Immigration08 Blog

Posted 12/11/09 at 05:51pm by Jackie Mahendra

Sneak Peek of Next Week: Rep. Gutierrez Will Introduce Real Immigration Reform Bill Tuesday

After months of preparation and growing momentum, Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) announced today that he will introduce real, comprehensive immigration legislation in Congress next Tuesday.

Here is a video of the Congressman, promising action to a pumped-up crowd in October:

Congressman Gutierrez is hardly flying it alone on immigration reform, however. He will be introducing the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (with the amazing acronym, CIR ASAP)," to the U.S. House of Representatives with major backing from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Black Caucus, Asian Pacific American Caucus and Progressive Caucus.

Rep. Gutierrez' office minced no words about the urgency of real reform, in a press statement today:

We have waited patiently for a workable solution to our immigration crisis to be taken up by this Congress and our President. The time for waiting is over. This bill will be presented before Congress recesses for the holidays so that there is no excuse for inaction in the New Year. It is the product of months of collaboration with civil rights advocates, labor organizations, and members of Congress. It is an answer to too many years of pain —mothers separated from their children, workers exploited and undermined security at the border— all caused at the hands of a broken immigration system. This bill says ‘enough,’ and presents a solution to our broken system that we as a nation of immigrants can be proud of.

Click here to read more.
Posted 12/10/09 at 12:59pm by Frank Sharry

Napolitano Confirms Timeline for Obama Administration on Immigration Overhaul

Untitled Document

Cross-posted at Huffington Post.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano reiterated the Obama Administration’s plan to push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation early next year.

In her opening statement, Napolitano said:

Finally, we look forward to working with you on immigration reform.  The President is committed to that.  He is committed to reform that includes serious, effective and sustained enforcement, that includes improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm way to deal with those already illegally in the country. 

We need to demand responsibility and accountability from everyone involved.  The Department of Homeland Security, our law enforcement partners, businesses who must be able to find the workers they need here in America, and immigrants themselves as we enforce the law moving forward. 

So I look forward to working with you, Mr. Chairman and Senator Sessions and others on this Committee to develop a path forward early next year to reform the immigration system as a whole.

Napolitano’s testimony yesterday echoed her November 13th speech at the Center for American Progress, where she laid out a vision of a “three-legged stool” that includes a commitment to serious and effective immigration enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here.” 

Importantly, Napolitano again gave us a timeline – and as the President himself has stated:

[I]f there are no deadlines, nothing gets done in this town.

Click here to read more.
Posted 11/18/09 at 04:21pm by Frank Sharry

Latinos Poised to Shake Up 2010 Census, Politicians Beware

Note: Cross-posted at Huffington Post.

girlI'm not convinced Washington has awakened to the reality yet -- but the 2010 Census is going to shake things up politically in this country, and politicians would do themselves a favor to wake up and smell the coffee in advance.

This is about raw political power -- something politicians of all stripes understand.

Here is what a new study by my organization, America’s Voice Education Fund, has to say:  the 2010 Census, which will document Latino population growth, will have a profound effect on the U.S. political landscape. An astonishing number of states will owe new Congressional seats, in large part, to their new Latino constituents.

The findings provide a stunning political backdrop to the upcoming debate on comprehensive immigration reform, an issue of major consequence to Latino voters.

Since the 2000 Census, Latinos have become the largest minority group in the United States. A bipartisan firm, Election Data Services, Inc. used existing Census data to project which states are likely to gain and lose Congressional seats following the 2010 Census. Their projections show that eight states will gain at least one House seat, while eleven states will lose at least one seat in Congress. Here they are: 

States gaining House seats: Texas (+4), Arizona (+2), Florida (+1), Georgia (+1), Nevada (+1), Oregon (+1), South Carolina (+1), and Utah (+1).

States losing House seats: Ohio (-2), Illinois (-1), Iowa (-1), Louisiana (-1), Massachusetts (-1), Michigan (-1), Minnesota (-1), Missouri (-1), New Jersey (-1), New York (-1), and Pennsylvania (-1).

Latinos represent 51% of population growth in the United States as a whole since 2000. Latinos have driven growth in the states poised to gain House seats following the 2010 Census, especially in those projected to gain more than one seat: Texas and Arizona. In those two states, Latinos comprise a combined 59% of population growth since 2000.

As the report indicates, Latinos are not just settling in the usual major cities.

New members of Congress in states like Georgia and South Carolina, as well as Arizona and Texas, will owe their positions, in part, to the expanding Latino population. What’s more, states that are losing Congressional representation would have fared much worse had Latinos not moved there in record numbers. While their states’ Congressional delegations are shrinking overall, Latino voters are gaining power as they expand their share of the electorate.

These population figures translate into significant new voting power, too.

