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 02/07/12 at 04:42pm By Mahwish Khan

Dear Mitt: Not That You Care, But to Latino Voters, Pete “Prop 187” Wilson Is Still “El Diablo”

Pete WilsonCalifornia Proposition 187 was a 1994 ballot initiative to prohibit undocumented immigrants from health care, public education, and other social services.

At the time, Gov. Pete Wilson was its most ardent supporter. And now, former Gov. Pete Wilson is Mitt Romney's. 

Yesterday, the Romney press camp sent out a statement touting the endorsement from the latest member of Mitt’s anti-immigrant task force:  

“I’m honored to have Governor Pete Wilson’s support, because he’s one of California’s most accomplished leaders,” said Romney.

And the feeling between the two is mutual. In the same press statement, Wilson waxes poetic about the former governor of Massachusetts, claiming that only Mitt has the qualities to “restore America's strength and credibility, and win back respect for America from both our friends and our enemies.”

Maybe not from your enemies, Wilson. Peter Wilson, who will serve as honorary chairman of Romney’s California campaign, is well known in the Latino community as “El Diablo,” which translates quite literally to “the Devil.” So hated was he that the bill he championed mobilized enough Latino voters to vote Democratic. California has been blue ever since.  According to the San Francisco Chronicle:

An analysis today on Univision, the Spanish-language network, passed around by the Democratic National Committee, speculated that the Wilson endorsement “could further wreck (Romney’s) reputation with Latino voters, the fastest-growing voting bloc, in the general election.”

Latino voters will play a key role in new battleground states like Colorado, Nevada, Florida, and Arizona.  On a press call, this Thursday at noon EST, pollsters and political experts will discuss how the issue of immigration has influenced politics since the days of Proposition 187; the numbers behind the Latino vote in key states like Nevada and Colorado; and the impact Latino voters will have on the general election. 

Will Mitt Romney’s embrace of Pete Wilson, Kris Kobach, and other luminaries in the anti-immigrant movement help him or hurt him in the general election?  What lessons do Republicans in these purple states need to learn from the California experience?  What does the name “Pete Wilson” mean to entire generation of Latinos—and how personal is the issue of immigration to Latino voters? 

The answer to these questions and more, here, on Thursday. Follow us on twitter for a live-tweet of the call. 

Posted 02/06/12 at 07:01pm By Pili Tobar

Romney Announces New Member of Anti-Immigrant Task Force: Gov. Pete Wilson Joins the Team

Pete Wilson and Mitt RomneyIn his apparently endless effort to write off Latino voters, Mitt Romney’s campaign today unveiled the endorsement of yet another notorious anti-immigrant leader: former California Governor Pete Wilson (R). Wilson’s endorsement joins that of Romney immigration advisor and Alabama/Arizona “papers, please” law architect Kris Kobach and leading congressional mass-deportation champion Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) in an illustrious pantheon of anti-immigrant endorsers.  

Frank Sharry, our executive director, explained the significance of the Wilson announcement:

Isn't Romney supposed to be a facts guy?  Didn't any of his so-called smart operatives tell him that Pete Wilson has lower approval ratings in the Latino community than the devil himself? Combined with his embrace of Kris Kobach and Lamar Smith, Romney’s message to Latino voters seems to be the same message he is sending to Latino immigrants: get lost. 

With his unrelenting far right approach to immigration, Romney seems intent on writing off Latino-heavy battleground states such as Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada this fall -- all because he wants to prove to the nativist fringe in the GOP he's "one of them." Well, he has succeeded on both counts.

As a refresher, here’s some background on the Romney campaign’s leading anti-immigrant endorsers: 

  • Pete Wilson – the Man Who Turned California Blue:  As Governor, Pete Wilson championed California’s Proposition 187 in 1994, which would have kept undocumented immigrants from enrolling in public school or using other public services.  The proposition passed, but was struck down by the courts.  The most lasting impact was political, as the Prop. 187 battle helped to mobilize Latino voters, turning what was a purple state into a solid blue state ever since and helping to make Pete Wilson a figure forever remembered by Latino voters.  As Maria Elena Durazo, head of the Los Angeles County AFL-CIO, told the Washington Post, "We ran against Pete Wilson for years after he was out of office.”  Perhaps Gov. Romney should ask his supporter Meg Whitman,  California’s 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee, about the effects of a Pete Wilson endorsement.

