05/10/13 This Sunday–Mothers’ Day–will mark the five-year anniversary of the Postville, Iowa immigration raid, still one of the largest in history. Our colleague, Matt Hildreth, who lives in Iowa, is at events marking the anniversary and will have a report later. Here’s an excerpt from last year’s New York Times article, which tells the story: Around 10 on a [...]
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05/10/13 Washington Post (Blog): Can immigration reform really be made much more `conservative’? By Greg Sargent TIME: The Gang Reaches Across the Aisle as Senate Immigration Debate Kicks Off By Alex Altman The Hill: Coons withdraws amendment to stop deportations to unsafe areas By Alexander Bolton BuzzFeed: Heritage Immigration Implosion Could Pull In More Anti-Immigration Scholarship [...]
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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 New York Times: In Senate, Efforts to Reshape, or Derail, Immigration Bill By Ashley Parker Washington Post: Senators clash over border security proposals in immigration bill By David Nakamura Reuters: Immigration bill passes first early test in Senate By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro Politico: Tougher border security language added to immigration bill By Seung [...]
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05/09/13 We’ve written several times about the growing scandal swirling around the Heritage Foundation, its deeply flawed immigration report and the disturbing views of Jason Richwine, one of the study’s authors. Perhaps most interesting is the potential for the Heritage story to taint other “think tanks” whose “scholars” also hold questionable views on minorities, immigrants, and [...]
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05/09/13 Update: During an interview that a Heritage spokesperson gave on Hispanic radio, it’s unclear whether Richwine would be fired.  The spokesperson defended the report, claiming that the controversial parts might have been “taken out of context.” Jim DeMint’s Heritage Foundation just hasn’t had a very good week. Four days ago, the conservative think tank released [...]
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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 It’s happening. Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting to propose edits to the “Gang of Eight’s” immigration bill. For months we’ve known that anti-immigrant legislators would use this opportunity to narrow — or even try to kill – the pathway to citizenship, but now we know how truly ugly some of their proposals are.  You won’t believe this: Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) wants [...]
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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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05/09/13 When Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said the security provisions contained in the bipartisan Senate bill are “weak” in his opening statement today, he completely ignored reality and the real state of border security: As a nation, we have mounted an aggressive “enforcement-first” strategy for the past 20 years.  Currently, according to the Migration Policy Institute, we [...]
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05/09/13 Cross-posted at Latino Decisions, Latino Vote Matters, and Daily Kos: New data from the November 2012 U.S. Census Current Population Survey (CPS) reveals a major shift in the U.S. voting population, with the number of White, non-Hispanic voters declining by more than 2 million from 2008 to 2012.  In contrast, the number of Latino, African American and [...]
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05/09/13 TIME: Immigration Bill Faces First Major Test By Alex Altman Talking Points Memo: Poison Pills And Deal Breakers: Senate Panel Considers 300 Amendments To Immigration Reform Bill By Benjy Sarlin Arizona Republic: Immigration-reform bill faces 1st major test By Erin Kelly Bloomberg: Social Security Agency Says Immigration Bill Would Boost Revenue By Lisa Lerer Washington [...]
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05/08/13 See what the immigration news world has been talking about today: Wall Street Journal: Social Security: Immigration Overhaul Helps By Sara Murray Mother Jones: The 5 Most Ridiculous GOP Immigration Reform Amendments By Adam Serwer ABC News: The Immigration Amendments You Need to Know By Jordan Fabian and Ted Hesson Think Progress: The 11 Most [...]
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05/08/13 Below is a press release from the Alliance for Citizenship: On a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, national leaders and immigrant advocates outlined expectations for the Senate Judiciary mark-up of S. 744: Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. The Alliance for Citizenship, a national campaign working with hundreds of groups around the country [...]
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05/08/13 As the mark-up of the Senate immigration begins in the Judiciary Committee tomorrow, advocates for reform got some very significant news today on the economic benefits of the bill. Via the WSJ’s Washington Wire: The Senate immigration bill will help improve Social Security’s long-term solvency and reduce the number of immigrants entering the U.S. illegally, [...]
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05/08/13 Ahead of the start of the legislative markup tomorrow in the Senate Judiciary Committee, immigration reform supporters and opponents on the Senate Judiciary Committee have filed over 300 amendments to the bipartisan reform bill. Below is a snapshot of some of the most telling and important amendments filed.  In light of the fact that reform [...]
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05/08/13 The Heritage Report has had a rough week, after being criticized by everyone from Paul Ryan to Marco Rubio to Jeff Flake.  Co-author of the report Robert Rector admitted that he hasn’t even examined the full immigration bill that his study critiques, and told Larry Kudlow that the report didn’t bother to calculate the economic benefits from immigrants. Keep in mind, this Heritage Report [...]
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05/08/13 Associated Press: Immigration bill confronts hundreds of amendments By Erica Werner PBS Newshour: Chambliss’ Hole-in-One Puts Obama in Play on Budget Talks By Christina Bellatoni and Katelyn Polanz SENATE JUDICIARY MARK-UP PREVIEW & AMENDMENT ANALYSIS Washington Post: Senate immigration bill elicits a flood of amendments By David Nakamura and Ed O’Keefe Wall Street Journal: Immigrant [...]
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05/07/13 Buzzfeed: Senator Patrick Leahy Files Amendments To Include Gay Couples In Immigration Bill By Chris Geidner NBC News: GOP spotlights border security as immigration fight looms By Carrie Dann US News: GOP Throws Up Road Block on Immigration Reform By Lauren Fox Huffington Post: Senate Immigration Bill Will Help Border Security, Homeland Security Officials Say [...]
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05/07/13 Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the anti-immigrant Center for Immigration Studies and the intellectual author of the GOP’s “self-deportation” policy, again made it clear last week that he’s out to kill immigration reform—and he’s attacking everyone who supports it. Krikorian recently made headlines for encouraging Republicans to give up on immigration reform altogether because Latinos [...]
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05/07/13 Federal legislation to improve the nation’s immigration system is taking a step forward this week, when the Senate Gang of 8 immigration bill goes into markup, but advocates today are reminding President Obama of the high cost of strict immigration enforcement and what he can do to alleviate the problem. A new study from Lake [...]
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05/07/13 Today, over 100 high profile artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, comedians, directors, producers, and performers are joining the growing movement for immigration reform, and  calling on President Obama and Congress to pass legislation with a pathway to citizenship. Members of the creative community who are speaking out for humane reform include Russell Banks, W. Kamau Bell, [...]
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05/07/13 New York Times: G.O.P. Opponents Plan Immigration Bill Attack By Ashley Parker Reuters: Former Senator DeMint takes center stage in immigration debate By Caren Bohan Washington Post: On immigration legislation, fissures emerge within conservative ranks By David Nakamura Huffington Post: Heritage Immigration Report Predicts Huge Cost, Draws Ire By Elise Foley Talking Points Memo: Heritage [...]
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