Nationwide, Latino voter registration grew 54% and Latino voter turnout grew 64% between 2000 and 2008. In the eight states poised to gain seats, Latino voter registration grew 45% and Latino voter turnout expanded 50% between 2000 and 2008.  In the eleven states poised to lose seats, Latino voter registration grew 50% and Latino voter turnout expanded 62% between 2000 and 2008.

So what does this mean for immigration reform?

Click here to read more.
Posted 11/17/09 at 02:00pm by Jackie Mahendra

The New Constituents: How Latinos Will Shape the Next Congress

Today America's Voice released a report entitled, "The New Constituents… How Latinos Will Shape Congressional Apportionment After the 2010 Census" at a live-streamed event at NDN in Washington, DC.

The report examines the role Latinos will play in shaping the next Congress, after the 2010 Census. According to bipartisan projections, nineteen states are poised to see changes in their Congressional representation. Eight states will gain at least one House seat, while eleven states will lose at least one seat in Congress.

These states, as outlined in the report: 

States gaining House seats: Texas (+4), Arizona (+2), Florida (+1), Georgia (+1), Nevada (+1), Oregon (+1), South Carolina (+1), and Utah (+1).

States losing House seats: Ohio (-2), Illinois (-1), Iowa (-1), Louisiana (-1), Massachusetts (-1), Michigan (-1), Minnesota (-1), Missouri (-1), New Jersey (-1), New York (-1), and Pennsylvania (-1).

Click here to read more.
Posted 11/13/09 at 09:38am by Jackie Mahendra

Join us on Twitter: DHS Secretary Napolitano to Speak at CAP

This morning, we'll be live-tweeting this event at the Center for American Progress.

twitter birdUPDATE 10:00 AM EST: We'll have a recap of the event up soon. For now, here are a couple of (cleaned up) tweets from the event:

  • Napolitano: we can fix this, immigration is a fixable problem, we look forward to honestly dealing with it 

  • Napolitano: need new laws 2 go after smugglers, be sure employers aren't creating constant demand 4 workers 2 cross dangerously thru desert

  • Napolitano gets Q on US jobs vs. H1b visas - A: need better US edu. programs 4math&science, get past notion that it's 1 or other; it's both

  • Napolitano: immigration has been debated since 1912 (crowd at CAP laughs) :)

  • Napolitano: hopes for immigration reform legislation in 2010, says Congress sees need to get it done 

  • Napolitano: US companies need legal workers so they don't have to move oversees

  • Napolitano: best way to uphold our laws is to make sure they're rational and enforceable; we need immigration reform

  • Napolitano: b/c of economy and enforcement illegal flow of workers cut in half

  • Napolitano: landcape has changed since 07- reform is far more attainable.

  • Napolitano talks about mtgs with faith, business, law enforcement- same conclusion; need CIR

  • Napolitano: illegal immigration is wrong, status quo is unacceptable

  • Napolitano takes stage, after intro from John Podesta detailing our broken immigration system

Here are the event details, from CAP:

A Discussion on Immigration Policy with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano

November 13, 2009, 9:00am – 10:00am

Streaming Video

Click here to watch the event live.

About This Event

As Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano brings to her job a deep understanding of immigration and border issues from her experience as Governor, Attorney General, and U.S. Attorney in the State of Arizona.

President Barack Obama has asked Secretary Napolitano to play a lead role on immigration reform. As the United States looks to fix its broken immigration system, Secretary Napolitano has been speaking with congressional leaders, law enforcement officials, business, labor, and faith leaders, and advocates from across the country—and across the political spectrum. At CAP, Secretary Napolitano will make a case why immigration reform is more needed—and more realistic—than ever before.

Join us to hear Secretary Napolitano discuss the work her department has been doing to prepare for broader immigration reform, and her unique perspective on this matter of vital importance to America's future. A Q & A session will follow her remarks.

Introduction by:

John Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for American Progress

Featured speaker:

Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano

Moderated by:

Angela M. Kelley, Vice President for Immigration Policy and Advocacy, Center for American Progress

 

Posted 11/11/09 at 10:22am by Web Team

GOP Doesn’t Flog Immigration in House Health Care Vote—King Asks, Where’s the Wedge?

KingIn the aftermath of Saturday's landmark passage of a health care reform bill in the House of Representatives, many Republican Members of Congress are scratching their heads and wondering how they could have allowed the bill to pass. They are questioning why their leadership didn't agree to use the immigration issue to kill the bill by offering a tough anti-immigrant amendment at the end of debate.

As Roll Call reports, "conservative Republicans were perplexed and angry Monday that their leaders decided not to force Democrats into a tough immigration vote that they believe could have brought down the bill." Chief among these conservatives decrying his leadership's decision is Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who stated:

"I wanted to put everything into killing the bill. I wasn't interested in anything that had later political calculations. Whenever you get something this bad, when you have a chance to kill it, you have to kill it."