  • Kris Kobach – the Man Behind Arizona and Alabama’s “Papers, Please” Anti-Immigration Laws:  The Kansas Secretary of State, Kobach is simultaneously both an endorser and advisor to Romney on immigration issues and the architect of the series of state-based “papers, please” laws in states like Arizona and Alabama that illustrate the real world consequences, costs, and impracticality of Romney’s stated “self-deportation” immigration policy goal.  Kobach’s vision has already resulted in an $11 billion price tag to Alabama.

  • Lamar Smith – the Man Whose Single Mission in Congress is Mass-Deportation:  Rep. Lamar Smith is both a Romney endorser and the leading architect of anti-immigrant legislation in the U.S. Congress.  Smith’s stated policy vision is “attrition through enforcement” – another name for the mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, the majority of whom have been here for over a decade contributing to American communities and often living in mixed status families.

Posted 02/06/12 at 03:17pm By Pili Tobar

Colorado: While Immigration Won’t Drive GOP Caucus, Issue Could Prove Decisive in November 2012

colorado sealWith the Nevada caucus behind them, the GOP presidential candidates now turn to Colorado, where they will compete in the sixth nominating contest so far this year.  Despite the fact that immigration is not a big issue for most Republican caucus-goers, as in years past, the issue will have clear salience in November as Latino voters size up the candidates and their positions on the issues that matter.

Latino voters’ share of the electorate is expected to grow yet again in the 2012 election.  If the past two cycles and results of the 2010 Census are any guide, Colorado’s Latino voters and the issue of immigration reform will have a big impact on the 2012 contests—not only in the Presidential race, but key House races as well. 

Here are some of the relevant facts and figures to keep in mind about Colorado, as well as analysis about recent elections and what their results mean for 2012.

Latino voters are expanding their political clout in Colorado, and immigration is a defining issue for these voters:

  • Colorado’s Latino population grew by 41.2% from 2000 to 2010 – 42% of all population growth in Colorado during the decade.
  • While “jobs and the economy” are the top issues for all voters, including Latinos, immigration is a key, motivating issue for Colorado Latinos.  In Latino Decisions’ election eve polling in 2010, 29% of Latino voters in Colorado said that immigration was the most important issue in determining their vote and another 28% said that it was “one of the most important” issues.  Thirty-seven percent said immigration was the most important issue facing the Latino community that politicians should address. 

2008: Obama flips Colorado and other states from red to blue, with help of Latino voters

  • President Obama got 54% of the vote in 2008 in Colorado, which was one of the four states in Obama’s column that George Bush won in 2004.  In each of those four states, which also includes Nevada, New Mexico and Florida, the Latino vote was a decisive factor in Obama’s win. 
  • Latino voters made up over 10% of the Colorado electorate in 2008 and Latino voter turnout there jumped over 23% between 2000 and 2008.  In 2008, 61% of Colorado Latinos voted for Barack Obama, helping him win a state that George W. Bush had won in both 2000 and 2004. 

2010: The immigration issue was key to erecting a “Latino firewall” in the West that led to Senator Bennet’s victory and ended the “Republican wave” at the Rockies

  • Democrat Michael Bennet has been a consistent supporter of comprehensive immigration reform; he is a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, and his campaign website stated that it is “time  for  practical,  comprehensive  reform  that  fixes  our  immigration  system  as  a  whole--enhancing  border  security  and  creating  sound  policy  solutions  for  undocumented immigration.”  Republican Ken Buck, on the other hand, advocated an enforcement-only position, and was backed by the extremist Americans for Legal Immigration Reform Political Action Committee (ALIPAC).
  • In a contest where Bennet triumphed over Buck by a mere 15,000 votes, 81% of Latinos went for Bennet.  According to exit polls, Latino turnout was up from 9% of the electorate in the 2006 mid-terms to 13% in 2010. 
  • Immigration was a major factor in driving Latino voters to the polls for Bennet.  In 2010, 29% of Latino voters in Colorado said that immigration was the most important issue in determining their vote, according to Latino Decisions’ election eve polling, and another 28% said that it was “one of the most important” issues. 

