By TRIP GABRIEL
The New York Times
October 19, 2011
Today, Republican candidates are competing over who can talk the toughest about illegal immigration — who will erect the most impenetrable border defense; who will turn off “magnets” like college tuition benefits.
But after such pointed proposals heated up yet another Republican debate, on Tuesday night, some party officials see a yellow light signaling danger in battleground states with large Hispanic populations in November 2012. Will Hispanic voters remember and punish the eventual Republican nominee?
“The discussion of creating electrified fences from sea to sea is neither prudent nor helpful,” said Ryan Call, chairman of the Republican Party of Colorado, where Hispanics cast 13 percent of votes in 2008 and helped President Obama flip the state to blue. “They’re throwing red meat around in an attempt to mollify a particular aspect of the Republican base.”
Besides Colorado, Mr. Obama cemented his victory in part by carrying three other swing states with large Hispanic voting populations: Florida, Nevada and New Mexico.
Republican strategists have hoped to win many of these voters back by appealing to their discontent over the economy and to their social conservatism, issues that helped George W. Bush win a historically high 44 percent of Hispanic voters in 2004.
Now, however, that pitch may be thwarted, according to some Republican strategists.
Both Herman Cain, the former business executive, and Representative Michele Bachmann are proposing a 1,200-mile border fence — electrified, in Mr. Cain’s case, double-walled in Mrs. Bachmann’s.
Mitt Romney has attacked Gov. Rick Perry of Texas as soft on illegal immigration. Mr. Perry punched back in the debate on Tuesday in Las Vegas, accusing Mr. Romney of “hypocrisy” because, Mr. Perry said, “you had illegals working on your property.”
Robert Ramirez, a Republican state representative from Colorado who attended the debate, said Hispanic voters in his state “are sick and tired of empty promises from the Democratic Party.”
Nevertheless, Mr. Ramirez was concerned about the nominees’ lack of sensitivity. “We can’t pretend the Latino vote doesn’t exist,” he said. “It’s time we became the party of inclusion.”
Even Mr. Romney, who has been more measured in his remarks, may have lost Hispanic support over his criticism of a Texas law that allows some children of illegal immigrants to attend state colleges on in-state tuition.
“He can make as many trips to Florida and New Mexico and Colorado and other swing states that have a large Latino population, but he can write off the Latino vote,” said Lionel Sosa, a strategist in Texas who advised Mr. Bush and Senator John McCain on appealing to Hispanics. “He’s not going to gain it again.”
In each of those states, plus Nevada, Hispanics are a growing share of eligible voters, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Although these voters have traditionally favored Democrats, Mr. Obama’s 67 percent share of the Hispanic vote in 2008 dipped to 60 percent who voted Democratic during the 2010 Republican wave that swept the midterm elections, said Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director of the Pew center.
In a Pew survey that year, Hispanic voters ranked education and the economy as their top issues. But there was strong support for state-level “Dream” acts allowing children of illegal immigrants to attend colleges on in-state tuition, and 61 percent disapproved of more border fencing.
Many analysts credit the Democratic victories that year of Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, and Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado to get-out-the-vote efforts by Latinos.
“Sharron Angle got destroyed in the election because of her anti-immigration stand,” said Andres Ramirez, a Democratic strategist in Nevada, referring to Mr. Reid’s opponent, a Tea Party darling. Mr. Ramirez predicted that Hispanic participation in the 2012 election in Nevada would surpass the 15 percent from 2008, and he said that Republicans missed an opportunity in holding a debate in Las Vegas to showcase more moderate immigration views.
“Their rhetoric on illegal immigration was very over the top,” he said. “It will cost them in the future.”
Heidi Smith, the Republican national committeewoman from Nevada, said the focus on illegal immigration was a distraction. “It’s taking time off of the big issue, and that is we don’t have any jobs,” she said.
In Florida, where the Hispanic vote has traditionally leaned Republican because of large numbers of conservative Cuban-Americans, immigration issues may be especially divisive in 2012. The state’s favorite son Republican senator, Marco Rubio, seems only too happy to duck immigration issues, and the Republican-controlled State Senate refused to pass a bill this spring with a tough requirement on employers to check workers’ immigration status.
Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota County in Florida, said that showing toughness against illegal immigration was an “electrifying” issue and could bump a Republican candidate many points in primary polls. He is disappointed by the moderation of candidates’ proposals so far. “Nobody said, ‘We have to repeal the 14th Amendment,’ ” he said, referring to the constitutional guarantee of citizenship to a child born in the United States. Critics of illegal immigrant mothers who supposedly enter the country to have “anchor babies” sometimes propose repealing the Reconstruction-era amendment.
Mr. Gruters was quick to concede that such positions would cost an eventual Republican nominee.
“In case they’re the nominee, it could be a deal-breaker where they take themselves out as a serious contender,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/us/politics/immigration-talk-turns-off-some-hispanics.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
Showing posts with label Latino Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Latino Politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Big shift in deportation policy
Feds may toss thousands of low-level migrant cases
by Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 19, 2011 12:0
Thousands of illegal immigrants without criminal records who are currently facing deportation could have their cases thrown out as part of a revamped deportation policy that focuses primarily on removing immigrants convicted of crimes, the Obama administration announced Thursday.
The government also will direct immigration-enforcement agents not to place immigrants into deportation proceedings simply for being in the country illegally. That would allow agents to focus deportation resources on removing serious criminals, senior White House officials said.
The changes, which would allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the country indefinitely, come amid growing criticism heading into the 2012 presidential election from Latino and immigrant advocates. They are angry that President Barack Obama's administration has deported record numbers of people after failing to fulfill a campaign promise to enact a legalization program for millions of undocumented immigrants and other immigration reforms.
They have been especially critical of a rapidly expanding program known as Secure Communities that has led to the deportation of thousands of immigration violators with no criminal records or who have committed low-level crimes along with thousands of immigrants convicted of serious crimes.
On the other side of the immigration debate, immigration-enforcement supporters quickly denounced the decision to throw out some low-priority cases and not pursue others as a form of amnesty that uses Obama's administrative authority to bypass Congress.
"(The new policy) clearly demonstrates the Obama administration's defiance of both the constitutional separation of powers and the will of the American public in its relentless effort to gain amnesty for illegal aliens," said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group in Washington, D.C., that advocates less immigration and more immigration enforcement.
Besides the economy and high unemployment, immigration reform is a major concern for many Latino voters, who often have seen family members deported or know others who have been deported, said Rodolfo Espino, an assistant political-science professor at Arizona State University.
As a result, Obama is under pressure from Latinos and immigrant groups to back off from record deportations, he said. The government deported 392,862 people in fiscal 2010, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"For a lot of these people, it's reached the boiling point," Espino said.
On Tuesday, Latino activists protested outside Obama's 2012 campaign headquarters in Chicago, calling for an end to the Secure Communities program. The federal program screens the fingerprints of people booked into jails across the country to look for immigration violators or illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.
Senior White House officials denied that the new deportation policy is in response to the criticism over the administration's deportations.
They said that changes to the Secure Communities program have resulted in more criminals being deported and that the program is now deporting more criminals than non-criminals, a shift from the past.
Louis DeSipio, a political-science professor at University of California-Irvine, said Obama appears to be trying to strike a middle ground heading into the 2012 election to appease both Latinos and immigration-enforcement supporters.
He doubts either side will be satisfied. Enforcement supporters will view the new policy as softening on illegal immigration, while Latinos and immigrant advocates will remain disillusioned with Obama for failing to get immigration reform passed, he said.
Under the changes announced Thursday, senior White House officials said the government will review 300,000 pending immigration cases one by one to look for low-priority cases that could be thrown out under a process known as "prosecutorial discretion." Low-priority cases would include illegal immigrants living in the U.S. for a long time with families, as well as undocumented students who had been brought to this country at a young age, officials said. Gay couples would be included in the definition of families, they said.
