America's Voice Blog

Posted 02/08/12 at 02:19pm By Frank Sharry

The Incredible Shrinking Rep. Lamar Smith

Lamar SmithDoes anyone (besides Mitt Romney) listen to the chair of the House Judiciary Committee anymore?

This week, Rep. Lamar Smith is looking especially desperate. He's taken to the pages of Roll Call and National Review Online to try to garner some attention on one of his favorite subjects: immigrant bashing. In Roll Call, Smith launched what amounts to another fact-free attack on President Obama.  Smith claims the President is ignoring immigration laws.  In reality, as immigrant communities and advocates are painfully aware, the Obama Administration has deported more undocumented immigrants than any other in history.

Smith is upset because last year Obama ordered the Department of Homeland Security to do what every local, state and federal law enforcement agency in the nation does: establish priorities and focus resources on dangerous criminals.  Coming from Smith, the criticism is sheer hypocrisy.  Back in 1999 Smith asked then-Attorney General Janet Reno to use the same kind of prosecutorial discretion he's now railing about. But Lamar isn't deterred by consistency or reality. 

Nor is his political judgment so sharp.  Last summer, Smith's leading witness at a hearing to denounce the prosecutorial discretion policy was Senator David Vitter.  Yes, the same Senator who has his, um, own unique history with prosecutorial discretion. It didn't work out so well.  

You know time are tough for Lamar when he has to resort to that right-wing bastion, National Review’s "The Corner,"  to whine about -- can you guess? Yep, the liberal media.  The first line of his screed is so outlandish, it's laughable:

"It’s hard to imagine a worse example of media bias than the national coverage of illegal immigration."

Really?  Just because reporters require you to have actual facts behind your arguments, and just because most have come to realize that the nativist case has been propped up for years by junk science peddled by faux think tanks such as the Center for Immigration Studies and Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) doesn’t mean they are biased.  It means that most have figured out that your rants aren’t anchored in reality.  

Of course, somebody has to take the blame for Chairman Smith’s less than stellar legislative record this Congress. Besides the Vitter debacle on discretion, Smith's signature piece of anti-immigrant legislation is a bill called mandatory E-Verify.  According to Smith and his running buddies Steve King (R-IA) and Elton Gallegly (R-CA), the bill would free up good-paying jobs for Americans.  It tanked after small businesses complained the bill would create an unworkable and expensive bureaucracy; tea party types and libertarians complained the bill would grant the federal government the authority to approve or disapprove every new hire in America; agricultural growers predicted crops would rot on the vine; and the labor movement pointed out that it would actually cost Americans jobs. It would also force vulnerable workers further into the hands of unscrupulous employers. 

So, why the sudden uptick on immigration by Smith?  Perhaps he is looking to change the subject after he suffered a huge loss on another of his signature pieces of legislation, SOPA. That stinging defeat further damaged his already diminished status. 

Bottom line: the notoriously thin-skinned Lamar Smith is flailing. But he shouldn’t get so down.  There is one person who is listening to Smith these days: Mitt Romney.  Just like Lamar, Mitt wants to stop comprehensive immigration reform proposals at every turn, ramp up deportations even further, put in place a federally-run E-Verify system, fight off the DREAM Act (a popular bill that enables undocumented youth who came to the U.S. as children to attend college or serve in the military) and have states pass laws like Arizona’s SB 1070 and Alabama’s HB 56 that purge Latinos from their states.  They call it “attrition through enforcement”  or “self-deportation,”  presumably in hopes of making it sound humane. 

But attempting to make life in the U.S. so unbearable that 11 million undocumented immigrants – a population the size of the state of Ohio – are harassed into leaving the country is not only inhumane, it’s insane. First, it wouldn’t work. But if it did somehow, it would undermine our recovering economy, our global reputation, and our moral compass. 

Lamar and Mitt don’t seem to care.  Both are catering to the far-right nativist wing of the Republican Party, Lamar for ideological reasons and Mitt for political reasons.  And that slice of the GOP electorate doesn’t much like immigrants and doesn’t much care for facts.  Well, here’s a fact that might give them all pause: the GOP presidential candidate needs 40% of the Latino vote to win in key swing states like Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida and even Arizona. But with Romney talking up self-deportation, promising to veto the popular DREAM Act and embracing anti-immigrant zealots like Pete Wilson, Lamar Smith, and Arizona and Alabama law author Kris Kobach, no wonder in head-to-head match ups with Obama he draws no more than the 25% of Latinos who reliably vote Republican. 

Well, if he loses, Mitt can always take another page from his friend Lamar.  He can blame the media.

Cross-Posted at Huffington Post and Daily Kos.    