2012: Top of the ticket Republicans are anti-immigrant – and that matters

  • Mitt Romney has already seared his image as an anti-immigrant candidate into the minds of Latino voters.  Romney’s vow to veto the DREAM Act and his continued calls for self-deportation of undocumented immigrants are reverberating in the Latino community – and will continue to do so through November.  Romney is being advised by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the author of Arizona’s SB 1070, which is strongly opposed by Latinos in Colorado.  Kobach is also a former attorney for the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) – which has been labeled an anti-immigrant hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
  • Latino voters in Colorado heavily favor President Obama over either of the GOP primary frontunners, preferring him 63% to 29% against Mitt Romney and 66% to 29% against Newt Gingrich.  Seventy percent of Colorado Latino voters have a strongly unfavorable view of Romney, while 63% have a strongly unfavorable view of Gingrich.
  • In Colorado, the Democratic Party is led by a Latino, Rick Palacio, who has challenged Republicans’ embrace of hardline anti-immigrant policies.  In comparison, Colorado Republicans’ loudest voice on immigration, immigrants, and Hispanics is arguably super-extremist Tom Tancredo, who founded the restrictionist House Immigration Reform Caucus.  Palacio recently said that Romney has “taken a page from the Tancredo playbook.”  That comparison is accurate, but it should trouble Romney.  Tancredo parlayed his advocacy against immigration into losing presidential and gubernatorial bids, unable to win a statewide or national election by demonizing immigrants.  Tancredo lost the 2010 gubernatorial race to Democrat John Hickenlooper—despite the strength of the Tea Party at the time—after the Latino community turned out to vote against him. 

  • Latinos are also poised to play key roles in U.S. House contests in Colorado.  With the Cook Political Report currently listing CO-3 and CO-6 as races to watch, it remains to be seen whether these districts will be taken by a Democrat or Republican.  In CO-3, 14.77% of voters are Latino, while in CO-6, 5.32% of voters are Latino.  Fifty-six percent of Latinos in Colorado are registered Democrats, while 12% are Republicans. 

RESOURCES

Posted 02/06/12 at 10:56am By Mahwish Khan

John McCain Is No Fan of Romney’s “Self-Deportation” Immigration Strategy

Mitt Romney's call for self-deportation has generated intense criticism from a wide swath of folks, ranging from editorial writers and activists to even John McCain! Yes, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee (who used to be a leader in the quest for immigration reform before he turned his back on those efforts) appeared on Al Punto with Jorge Ramos this weekend. McCain, who has already endorsed Romney's candidacy, was asked by Ramos about Romney's self-deportation plan. The short of it is that McCain doesn't approve.

Watch:

McCain could and should be working on the "broader solution" himself, but he continues to use the debunked "border security" talking point. McCain is also aware of the power of the Latino vote. That's one of the reasons he lost in 2008. And it's one of the reasons his home state of Arizona is now a battleground, as Chuck Todd tweeted on Saturday night.

H/T Think Progress.

Posted 02/03/12 at 04:40pm By Maribel Hastings

Nevada: How The West Will Be Won

voz y voto

Note: America's Voice's Maribel Hastings, who wrote this post, is in Nevada covering the GOP caucus. She'll be filing regular reports on the campaign as part of our "Voz Y Voto 2012" series.

LAS VEGAS--Although the Republican primary process has barely begun, Mitt Romney is looking like the inevitable nominee. This Saturday, he's expected to repeat his 2008 triumph in the Nevada caucus, winning a state that will be decisive in the fight for the White House in November, and where the Latino vote will be instrumental.

Latinos represent 27% of the population in Nevada, and 15% of voters eligible to cast ballots in November.

Attention has already centered around what the race between Romney and Barack Obama will look like here. Obama won 76% of the Latino vote in the 2008 elections, with 22% going to Republican John McCain. Among all voters, Obama won 55% of the vote to McCain's 43%.

Immigration played a central role in that election, as Obama's promise to move comprehensive immigration reform mobilized Latino voters, especially naturalized citizens, to support him in Nevada and other key states.

