03/29/13 Update: Young has issued a full apology: “I apologize for the insensitive term I used during an interview in Ketchikan, Alaska. There was no malice in my heart or intent to offend; it was a poor choice of words. That word, and the negative attitudes that come with it, should be left in the 20th century, [...]
Read More »

03/29/13 In the latest blow to GOP minority outreach, the big news of the day involves Rep. Don Young (R-AL), who referred to immigrants as “wetbacks” while speaking on a local radio station yesterday: “My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” Young, an Alaska Republican, told a local radio [...]
Read More »

03/28/13 It’s Easter Recess for Congressmembers, who are back at home holding town halls, meeting with constituents–and being served petitions with tens of thousands of local signers all demanding immigration reform. A coalition of immigrant-rights groups, in conjunction with local organizations, have collected more than 40,000 petitions from immigration reform supporters across the country, and are [...]
Read More »

03/28/13 A range of developments underscores the momentum behind immigration reform, while highlighting the newfound support for reform from both traditional and non-traditional backers.  Even the spate of stories last week that asked if business and labor disputes would help scuttle the overall reform effort were overblown, as the talks there are moving forward and the [...]
Read More »

03/28/13 Yesterday on Univision, Maria Elena Salinas interviewed Republican Rosario Marin, a former US Treasurer, about her thoughts on prospective immigration reform.  Marin was fairly pessimistic, expressing concerns that Obama is using immigration as a political issue rather than really being serious about pushing it through (a favorite argument of Ted Cruz) and worrying that union [...]
Read More »

03/28/13 Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is at it again—apparently making up Texas friends with property overrun by border crossers. During an appearance on a Texas radio show this morning, Cornyn claimed that people all over the world are now crossing the border through Texas and that any immigration reform that Congress passes this year must invest [...]
Read More »

03/28/13 President Obama gave interviews to Univision and Telemundo yesterday in which he expressed confidence that immigration reform would be accomplished this summer.  The Senate Gang of 8 is “actually making progress” on immigration, he said.  ”I’m actually optimistic.”  Otherwise, the President noted, he has his own legislation waiting in the wings that he is ready [...]
Read More »

03/27/13 At the end of this week’s back-t0-back oral arguments at the Supreme Court against Prop 8 and DOMA, we wanted to lift up this piece by Immigration Impact highlighting the fact that the outcome of these cases will affect the immigration world, as well.  From same-sex bi-national couples to how gay and transgender immigrants are treated in [...]
Read More »

03/27/13 Four Senators from the bi-partisan “Gang of Eight” that is drafting immigration legislation will tour the U.S./Mexico border at Nogales, AZ today.  After their visit, Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), John McCain (R-AZ), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will hold a press conference.  With all eyes on the Senators, they have an important opportunity to explain [...]
Read More »

03/27/13 Last week we wrote about a letter that six anti-immigrant Senators sent to Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).  The Senators, out to stall and eventually kill immigration reform, complained that the legislative process was moving too quickly and requested more time to hold more hearings, debate the issue, so on, so [...]
Read More »

03/27/13 In today’s news, Sens. John McCain, Jeff Flake, Chuck Schumer, and Michael Bennet are scheduled to tour the border; the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for DOMA, which has significant implications for bi-national same-sex couples and immigration equality; and President Obama is scheduled to sit down for an interview with Telemundo and Univision today. [...]
Read More »

03/26/13 Yesterday we wrote about a New York Times story on immigrants in detention who are forced into solitary confinement for 22 to 23 hours a day and weeks on end.  The method of imprisonment—already considered a form of torture—is especially horrific when imposed upon immigrants, who are held for civil rather than criminal violations.  The [...]
Read More »

03/26/13 After last week’s RNC report encouraging Republicans to support immigration reform, chair of the American Conservative Union Al Cárdenas sat down with Jorge Ramos on Al Punto to talk about the GOP’s mea culpa to Latino voters.  They discussed the mistakes Mitt Romney and the Republicans committed in the last election cycle, that turned off minority voters, [...]
Read More »

03/26/13 SEIU will begin to air $300,000 in ads nationwide on Wednesday, calling for immigration reform with a path to citizenship.  The ad is part of a seven-figure television ad campaign from SEIU, according to the Washington Post. As the ad intones: Our immigration system is broken, and Congress has a chance to fix it the fair and [...]
Read More »