Posted 02/03/12 at 11:55am By Maria Ponce

Nevada DREAMers Rally Outside of Romney’s Campaign Headquarters

As part of our special primary and caucus election coverage, Voz y Voto 2012, I'm now in Las Vegas with my colleague, Maribel Hastings, reporting on where the GOP presidential hopefuls stand on immigration.

Another group that has been actively following the GOP candidates and demanding clear answers from them -- particularly from Mitt Romney on wether or not he supports DREAMers -- are DREAM Act activists from around the country.

Yesterday, days before the GOP caucus election here in Nevada, we ran into some of the same persistent DREAMers from Florida’s direct action, outside of Romney's campaign headquarters in Las Vegas.

The DREAMers, along with Nevada DREAMer, Astrid Silva, attempted to hand deliver a letter to Mitt Romney or his staff asking the Governor to support their dreams. But instead, they were surprised to find that the doors to his campaign office were locked and no one was in sight from his staff to hear their request. 

However, the DREAMers did get to talk to a couple of his campaign volunteers who were returning from their lunch break and found themselves locked out of the campaign offices with the DREAMers. They were forced to listen to the DREAMers' request.

Watch here: 

To recap, last week in Florida, DREAMers Cesar Vargas, Erika Andiola and Felipe Matos attempted to talk to Romney and ask him why he doesn't support the DREAM Act. (In case you missed it, check out some of the footage here).  Some time earlier in New York, another DREAMer, Lucy, made her way into a Romney event and asked him, point blank: “Are you going to support the DREAM Act.”

“I already said, across the country, I would veto the Dream Act” the GOP frontrunner answered.

Romney has called the DREAM Act a "handout" and has promised to veto the bill should it come up during a Romney presidency. Only recently did he say that he would support gutting the DREAM Act by allowing a path towards citizenship for DREAMers who are willing to serve in the military -- a job that not even most AMERICAN citizens willingly enlist for.

In fact, not only did DREAMers attempt to get clear answers from Mitt Romney, but they also tried to get an answer from Florida's Senator, Marco Rubio, who doesn't support the DREAM Act as it stands now. We were able to get footage of the brave DREAMers interrupting Marco Rubio's speech.

Stay tuned here for more from Nevada. I'll be keeping you updated.

Posted 02/02/12 at 05:25pm By Mahwish Khan

In NYT Editorial, DREAMer Explains the Real Meaning Behind Romney’s “Self-Deportation” Policy

New York In an op-ed today in the New York Times, Antonio Alarcon, a 17 year old DREAMer, describes living life without his parents who “self-deported” to Mexico. As he explains, "self-deportation" is a term that Mitt Romney made popular in a Florida GOP debate. But the idea has some harsh, real-life consequences, particularly for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who are living in this country. His story encompasses a good number of those tragedies. Here's an excerpt, but read the whole thing. It's really worth it:

ONE of my happiest childhood memories is of my parents at my First Communion. But that’s because most of my memories from that time are of their being absent. They weren’t there for my elementary school graduation, or for parent-teacher conferences.

From the time I was just a baby in Mexico, I lived with my grandparents while my parents traveled to other Mexican states to find work. I was 6 in 2000 when they left for the United States. And it took five years before they had steady jobs and were able to send for me. We’ve been together in this country ever since, working to build a life. Now I am 17 and a senior in high school in New York City. But my parents have left again, this time to return to Mexico.

Last week, when asked in a debate what America should do about the 11 million undocumented immigrants living here, Mitt Romney said he favored “self-deportation.” He presented the strategy as a kinder alternative to just arresting people. Instead, he said, immigrants will “decide they can do better by going home because they can’t find work here.”

But really this goes along with a larger movement in states like Arizona and Alabama to pass very tough laws against immigrants in an attempt to make their lives so unbearable that they have no choice but to leave. People have called for denying work, education and even medical treatment to immigrants without documentation; many immigrants have grown afraid of even going to the store or to church.

The United States is supposed to be a great country that welcomes all kinds of people. Does Mr. Romney really think that this should be America’s solution for immigration reform?

You could say that my parents have self-deported, and that it was partly a result of their working conditions. It’s not that they couldn’t find work, but that they couldn’t find decent work. My dad collected scrap metal from all over the city, gathering copper and steel from construction sites, garbage dumps and old houses. He earned $90 a day, but there was only enough work for him to do it once or twice a week. My mom worked at a laundromat six days a week, from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m., for $70 a day.

Here's the conclusion, but, again, read it all:

Immigrants have made this country great. We are not looking for a free ride, but instead we are willing to work as hard as we can to show that we deserve to be here and to be treated like first-class citizens. Deportation, and “self-deportation,” will result only in dividing families and driving them into the shadows. In America, teenagers shouldn’t have to go through what I’m going through.

No teenager should go through what Antonio Alarcon is going through. 