Many Latinos in Nevada aren't just facing high unemployment rates and the housing crisis, but also the lack of those expected reforms. 

Some Democrats recognize that the failure to pass immigration reform poses a challenge for Democrats in their efforts to mobilize the Latino vote in Nevada.

But they reason that the Republican candidates--particularly presumptive nominee Romney--aren't offering a viable alternative to Latino voters. To the contrary, they're making Democrats' jobs easier by mobilizing Latinos to vote against their hard-line policies.

Romney, for example, opposes comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act, which have overwhelming support among Latino voters. One of Romney's (unpaid) advisers on immigration policy is Kris Kobach, architect of the harshest anti-immigrant laws in the country-including those in Alabama, Arizona and South Carolina--and of the concept of "attrition through enforcement," "which consists of making life impossible for undocumented immigrants so they will decide to leave the country, even if it means separation from their families. Others call this "self-deportation."

Vicenta Montoya, of the group Sí Se Puede Democratic Caucus, admits that it's possible that some Latinos who voted for Obama in 2008 will decide not to vote this time, "but I don't think they're going to vote for a Republican.  It's ridiculous, because what Republicans are saying goes totally against the Latino community," she said.

And Republicans shouldn't underestimate the power that immigration has to mobilize Latino voters in these parts.

Maybe they should make a call to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who retained his seat--and a Democratic majority in the Senate--in November 2010 when Nevada's Latinos supported him at the polls and led him to defeat Republican Sharron Angle, who ran an anti-immigrant campaign that portrayed immigrants as criminals.

In that same election, Nevada elected Republican Brian Sandoval to the governorship. Republicans rapidly began to use Sandoval as an example of how Republican candidates could get elected in states with large Hispanic populations. What Republicans didn't realize was that Sandoval won only 15% of the Latino vote in his state, thanks to his support for SB 1070 in the neighboring state of Arizona.

According to Fernando Romero, president of Hispanics in Politics, the oldest Hispanic political organization in Nevada, the next Republican nominee won't put up much of a fight against Obama for the Latino vote in the state.

"It's one of the reasons why Latinos don't show up to the caucus, because the Republican Party offers nothing positive to our community," he added.

To Romero, Latinos' choice in November is clear. "Even though many [Latinos] say they're not going to vote, they know that any of the four Republicans in the race is in favor of hurting us. We have no other option," he said.

And if Romney is the nominee, "when all the negative things he's said about our community come out, I don't think that people who have friends, relatives, loved ones, neighbors who are undocumented are going to support Romney."

Even, he added, if Republicans put a Hispanic on the ticket as Romney's running mate: Florida Senator Marco Rubio or Governors Sandoval of Nevada or Susana Martinez of New Mexico.

"Sandoval's the one who's gotten the least involved on the issue of immigration, and since supporting SB 1070 in 2010 he hasn't said anything, either positive or negative. And if Brian, the most moderate of the three of them, didn't get support from Latinos in his own state despite the fact that his last name is Sandoval, it's going to be very tough for Romney. Rubio's suddenly softening his rhetoric a little, but it's too late because we already know what's in his heart. And on Martinez, no comment. Her actions say it all," Romero explained.

Alex Garza, the vice president of Hispanics in Politics--and a Republican--said that "what's happening is that the rhetoric is out of control."

In his opinion, Democrats have been able to use the immigration issue to their advantage, even though they ultimately haven't kept their promises of reform. But on the other side of the aisle, "the Republican Party shouldn't promote policies of family separation.  Self-deportation isn't possible," said Garza, whose father was legalized under Ronald Reagan's 1986 amnesty.

This year, said Garza, will see a fierce fight for the Latino vote. He anticipates that while many Hispanic Democrats will stay loyal to their party, others will continue to register as independents--the largest swing group of voters that may decide the election.

The fight to win the West has already begun.

Posted 02/03/12 at 01:28pm By Adam Luna

Immigration & Latino Voters in Nevada: Why the 2008 & 2010 Results Are More Instructive for November

Welcome to Nevada SignFor the next few days, Nevada will be the center of the political universe.  But like the ad says, "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."  Simply, what happens in February won’t matter much in November.  That’s when the state will turn into a battleground.  And if the past two election cycles – and results of the 2010 Census – are any guide, the Latino vote and the issue of immigration reform will once again prove decisive in the 2012 general election—not only in the Presidential race, but in key House and Senate contests as well. 

