02/09/11 Flavia at DREAM Activist took on Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) today for comments she made to a group of Texas business leaders on the DREAM Act. Via MySanAntonio.com: "To me, it is a clear-cut issue that we should not deport young people who have been educated in our school, who many times have a college education, who we encourage to go to college," Hutchison said.
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02/08/11 In addition to the Washington Post's piece on DREAM eligible youth in JROTC today, the New York Times' Julia Preston took a long look at where students who fought for the DREAM Act are now, and the challenges they face: It was exhilarating for Maricela Aguilar to stand on the steps of the federal courthouse here one day last summer and reveal for the first time in public that she is an illegal immigrant. "It's all about losing that shame of who you are," Ms. Aguilar, a college student who was born in Mexico but has lived in the United States without legal documents since she was three years old, said of her "coming out" at a rally in June.
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02/08/11 According to today's Richmond Times-Dispatch, GOP legislators in Virginia's State House have set their sights on immigrant bashing legislation: The highest-profile of the bunch is House Bill 2332, sponsored by Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, which would require state and local law enforcement officers to make inquiries into a person's citizenship status upon arrest.
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02/08/11 Today's La Opinion editorial entitled "Border Security" is an elegant repudiation of the sound bite so popular among Senate Republicans— that we can somehow "secure the border first" before tackling any kind of meaningful, comprehensive immigration reform.
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02/07/11 Imploring readers to "focus our attention on the president's actions rather than his words," Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) recently took to the pages of the San Antonio Express-News to slam President Obama on immigration issues. While doing so, however, he portrayed himself as a tireless supporter of immigration reform.
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02/07/11 A Politico piece entitled "Senators look for immigration deal" by Carrie Budoff Brown is causing quite the stir today. We're always happy when there's talk of comprehensive immigration reform, because it's the only real solution to the immigration crisis we face. President Obama just called for action in the State of the Union, and recently met with Senator McCain to talk immigration.
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02/03/11 If Howard Dean is known for one thing—it would probably be his, well, excitement. And at the Howard Dean, Newt Gingrich debate at George Washington University on Tuesday night, it was the DREAM Act that brought this infamous excitement to life.
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02/02/11 As Republican politicians in the House of Representatives try to enforce their way to a better immigration system, a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center underscores the flawed reasoning behind their efforts. The newly released data shows that, despite unprecedented spending on immigration enforcement efforts, the American undocumented population remains virtually unchanged.
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02/02/11 Markos Moulitsas, founder and publisher of Daily Kos, has a stark political analysis of immigration reform for Democrats in, "Dems, listen to your base:" Of course, if the Democratic-controlled Congress did what was popular, comprehensive immigration reform would have been passed and signed into law last year. A reform package that legalizes only those undocumented immigrants who learn English, pay a fine, and have a clean criminal record polls off the charts.
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02/01/11 Brisenia Flores was nine years old when Shawna Forde, the head of the Minutemen American Defence group, and other members of her posse, allegedly shot and killed Brisenia and her parents, point-blank, at their home in Arizona. Mercilessly, Forde and company allegedly ignored Brisenia's sobs to spare her life. Now, pleading "not guilty," Shawna Forde is currently awaiting trial, charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
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02/01/11 Today, the Spanish-language press covers a newly-released report from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) which concludes that around half of all undocumented immigrants detained under the 287(g) enforcement program are detained for misdemeanors and traffic violations rather than serious crimes. Telemundo, La Opinión (Los Angeles), Notimex and the AP, among others, cover the report.
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01/31/11 Congress needs to show leadership, speak up for American values, and put an end to this disgusting attack on the constitution. Join us in sending our leaders in Congress a fax, telling them to reject Senators Vitter and Paul's dangerous move to scrap the 14th amendment.
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01/28/11 If you've been paying attention to the politics of immigration this month, you've probably noticed: 1) GOP state and local officials, joined by Republicans in both the House and Senate, are trying to mainstream an extreme push to repeal the 14th Amendment. So much for being defenders of the Constitution, eh? The main targets of this push would be, of course, babies.
