America's Voice Blog

Posted 03/10/10 at 11:50am

‘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.

In other news...

A La Opinión article quotes Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes saying he recognizes the difficulty of passing immigration reform this year.

Even though no immigration reform bill has been released, media outlets are already beginning to report on what such a bill could contain. Univisión.com reports that “the immigration reform bill the two influential senators are drafting will include, among other things, a fraud-proof ID card which will be mandatory for anyone working legally in the United States.”

A Notimex article in El Periódico discusses one of the issues that has presumably stalled an agreement on a bill: temporary workers. The article quotes Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) indicating that “the only issue left, which we don’t have consensus on but we’re working on it, is guest-worker permits.”

A Notimex article in El Diario de Yucatán reports that Wal-Mart denies rumors that the company will allow immigration authorities to conduct raids in its stores.

Various outlets around the country are running stories today about the March 21st march in Washington to press for immigration reform, and on local events for the same purpose. La Opinión publishes a column by Eliseo Medina, Executive VP of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), titled “Ready to march.” Other headlines:

El Diario (New York): “Immigrants mobilize to press for reform”

Ponte al Día: “Moving the ball to half-court”

EFE: “Youth organize march to bring undocumented ‘out of the shadows’”

America's Voice has started a new series, “‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration,” to bring Spanish-language coverage of immigration and politics to a wider audience. Look for daily roundups (in English) of some of the best Spanish-language news.   

Don't forget to check out the latest Spanish-language reporting and analysis on immigration over at MaribelHastings.com.

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