America's Voice Blog

Posted 03/11/10 at 12:05pm By Jackie Mahendra

Today’s 3 White House Meetings on Immigration and What Needs to Happen By March 21st

Update (1:05 EST): President Obama will now be showing up at the grassroots meeting at 1pm.

Update (12:45 EST): The grassroots meeting is at 1pm EST not 12:30 pm, as originally reported. The 3pm meeting with Schumer and Graham had originally been scheduled for Monday evening.

While pundits have been busy pronouncing immigration reform dead, today the White House is busy hosting-- not one-- but three meetings on immigration in response to the increasing volume of grassroots pressure to see progress on the President's promise to overhaul our dysfunctional immigration system.

At 1:00 pm EST, White House leaders will meet with grassroots leaders, including representatives from the faith community, local coalitions, and labor. They will meet with senior White House staff, while Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will meet with President Obama at 3 p.m. to discuss the senators’ efforts to develop bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform legislation. 

The Hill is also reporting that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is meeting with the President today to discuss health care and immigration:

One Hispanic House Democrat described Thursday’s meeting with Obama as “critical to him fully understanding our thinking, our understanding his, and all of us figuring out how we go forward on both this healthcare bill and immigration reform as a whole.”

What advocates are asking is whether these meetings will lead to concrete action-- in advance of the culmination of these grassroots efforts in the March 21st "March for America." On March 21st, tens of thousands of Americans will stand up to demand prompt action on comprehensive immigration reform and a fairer economy for all workers. It seems this increased activity and frustration is being heard. 

NCLR's Clarissa Martinez has argued that the White House meeting must be followed by "a clear, bipartisan proposal and a firm timeline for Senate action." She argues:

Anything less will be regarded as more stalling by the tens of thousands coming to DC to march in two weeks.

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/11/10 at 10:13am By Maribel Hastings

‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration: Pressure on Congress and the White House; March, March, March!

The Spanish-language press is buzzing about meetings at the White House and plenty of marches: among anti-immigrant groups in Los Angeles, undocumented youth in Chicago, and the March for America in Washington, D.C.

White House meetings. The White House is meeting with key Senators and activists today to discuss immigration reform, as well as various points of contention related to the issue--among them the search for cosponsors for a potential bill. Reform Immigration For America member organizations sent letters to the White House and leaders of the Democratic majority in Congress asking for the blueprint of a reform bill to be presented before March 21st, the date which has been set for the March for America in Washington, D.C., and asking that a Senate Immigration Subcommittee markup be held before April 23rd.

La Opinión, in an article headlined “Immigration confronts obstacles,” quotes Senate Immigration Subcommittee chairman Chuck Schumer (D-NY):

"Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and I are working on it, we only have a pair of issues left to set down. One of those is to find a second Republican for the bill, and the other is to get business and labor to agree on the issue of the future flow of workers. But we’re getting close, I’m optimistic.”

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/10/10 at 05:21pm By Dara Lind

Rove: “I Wish We Had Led the Second Term With Immigration Reform”

Today, Karl Rove -- the strategist who was once referred to as "Bush's Brain" -- told an interviewer from the New York Times that leading off President Bush's second term in 2005 with immigration reform would have "given everybody a bipartisan victory." Oh, and it would have "done something important for the country," too.

The full quote:

"As I said in the book, I wish we had led the second term with immigration reform. If we had led with immigration reform at the beginning of the second term we could have had bipartisan cooperation with a Republican majority in the House and the Senate and done something important for the country that was tilted more toward what the Republicans wanted but couldn't have passed without Democratic votes instead of Social security which Democrats wouldn't participate in until they had a taste of victory. Immigration reform would have given everybody a bipartisan victory and would have cleared the ground for entitlement reform."

An impressive endorsement from someone who's not typically accused of being oblivious to political realities in Washington.

Posted 03/10/10 at 03:17pm By Guest Blogger

Senator Durbin: Change Takes Courage—Just Ask Immigrant Youth!

