06/07/13 The weeping family members of deportees met with Rep. Gutierrez and other Congressmembers this week, and President Obama is facing protests in California today over his deportation policies, but apparently Jeff Sessions actually believes that “nobody” is being deported from the US anymore. “The federal government has reached a point now where virtually no one is [...]
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06/07/13 Update: Right now, Sessions and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) are tag-teaming about the virtue of legal immigrants versus those who are undocumented immigrants.  Funny, because earlier this week a Sessions staffer, Danielle Cutrona was on a NumbersUSA call where a speaker came out against LEGAL immigration.  It looks like we’re in for a lot of [...]
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05/23/13 Update: And then there’s this, from Steve King. Wow–referring to young immigrants who want to participate in their political process as “illegal aliens” to keep out. Keeping it classy, Rep. King: #Immigration: Illegal aliens in House Judiciary Committee room during hearing today. How can we secure border if we can’t secure our room? — Steve [...]
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05/22/13 Last night, the immigration reform world cheered as the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Gang of 8 immigration reform bill out of markup on a 13-5 bipartisan vote.  As our own executive director Frank Sharry said: Today immigration reform took a giant step forward.  The Gang of Eight bill is a carefully balanced piece of [...]
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05/21/13 Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the immigration legislation by a bipartisan vote (13-5).  The vote concludes the committee markup process in the Senate and signifies the clearing of the first official legislative hurdle for immigration reform’s passage in 2013 (see here for a list of “good and bad” amendments added to the Senate bill [...]
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05/21/13 Update: Cruz 3 has just been rejected on a 5-13 vote. Senators supporting a permanent, second-class status: Sessions, Lee, Grassley, Cruz, Cornyn. Right now the Senate Judiciary Committee (#CIRmarkup) is considering Sen. Ted Cruz’s amendment 3, one of the worst amendments that has been proposed to the Senate Gang of 8 immigration bill.  Cruz seems [...]
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05/21/13 Having worked through a majority of its amendments, the Senate Judiciary Committee is in the final stages of marking up the bipartisan immigration reform bill.  According to Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who led the process thoughtfully and fairly, the markup is likely to finish today. The biggest takeaway?  Although some call the path [...]
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05/21/13 Watch live-stream here. Here’s what happened today in the Senate Judiciary Committee markup, from the Senate Judiciary Committee majority staff: Day Five Recap: Committee Concludes Consideration of Immigration Reform Bill The Senate Judiciary Committee today completed consideration of S.744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.  The immigration reform bill will make the [...]
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05/21/13 Last week, more than 140 civil and immigrant rights organizations signed a letter asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to PROTECT and EXTEND the path to citizenship they are currently debating in markup. As the letter states: Allowing the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country to become citizens after meeting appropriate requirements will make America stronger. It [...]
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05/20/13 Watch live-stream here. And follow the conversation on Twitter at #CIRMarkup. 9:15 PM: the following is a press release from the Senate Judiciary Committee majority staff: Day Four Recap: More Than 165 Amendments Considered to Immigration Bill The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday continued consideration of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.  The [...]
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05/20/13 If you think the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup of the Gang of 8 bill has been intense so far, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. As the SJC moves into Titles II and III of the bill—which cover everything from E-Verify to detention policy to family immigration to agricultural workers, not to mention the path to [...]
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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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05/20/13 If you think the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup of the Gang of 8 bill has been intense so far, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. As the SJC moves into Titles II and III of the bill—which cover everything from E-Verify to detention policy to family immigration to agricultural workers, not to mention the path to [...]
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05/20/13 If you think the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup of the Gang of 8 bill has been intense so far, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. As the SJC moves into Titles II and III of the bill—which cover everything from E-Verify to detention policy to family immigration to agricultural workers, not to mention the path to [...]
Read More »

05/20/13 If you think the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup of the Gang of 8 bill has been intense so far, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. As the SJC moves into Titles II and III of the bill—which cover everything from E-Verify to detention policy to family immigration to agricultural workers, not to mention the path to [...]
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05/17/13 Title II is intended to provide the undocumented the chance to earn their way to citizenship. To be sure, the road will be long and arduous--full of rigorous, yet even-handed, requirements. S.744 gives nothing to anyone. The right to remain permanently in the U.S. will have to be earned. But that’s not enough for Senators Grassley, Cornyn and Sessions. They’ve offered amendments to Title II designed to keep as many undocumented immigrants as possible in the shadows.
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05/16/13 Watch video here. Blogging Day 3 of the markup: 1:07 PM: the following is a press release from the Alliance 4 Citizenship on Sen. Al Franken’s E-Verify amendment for business owners: Sen. Al Franken’s E-Verify Amendment Lightens Burden on Small Business Owners Small Business Owner Reacts to Franken’s Move to Increase Protections for Employers and [...]
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05/15/13 Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee cast a near-unanimous vote against an amendment from Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to restrict future legal immigration.  It underscores the growing irrelevance and isolation of the anti-immigrant movement in this year’s debate. According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice: The anti-immigrant movement thought that their efforts to define and distort the Senate immigration bill combined [...]
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05/14/13 Liveblogging the CIR Markup, Day 2: 2:07 PM: By the way, during the earlier discussion of Sessions’ amendment 1, Sen. Sessions repeated the conservative claim that immigration reform will hurt African-American workers. Peter Curstenow testified before our committee, a member of the civil rights commission along with Abigail Thurstrom a brilliant member of that commission wrote [...]
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05/13/13 Though it can be difficult to recognize pivotal moments during the middle of a debate, last week featured several major developments that significantly strengthened the prospects of immigration reform. According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice Education Fund: When immigration reform legislation is signed into law and we look back on key moments, [...]
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05/09/13 As the Senate Judiciary Committee began to mark-up of S. 744: Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act on Thursday, immigration advocates and community leaders joined a telephone press conference to offer reactions to the initial votes and progress of immigration reform. With the focus of today’s mark-up on border security, speakers on the [...]
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05/09/13 It’s not a surprise, but Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions (R-AL) has been one of the most anti-immigrant voices at today’s markup. While rookie Ted Cruz is making a surprising run for the title of Worst Senator for Immigrants, longtime veterans Sessions and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) are making it clear they don’t intend to give up [...]
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05/09/13 The following is a press statement from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Sen. Cruz’s amendment to prohibit immigrants from ever obtaining citizenship: Today, CHC Chairman Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) and Members of the CHC released the following statement in response to the amendment offered by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) that would prohibit current and former undocumented [...]
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05/09/13 At the Senate Judiciary Committee markup, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) claimed that Americans want to address border security only, and wait on broader immigration reform.  A recent New York Times/CBS news poll addresses this very question, and proves Senator Grassley is out of touch with public opinion on this issue. According to the poll, 83% [...]
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05/09/13 And rejects others, including Grassley4, which would have held off legalization until impossible border security measures had been met.  Here are some of the security amendments that have been passed: Grassley2 – Adds Senate and House Judiciary Committees to list of bodies Secretary reports to on Border Strategy, implementation of strategy, Ombudsman reporting on Interagency [...]
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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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