Eliminating the low-priority cases would help unclog the Immigration Court system and free up resources that could be used to focus on illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, the officials said in a conference call with journalists. They said the policy change would be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Cases being reviewed could include a combination of people now being held in ICE detention facilities and others who are free awaiting hearings.
Undocumented immigrants who have their cases thrown out would not gain any legal status and would remain illegal immigrants if they chose to stay in the country, though some might qualify for work permits, officials said. The cases could be reopened later, they said.
Norma Bernal, 40, an Avondale resident and undocumented immigrant from Sinaloa, Mexico, said she hopes the new policy will allow her to remain in the United States.
In July 2010, Bernal was arrested as part of a worksite raid conducted by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio at a Sizzler steak house on Indian School Road in west Phoenix. Bernal, who stocked the salad bar, was arrested on suspicion of using false documents to gain employment. She spent three months in jail before she was turned over to immigration-enforcement officials. She said she spent another 10 months in a federal immigration-detention center in Eloy before she was released while she fights the government's attempt to deport her.
"That is my hope, that the government will look at my case and realize that the only thing I wanted to do was work and take care of my family," said Bernal, who has two daughters born in the U.S. and has lived in the country since 1995.
Gerald Burns, a Chandler immigration lawyer, said the immigration court in Phoenix is so backlogged, it is taking on average 3.5 years to 4 years for cases to conclude. He said some immigration judges are setting final hearings for cases as far away as October 2016.
Even though immigration officials said they are deporting more criminals than non-criminals, that does not appear to be the case in Phoenix.
Most of the cases Burns sees are low-level cases involving undocumented immigrants swept up in raids by the Sheriff's Office or programs such as Secure Communities.
"You go to court on any given day and 90 percent of the cases you see in the courtroom are people charged with illegal re-entry or visa overstays," Burns said.
Delia Salvatierra, a Phoenix immigration lawyer, said throwing out some low-level immigration cases might allow some immigrants to remain in the country until Congress takes up immigration reform in the future. Congress is not expected to revisit the issue until after the 2012 election at the earliest.
"I would rather see (Obama) do this administrative bandage than see people separated from their families," she said.
Republic reporter Richard Ruelas contributed to this article.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2011/08/19/20110819deportation-policy-big-shift-illegal-immigrants.html#ixzz1VU0Pchnd
by Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 19, 2011 12:0
Thousands of illegal immigrants without criminal records who are currently facing deportation could have their cases thrown out as part of a revamped deportation policy that focuses primarily on removing immigrants convicted of crimes, the Obama administration announced Thursday.
The government also will direct immigration-enforcement agents not to place immigrants into deportation proceedings simply for being in the country illegally. That would allow agents to focus deportation resources on removing serious criminals, senior White House officials said.
The changes, which would allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the country indefinitely, come amid growing criticism heading into the 2012 presidential election from Latino and immigrant advocates. They are angry that President Barack Obama's administration has deported record numbers of people after failing to fulfill a campaign promise to enact a legalization program for millions of undocumented immigrants and other immigration reforms.
They have been especially critical of a rapidly expanding program known as Secure Communities that has led to the deportation of thousands of immigration violators with no criminal records or who have committed low-level crimes along with thousands of immigrants convicted of serious crimes.
On the other side of the immigration debate, immigration-enforcement supporters quickly denounced the decision to throw out some low-priority cases and not pursue others as a form of amnesty that uses Obama's administrative authority to bypass Congress.
"(The new policy) clearly demonstrates the Obama administration's defiance of both the constitutional separation of powers and the will of the American public in its relentless effort to gain amnesty for illegal aliens," said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group in Washington, D.C., that advocates less immigration and more immigration enforcement.
Besides the economy and high unemployment, immigration reform is a major concern for many Latino voters, who often have seen family members deported or know others who have been deported, said Rodolfo Espino, an assistant political-science professor at Arizona State University.
As a result, Obama is under pressure from Latinos and immigrant groups to back off from record deportations, he said. The government deported 392,862 people in fiscal 2010, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"For a lot of these people, it's reached the boiling point," Espino said.
