02/28/13 Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is a longtime immigration reform supporter, and one of the Senate Gang of 8 currently considering immigration legislation.  He’s been such a leader on the issue that he’s now being targeted by anti-immigrant groups like NumbersUSA, who want to silence his advocacy. Last week, Graham spoke about immigration during a visit [...]
Read More »

02/25/13 POLITICO reports that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) endorsed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants on Friday saying: We just have a broken system.  And to me, if somebody wants to come in and live the American dream and work hard…we should have a system that works and let’s people in…The vast majority of [...]
Read More »

02/25/13 This weekend, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and one of the key players in the effort to pass immigration reform, appeared on CNN’s State of the Union. He expressed hope that a reform bill can be passed, noting “The time is now.”  Chairman Leahy is a longtime immigration reform champion [...]
Read More »

02/22/13 This afternoon the Washington Post published an article “Immigrants, advocates grow impatient with Obama on pace of changes to laws“, which explores the frustration immigration advocates have for the Administration’s record-breaking deportations.  From the article: The anger at President Obama’s deportation polices among some of his otherwise most ardent allies could pose a surprising complication [...]
Read More »

02/22/13 Whatever Republicans think they’re doing to start to win back that 75% of the Latino vote they lost in the last election, it’s not working.  While many in the GOP have moved toward more mainstream policies on immigration and have been willing to come to the table, others have opposed immigration reform that creates a path [...]
Read More »

02/21/13 As we’ve said before, pro-citizenship and common sense immigration reform stances are the mainstream in the immigration debate—an argument bolstered by a range of national polling, including two new polls out today. According to separate surveys by both Bloomberg and the Pew Research Center, public support for immigration that includes a pathway to citizenship remains vast and strong.  According to Bloomberg: Fifty-three percent [...]
Read More »

02/20/13 On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today, NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd reiterated his optimism that immigration reform will pass this year.  Said Todd, “Just one number you need to know: 71.  That was the percentage of Hispanics that Obama won…It’s gonna happen.” Whether one relies on the 71% figure from the network exit polls or the 75% figure from the [...]
Read More »

02/13/13 Today was another milestone in the fight for immigration reform with a clear path to citizenship. The U.S. Senate held its first hearing. And, the pro-reform side showed its political muscle with a massive petition drive whose names were inserted into the record at the hearing. Nearly 300,000 Americans made their voices heard, calling on [...]
Read More »

02/08/13 This week alone, a raft of new polling has underscored the fact that a majority of Americans want immigration reform with a path to citizenship—not legalization without citizenship or any mass deportation option.  Quinnipiac finds that 56% of all Americans support the creation of a roadmap to citizenship, the Washington Post/ABC News has the number [...]
Read More »

02/07/13 Citizenship is the mainstream position in the immigration debate.  Despite attempts by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), and others to position earned citizenship as an “extreme” position, the opposite is the case – the burgeoning push for “no citizenship” is the outlier position, outside the American mainstream. According to Frank Sharry, [...]
Read More »

02/06/13 During the House Judiciary Committee immigration hearing yesterday, Republicans’ attempted to define a policy that offers undocumented immigrants “legal residency but not a path to citizenship” as the “middle-ground option in the debate over immigration” according to the New York Times.  Judiciary Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) asked, “Are there options we should consider between the extremes of [...]
Read More »

02/05/13 Immigration articles from Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Plum Line, Huffington Post, CNN, USA Today, Politico, New York Times, the Hill, Wall Street Journal, and NPR.
Read More »

01/31/13 At a Politico Playbook breakfast yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) made an important comment about the politics of immigration reform and why it is so critical for Republicans to engage on the issue.  As Elise Foley reported at Huffington Post: “As you look at demographics in states like mine, that means that we will go [...]
Read More »

01/31/13 With immigration reform moving to center stage, the political implications and motivations behind the debate are also moving into the limelight. According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice: While some observers remain stuck in the old conventional wisdom regarding the politics of immigration, most leaders and strategists in both Parties recognize the new [...]
Read More »