Posted 01/30/12 at 01:50pm By Matt Hildreth

Immigrant Youth Spearhead Campaign to Enable All DC Residents Obtain Driver’s Licenses

Driver's License With all of the immigration news happening across the country, it’s rare that we here in DC have an opportunity to take action in a local fight.  Well here’s your chance! The immigrant youth movement is spearheading a campaign to allow all DC residents to obtain driver's licenses.

Tonight, they are hosting an event and hope that you can come along! See the message below from our friend, Matias Ramos, a leader in the immigrant youth movement, who is helping to organize a DC driver’s licenses event on tonight at 5 PM (EST).

At a time when the immigration system is broken, and the federal government has stalled in debating the issue, immigrant youth across the country are working at the local level to improve the living conditions of undocumented people in the US. But for me, and for many other activists who are working on legislation at the national level, DC has become our local community. And as an immigrant who came to this country at age 13, I am eager for the Council to move forward on an important piece of legislation.

DC has been a sanctuary city since 1978, and so far Mayor Gray’s administration has been a supporter of immigrants, passing an executive order that limits the way that federal enforcement programs can use local resources to detain immigrants. But the Gray administration needs to take the critical next step.

We want the city council to take away the social security number requirement from its driver licenses' applications. This way, DC immigrants who might be waiting to adjust their legal status will be able to drive safely, have access to financial services, and live fuller lives.

Will you join us at the In front of DC City Hall (1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) on Monday at 5pm?

You can help us spread the word through Facebook, here.

The vigil will be held at City Hall (1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW). Feel free to come and bring your friends!

Posted 01/30/12 at 10:23am By Mahwish Khan

Florida Poll: Little Support for GOP Candidates From Latina Moms; Dream Act Is “Game-changer”

mamiverseOn the eve of the Florida GOP primary last week, Mamiverse released a poll of Latina moms in the state. There's not a lot of good news for Republicans:

With just a few days before the Florida primary election a new survey conducted by Mamiverse shows that Latina mom voters in the Sunshine State are less than impressed by the GOP candidate pool, with more than two-thirds noting “none of these are acceptable.” Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney received the most support, 12 percent, among Latina moms expressing a preference. Romney fared better, with 36 percent support, among Latina moms who self-identified as Republicans.

And what's not a surprise to us, but is apparently lost on the Republicans, is that the DREAM Act is a "game-changer":

The game-changer among Latina moms was support of the Dream Act. The women surveyed were asked whether an unnamed candidate’s pledge to pass the Dream Act would make them more likely to support that candidate, less likely, or have no effect.  

Overwhelmingly, results showed that support for the Dream Act will curry favor with Latina moms, with 71% reported being more likely to support such a candidate, compared with only 7% reporting being less likely and 16% saying that it would not affect their vote.

Posted 01/27/12 at 02:25pm By Pili Tobar

DREAMers Booed by Marco Rubio Crowd at Hispanic Leadership Network Conference

We were in the room for Senator Marco Rubio’s speech today in Miami, Florida at the Hispanic Leadership Network Conference. During the speech, two brave DREAMers interrupted Senator Rubio asking why he doesn’t support undocumented immigrants. "Why do you not support undocumented immigrants?", one brave DREAMer asked. The crowd immediately booed the DREAMers as security approached them. Senator Rubio asked security to let them stay in the room to hear his response as he would approach that subject during his speech, but the DREAMers were already being escorted out of the room. Watch the video:

Posted 01/27/12 at 02:19pm By Mahwish Khan

Protect the DREAM Act From Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich

veto romneyThe Tuesday night Florida GOP primary is fast approaching, and the leading Republican contenders keep outdoing each other on who is more anti-immigrant. The funny thing is that they're both fatootsed (mostly with each other) when anyone calls them anti-immigrant. 

It’s ridiculous. Mitt Romney flat-out said he would veto the DREAM Act, and Newt Gingrich says he’ll weaken it.  They both want to gut the DREAM Act and limit its scope to only those who want to join the military.

“I wouldn't sign the Dream Act as it currently exists, but I would sign the Dream Act if it were focused on military service," is what Romney said at a Florida debate earlier this week.

Here’s the bottom line: there is only one DREAM Act, and it includes the right to an education. Politicians who want to veto or change it are anti-immigrant. Period.

We’ve started a petition telling Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich that gutting the DREAM Act is anti-immigrant.  The DREAM Act is about opportunity. It will strengthen our economy, increase our taxpayer base, and yes, encourage young DREAMers to earn legalization by serving in the armed forces.  But in the mutilated Romney/Gingrich version of the bill, young undocumented Americans can give back to their country only by enlisting in the military.  DREAMers who want to contribute to our nation in any other way are flatly denied.

This is a critical moment for the countless young people across America whose futures depend on Congress passing the DREAM Act. We cannot let the Republican circus leave Florida and continue through the rest of the primary season thinking the DREAM Act is for sale.  