By Rachel LaBruyere, Reform Immigration for America. Originally posted on Standing FIRM:

  

Today, in Chicago, hundreds of immigrant youth will meet in Union Park to for a National "Coming Out" Day (part of National Coming out week led by the United We Dream Coalition). Led by the Immigrant Youth Justice League, in partnership with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, today''s action is aimed at pressuring Senator Dick Durbin to show active leadership in passing comprehensive immigration reform and the Dream Act.

From the IYJL site:

This action is a call for leadership from Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who has worked for and promised the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform for years. Now, as the Senate’s second-ranking leader, he is in a position to deliver. As our senator, and a long-time supporter of immigrant youth, we need him to lead on the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform this year.

“We cannot wait any more. Not while our parents are getting deported and our youth’s dreams fall apart due to an obsolete immigration system that has failed us and the country. I have supported Senator Durbin and President Obama, and now we need them to act. This country cannot wait anymore, we will not wait any longer,” said Ireri, IYJL member.

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/10/10 at 11:47am By Adam Luna

Brown is the New Black When it Comes to ‘Welfare Queens’

Cross-Posted at Jack and Jill Politics and Daily Kos:

Monday night I listened in on a organizing call for leaders of NumbersUSA, the “MoveOn” of the anti-immigrant lobby. The purpose of the call was to figure out how to throw a wrench in the upcoming grassroots mobilization (taking place in DC on March 21st) for real immigration reform. Already, tens of thousands of people have signed up to march to D.C. to demand economic justice for all Americans and an end to our nation’s abysmal immigration crisis— so naturally the anti-immigrant folks are freaking out.

Even still, some of the speakers on this call really took things to a new level. Here’s what went down.

Meagan Ortiz from VivirLatino, who also listened in, writes:

One particular participant on the call wanted to raise the issue of women, specifically how Mexican women were the new “welfare queens” with their “anchor babies”, taking an old stereotype waged against African-American women in the age of Reagan and revamping it to use against Latina women. This caller was not dismissed but rather praised for his message and told to use the word “dependents” instead of “babies” or “children” because that word was emotional for “them”, meaning Latinos and other immigrants. “We have children, they have dependents”, another caller guided.

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/10/10 at 10:50am By Maribel Hastings

‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration: White House Meeting; ID Cards and Guest Workers; Ready to March

The Spanish-language press keeps its attention on the postponed meeting between President Barack Obama and Senators Charles Schumber (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to discuss the legislative prospects of an immigration reform bill. The meeting has been rescheduled for tomorrow.

An article in El Diario-La Prensa (New York), “Obama handles immigration reform,” quotes White House Director of Hispanic Media Luis Miranda saying that “the president’s commitment to fixing our broken immigration system is unswerving.”

The article also reports that “on March 5, representatives from Reform Immigration For America member organizations sent a letter addressed to President Obama and Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress.” The letter says that “We respectfully request that your Administration take strong action that will lead to the public release by March 21st of a bi-partisan and detailed blueprint for comprehensive immigration reform legislation.  We also request that this blueprint include a date-certain for action in the Senate Judiciary Committee no later than April 23rd.”

El Diario adds that before tomorrow’s meeting between the President and Senators Schumer and Graham, Administration officials will meet with activists to discuss the issue of reform.

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/09/10 at 05:03pm By Dara Lind

Tireless: 100 Local Events in February Propel Faith Community toward March 21st

The breadth and depth of activity people of faith have taken to advocate for immigration reform in 2010 is too extensive to summarize in a blog post, much less a single word. But if we had to pick one, it would be "tireless." How else would you describe a movement that treats a month of action featuring 100 events across the country as a warm-up for bringing thousands of people to Washington, D.C. for a central presence at the March for America?

The month of February saw a blizzard of activity from faith groups across the country, much of it coordinated by a variety of groups -- from the Interfaith Immigration Coalition to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations -- under the banner "Together, not Torn: Families Can't Wait for Immigration Reform." Other events were independently organized by the USCCB's Justice for Immigrants campaign, PICO National Network and the Reform Immigration for America campaign.

