06/17/13 As the second week of debate on the Gang of 8 immigration bill got underway today, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, began his floor speech outlining the week ahead. As he said, “I hope we can make more progress on this vital legislation.” Leahy went on to explain several of the [...]
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06/14/13 This week, the Senate began debate on the immigration reform bill. If you’ve been watching, you’re seeing just how complicated the process in the Senate can be. It’s subject to a lot of delaying tactics and procedural games. As you can imagine, opponents of reform–led by Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (R-AL)–are using every possible [...]
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06/12/13 Today, on the Senate floor, we saw something we hadn’t seen yet in the immigration debate: A Senator actually invoked the Heritage Foundation’s infamous anti-immigrant report. Sure, Rep. Steve King has cited the report, but he’s so extreme we’d expect it from him. But Utah’s Mike Lee seemed unfazed by the controversy surrounding Heritage.  As he said today [...]
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06/12/13 Earlier today, as we noted, Majority Leader Harry Reid said: I am concerned that some who oppose the very idea of reform see these triggers as a backdoor way to undermine the legislation. And I believe some Republicans with no intention of voting for the final bill – regardless of how it is amended – [...]
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06/10/13 Once again, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is leading the charge to undermine immigration reform. As our Executive Director here at America’s Voice Frank Sharry has noted, Cornyn has played that role before, the last time immigration reform legislation was debated in 2006-2007. This time, Cornyn is planning to introduce a “poison pill” amendment that would undermine [...]
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06/07/13 There’s been a lot of news about Senator John Cornyn’s plans to introduce a poison pill border security amendment when the Gang of 8 immigration bill hits the floor next week. This afternoon, Greg Sargent reports on a very important development: Senate Democrats aren’t going along with Cornyn. They will not accept language that undermines [...]
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05/30/13 Shortly after introduction of the Gang of 8 immigration reform bill this year, Senator John McCain said this about the GOP and the importance of passing immigration reform in order to attract Latino voters: “I think we can compete,” McCain said. “But if we don’t do this, we can’t begin the conversation with our Hispanic voters, and [...]
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05/29/13 Yesterday at DailyKos, Markos Moulitsas took a look at the amendments Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is proposing to the Senate immigration reform bill. Markos examines Hatch’s strategy in relation to the GOP’s fumbling attempts to attract Latino voters, and concludes that Hatch’s amendments could have negative impact on the GOP effort: So the hope is that by [...]
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05/29/13 That font of political wisdom on the politics of immigration, Steve King, has some advice for Marco Rubio: Rep. Steve King (R-IA), the tea party stalwart and potential 2014 U.S. Senate candidate, thinks Sen. Marco Rubio (R-IA) has hurt his 2016 prospects in Iowa with his leading role on immigration reform, according to story published [...]
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05/21/13 The rest of the world is learning something we’ve known for awhile: Alabama Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is extremely and obsessively anti-immigrant. And his behavior being noticed.  During the mark-up of the Senate’s “Gang of 8″ bill, Sessions has stood out – often on his own. Dana Milbank at the Washington Post wrote: Not since [...]
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05/20/13 Today, as the Senate Judiciary Committee continues its markup of the Gang of 8 immigration bill, the committee may consider one of the most nefarious amendments filed: Ted Cruz’s amendment 3, which (as we’ve written) “would prohibit anyone who had been undocumented for any period of time ever from becoming a United States citizen in the future.  [...]
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05/20/13 If you think the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup of the Gang of 8 bill has been intense so far, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. As the SJC moves into Titles II and III of the bill—which cover everything from E-Verify to detention policy to family immigration to agricultural workers, not to mention the path to [...]
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05/16/13 Update: According to the DRM Action Coalition, Sen. Heller is liking the Gang of 8 immigration bill so far: @americasvoice @senatorreid @sendeanheller said tday he is supportive & likes #Gangof8 proposal so far. @astrid_nv twitter.com/DRMAction/stat… — DRM Action Coalition (@DRMAction) May 16, 2013 Today on the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke about [...]