Here are some of the relevant facts and figures to keep in mind about Nevada, as well as some analysis from my colleagues at America's Voice on the recent elections and what their results mean for the 2012 contests.

Latino voters are expanding their political clout in Nevada, and they care deeply about immigration

  • If there’s one number that you need to know it’s that in 2012, Latinos constitute 26% of the state’s population.  Latino Decisions estimates that Latinos will comprise 15% of Nevada’s registered voters by the 2012 general elections.

  • Nevada’s Latino population grew by 81.87% from 2000 to 2010 – 46% of all population growth in Nevada during the decade and the primary reason why Nevada gained an extra seat in Congress after the 2010 Census.

  • Nevada’s Latino electorate is largely comprised of Mexican-American voters, who are more directly affected by immigration issues than Cuban voters in Florida.  As the Center for American Progress recently wrote, “In contrast to Florida, where Mexicans make up 15 percent of the Latino population, in Nevada, Mexicans make up 78 percent of the Latino population.”

  • Immigration is a key, motivating issue for Nevada Latino voters.  In Latino Decisions’ election eve polling in 2010, 38% of Latino voters in Nevada said that immigration was the most important issue in determining their vote and another 31% said that it was “one of the most important” issues.  Forty-four percent said immigration was the most important issue facing the Latino community that politicians should address.  In the same poll, 74% of Nevada Latino voters supported a path to citizenship for the undocumented while 76% opposed Arizona’s SB 1070.

2008: Obama flips Nevada and other states from red to blue, with help of Latino voters

  • President Obama got 55% of the vote in 2008 in Nevada, which was one of the four states in Obama’s column that George Bush won in 2004.  In each of those four states, which also includes Colorado, New Mexico and Florida, the Latino vote was a decisive factor in Obama’s win. 

  • Latino voters made up over 12% of the Nevada electorate in 2008 and Latino voter turnout there jumped over 164% between 2000 and 2008.  In 2008, 76% of Nevada Latinos voted for Barack Obama, helping him win a state that George W. Bush had won in both 2000 and 2004. 

2010: The immigration issue was key to erecting a “Latino firewall” in the West that led to Majority Leader Reid’s victory and ended the “Republican wave” at the Rockies

  • According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D), Latinos were the deciding factor in his close race against Republican Sharron Angle in 2010.  In October 2011, Senate Majority Leader Reid said, “I would not be the majority leader in the United States Senate today, but for the Hispanics in Nevada.” 

  • Immigration was a major factor in driving Latino voters to the polls for Reid.  In 2010, 38% of Latino voters in Nevada said that immigration was the most important issue in determining their vote, according to Latino Decisions’ election eve polling, and another 31% said that it was “one of the most important” issues.  The Las Vegas Sun quoted Gilberto Ramirez, a first-time, recently-naturalized voter from Reno, explaining why Sharron Angle’s anti-Latino ads motivated him to vote and to support Senator Harry Reid: “She was depicting me as a gang member.  I served seven years in the Marine Corps.”

2012: Top of the ticket Republicans are anti-immigrant – and that matters

  • Mitt Romney has already seared his image as an anti-immigrant candidate into the minds of Latino voters.  Romney’s vow to veto the DREAM Act and his continued calls for self-deportation of undocumented immigrants are reverberating in the Latino community – and will continue through November.  As noted below, DREAMers were protesting outside of Romney's Las Vegas office yesterday. We have a feeling he'll be seeing a lot more of them. Romney is also being advised by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the author of Arizona’s SB 1070, which is strongly opposed by Latinos in Nevada.  Kobach is also a former attorney for the legal arm of the FAIR – which has been labeled an anti-immigrant hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