Clearly, Rep. King is not interested in strategies with "later political calculations" -- if so, he wouldn't have designed his party's horrendous Latino and immigrant scapegoat strategy that is threatening to turn the GOP into a regional party for the foreseeable future.

Click here to read more.
Posted 11/09/09 at 11:57am by Jackie Mahendra

Ruben Navarrette: Time to Mark a Date for Immigration Bills

Calendar

Today conservative columnist Ruben Navarrette has a pretty simple message for Congress: it's time to get out those calendars and set a date for immigration reform legislation.

He also goes one step further and suggests that immigration reform advocates send calendars to Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who stated earlier this year that he would have an immigration bill drafted by Labor Day.

Navarrette argues:

There's a good chance that the Schumer bill is written and languishing in his desk drawer. After all, the senator had a very clear road map of where he wanted to go. In June, during a speech in Washington, Schumer laid out seven principles that he said would guide the legislation. Yet, five months later, no bill has been unveiled.

Hence, I think immigration reform activists should flood Schumer's office with thousands of 2009 calendars, each one with a red circle around Labor Day.

Click here to read more.
Posted 11/03/09 at 12:45pm by Jackie Mahendra

Colorado Independent: “Hot-button immigration issue” boosts talk radio, not elections

radioWe’ve all seen immigration play out as the hot-button issue that talk radio hosts love to flog, but today Joseph Boven has a thorough rundown of how immigration is actually playing out in elections -- politicians beware.

According to his  piece in today’s Colorado Independent:

While serious discussion of immigration policy reform has been generally avoided for the past year, the politics of immigration have weaved their way through the health care debate as a pet topic on the right, spurring some of the most heated exchanges in blog comment threads, at town hall meetings and, of course, in a joint session of Congress in September, when South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson broke U.S. House decorum by shouting out “you lie” and waving a finger at President Obama for denying that national health care legislation would provide free coverage for illegal immigrants.

According to nonpartisan pollster Floyd Ciruli, however, illegal immigration merely rallies the base. He told The Colorado Independent that relative to other issues, immigration is a fairly stable policy topic. Politicians and voters know where they stand.

“Immigration holds a talk show audience, but it doesn’t move voters by any extent.” In the 2010 elections, immigration is not likely to be a big deal.

This analysis is consistent with what we tracked in the 2008 elections, and the piece is worth reading in its entirety.

Click here to read more.
Posted 10/29/09 at 10:29am by Jackie Mahendra

Minutemen PAC Endorses Candidate in New York—What’s the big deal?

BriseniaAccording to Andrea Nill at the Wonk Room, an extreme nativist PAC, the Minutemen PAC, has gotten deeply involved in a New York Congressional race. Nill reports:

Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate for New York’s traditionally Republican 23rd District, has just won the right-wing support of the Minuteman Political Action Committee — the political action arm of a “nativist extremist” armed vigilante group. The Minuteman PAC is currently running Independent Expenditure radio spots and predicts that Hoffman is “positioned to win a landslide victory” over Republican Party nominee Dede Scozzafava.

So what's the big deal?

The Minutemen came under increasing scrutiny several months ago when a Minuteman activist, Shawna Forde, was investigated for the alleged murder of nine-year-old Brisenia Flores (pictured at right). Police suspect Forde had plotted the deadly home invasion in order to fund Minuteman activities in Arizona.

Dave Neiwert, blogger at Crooks and Liars, posted the 911 recording of the sole survivor of the deadly attack, and had this to say of the Minutemen in "Some 'neighborhood watch': Forde's Minuteman spinoff outfit was about 'starting a revolution against the government'":

The problem, as always, is its inherent vigilantism:

    The reality-based picture of the Minutemen that's emerging is not of a friendly "neighborhood watch" for the border, but of a chaotic collection of hatemongers who seem intent on a kind of populist mob rule fueled by angry paranoia. It becomes a cover not for law and order, but for the ugliest kind of brutal authoritarianism.

It's still unclear what this kind of ugly extremism will mean for our nation's long-term cultural and political identity.

Posted 10/28/09 at 05:10pm by Mahwish Khan

Obama and Corzine Know the Power of the Latino Vote

Obama is asking New Jersey’s Latino voters to back Governor Jon Corzine in his bid for reelection. How? In a 60 second campaign radio ad that went on the air today – half in English, and the other half in Spanish.

   

The ad is being played on radio stations in the New Jersey-New York metropolitan area, as well as in the Philadelphia region. 

Obama has been an ardent supporter of the Governor, having attended Corzine campaign rallies first in July and then again last week.  And on Sunday, President Obama plans on return to New Jersey to rally even more support.  Needless to say, it has gotten the Governor some enormous coverage. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer:

A July rally with the president led to a television ad for Corzine, and Obama-Corzine billboards popped up in urban areas around the state, including Camden and on one of the roads leading to the event yesterday.

Governor Corzine, who took office in 2006 after resigning from his role as state Senator, is running against Republican candidate, Christopher J. Christie.

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