On Tuesday, Latino activists protested outside Obama's 2012 campaign headquarters in Chicago, calling for an end to the Secure Communities program. The federal program screens the fingerprints of people booked into jails across the country to look for immigration violators or illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.
Senior White House officials denied that the new deportation policy is in response to the criticism over the administration's deportations.
They said that changes to the Secure Communities program have resulted in more criminals being deported and that the program is now deporting more criminals than non-criminals, a shift from the past.
Louis DeSipio, a political-science professor at University of California-Irvine, said Obama appears to be trying to strike a middle ground heading into the 2012 election to appease both Latinos and immigration-enforcement supporters.
He doubts either side will be satisfied. Enforcement supporters will view the new policy as softening on illegal immigration, while Latinos and immigrant advocates will remain disillusioned with Obama for failing to get immigration reform passed, he said.
Under the changes announced Thursday, senior White House officials said the government will review 300,000 pending immigration cases one by one to look for low-priority cases that could be thrown out under a process known as "prosecutorial discretion." Low-priority cases would include illegal immigrants living in the U.S. for a long time with families, as well as undocumented students who had been brought to this country at a young age, officials said. Gay couples would be included in the definition of families, they said.
Eliminating the low-priority cases would help unclog the Immigration Court system and free up resources that could be used to focus on illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, the officials said in a conference call with journalists. They said the policy change would be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Cases being reviewed could include a combination of people now being held in ICE detention facilities and others who are free awaiting hearings.
Undocumented immigrants who have their cases thrown out would not gain any legal status and would remain illegal immigrants if they chose to stay in the country, though some might qualify for work permits, officials said. The cases could be reopened later, they said.
Norma Bernal, 40, an Avondale resident and undocumented immigrant from Sinaloa, Mexico, said she hopes the new policy will allow her to remain in the United States.
In July 2010, Bernal was arrested as part of a worksite raid conducted by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio at a Sizzler steak house on Indian School Road in west Phoenix. Bernal, who stocked the salad bar, was arrested on suspicion of using false documents to gain employment. She spent three months in jail before she was turned over to immigration-enforcement officials. She said she spent another 10 months in a federal immigration-detention center in Eloy before she was released while she fights the government's attempt to deport her.
"That is my hope, that the government will look at my case and realize that the only thing I wanted to do was work and take care of my family," said Bernal, who has two daughters born in the U.S. and has lived in the country since 1995.
Gerald Burns, a Chandler immigration lawyer, said the immigration court in Phoenix is so backlogged, it is taking on average 3.5 years to 4 years for cases to conclude. He said some immigration judges are setting final hearings for cases as far away as October 2016.
Even though immigration officials said they are deporting more criminals than non-criminals, that does not appear to be the case in Phoenix.
Most of the cases Burns sees are low-level cases involving undocumented immigrants swept up in raids by the Sheriff's Office or programs such as Secure Communities.
"You go to court on any given day and 90 percent of the cases you see in the courtroom are people charged with illegal re-entry or visa overstays," Burns said.
Delia Salvatierra, a Phoenix immigration lawyer, said throwing out some low-level immigration cases might allow some immigrants to remain in the country until Congress takes up immigration reform in the future. Congress is not expected to revisit the issue until after the 2012 election at the earliest.
"I would rather see (Obama) do this administrative bandage than see people separated from their families," she said.
Republic reporter Richard Ruelas contributed to this article.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2011/08/19/20110819deportation-policy-big-shift-illegal-immigrants.html#ixzz1VU0Pchnd
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Obama prodded to slow student deportations
Hispanic caucus says reform unlikely now, ICE should focus on criminals.
By Gary Martin
San Antonio Express News
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
WASHINGTON — In a closed-door White House meeting Tuesday, Hispanic lawmakers urged President Barack Obama to use his authority to slow the pending deportations of illegal immigrant students.
The meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is the third in as many weeks that Obama has held with supporters of immigration reform. Long refusing to use his authority, he has instead prodded Congress to pass a law addressing the problem of the 11 million people in this country illegally.
