06/18/13 National Journal reports that anti-immigrant House members are asking why Republicans should pass legislation that would give citizenship to “11 million undocumented Democrats.”  This fear of citizenship – and future voting behavior – courses through much of the immigration debate and underscores many Republican amendments designed to make the path to citizenship less attainable.  As [...]
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06/17/13 As the second week of debate on the Gang of 8 immigration bill got underway today, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, began his floor speech outlining the week ahead. As he said, “I hope we can make more progress on this vital legislation.” Leahy went on to explain several of the [...]
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06/14/13 This week, the Senate began debate on the immigration reform bill. If you’ve been watching, you’re seeing just how complicated the process in the Senate can be. It’s subject to a lot of delaying tactics and procedural games. As you can imagine, opponents of reform–led by Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (R-AL)–are using every possible [...]
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06/12/13 Today, on the Senate floor, we saw something we hadn’t seen yet in the immigration debate: A Senator actually invoked the Heritage Foundation’s infamous anti-immigrant report. Sure, Rep. Steve King has cited the report, but he’s so extreme we’d expect it from him. But Utah’s Mike Lee seemed unfazed by the controversy surrounding Heritage.  As he said today [...]
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06/12/13 Earlier today, as we noted, Majority Leader Harry Reid said: I am concerned that some who oppose the very idea of reform see these triggers as a backdoor way to undermine the legislation. And I believe some Republicans with no intention of voting for the final bill – regardless of how it is amended – [...]
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06/11/13 Yesterday Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) came out in favor of the Gang of 8 Senate immigration bill, making her the first non-Gang of 8 Republican to do so.  Today, the Chicago Tribune has a great editorial calling out its junior Senator, Republican Mark Kirk, for not yet taking a similar stance.  Illinois’ senior Senator Dick Durbin [...]
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06/10/13 A number of print outlets ran great pieces this weekend on the need for immigration reform, from the New York Times to USA Today to the Washington Post.  One of them was the New Hampshire Union Leader, which ran an op-ed from five former chairmen of the state Republican Party entitled “Why Republicans Should Support [...]
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06/10/13 Once again, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is leading the charge to undermine immigration reform. As our Executive Director here at America’s Voice Frank Sharry has noted, Cornyn has played that role before, the last time immigration reform legislation was debated in 2006-2007. This time, Cornyn is planning to introduce a “poison pill” amendment that would undermine [...]
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06/07/13 There’s been a lot of news about Senator John Cornyn’s plans to introduce a poison pill border security amendment when the Gang of 8 immigration bill hits the floor next week. This afternoon, Greg Sargent reports on a very important development: Senate Democrats aren’t going along with Cornyn. They will not accept language that undermines [...]
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06/04/13 As immigration reform heads to the Senate floor, those who watch the issue are starting to count heads and gauge which legislators might be in support.  In the Senate, if all Democrats and Independents vote for the bill, that’s 54 votes.  There’s one seat currently open after the death of Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).  The four [...]
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05/29/13 Yesterday at DailyKos, Markos Moulitsas took a look at the amendments Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is proposing to the Senate immigration reform bill. Markos examines Hatch’s strategy in relation to the GOP’s fumbling attempts to attract Latino voters, and concludes that Hatch’s amendments could have negative impact on the GOP effort: So the hope is that by [...]
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05/29/13 Roll Call: Reid: 60 Votes on Immigration ‘Pretty Easy’ By Niels Lesniewski Wall Street Journal: Immigration Bill Slow to Stir Foes’ Passion By Miriam Jordan US News and World Report: Anti-Amnesty Groups Face Mounting Odds in Immigration Fight By Lauren Fox Bloomberg: Senate Democrats Plan June 10 Start on Immigration Bill By Kathleen Hunter Daily Kos: Dear GOP, [...]
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05/23/13 More than 100 influential conservative economists today released an open letter to Congressional leadership calling for immigration reform and highlighting its economic benefits.  The letter’s signers comprised a who’s who of notable conservative economists, including Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Art Laffer, Glenn Hubbard, Ed Lazear, Larry Lindsey, June O’Neill, George Schultz and more (many of whom have served in the Bush [...]