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05/14/13 Today, one of the leading anti-immigrant voices in the country, Rep. Steve King (R-IA), hosted a press conference to rail against the Senate’s immigration reform bill. In its coverage of the event, Buzzfeed reported a “Small Turnout For Anti-“Amnesty” Leaders In Congress.” If you’re so inclined, watch the presser here. We heard something we hadn’t heard for a [...]
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05/13/13 Last week, Jason Richwine, who co-authored the deeply flawed report on the costs of immigration reform the Heritage Foundation, made big news when we learned that his 2009 dissertation was on IQ and immigration and included this: No one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites, but the prediction that new Hispanic immigrants [...]
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05/09/13 Senator Jeff Sessions has established himself as one of the leading opponents of immigration reform. We expect him to put on quite a show against immigration reform as markup continues over the next few weeks. Today, Sessions began challenging Chuck Schumer over aspects of the “Gang of Eight” bill. But Schumer was having none of [...]
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05/08/13 As the mark-up of the Senate immigration begins in the Judiciary Committee tomorrow, advocates for reform got some very significant news today on the economic benefits of the bill. Via the WSJ’s Washington Wire: The Senate immigration bill will help improve Social Security’s long-term solvency and reduce the number of immigrants entering the U.S. illegally, [...]
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05/03/13 Outside of a few right-wing outlets, like National Review, Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions doesn’t have a lot of allies in his quest to stop immigration reform these days. This week, he took to the airwaves in Boston to spew his vitriol about immigrants and immigration with notorious radio host Howie Carr. In the twenty minute [...]
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05/02/13 Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appeared at an immigration reform rally in Las Vegas. He has for years been an outspoken advocate for immigration reform – and made that clear again yesterday: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., promised Wednesday to use the power of his office to get immigration overhaul legislation through Congress. “I pledge [...]
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04/26/13 Cross-posted at Burnt Orange Report Today, The Houston Chronicle published a searing op-ed from Cesar Vargas of the DREAM Action Coalition, which targeted Texas Senator John Cornyn on immigration. At America’s Voice, we consider Cornyn to a big hypocrite on immigration, so big of a hypocrite that we even gave him an award for it. You’ll like this [...]
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04/26/13 Cross-posted at Daily Kos. This was a big week in anti-immigrant ranting for Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions (R-AL), the leader of the “Gang of Hate.” It’s becoming more and more clear that Sessions is on a mission to defeat immigration reform. You might even call it an obsession. At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier [...]
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04/22/13 Today, at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration reform, the Ranking Minority member, Chuck Grassley, invited Kris Kobach, the former General Counsel of FAIR, the author of Arizona’s SB 1070, the architect of self-deportation and the immigration advisor to Mitt Romney, to testify. Senator Dick Durbin asked Kobach a series of questions about the [...]
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04/22/13 Today, former Congressman Jim Kolbe gave powerful testimony at the Senate Judiciary Committee about the need to make sure the immigration reform legislation includes all families, including his own. The “Gang of Eight” bill did not include the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which has the support of America’s Voice and many of our allies. From [...]
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04/22/13 Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the immigration reform legislation drafted by the “Gang of Eight.” As we noted in the post below, the anti-immigrant Senators, led by Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and leader of the “Gang of Hate” Jefferson Beauregard Sessions (R-AL) on the panel invited several witnesses from the Tanton [...]
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04/18/13 Yesterday, the Senate Gang of 8 introduced its long-awaited bipartisan immigration bill. Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing on the bill, with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The hearing will probably double as our first chance to see the anti-immigrant “Gang of Hate” in action on the Senate bill. [...]
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04/17/13 Some people never learn. After the 2012 elections, in which Republicans lost Hispanic voters by more than a 3-1 margin, many Republicans started coming around on immigration reform and accepting the need to move forward on legislation.  The Republican National Committee admitted the party needed to rebrand itself with Latinos and released a whole “autopsy” [...]
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04/16/13 Over the weekend, the notoriously anti-immigrant Senator from Alabama, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions (R), appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to assert his role as the leading opponent of the Senate bipartisan reform bill. As Think Progress noted, the main thrust of Sessions’ economic claim wasn’t even true – and was debunked by conservative columnist George Will [...]
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