The caucus is not asking the president to administratively change the law, said its chairman, Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio. But he said the caucus urged Obama to focus the country's immigration enforcement assets on criminals, not students or workers.
“We do need to seek a legislative fix, but the reality right now is it would be very difficult with the huge majority the Republicans have in the House of Representatives,” Gonzalez said.
Over the past month, Obama has also met with Republican and Democratic mayors, including San Antonio's Julián Castro, and Hispanic celebrities such as actress Eva Longoria.
The White House meetings come as Obama gears up for re-election next year. Hispanics voted overwhelmingly for him in 2008, and the group could be an important bloc in key states in 2012.
Hispanic lawmakers and minority rights groups, however, have been critical of the president's failure to get immigration reform passed. Criticism also has been leveled against Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions to step up work site enforcement and deport illegal immigrants.
“We have a champion in the president of the United States and we want that president to work with us,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who heads the Hispanic caucus task force on immigration.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama remains supportive of comprehensive immigration reform despite recent defeats and is working to build support for its passage.
A sweeping reform bill died in the Senate in 2007, and a Dream Act bill that would have granted protections for illegal immigrants who attend college or enlist in the military died in the Senate last year after narrow passage in the House.
Obama continues urging Congress to pass the Dream Act as well as overall reform, Carney said.
“The push will continue,” he said.
Republicans, meanwhile, have accused Obama and the Justice Department of selectively enforcing immigration laws.
The Justice Department sued Arizona over its immigration enforcement law, claiming it superseded federal law, but did not challenge a guest worker law in Utah, said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
“It seems the president's personal, political views regarding the law may have trumped the obligations of the Justice Department,” Smith said.
Republicans in the House and Senate say they will oppose any measure that would grant legal status to immigrants who are here illegally.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/article/Latino-lawmakers-push-Obama-to-slow-deportations-1364060.php#ixzz1LQY68eMx
By Gary Martin
San Antonio Express News
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
WASHINGTON — In a closed-door White House meeting Tuesday, Hispanic lawmakers urged President Barack Obama to use his authority to slow the pending deportations of illegal immigrant students.
The meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is the third in as many weeks that Obama has held with supporters of immigration reform. Long refusing to use his authority, he has instead prodded Congress to pass a law addressing the problem of the 11 million people in this country illegally.
The caucus is not asking the president to administratively change the law, said its chairman, Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio. But he said the caucus urged Obama to focus the country's immigration enforcement assets on criminals, not students or workers.
“We do need to seek a legislative fix, but the reality right now is it would be very difficult with the huge majority the Republicans have in the House of Representatives,” Gonzalez said.
Over the past month, Obama has also met with Republican and Democratic mayors, including San Antonio's Julián Castro, and Hispanic celebrities such as actress Eva Longoria.
The White House meetings come as Obama gears up for re-election next year. Hispanics voted overwhelmingly for him in 2008, and the group could be an important bloc in key states in 2012.
Hispanic lawmakers and minority rights groups, however, have been critical of the president's failure to get immigration reform passed. Criticism also has been leveled against Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions to step up work site enforcement and deport illegal immigrants.
“We have a champion in the president of the United States and we want that president to work with us,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who heads the Hispanic caucus task force on immigration.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama remains supportive of comprehensive immigration reform despite recent defeats and is working to build support for its passage.
A sweeping reform bill died in the Senate in 2007, and a Dream Act bill that would have granted protections for illegal immigrants who attend college or enlist in the military died in the Senate last year after narrow passage in the House.
Obama continues urging Congress to pass the Dream Act as well as overall reform, Carney said.
“The push will continue,” he said.
Republicans, meanwhile, have accused Obama and the Justice Department of selectively enforcing immigration laws.
The Justice Department sued Arizona over its immigration enforcement law, claiming it superseded federal law, but did not challenge a guest worker law in Utah, said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
“It seems the president's personal, political views regarding the law may have trumped the obligations of the Justice Department,” Smith said.
