, and those anti-immigrant views he [...]
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06/26/12 We’ve been publishing a series of posts from the DREAMers of the Campaign for an American DREAM.  Last month, they set off from San Francisco to begin a 3,000-mile, 8-month+ walk to Washington, DC to call attention to the DREAM Act and the need for immigration reform. Today’s post is from Nicolas Gonzalez, a DREAMer from Chicago, Illinois.  Learn [...]
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06/26/12 Many have been surprised these past few weeks.  Not only has immigration dominated the headlines, but President Obama has dominated his opponent Mitt Romney on the issue.  Why?  Because Obama understands the new politics of immigration, while Romney is stuck in the past. As America’s Voice has highlighted, the old conventional wisdom on the politics [...]
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06/26/12 The Department of Justice has set up an email address and hotline in response to the Supreme Court ruling on Arizona SB 1070′s “show me your papers” provision, a law which would allow law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of detained individuals based on “reasonable suspicion.” This provision, Section 2(B), will lead to [...]
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06/26/12 As Mitt Romney fails to propose a solution to the immigration problem, evangelical leaders have been growing increasingly frustrated with him. Evangelical leaders recently came out in full support of comprehensive immigration reform during this month’s “Evangelical Immigration Table” and supported the Arizona v. US Supreme Court decision while remaining concerned over the prospect of [...]
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06/26/12 With a 5-3 majority vote, yesterday, the Supreme Court sent a strong signal to the nation that Arizona’s anti-immigrant law is NOT a model for our country.  The ruling was a warning to other states not to follow in Arizona’s footsteps. While the Justices ruled that most provisions of the law were unconstitutional, they let [...]
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06/25/12 Similar to the way he ducked the key immigration questions at his speech at last week’s NALEO conference, Mitt Romney today avoided a substantive response to today’s Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s immigration law – despite being in Arizona.  Additionally, while Romney’s statement attempted to call out President Obama for a lack of leadership on [...]
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06/25/12 Today, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on Arizona vs. United States re: the state’s controversial anti-immigrant law, SB 1070. From the Associated Press: The Supreme Court struck down key provisions of Arizona’s crackdown on immigrants Monday but said a much-debated portion on checking suspects’ status could go forward. The court did not [...]
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06/25/12 This week Latino Decisions and America’s Voice release additional datapoints from our June 2012 5-state battleground survey.  Below are results and related analysis from Matt Barreto of Latino Decisions: In advance of the Supreme Court decision on Arizona’s controversial SB1070, we asked Latino voters how they would feel if the court were to uphold the law.  In [...]
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06/22/12 At America’s Voice Education Fund, we have been strong critics of Secure Communities, the Obama Administration’s signature immigration enforcement program. We’ve noted that it’s difficult to distinguish the difference between Arizona’s draconian SB 1070 and the Obama administration’s tactics under Secure Communities. That’s how bad it is. The Secure Communities program is now active in 97 % [...]
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06/22/12 LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney didn’t tell his audience at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) annual conference whether or not he’d rescind the Obama Administration’s temporary relief from deportation for certain DREAMers. He promised that if elected “I will put in place my own [...]
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06/22/12 Via Judd Legum at Think Progress, we learn what many of us thought, but hadn’t quite heard from anyone inside the Romney campaign — until now: Ray Walser, a co-chair of Mitt Romney’s campaign for issues pertaining to Latin America, finally spilled the beans: …Mr Walser, told The Daily Telegraph: “My anticipation is that he would probably rescind this [...]
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06/22/12 As the issue of immigration takes center stage, and the political world watches the dueling speeches of Mitt Romney and President Obama at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) conference, the Republican echo chamber seems to have settled on a set of talking points.  Together, they add up to yet another attempt [...]
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06/22/12 A decision from the Supreme Court on Arizona vs. United States is expected next week, where the issue in contention is whether the law usurps the federal government’s power to regulate immigration laws. While we wait for a decision, Puente Arizona is taking the lead by strengthening “Barrio Defense Committees” in Arizona, where members of the community connect, [...]
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06/22/12 New polling from Latino Decisions and America’s Voice shows President Obama holding a commanding lead over Mitt Romney among Latino voters in key swing states.  In Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Virginia combined, Latino voters favor Obama over Mitt Romney by a 63% to 27% margin.  As shown by an earlier poll released this week, [...]
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06/22/12 We’ve been publishing a series of posts from the DREAMers of the Campaign for an American DREAM.  Last month, they set off from San Francisco to begin a 3,000-mile, 8-month+ walk to Washington, DC to call attention to the DREAM Act and the need for immigration reform. Today’s post is from Veronica Gomez, a DREAMer from the San [...]
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