03/26/13 A month after Sen. John McCain faced hostile Tea Partiers opposed to immigration reform at an Arizona town hall, McCain was at it again—and this time found lots of love from Arizonans applauding McCain’s leadership on immigration legislation. Yesterday in Arizona, Mi Familia Vota Education volunteers, with other community organizations, came to a McCain town [...]
Read More »

03/26/13 One month after Sen. John McCain faced hostile Tea Partiers at an Arizona town hall, McCain saw love from a roomful of immigrants this week who came to give him their support for immigration reform.  Check out this great Twitterpic showing that Republicans CAN grow support from Latino voters by leaning into immigration. Washington Post: Obama demands [...]
Read More »

03/25/13 President Obama will host a naturalization ceremony at the White House today, where he will witness 28 immigrants, including 13 service members, become American citizens.  The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice Education Fund: Today’s White House naturalization ceremony is a reminder of what we, as a nation, do best [...]
Read More »

03/25/13 Eye-opening piece by Ian Urbina and Catherine Renz in the New York Times this weekend, about immigrants who are put into detention and then—for various reasons—are held in solitary confinement. The United Nations has likened long-term solitary confinement to torture, and has called for a ban on the practice except in limited situations.  The US [...]
Read More »

03/25/13 Washington Post (Opinion): How did we build an immigrant movement? We learned from gay rights advocates. By Frank Sharry Huffington Post (Blog): Got Any Spare Change (Theory)? By Jared Bernstein Arizona Republic: Senators closer on migrant measure By Dan Nowicki USA Today: GOP stresses minority outreach in self-critique By Catalina Camia Politico: Chuck Schumer optimistic [...]
Read More »

03/22/13 The big story on this weekend’s Washington Post Outlook is a 2000-word piece by our Executive Director, Frank Sharry, on how our side built an immigrant rights movement.  What’s the secret?  We learned from gay rights advocates–and went LGBT on their a–.  That meant mobilizing voters, challenging our friends as well as our enemies, and [...]
Read More »

03/22/13 We’re winning — and people are starting to notice. This week, a New York Times story summarized our momentum: “Republican opposition to legalizing the status of millions of illegal immigrants is crumbling.”[1] The examples keep coming. Last month, Jeb Bush was widely panned — even within his own party — for suggesting reform that stopped short of a [...]
Read More »

03/22/13 Today, America’s Voice Education Fund and fellow immigration experts held the fifth in a series of weekly press briefings, or “Immigration Reform “Office Hours.”  Each week, a different and diverse group of speakers will share the latest information on the players, politics, legislation and other developments coming down the pipeline as the debate in Congress moves forward. [...]
Read More »

03/22/13 McClatchy Newspapers: Senators lean toward point-based immigration system, giving workers more of an edge By Franco Ordonez NBC Latino: Gang of Eight will meet immigration timeline, says aide By Sandra Lilley ABC/Univision: White House: Missed Immigration Deadline No Cause for Alarm By Jordan Fabian Washington Post: Schumer says immigration deal is nearly ready in the [...]
Read More »

03/21/13 Update: According to Talking Points Memo, a group of hardline conservative Tea Party House members have written a letter to Rand Paul saying that they support his efforts to negotiate an immigration bill. “We write to offer you support, encouragement, and assistance as we work together to identify the principles that must guide our nation’s thinking [...]
Read More »

03/21/13 Mark Krikorian, head of the anti-immigrant “think tank” Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), is feeling a bit lonely this week.  Surveying the likely GOP presidential contenders for 2016, he lamented to the conservative Weekly Standard, “I’m honestly looking for someone I can support in 2016.”  Krikorian’s glum assessment of the potential 2016 Republican presidential field is due to the [...]
Read More »

03/21/13 Flip back the count.  It’s been zero days since Congressional Republicans last called a CIS witness to a hearing. All over Washington, Republicans are deciding that getting with the program on immigration reform and shutting up about their nativist tendencies is the best way to go.  The RNC released a whole report that talks about [...]
Read More »

03/21/13 Cross-posted at Latino Decisions Recently there have been a series of high profile endorsements for comprehensive immigration reform from the Republican Party. Immediately after the November 2012 election Bobby Jindal made a plea for more civility and and less stupidity on the immigration issue. Before too long, it was the Gang of 8 in the U.S. Senate which included four [...]
Read More »