News Recap: Bipartisan Framework for Reform, March for America, Latino Voters

America's Voice Blog

Posted 03/19/10 at 02:25pm

With tens of thousands of people heading to Washington for the March for America this Sunday and the news of a bipartisan framework for comprehensive immigration reform legislation from Senators Schumer and Graham, there’s a lot of news to track today – here’s a quick recap for the folks at home.

One major development is summed up in this USA Today headline, “Obama pledges to push immigration reform:”

Just hours after he cancelled an international trip to stay in Washington and fight for health care legislation, President Obama has announced that he's ready to start pushing forward on another controversial issue: immigration reform. In an election year, no less.

A week after he met with senators Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, to talk about immigration, he congratulated them on working together to come up with a "framework" for reform.

"I am pleased to see that Senators Schumer and Graham have produced a promising, bipartisan framework which can and should be the basis for moving forward," Obama said. " It thoughtfully addresses the need to shore up our borders, and demands accountability from both workers who are here illegally and employers who game the system."

The Associated Press led with the President’s statement, too, in "Obama backs senators immigration overhaul outline."

CNN has an article on its website about the “thousands of people” who will be attending Sunday’s march (Already, more than 50,000 are planning to attend):

Thousands of people are expected to pour into Washington for a Sunday rally demanding immigration reform, launching the first public battle over the issue since the announcement of a new bipartisan plan endorsed by President Barack Obama.

While the nation will be focused largely on a more immediate debate - an expected vote over health care reform - the march on the National Mall will be setting the stage for a whole new fight over another of the most contentious issues facing the country.

The organization Reform Immigration for America, which supports a path to citizenship for those in the United States illegally, says the changes it wants to see will help bring about "economic justice for all Americans.

We’ll be looking to see if the news channels will provide anywhere close to the appropriate level of coverage on this, based on the amount of air time they've been devoting to the Tea Party rallies, which boasted far fewer people than are expected Sunday.

In any case, the march is attracting media attention from across the country. And, it’s truly a nation-wide event, as evidenced by this report in the Seattle Times on the activists coming to D.C. from Washington State and these about marchers from Wisconsin and Texas and Illinois and Florida and Oregon and Rhode Island.

Finally, there’s even an interview about the march on Christian Broadcasting Network’s website with Reverend Samuel Rodriguez from the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), who had a message for the President:

He says Obama must pass immigration reform by the end of April or face the consequences in November.

"We have 12 million people undocumented," Rodriguez said. "Deportations continue. It's becoming more and more difficult for these undocumented even to get jobs and provide the financial resources for the basic necessities of their households."

Those are strong words, but they seem consistent with new research on Latino voters' attitudes and impact heading into 2010. For more information on this, including the importance of immigration reform to Latino voters, check out our latest research on the power of the Latino vote.