‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration: Yet Another Border Bill; Repeal the 14th? Bad Idea!

America's Voice Blog

Posted 08/06/10 at 11:16am

The bill the Senate passed yesterday allocating $600 million more for border security and continued calls by Republicans to hold hearings on the possibility of changing the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution to revoke birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented parents are the top stories in today’s Spanish-language press.

Yet another border bill. EFE, the AP, Reuters, La Opinión (Los Angeles) and El Universal (Mexico) report on the passage of the border bill, which allocates money for 1,500 additional border troops and unmanned surveillance drones, among other things. The bill was sponsored by Democrats but passed by both parties, and is similar to the one passed by the House of Representatives last week (which allocated more money). Some organizations criticized Democrats for giving in to Republican demands for more funding for border security without pushing for any corresponding action on immigration relief.

Repeal the 14th? Bad idea! La Opinión publishes an editorial titled “What a bad idea!” (“¡Qué mala idea!”), criticizing the attempts being made by some Republicans to push for changing the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees that anyone born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction is a citizen of the country and of the state in which he or she resides. The editorial concludes that:

“reforming the Fourteenth Amendment is fortunately very unlikely to become a reality, and is also a poor Republican political strategy that will spur resistance among Latinos. What a bad idea!”

AOL Latino, LatinoCalifornia.com, and Contacto Magazine, among other outlets, reprint a column by Maribel Hastings of America’s Voice titled “Graham and McCain: Once upon a time…” about the two Republican senators’ flip-flopping on immigration. Both once supported immigration reform, and now are attempting to pacify the extreme right-wing at the expense of Latino voters by promoting ideas like changing the 14^th Amendment.

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.

The latest Spanish-language reporting and analysis on immigration can now be found at AmericasVoiceEspanol.com. Check it out!