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05/21/13 The rest of the world is learning something we’ve known for awhile: Alabama Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is extremely and obsessively anti-immigrant. And his behavior being noticed.  During the mark-up of the Senate’s “Gang of 8″ bill, Sessions has stood out – often on his own. Dana Milbank at the Washington Post wrote: Not since [...]
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05/20/13 Today, as the Senate Judiciary Committee continues its markup of the Gang of 8 immigration bill, the committee may consider one of the most nefarious amendments filed: Ted Cruz’s amendment 3, which (as we’ve written) “would prohibit anyone who had been undocumented for any period of time ever from becoming a United States citizen in the future.  [...]
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05/14/13 The anti-immigrant ProEnglish, founded by white nationalist John Tanton, is now running ads against the immigration reform bill. And, this time, the extreme opponents of immigration reform are being seen for what they are. Buzzfeed’s headline reads: Controversial “Pro-English” Group Launches Ad Campaign To Take Down Immigration Reform. The subtitle is even more on point: “Group tied to [...]
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05/13/13 Last week, Jason Richwine, who co-authored the deeply flawed report on the costs of immigration reform the Heritage Foundation, made big news when we learned that his 2009 dissertation was on IQ and immigration and included this: No one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites, but the prediction that new Hispanic immigrants [...]
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05/09/13 Senator Jeff Sessions has established himself as one of the leading opponents of immigration reform. We expect him to put on quite a show against immigration reform as markup continues over the next few weeks. Today, Sessions began challenging Chuck Schumer over aspects of the “Gang of Eight” bill. But Schumer was having none of [...]
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05/09/13 The mark up of the Senate immigration reform bill is underway. At the start of their meeting today, the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and the Ranking Republican, Chuck Grassley (R-IA), gave opening statements that set the tone for what’s to come. Leahy, who is a champion for immigration reform, made [...]
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05/03/13 Outside of a few right-wing outlets, like National Review, Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions doesn’t have a lot of allies in his quest to stop immigration reform these days. This week, he took to the airwaves in Boston to spew his vitriol about immigrants and immigration with notorious radio host Howie Carr. In the twenty minute [...]
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04/26/13 Cross-posted at Burnt Orange Report Today, The Houston Chronicle published a searing op-ed from Cesar Vargas of the DREAM Action Coalition, which targeted Texas Senator John Cornyn on immigration. At America’s Voice, we consider Cornyn to a big hypocrite on immigration, so big of a hypocrite that we even gave him an award for it. You’ll like this [...]
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04/25/13 The Senate Gang of 8 immigration bill has been released, a number of hearings have been held, and markup is scheduled to start in a few weeks.  Meanwhile, the strength of the pro-immigration reform movement continues to demonstrate its power–and the movement is growing every day. This morning, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform–who [...]
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04/25/13 House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte (R-VA) today announced that his committee will introduce a series of immigration bills staring with a mandatory E-Verify bill and an expanded guest worker program for agribusiness.  The following is a statement by Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice: Rep. Goodlatte knows full well there’s a broad bipartisan bill [...]
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04/24/13 So this is interesting. A piece yesterday at Salon discusses a trick that the National Republican Congressional Committee is trying to pull in Colorado, where it is attacking former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D) from the left on immigration.  A website set up by the NRCC slams Romanoff for “lik[ing] to waste taxpayer dollars almost as much as [...]
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04/22/13 Today, former Congressman Jim Kolbe gave powerful testimony at the Senate Judiciary Committee about the need to make sure the immigration reform legislation includes all families, including his own. The “Gang of Eight” bill did not include the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which has the support of America’s Voice and many of our allies. From [...]
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04/22/13 Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the immigration reform legislation drafted by the “Gang of Eight.” As we noted in the post below, the anti-immigrant Senators, led by Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and leader of the “Gang of Hate” Jefferson Beauregard Sessions (R-AL) on the panel invited several witnesses from the Tanton [...]
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04/18/13 The Gang of Eight Senators wrote the bipartisan immigration bill introduced this week held a press conference this afternoon that underscored the bipartisan momentum on behalf of reform.  Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John McCain (R-AZ), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) each [...]
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