  • In the 2012 Senate race in Nevada, labeled a toss-up by the Cook Political Report, the appointed incumbent, Republican Dean Heller, has established his anti-immigrant credentials early, in stark contrast with the Democratic Senate candidate, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (who represents many of Nevada's Hispanic neighborhoods).  The issue is already playing out badly for Heller, who appears poised to make the same mistakes as Sharron Angle.  As the Associated Press wrote in early January, “Heller's appearance at a monthly Hispanics in Politics meeting was intended to be an olive branch toward the Hispanic community after he cancelled a meeting with the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce in October, prompting accusations from some Hispanic leaders that Heller was shunning the Latino community.  But the meeting quickly evolved into a debate on immigration, with Heller repeating his opposition to illegal immigration several times, even as Hispanic leaders warned him that the stance could alienate some Latino voters. Heller also reiterated his support for an overhaul of the 14th Amendment...”

  • Latinos are also poised to play key roles in House contests.  The Cook Political Report currently lists NV-4 and NV-3 as races to watch, and considers NV-3 to be highly competitive.  In NV-3, 13.67% of voters are Latino.  In the newly-created NV-4 district, voter numbers are not yet available, but Latinos comprise 27.26% of the district’s overall population. 

RESOURCES

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 02/02/12 at 04:27pm By Van Le

Rachel Maddow Show Reports on the History of Self-Deportation: “It’s a Joke!”

As we noted below, there's a lot of conversation about Mitt Romney's self-deportation policy. “This American Life,” the New York Times Lede blog and the Rachel Maddow show this week all put out pretty amusing historical pieces on the concept of self-deportation and its origins as a hysterical, satirical joke.

To jog your memory: Mitt Romney uttered the phrase a couple of weeks ago at a Florida debate, in response to a question about how he would get undocumented immigrants to leave the U.S. without ordering mass deportations.  His answer:

The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they could do better by going home because they can’t find work here because they don’t have legal documentation to allow them to work here.

Since then, editorial boards, commentators, and organizations—including ours—have been hard at work trying to explain to people what self-deportation really means.  “This American Life,” the Lede blog, and the Rachel Maddow show want to supplement with some historical context:

“It’s a joke!” Maddow says during her segment on the topic.  “It’s satire.”

According to “This American Life”:

There is an argument to be made that the term self-deportation was invented in 1994 by two Mexican-American satirists, Lalo Alcaraz and Esteban Zul. That year, “sickened” by a ballot initiative known as Proposition 187, which aimed to prohibit illegal immigrants from using state-run hospitals and schools in California, the comedians began posing as conservative activists who backed the measure.

The comics called on all minorities in the state of California to follow Prop 187 to its natural conclusion and “self-deport.”  They created a fictional “militant self-deportationist” called Daniel D. Portado (get it?  D-port…) to be the face of their blowhard anti-immigrant positions.  Forming a satirical group called “Hispanics for Wilson” (as in, then-California Governor Pete Wilson (R), who was pushing Prop 187), they offered to “retrain white collar workers and middle management in the agricultural, restaurant, and hotel maintenance arts, once illegal immigrants are displaced form these highly sought after fields.”  And they vowed to get Hispanics to stop speaking Spanish, except for the words “adios, amigo.”

Some people, however, didn’t get the joke.  Telemundo invited Daniel D. Portado on to give an interview as a proponent of Prop 187.  Governor Pete Wilson himself began using the term “self-deport,” notably in a conversation with New York Times Op-Ed columnist William Safire. 

"He used the exact phrase," Maddow says in her segment.  "This would be like Santorum launching a new campaign that said, 'Google me!'"

It is of course difficult to trace the origin and usage of a phrase, but a Lede blog Nexis search says that Wilson’s interview with Safire was the first printed record of him using that term—two months after Alcaraz and Zul began popularizing it.

Which is still not to say that Mitt Romney and Kris Kobach’s brand of self-deportation can be traced back to this origin.  As Maddow notes, Republican politics since the days of Prop 187 have grown ever more extreme.  "Something is out of whack in Republican politics around this issue," she says.  "Republican politics on immigration right now are so strange it's getting impossible to tell whether or not they are satire.”  

Romney and Kobach's concept of self-deportation is certainly not a joke: it’s led to a campaign of terror against Hispanics in Alabama and elsewhere (like Georgia and Arizona).  But still, the history of the term and its beginnings as a colossal joke are noteworthy.

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