02/08/12 Does anyone (besides Mitt Romney) listen to the chair of the House Judiciary Committee anymore?
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01/20/12 As sponsor of the Stop Online Piracy Act, a.k.a. SOPA, Rep. Lamar Smith has put himself at the center of a massive controversy. Online activists realized that Smith is dangerous figure. Welcome to our world.
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11/04/11 A scathing editorial in today's Washington Post blasts Alabama's new anti-immigrant law - and the failure of Congress to find a path to citizenship for the undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
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10/27/11 The Wall Street Journal makes an excellent point about immigration today. Yesterday, before Janet Napolitano was to face a number of bullying Republicans at an Oversight Hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) wrote an op-ed in Politico calling Obama's record deportation numbers "a trick."
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10/25/11 With all that's been happening with the new immigration law in Alabama, it's been hard to remember that there are, in fact, other balls still in the air re: immigration. Take, for example, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)'s mandatory E-Verify bill, passed through the House Judiciary Committee last month and lingering in the House ever since.
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10/12/11 Today's hearing in the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement provides another opportunity to shine a light on immigration enforcement strategies that are smart and effective, and to expose those that are irresponsible and dangerous.
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09/28/11 While House Republican leaders try to figure out the timing for when they should drop a floor vote on a flawed mandatory E-Verify bill, America's Voice Education Fund and Service Employees International Union launched a five-figure Spanish-language media campaign to educate constituents about the legislation, which we often refer to as the "GOP's Jobs-killing Plan."
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09/27/11 The Republican presidential debates have certainly generated a conversation about immigration reform. However, within Republican circles, that conversation has gotten ugly and divisive. But, as an editorial in USA Today makes clear, that is the wrong approach.
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09/22/11 Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee passed Rep. Lamar Smith's mandatory E-Verify bill on a party-line vote, and you can bet that the GOP leadership is sweating about this. If Smith's E-Verify plan is successful, it would devastate the agriculture industry, where undocumented immigrants make up 75% of the workforce.
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09/22/11 Yesterday, The House Judiciary Committee approved Rep. Lamar Smith's E-Verify bill on a party-line vote after considering a series of amendments. Rep. Lamar Smith has consistently maintained that his E-Verify bill is about protecting American workers, even though it's clearly not.
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09/21/11 The House Judiciary Committee just voted, 22 - 13, to pass Rep. Lamar Smith's E-Verify bill, H.R. 2885. It was a party line vote. All the Democrats voted no while the GOP members voted with Smith. The next step in the House is up to Republican leadership. And, Smith's bill is generating serious controversy among traditional GOP allies.
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09/20/11 Despite increasing opposition from within his own party, as well as concerns from labor unions, agriculture, and Latino groups, Lamar Smith is pushing onward with his destructive, anti-immigrant "jobs agenda."
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09/19/11 Despite publicly expressing confidence over the legislation's prospects, leading anti-immigrant lawmaker Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) had a difficult week promoting his mandatory E-Verify bill.
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09/16/11 In "honor" of this nonsense, and in honor of it being Friday, we at America's Voice have pulled together a few fun clips that remind us of the echo chamber around these GOP legislators. We all know the economy is a problem, but these representatives would rather cast blame and point fingers rather than get down and propose real solutions to that which needs solving.
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09/16/11 Rep. Lamar Smith is desperate to pass E-Verify. In a recent op-ed, Smith claimed E-Verify will help minorities. But, it won't. And, Smith's 6% civil rights score from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights doesn't give him much credibility on this issue.
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09/15/11 In the House Judiciary Committee this morning, Rep. Lamar Smith and his Republican chums delivered opening statements in support of mandatory E-Verify at a mark-up for that virulently anti-worker/anti-immigrant pieces of legislation, which is sponsored by Rep. Smith. Even though E-Verify would impact all American workers (even U.S. born citizens), Rep. Lamar Smith continues to spin it as the "GOP's Jobs Plan."
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09/15/11 E-Verify, the top priority of Rep. Lamar Smith and the House Republican Caucus, would cause the loss of 800,000 American jobs and burden small businesses. That's bad enough. But, there's another problem: E-Verify doesn�t work. The system fails over half the time.
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09/14/11 Despite all the problems with E-Verify, Rep. Lamar Smith is charging forward with his mandatory bill -- and adding a cheap guest worker plan to the mix in a blatant attempt to buy off the industry. Instead of putting American workers first, Smith's plan promotes a race to the bottom for the industry and jeopardizes the jobs of hundreds of thousands of Americans working in and around agriculture today.
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09/13/11 Yesterday, Rep. Mike Honda (CA-15), Chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC)'s immigration caucus, wrote a "Dear Colleague" letter to his fellow house members about the dangers of e-verify. He highlights that this mandate would cost Americans their jobs (770,000 of them) and crush small businesses.
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09/13/11 The current political conversation in Washington and the nation is all about jobs. Last week, President Obama unveiled his jobs plan, which experts have concluded would create 1.9 million jobs.
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08/26/11 Rep. Lamar Smith, leader of the Congressional Mass Deportation Caucus and self-appointed leading pundit, recently sent a "Dear Colleague" letter pushing cherry-picked polling information to further his agenda.
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08/02/11 Here's a question: how many border agents does it take to the protect the border? The real-life answer is that we'll never find out because apparently, a significant number of them have been known to fall asleep on the job.
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07/27/11 Yesterday, Rep. Lamar Smith held a hearing on the Hinder the Administration's Legalization Temptation (HALT) Act. This is the legislation designed to bully Obama into not using his discretion to prevent deportations. Smith wanted Senator David Vitter as his expert witness on prosecutorial discretion. That backfired.
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07/26/11 Tomorrow, Lamar Smith will hold a hearing on the HALT Act, legislation designed to bully President Obama. The HALT Act would prevent the use of discretion by the President in immigration cases. Smith's expert witness is Senator David Vitter, who knows a thing or two about prosecutorial discretion.
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07/21/11 Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has really thin skin. He just can't help himself and has to respond to any article that mentions him and/or immigration policy. These are not baseless allegations. Even well-known news columnist, Ruben Navarrette, called him out on it, writing that Lamar Smith "creates his own reality on immigration." Navarrette didn't have to wait long before Rep. Smith had drafted and published a response in the Ventura County Star.
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07/15/11 Yesterday we wrote a blog post about Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)'s latest anti-immigration bill, the Hinder the Administration's Legalization Temptation, or HALT, Act. The bill would strip President Obama of the power to set priorities on immigration enforcement, meaning he would be limited in his ability to grant stays of deportation for certain refugees or DREAM students.
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07/15/11 As it turns out, undocumented workers aren't really big fans of being targeted while they're doing their job, and farmers aren't so keen on having their workers picked on either. As a result of anti-immigrant legislators passing legislation that scares off undocumented workers, farmers are suffering, and a multi-billion dollar industry is at a significant loss.
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