The debate on immigration at the state level took marked turn over the weekend. Utah passed immigration legislation that is decidely unlike what we saw last year from Arizona. From Julia Preston at The New York Times:

With the immigration package, passed in both chambers of the Republican-controlled Legislature late Friday, Utah made a sharp break with the hard-line trend in state immigration legislation that has been led by Arizona, which passed a strict enforcement law last April.

Utah’s package includes measures to tighten enforcement against illegal immigrants that echo Arizona’s tough stance — like a requirement that the police check the immigration status of anyone arrested on a felony or a serious misdemeanor charge.

But supporters said the hybrid package offered an alternative to states, including those controlled by Republicans, that are seeking to avoid the costly political polarization and legal challenges that followed Arizona’s law and that also want to recognize the need of some businesses for immigrant labor in spite of high unemployment nationally.

The guest worker bill came after intense lobbying by business and farm groups as well as by some immigrant advocates, and it enjoyed the quiet but all-important endorsement of the Mormon Church. It is likely to raise many of the same constitutional questions as the Arizona law, including whether it intrudes on areas of immigration law reserved exclusively for the federal government. Central provisions of Arizona’s law, known as S. B. 1070, were suspended by federal courts pending a lawsuit by the Obama administration.

The leaders of House Mass Deportation Caucus, Reps. Smith, Gallegly, and King, are not only driving the GOP immigration strategy, they are driving their party off of a political cliff.

Those “Three Amigos” are proving to be the GOP’s lead strategists not only on immigration reform –  but Latino politics.Saner heads have tried to prevail on the Republican side, but to no avail. The efforts of Jeb Bush, Tom Ridge, and even Newt Gingrich to get the Republican Party to move away from anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric alienating Hispanic voters has hit a brick wall — built by Smith, Gallegly and King.

Based on the recent House hearings on immigration and their frequent press statements, the Three Amigos seem to be pursuing a two-pronged strategy: 1) promote legislation that they hope will drive millions of immigrants out of the country; and 2) convince Republicans that Latino support for the GOP is increasing – in part because of their harsh policies towards immigrants.

Somewhere, smart Republicans — those who understand that the only way to retake the White House is to win 40% of the Latino vote — are wincing.  This dual strategy is going to drive away Latino voters for decades. Anyone who doesn’t think so should ask former Governor Pete Wilson how Proposition 187 worked for the GOP’s Latino recruitment effort.

Rep. Smith is glowingly depicted in a new George Will column as “immigration’s taskmaster” and in favor of “attrition through enforcement.”  That’s the new catch-phrase pushed by the nativist Tanton network. But what does “attrition through enforcement” really mean?  It means ramping up enforcement at all levels so that life becomes so unbearable for undocumented immigrants that those who don’t get picked up and deported pick up and leave on their own.  In other words, Rep. Smith wants 11 million undocumented immigrants forced out of the country.  A more honest name for this strategy is “mass deportation.”

A proposal in the Texas state legislature to crack down on the hiring of undocumented immigrants features a huge exception for household labor — once again exposing the breathtaking hypocrisy of some Republicans who want to sound tough on the issue, but still benefit from undocumented labor.  

We’ve aptly named it the “Meg Whitman Loophole,” in honor of the 2010 California gubernatorial candidate who took a harsh position on immigration reform, but employed an undocumented housekeeper. 

Now, this not a new idea for the GOP.  In 1984, Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA) introduced something similar to the Immigration Reform and Control Act.  The Lungren amendment exempted employers of three people or less from verification requirements for work authorization. Though it passed in the House in 1984, the provision was not included in the final 1986 bill.  However, the idea has resurfaced in the Texas state legislature once politicians started to grapple with the real-world consequences of their anti-immigrant fervor.      

The new bill in the Texas legislature would propose two years in jail and up to $10,000 fines for people who “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly” hire unauthorized immigrants.  Specifically exempted are laborers relegated to “work to be performed exclusively or primarily at a single-family residence.””

You read that correctly. It’s apparently really that hard to find good help in Texas.

This bill in Texas is perhaps one of the more honest pieces of immigration legislation put forward by the GOP this season, showing the party’s true colors and the hypocrisy that drives the GOP strategy on “illegal” immigration: deport all undocumented immigrants — except the ones who work for me.

The Meg Whitman loophole defines the GOP perfectly: sound tough on the airwaves, but protect your own interests at the same time

It would seem that Texas Republicans such as House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, Rep. Dan Lungren, and others are more interested in carving out exemptions for their country club buddies rather than finding practical solutions to the problems that they so frequently bemoan.

In a Huffington Post piece, Cornell University President David J. Skorton reminds us that immigration has always been a net benefit for this country and makes the case for immigration reform—especially for students.

Skorton explains the dilemma involved with international students who come to US shores to study: on the one hand, we could allow them to return home afterward, taking their talents with them so they can eventually become the next generation of US-friendly world leaders.  Or we can encourage them to stay here so we can capitalize on their talents and ideas—but risk pushback from those who say immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans.

Either way, Skorton believes we need a better, more student-friendly policy:

We should be working toward the adoption of comprehensive immigration reform tailored to the economic, political, social, cultural and scientific realities of a world in which ideas and jobs more and more easily transcend borders. What is needed is a set of immigration policies that gives us the best of both worlds — policies flexible enough to offer green cards to talented individuals who want to stay, while encouraging others to return home with some of the best education we have to offer and the potential to make a lasting difference in the world. As recent events in the Middle East have demonstrated, no government, no matter how repressive, can inhibit the flow of ideas. The new approach to immigration policy must recognize the need for knowledge workers, as well as ideas, to move more easily back and forth between countries.

The Presidents of the United States and Mexico met today in Washington.

This morning, USA Today had a report on the points of contention expect to arise today at the meeting between President Obama and President Calderon:

Tension surrounds today’s meeting between President Obama and Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon.

One point of contention: last month’s shooting death of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, which revved up U.S. criticism of Mexican law enforcement.

Another point: the Mexican drug wars  that have taken up to 35,000 lives since Calderon took office in 2006 — and Calderon’s statements that much of the violence is driven by American demand for drugs and supply of weapons.

Another point: immigration.

Based on reports of the meetings, those points of were raised and discussed. And, they are interrelated.

He’s already “America’s Toughest Sherriff,” but now it seems Joe Arpiao wants to be “America’s Oldest School Yard Bully.”
 

After Sheriff Joe Arpaio was uninvited from reading to sixth-graders at an elementary school in Phoenix, he blasted out a nasty press release blaming “parents of Hispanic students,” as well as the school’s administration. He even went so far as to include the school’s name and address in the release.