01/14/13 Cross-posted at MomsRising: Immigration reform will be a top legislative priority this year, and it won’t be some vague policy or philosophical change that we’re asking for.  The coming battle to change our immigration policy is personal, and we fight it every day to protect our mothers, fathers, children, and family members. Last week was [...]
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12/27/12 Cross-posted at the Hill: The results of the 2012 elections showed that Republicans are teetering at the edge of a “demographic cliff.” They have alienated Latino voters so thoroughly that they risk becoming a regional party unless something big changes, and changes soon. It’s obvious how they got here: the anti-immigration wedge strategy employed by [...]
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12/10/12 Cross-posted at “A MomsRising Blog Carnival on Protecting Family Unity, Strengthening Communities and Ensuring a Thriving Economy with the Contributions of Immigrants“: After Republicans reached an historic low among Latino voters in last month’s election, political analysts of all stripes began to say that the GOP should change its immigration plank and work with Democrats to enact reasonable and [...]
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09/21/12 Yesterday, Mitt Romney spoke at a candidate’s forum on Univisión, after other recent Latino-focused appearances in front of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and on Telemundo. There was a bit of revisionist history going on last night in Mitt Romney’s performance on Univisión. And while the crowd of Romney supporters seemed to like it, [...]
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08/03/12 The following is a statement from Lynn Tramonte, Deputy Director at America’s Voice Education Fund, responding to today’s release of additional Deferred Action guidelines by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): There’s a lot of excitement around this announcement from DHS because the pieces are falling into place.  In less than two weeks, thousands of young immigrants [...]
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05/24/12 Cross-Posted at Mom’s Rising and Daily Kos: It’s painful to watch. Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL), a victim of domestic violence, has let herself become the spokesperson for the grievously flawed and dangerous Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) passed by House Republicans.  But asserting that “VAWA must protect all victims,” as Adams does in a new [...]
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05/18/12 Cross-Posted at Mom’s Rising: “Russian Women are no longer the best kept secret of the cold war” notes the website of Encounters International, the mail-order bride company that is lobbying hard for the passage of the scary Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) — the version that passed the House of Representatives [...]
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05/09/12 Ron Brownstein captures the results of a new National Journal poll on immigration quite succinctly: “On immigration, most Americans favor the velvet glove—and the iron fist.” For years, anti-immigration groups have exploited Americans’ frustration with the broken immigration system to advance their enforcement-only agenda.  Meanwhile, polls have consistently shown that strong majorities of Americans favor [...]
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05/07/12 Cross-Posted at Mom’s Rising: Last month we wrote about how Republicans were warring on immigrants and women by opposing revised health care standards for detainees.  Now, a new front in the GOP war against both groups is emerging. Last Friday, Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim and Elise Foley wrote about House Republicans’ plan to hijack the [...]
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03/28/12 A few weeks ago, the right-wing Daily Caller ran a piece with the sensational headline "Transgender hormone treatments, abortion access for detained illegals irks congressman." It's about House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith's opposition to humane treatment of immigrants detained by our government as they fight deportation.
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03/28/12 A few weeks ago, the right-wing Daily Caller ran a piece with the sensational headline "Transgender hormone treatments, abortion access for detained illegals irks congressman." It's about House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith's opposition to humane treatment of immigrants detained by our government as they fight deportation.
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03/08/12 It's International Women's Day and one of the most amazing women I know, Angela M. Kelley , is reminding us about the special contributions, insights, and strength of immigrant women. Angie is the Vice President for Immigration Policy and Advocacy at the Center for American Progress (CAP).
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02/17/12 Last September, a federal court judge allowed a sweeping immigration crackdown law to take effect. That legislation, which was signed into law by Governor Bentley in June of 2011, quickly progressed into a unrelenting nightmare for immigrant families living in the state. Many in America had no idea what was happening, and many still don't.
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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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06/17/11 Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it is establishing an advisory board to review the Secure Communities deportation program, and implementing new guidance throughout the field on prosecutorial discretion.
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06/16/11 Today in National Review, Mark Krikorian published his response to our long list of criticisms about the mandatory E-Verify bill that Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) are pushing.
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04/28/11 One of the most offensive post-9/11 anti-immigrant policies dreamed up by our federal government is finally gone. Yesterday, DHS announced the end of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), a state-sanctioned racial profiling program that wasted serious amounts of government resources while damaging our country's reputation, and treating whole groups of people as "other" because of where they came from, not what they did.
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04/21/11 Back in the early 80s, during Dan Lungren's first stint in Congress, he supported immigration reform – just like his fellow Californian, then-President Ronald Reagan. But not anymore. Lungren is unabashed about his anti-immigrant views.
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04/12/11 Elton Gallegly's zeal to get touch on immigrants would have profound consequences for California and the rest of the United States.
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04/01/11 Yesterday, the Obama Administration's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Labor Department finally agreed to work together to make sure the government's zeal to enforce immigration laws doesn't hurt labor enforcement efforts.
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04/01/11 GOP Congressman Lamar Smith has once again asserted himself as his party's leading strategist on the Latino vote. He's taking issue with Chris Cillizza's recent analysis of census numbers,"The Republican's Hispanic Problem." Smith, who supports mass deportation, is desperately trying to get his fellow Republicans deny the facts and trends on Latino voters.
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03/07/11 There is growing concern that the federal 287(g) and "Secure Communities" programs, which puts local law enforcement officers on the front lines of enforcing federal immigration laws, are actually making communities less secure.
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02/23/11 For the past couple years, Republicans on Capitol Hill and across the country have been spitting out talking points about the need for stronger "border security." None of them will actually define what it means to "secure the border," but we just know that in their world, there's never enough border security.
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02/08/11 Today's La Opinion editorial entitled "Border Security" is an elegant repudiation of the sound bite so popular among Senate Republicans— that we can somehow "secure the border first" before tackling any kind of meaningful, comprehensive immigration reform.
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01/24/11 Someone enter this entire Washington Post Editorial into the Congressional record. Seriously. "The limits of immigration enforcement," January 22, 2011: "TYSON FOODS, one of the world's largest food processing firms, has a checkered past when it comes to employment practices, specifically the hiring of undocumented workers."
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12/27/10 In the "reader poll" conducted by CBS that accompanies the news article entitled "Obama: My Biggest Disappointment" Is Not Passing DREAM Act," 68% of readers currently think that Congress should pass the DREAM Act.
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12/20/10 Although a majority of U.S. Senators voted in favor of the DREAM Act last Saturday, the 55-41 vote failed to meet the 60 vote threshold and therefore will not advance. This is particularly disappointing given the fact that the legislation had already passed the House and was just five votes shy of reaching the President's desk. The political consequences for those who voted against the DREAM Act will be felt in 2012 and beyond.
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