01/31/13 You’ve heard it from us over and over: there’s a new politics of immigration reform, shaped by the 2012 elections. That new politics means immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for the 11 million, is under serious consideration in Congress. The Democrats promised it. And the Republicans need it. E.J. Dionne, one of the [...]
Read More »

01/31/13 The Daily Show last night with Jon Stewart and correspondents Al Madrigal and Jessica Williams covered the hot immigration news of this week with their own take on why Republicans are suddenly so willing to come to the table on reform.  As Al Madrigal said: To see Republicans in a last-ditch attempt to ensure the [...]
Read More »

01/24/13 With immigration reform moving forward in the coming weeks, one decision Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) make could have monumental consequences for them and their Party down the line.  Both Cornyn and Cruz are on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will be the starting gate for consideration of immigration reform this year.  [...]
Read More »

01/23/13 Immigration reform has become a win-win-win issue—smart politics for both Republicans and Democrats, and smart policy for the nation.  Gary Segura, a Principal at Latino Decisions, and Lynn Tramonte, Deputy Director of America’s Voice, gathered on a press call and webinar today to review new Latino Decisions analysis outlining what Republicans lost by following an anti-immigration strategy in the [...]
Read More »

01/23/13 Cross-posted at Daily Kos: Happy anniversary! One year ago today, January 23, at a GOP presidential debate in Florida, Mitt Romney first announced his support for self-deportation and set the stage for his loss in November.  To jog your memory, here’s how Romney responded to a question from co-moderator Adam Smith of the Tampa Bay Times about how a President [...]
Read More »

01/23/13 A range of new polls offer fresh evidence that Americans want immigration reform with citizenship, while providing another reminder of the momentum behind immigration reform in 2013: Bipartisan Poll from Hart Research and Public Opinion Strategies – Overwhelming Support for Citizenship and Likely Legislative Framework: As Eliseo Medina of SEIU writes in Huffington Post of the bipartisan polling, “A [...]
Read More »

01/18/13 A solid majority of U.S. voters favor common sense immigration reform that includes a path to earned citizenship for current undocumented immigrants, and strong accountability measures, according to a groundbreaking, bipartisan poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican polling firm, and Hart Research Associates, a Democratic firm. The national survey of 1,003 registered voters, sponsored by [...]
Read More »

01/18/13 As Congress and the President begin considering immigration legislation this year, it’s important for Republicans to remember why they need to support this effort.  President Obama beat Mitt Romney by more than a 3-1 margin among Latino voters in 2012, which spells demographic disaster for Republicans unless they reconsider their hardline stances on immigration and other [...]
Read More »

01/03/13 The Huffington Post reports that President Obama is planning to move “full steam ahead” on immigration reform this January, with the White House planning “to push forward quickly.”  Meanwhile, both movement conservatives and Republican leaders are calling for Republicans to engage in a new way on immigration.  As a new America’s Voice report makes clear, this political breakthrough could lead to a [...]
Read More »

12/27/12 Cross-posted at the Hill: The results of the 2012 elections showed that Republicans are teetering at the edge of a “demographic cliff.” They have alienated Latino voters so thoroughly that they risk becoming a regional party unless something big changes, and changes soon. It’s obvious how they got here: the anti-immigration wedge strategy employed by [...]
Read More »

12/14/12 A new video from America’s Voice Education Fund, “From the Latino Vote in 2012 to Immigration Reform in 2013,” captures the Republican Party’s challenge with respect to Latino voters and the GOP’s need to push for immigration reform. The video starts with Ronald Reagan arguing for “amnesty,” followed by Mitt Romney announcing hardline immigration positions [...]
Read More »

12/13/12 Latinos and the Republican Party haven’t seen eye-to-eye much recently.  However, leaders of prominent Latino-focused organizations and leading Republican pollsters each made news yesterday and reached a similar conclusion: the Republican Party needs to play ball on real immigration reform or else pay an escalating political price.  There’s a consensus that changing demographics and the [...]
Read More »

12/10/12 The ramp-up to the upcoming immigration reform legislative battle has started and will continue to play out in public over the coming months.  As America’s Voice Education Fund’s Executive Director Frank Sharry told USA Today, the legislative “measures that pass are those are litigated in public, in a loud debate.”  However, despite the impending noise, [...]
Read More »