Cross-posted at Huffington Post.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been courageous in working with Democrats on both comprehensive immigration reform and climate change legislation.  He has seemed deeply committed to both.  So why exactly is he threatening to derail a climate bill because he’s angry that Democrats are promising to move forward on immigration reform?

Yesterday he called the Democrats’ renewed calls to advance immigration reform “a cynical political ploy.”

Senator Graham has stood up to many in his party and his party’s leadership on comprehensive immigration reform.  He has been working diligently with Senator Charles Schumer on a comprehensive proposal for nearly a year.  In mid-March, the two senators published a framework for reform that was embraced by the President and constituencies across the political spectrum. 

Senator Graham has repeatedly – and very publicly – challenged President Obama and the Democrats to act.  He privately asked the President to help secure the support of other Republican senators.  The idea was to prepare the country and the Senate for a legislative debate. 

Subsequently, President Obama spoke out on the need for comprehensive immigration reform, touted the Graham-Schumer approach as a solid foundation for reform, and made multiple phone calls to Republican senators to build support for the measure.

In addition, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made clear his commitment to bringing immigration reform to the Senate floor – in addition to, not instead of climate change legislation – and Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised quick House action on immigration following Senate approval. 

Meanwhile, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law a radical state bill that shows the consequences of Congressional inaction.  Despite the protestations of apologists, this law does nothing less than institutionalizes racial discrimination and racial profiling against the 30% of the state that is Latino.  It has turbo-charged the national debate over immigration reform and compelled Democrats to lean into this issue as never before.

It’s about time.  I can tell you first-hand that advocates for comprehensive immigration reform are pleased that the President and Democratic leadership are finally stepping up.  And up until this past week, it gave us hope that we were headed for the introduction of a Schumer-Graham bipartisan bill in late April or early May and Senate Judiciary Committee action in May.  We expected Senator Graham to be reassured as well. 

Instead of embracing these developments, Senator Graham has pitched a fit and accused Democrats of playing politics on immigration.

What’s going on here? 

But she did sign Arizon’a harshest profiling bill yet, S.B. 1070, into law today. So, why is she telling cops to profile people based on “reasonable suspicion” they could be undocumented, if she doesn’t know what that looks like?

Watch it:

Despite all of the news coming out of Arizona and Republicans hoping to score political points with the harshest anti-immigrant bill in the country, other conservatives from around the country are beginning to step up to show that comprehensive immigration reform is in fact the right thing to do for their party and their country. The stakes in their fight against politicians like Russell Pearce and Tom Tancredo are high: will the Republican Party shut out the nation’s fastest-growing voter bloc by demagoguing immigrants, or welcome it by supporting comprehensive reform?

Last week, over 150 conservative and Evangelical grassroots leaders gathered on a conference call to discuss how to get the GOP to choose the latter. Moderator and political strategist Juan Hernandez and evangelical pastors explained on the call that reform fits conservative and Christian values; as Rev. Jim Tolle, who preaches to tens of thousands at the Church on the Way in Los Angeles, said (via the Salem News):

“We must not forget that Jesus himself was an immigrant, along with Joseph and Mary.”

Greg Sargent reports at Plumline, (also check CNN), that the President has come out against Arizona’s highly controversial profiling bill, SB1070.

Watch the President’s remarks:

At Think Progress, Andrea Nill reports in Obama: ‘Irresponsible’ Arizona Immigration Bill ‘Threatens To Undermine Basic Notions Of Fairness’:

This morning, while speaking at the Active Duty Naturalization Ceremony at the White House Rose Garden, President Obama emphasized the need for immigration reform. During his speech, Obama highlighted SB-1070, a radical bill recently passed in Arizona which will establish some of the harshest immigration laws in the nation, as an example of how federal inaction on the issue “will only open the door to irresponsibility”:

Our failure to act responsible at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. That includes for example the recent efforts in Arizona which threaten basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe. In fact, I’ve instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation.

But if we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts to open up across the country.

The Spanish-language media continues to watch Arizona, where Governor Jan Brewer is expected to sign the criminalization bill SB 1070 in the next few days. Meanwhile, as nationwide demonstrations on May 1st for comprehensive immigration reform approach, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is pushing for action in the Senate.

Reid wants CIR. The AP and El Diario-La Estrella (Dallas) report that Senator Reid is interested in putting immigration reform up for debate in the Senate, while Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reiterates her position that the House will take up an immigration bill after it passes the Senate. 

This post is a weekly feature by Erin Rosa, Media Consortium Blogger:

While federal lawmakers cautiously mull over the possibility of dropping a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year, legislators in Arizona have passed yet another law that criminalizes undocumented immigrants. What’s more, the Arizona House is advancing a bill that would require the Arizona Secretary of State to review President Barack Obama’s birth certificate before his name is allowed on any ballots.

The Arizona crackdown

Arizona lawmakers just passed the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighbourhood Act, which is arguably the toughest immigration law in the country. It forces local police to check the immigration status of people if there is “reasonable suspicion” that they might be undocumented. The bill is an invitation to racially profile residents.

The bill, which now goes the states’ Republican Governor Jan Brewer for final approval, has sparked an organized campaign to defeat the measure over concerns that the bill is inhumane would discriminate against Latinos.

Valeria Fernández with the Inter Press Service reports on the bill, which “includes a number of provisions that go beyond authorizing the arrest of undocumented immigrants on ‘reasonable suspicion.’ It targets day laborers by making it a crime to look for work on the street, and would fine anyone who harbors or transports an undocumented immigrant, including family members.”

Outbreaks of civil disobedience have accompanied the bill. “On Tuesday, nine students were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct after they chained themselves to the entrance doors of the capitol building in an act of civil disobedience against the proposed law.” Fernández reports. “Authorities arrested them as soon as they said they wouldn’t leave until the governor took action on the law.”

John Tomasic with the Colorado Independent also notes that “On Capitol Hill, Prominent Latino Reps. Luis Gutierrez [(D-IL)] and Raul Grijalva [(D-AZ)]denounced Arizona’s controversial immigration bill and urged [Brewer] to veto the legislation.”