There is only ONE DREAM Act, and we must protect it.

Posted 01/27/12 at 01:28pm By Mahwish Khan

Presente Launches “No Somos Rubios” Campaign Via Protest, Video—and Airplane

There are a few days left until the Florida primary and Senator Marco Rubio –- Florida’s anti-immigrant golden boy -- is on it. He’s one of the leading contenders in the GOP’s choice for Vice President, thinking once again that just because he has a Latino last name, he’ll be able to deliver the Latino vote.

That’s the Republican fantasy. But the truth is that Senator Rubio is at heads with the Latino community on immigration reform – an issue that’s not only important to yours truly, but to the Hispanic population. Ruben Navarrette wrote in his column last year about how Rubio is a "falling star" among Latinos.

"In parts of the Hispanic community, Rubio is thought of as just another ambitious politician who is willing to sell out Latinos to curry favor with Anglo colleagues," he wrote. "That’s what you hear from Internet chatter, letters to the editor, Latino listserves and comments on Spanish-language media."

He was spot on. From Presente’s Felipe Matos:

Marco Rubio loves to tell his family’s immigration story, but his positions on immigration policies are devastating to millions of immigrant families. Marco Rubio is the anti-Immigrant son of immigrants, who supports Arizona’s racist SB-1070 law, rejects the DREAM Act and thinks that Latinos won’t notice that he’s closer to the Tea Party extremists than he is to Latinos on immigration and other key issues.

That’s why earlier this morning, Felipe and other DREAMers protested outside of the Hispanic Leadership Network’s 2012 Conference, as part of a campaign launched by Presente called NO SOMOS RUBIOS” (We are not Marco Rubios!). 

The students protested as an airplane circled overhead for an hour, attached to a “No Somos Rubios” banner.

And, as the Miami Herald notes, there's a double meaning to that phrase: 

In the lead-up to Rubio's speech, critics from a group called Presente Action had a propeller plane circling the Doral Golf Resort & Spa with a banner reading, Hey Marco: No Somos Rubios, which translates to "We aren't Rubios." It's a play on words on the word rubio, which in Spanish means blond or fair. The group is attacking Rubio largely over immigration, protesting that the senator doesn't support the pro-immigrant DREAM Act.

Presente is also launching a video to accompany the campaign. “Since Marco Rubio doesn’t stand with Latinos, why should Latinos stand with him?” the narrator on the video asks. Watch it:

Posted 01/26/12 at 01:07pm By Web Team

Mitt Romney Runs (but Can’t Hide) From DREAMers

After leaving Miami Dade College yesterday following his interview with Univision's Jorge Ramos, Romney went on to an event at the historical Freedom Tower where he spoke to Cuban-Americans about US-Cuba relations and his support for the Cuban community.  Obviously, immigration was not discussed at this event.

Not surprisingly, some insistent DREAMers were waiting for Romney outside of this event, chanting “Education Not Deportation”.  Check out the video here: 

Shortly after the forum, we were able to get reactions from Miami Dade College students, as well as from Lucy -- the DREAMer in NY who was able to confront Romney at a fundraising event -- and other DREAMers, who were waiting outside to ask why Romney won’t support their DREAMs. Watch some of their reactions here:

Romney once again chose to walk past them and not give them the time of day.

View pictures of the day's events here.

Posted 01/26/12 at 12:19pm By Maria Ponce

“Meet the Candidates”: Romney v.s Gingrich on Immigration

Given that Florida is over 22.5% Hispanic, it is not surprising that in anticipation of the Florida primary next week the GOP primary frontrunners, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, took time to participate in a forum yesterday put together by the largest Spanish television network Univision and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The candidates sat down with one of the most influential Spanish language political journalists, Univision’s Jorge Ramos for in depth interviews re: immigration and more. (We live-tweeted both interviews here.)

The first candidate up, Newt Gingrich, received according to the NYT Caucus Blog, “one of the toughest” grilling of his campaign. The former Speaker came out swinging: when Ramos asked him about Mitt Romney's "self-deportation" plan, articulated at Monday night's debate in Tampa, Gingrich burst out laughing.

"How close are you to breaking up laughing out loud?" he asked Ramos.  "I think you have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatic - you know, $20 million a year of no work - to have a fantasy this far from reality.  For Romney to believe that somebody's grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self deport. He certainly shows no concern for the humanity of people who are already here."

They also discussed Gingrich’s guest-worker permits plan and his support of the portion of the DREAM Act that gives undocumented youth who sign up for the military a path toward legalization. Gingrich has already explained he doesn’t support giving a path to citizenship to youth that attend college and believes they should pay out-of-state tuition rates. He said:

"They can go to college… I wasn't suggesting we run around and try to deport them. I have suggested that if they want to become citizens, they can join the military."

Watch Newt Gingrich’s interview here:

Click here to read more.

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