Some standouts from February's 100 faith events:

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/09/10 at 10:36am By Maribel Hastings

‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration: Deportations Increase; Pro-Immigrant Groups Want Action; March 21st

The Spanish-language press highlights yesterday’s press conference in Washington at which several pro-immigrant organizations charged that deportations have increased during the Obama administration compared to those carried out under President Bush. However, La Opinión reports that the Department of Homeland Security denies that deportations have increased by 47%, saying that the DHS report on which the groups’ claims were based contained errors in its formula for calculating the number of deportations.

According to La Opinión, “sources close to DHS told La Opinión that the estimates presented by FIRM (at the press conference) are incorrect, and that there has not been a significant increase. The sources stressed that during fiscal year 2008 ‘there were 369,221 deportations, representing an increase of 18,569 in total.’ The difference between the numbers can be explained, according to DHS sources, by an ‘error in the department’s report’ used by FIRM to illustrate the increase.”

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/08/10 at 11:19am By Maribel Hastings

‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration: White House Meeting on CIR; Salvadoran TPS; Stop the Raids!

The Spanish-language media has its eyes on today’s White House meeting between President Barack Obama and Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who have been working on a comprehensive immigration reform proposal which would include a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. Univisión.com’s sub-headline reads “White House Seeks to Avoid Protests.” La Opinión (Los Angeles) offers details about Schumer’s potential bill, which would require those seeking to adjust their immigration status to pay minor fines and would prevent them from leaving the country. EFE and the AP have more.

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/08/10 at 10:15am By Jackie Mahendra

Obama to Meet With Schumer, Graham Amidst Calls for Concrete Action on Immigration

Note: updated and cross-posted at Daily Kos.

Over the weekend, news broke that the President intends to meet with Senators Schumer and Graham this evening at the White House:

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to focus attention on immigration next week by meeting at the White House with two senators crafting a bill on the issue.

White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Obama will meet with Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Monday.

The president is "looking forward to hearing more about their efforts toward producing a bipartisan bill," Shapiro said Friday.

So are a lot of people, it looks like. The news generated 9,026 comments on The Huffington Post (it was the front page story for a time on Saturday), and has come amidst growing pressure on the administration to show concrete progress on immigration reform in advance of the upcoming "March for America: Change Takes Courage" in Washington, D.C. on March 21st.

Momentum is building rapidly for the march. Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Reform, writes:

Today, a caravan of faith leaders, day laborers and others is leaving from Phoenix, Arizona. Greeted by crowds of up to a 1,000 in places like Houston and New Orleans, this caravan will grow to dozens of vehicles and hundreds of people to arrive in DC on March 21st.

In Michigan, Ohio, California, Wisconsin and states across the country, communities are raising money and organizing buses to bring African American workers, small business owners, immigrant families and others to Washington DC on March 21st.

These communities on the move will meet in Washington DC to joins tens of thousands of Americans to March FOR America on Sunday, March 21, 2010, and remind our elected leaders that Change Takes Courage.

Indeed, tens of thousands of people will be marching to Washington to stand up for that vision of change-- for crafting an immigration system that is once again rooted in America's most deeply-held values of fairness, dignity, and hard work. Clarissa Martinez, Director of Immigration and National Campaigns at the nation's leading Latino advocacy organization, NCLR, argues that the President must help move the process forward after tonight's meeting:

But let's be clear. If the meeting is just to "hear more," it's not going to cut it. The president had a meeting with Republican and Democratic members of both chambers in June 2009, and in August held a White House summit, hosted by Secretary Janet Napolitano, with a large number of representatives from faith, labor, business, law enforcement, immigrant, ethnic, and civil rights groups. Around that time, Schumer and Graham started working on a bipartisan proposal, and Schumer announced he would have the parameters of a proposal ready by Labor Day 2009.

With the Congressional legislative runway getting crowded and time running out before the November elections, it is time to land this plane. Monday's meeting must be followed by a clear, bipartisan proposal and a firm timeline for Senate action. Anything less will be regarded as more stalling by the tens of thousands coming to DC to march in two weeks.

In case you missed this new video from NCLR, a reminder of the President's own promise and stated vision to reform immigration:

"They're counting us to rise above fear, the demagoguery, the pettiness, the partisanship, and finally enact comprehensive immigration reform... In this country, change does not come from the top down. Change comes from the bottom up."

Click here to read more.

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