06/08/11 Yesterday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick removed his state from the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Communities program. Today, The New York Times used that news as the basis for another very strong editorial urging a new direction for "President Obama's misconceived and failing immigration dragnet."
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06/06/11 There has been a letter from 22 senators, a legal memo written by the American Immigration Counsel, and a network of immigration advocates all revealing that Obama's hands aren't tied on immigration.
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06/06/11 Isaias Vasquez, just graduated with honors from Bruce Randolph in Denver. That's a school praised by President Obama in the State of the Union. But, Isaias is a DREAMer and his options are limited. He wrote a letter to the President, which appeared over the weekend in the Denver Post.
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06/02/11 A short but compelling lesson in history: Leading up to the 2010 elections, polling showed immigration to be the second most important concern of Latinos (after the economy). Still Alex Sink, a 2010 Florida candidate for Governor, and her gubernatorial campaign made a strategic decision to deemphasize immigration and the Latino vote.
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05/31/11 Today, the Washington Post looked at the changing demographics of North Carolina. Obama won that state in 2008 by a slim margin. Both parties intend to make a play for NC's electoral votes. Overall, the state is changing demographically and politically. In North Carolina, the Latino population grew by 111.13% from 2000 to 2010 now constitute 8.4% of the population.
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05/26/11 Earlier today, Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Reid (D-NV), Durbin (D-IL), Schumer (F-NY), Akaka (D-HI), Leahy (D-VT), Bennet (D-CO), and Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the Military Families Act. This legislation aims to provide stability and peace of mind for men and women in the military who have close family members who are undocumented. The bill would allow parents, spouses, and children of active duty military servicemen and women to become legal permanent residents.
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05/18/11 Last night, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart realized that "the demographic numbers have become completely unavoidable," and introduced Mexican-American comedian Al Madrigal as their new "Señior" Latino Correspondent.
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05/16/11 Criticism has arisen from DREAM activists and progressive bloggers over the politicization of the DREAM Act by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).
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05/13/11 News of President Obama's recent push for immigration reform has hijacked the news this week, and media personalities have been all too vocal about what they think are Obama's real intentions for immigration reform. Some have called his efforts "insincere" while others have praised him for finally playing to his base; this is entirely politics, some argue, while others say that yes, it might be, but it's also good policy
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05/12/11 Yesterday's reintroduction of the DREAM Act—sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and many others—elicited a wide range of responses, from elation that the bill is back in consideration to hopefulness about continued progress to skepticism that it is anything more than a political vehicle.
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05/12/11 Earlier this month, a prominent group of immigration attorneys wrote a memo detailing the President's executive authority on immigration related matters. To be blunt, the President's hands aren't tied. In the wake of the President's speech on immigration, editorial boards at major newspapers are calling on the President to use that executive authority. We agree.
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05/11/11 Today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Majority Leader Harry Reid and 31 of their Senate colleagues, in addition to Reps. Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) introduced the DREAM Act in the U.S. Congress. For the 11th year, this bipartisan legislation offers talented young people -- who are Americans in all but paperwork -- an opportunity to fully contribute to the country they call home.
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05/11/11 This is shaping up to be a big week. Yesterday, the President traveled to El Paso to reaffirm his commitment to immigration reform, after weeks of meetings with people on the issue. He also reasserted his support for the DREAM Act.
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05/10/11 This afternoon President Obama delivered a speech on the need for immigration reform in El Paso, Texas.
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05/10/11 Following a series of meetings with immigration stakeholders, celebrities, and members of Congress, President Obama is continuing with his most focused push on immigration reform to date this week, flying to El Paso, Texas, to visit the border for the first time as President. Obama is expected to give a speech at 3:30 pm EST this afternoon to discuss enforcement and reform.
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05/06/11 The President needs to take a detour. Heading into 2012, he can't allow his legacy on immigration to be defined by a record number of deportations and no relief for any of the undocumented immigrants he pledged to legalize. It's great that the President is using his megaphone to put more pressure on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. We need it. But we also need the Administration to take bold action to reform its enforcement policies and bring them more in line with their stated priorities.
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05/05/11 The President has been meeting with people pretty regularly about immigration reform this month. The Daily Guidance informed us that the President would be meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) "on the importance of fixing our nation's broken immigration system to meet our 21st century economic and national security needs to that America can win the future."
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05/02/11 There's been growing pressure on President Obama to use his executive powers to provide relief to undocumented immigrants, particularly DREAM students. The White House maintains that the President does not have the power to take those actions, but he really does. On Friday, several top lawyers in the immigration advocacy movement provided the legal framework through which the President could protect DREAMers and others.
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04/29/11 Yesterday, the President met with Latino celebrities and news personalities to talk about his push for comprehensive immigration reform. This followed a similar meeting with other leaders last week, a meeting which I attended. As many have pointed out, these aren't the first meetings the White House has held on immigration, and they certainly won't be the last.
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04/28/11 As we wrote last month, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has been grilling Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about her Department's deportation practices. Grassley seems particularly agitated about the "threat" of Napolitano using prosecutorial discretion and allowing some individuals with compelling cases to delay their deportations through "deferred action."
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04/25/11 On Friday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA-16) asked that federal immigration officials be investigated, claiming that they lied about whether counties and states had the right to opt out of the Secure Communities program.
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04/25/11 On April 21st, the editorial page of La Opinión offered its take on President Obama's latest meeting on immigration reform. Like many of us, the editorial notes that they, and the Latino community in particular, want "more than just meetings."
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04/25/11 Last week, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy (D) wrote to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requesting deferred action on behalf of DREAM-eligible student Mariano Cardoso. Cardoso, who has been living in the U.S. since he was a year old, is currently facing deportation and is merely months away from graduating from college.
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04/22/11 President Obama may be 3,000 miles away from Washington this week, spending today and tomorrow wrapping up a visit to the West Coast, but the topic of immigration has been following him everywhere he goes. One day after he summoned stakeholders to the White House to discuss immigration reform, the president was asked to rehash the subject at a Facebook town hall in Palo Alto.
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04/21/11 Prerna Lal is a J.D. Candidate at GW Law School, a writer at Change.org, and a Board Member at Immigration Equality. She's also a DREAMer.
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04/20/11 Beatrice Kiarie, a mother of four has been in detention because of an INS "paperwork mistake" that could take three months to fix. This is another example of the real pain in immigrant communities due to the administration's unrelenting enforcement-only policies.
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04/20/11 Our favorite response so far to President Obama's immigration meeting yesterday comes from Daily Kos, where Markos Moulitsas managed to sum up yesterday's meeting -- and Obama's presidency on immigration, so far.
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