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01/27/11 Yesterday, the Immigration Subcommittee (of the House Judiciary Committee), which is led by notoriously anti-immigrant members of Congress -- Lamar Smith (R-TX), Elton Gallegly (R-CA), and Steve King (R-IA) -- held their first immigration hearing since Republicans took control of the House.
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01/27/11 Despite the fact that Arizona's SB 1070 is highly controversial, absurdly expensive, and likely unconstitutional, Virginia's immigration hardliners continue to push for their own Arizona-style legislation. Here we go again.
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01/27/11 The Spanish-language press reports today that Republicans' response to President Barack Obama's request to cooperate to pass immigration reform was a hearing during which they advocated enforcement-only policies with no solution but deportation for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
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01/26/11 During the first half of his State of the Union address last night, President Obama argued that "winning the future" would be impossible without fixing immigration. He made the case for both the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform, and challenged the new Republican leadership to step up to the plate to find real solutions.
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01/26/11 Today, the Spanish-language press covers President Obama's statements on immigration during his second State of the Union address. EFE, Notimex, AFP, and Univisión.com, among others, write that Obama called on Republicans and Democrats to "take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration." "I am prepared to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, enforce our laws and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows," he continued.
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01/25/11 Vivir Latino expressed low expectations for the treatment of immigration reform at tonight's State of the Union address. America's Voice founder Frank Sharry has made his suggestions here. Now, via Rachel Labruyere at Reform Immigration For America, there's a new way to register your opinion during tonight's State of the Union address -- apparently there's an app for that.
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01/25/11 Last week, as Pedro—an orphan who grew up American and dreams of serving in the Marine Corps —faced imminent deportation from the country he hopes to serve. Well, Pedro's community bolted into action -- and so did you. Last week, over ten thousand faxes were sent on Pedro's behalf, and this activism made a huge difference.
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01/24/11 "President Obama should challenge Republicans such as Arizona Sens. John McCain and John Kyl to work with him on immigration reform. Immigration has become the defining issue for Latinos, a fast-growing group of voters who are pivotal in swing states such as Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Florida. Action on the DREAM Act in late 2010 put Republicans on the defensive and generated a wave of Latino support that helped Democrats hold onto the Senate. Obama, having failed to keep his promise to fight for comprehensive immigration reform early in his presidency, needs more than a drive-by mention near the end of the speech."
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01/24/11 Someone enter this entire Washington Post Editorial into the Congressional record. Seriously. "The limits of immigration enforcement," January 22, 2011: "TYSON FOODS, one of the world's largest food processing firms, has a checkered past when it comes to employment practices, specifically the hiring of undocumented workers."
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01/21/11 Last week's Republican-backed Hispanic Leadership Network conference in South Florida overflowed with chatter about how the GOP needs to improve its positioning with Latino voters. Amidst all the discussion, however, few voices at the conference admitted the simple truth that appealing to Latino voters will not simply require a change in "tone" when it comes to the immigration issue, but a change in policies advocated by the GOP.
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01/20/11 In response to a recent Roll Call article calling out the nativist lobby, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith wrote a letter to the editor making a series of claims—many of which he's been making for the last 20 years—which simply don't stack up to the facts. These myths also conveniently obscure the lack of any denial of ties to the nativist lobby. While many of Smith's easy-to-swallow myths may stir the extreme end of a conservative base, they serve as a yet another distraction from having an open and honest immigration debate.
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01/19/11 A new internet video, entitled, "2 girls undermine entire US border strategy in under 18 seconds" is causing quite a stir. It's already received nearly 1/2 a million hits on YouTube and is sure to continue to spark debate. Watch it.
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01/18/11 Pedro Gutierrez, an orphan who grew up in Arizona, was brought here by his grandmother when he was only 7 years old. Though she passed away when Pedro was still a child, Pedro persevered and, with the support of his community, went on to graduate high school. Like so many other talented, young undocumented immigrants, he dreams of joining the Marines; however, despite having full support of a military recruiter, this young dreamer could be deported to Mexico – where he has no family or friends -- today.
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01/17/11 Today we celebrate both the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the start of 2011. To many, a new year signals a new beginning – a time during which we set our goals, and set out to better ourselves. To heroes like King, that means also bettering the lives of those around us, and having the courage to do so.
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