Republicans in the House and Senate say they will oppose any measure that would grant legal status to immigrants who are here illegally.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/article/Latino-lawmakers-push-Obama-to-slow-deportations-1364060.php#ixzz1LQY68eMx
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Immigration Reform Won't Happen Without GOP Support, Obama Tells Latino Celebrities in a Meeting
By Elizabeth Llorente
Fox News Latino
Published April 28, 2011
Comprehensive immigration reform doesn't stand a chance without Republican support, President Obama said in a White House meeting with Latino celebrities on Thursday.
The president said that without the support of Republicans, who now have a majority in the House of Representatives, an overhaul of the immigration system that would include a path to legalization stood little chance of happening, according to those who were at the meeting.
"The White House wants Hispanics to understand that the president cannot just create laws, nor can he just stop deportations by decree," tweeted Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas. To the question about whether there will be immigration reform, she added, the answer was "Not without Republicans."
President Obama met at the White House with Latino celebrities to stress his commitment to immigration reform, according to a White House email about the meeting.
The meeting took place amid mounting frustration among many Latinos – long a crucial voting bloc for Democrats – over what they see as Obama’s hollow promises to reform immigration policy.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, actress Eva Longoria said the president stressed his commitment to the DREAM Act, a measure that would help undocumented youth obtain legal status if they meet certain conditions. Most states do not allow undocumented immigrants to attend public colleges where they live at in-state tuition rates, making a higher education cost-prohibitive for many of them.
Last year, the DREAM Act passed in the House, where the Democrats were a majority, but failed in the Senate.
"Obviously we were all disappointed that it didn't pass," said Longoria. "They're wonderful students. It's really undebatable that they should be here and continue their education. We need an educated workforce and these kids would be that."
Among others invited to the meeting were Don Francisco, host of the variety show “Sabado Gigante,” actress America Ferrera of “Ugly Betty,” and musician/producer Emilio Estefan.
In recent days, Obama also met with immigration and civil rights advocates to drive home a similar message about his commitment to an overhaul of the immigration system that would stress both tighter enforcement as well as a way to help some undocumented immigrants legalize their status.
That meeting did little, however, to quiet criticism by groups on different sides of the immigration issue about federal inaction over the flawed immigration system.
An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants -- most from Latin America -- live in the United States.
Those who favor a strict immigration policy that would step up enforcement assailed the president for not including conservative activists in the meeting. They argue that the federal government is not doing enough to enforce the laws already on the books regarding illegal immigration.
Latino activists who want more lenient immigration policies, conversely, say they feel betrayed by Obama, who vowed during his presidential campaign that he would reform the immigration system in his first year in office.
The leaders said that the president did not push for reform with anywhere near the same determination and passion that he did for health care reform.
The celebrities who attended the Thursday meeting said the president and some of his advisors who also were there said that Latinos with high profiles could help build up public support for comprehensive immigration reform by helping to promote the important role immigrants play in the United States.
"The message has to get across not only to Latinos but to non-Latinos," Longoria said. "There's fear, people have a fear" of immigrants.
"If they knew that immigrants pay more taxes than Chevron, maybe they would change their views," she said.
Obama often has blamed Republicans – many of whom oppose giving undocumented immigrants a pathway to legalization, seeing it as "amnesty" – for the failure to reform immigration.
But increasingly, many Latinos are seeing Obama as an obstacle to steps that would give some kind of reprieve to undocumented immigrants who meet a strict set of criteria. They have been particularly critical of the record number of deportations that have taken place under the Obama administration.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a fellow Democrat and one of the most vocal supporters of immigration reform in Congress, has launched a nationwide campaign to push Obama to tackle immigration.
Gutierrez even stated that he would not support Obama in his re-election bid in 2012 if he did not make a greater effort to stem the deportations which, the congressman claims, divide families and hurt immigrant communities.
The celebrities who attended the Thursday meeting said Latinos could not wait for Congress to become supportive of immigration reform on its own.
"The president needs our help to get the votes in Congress for immigration reform," said Estefan, the music producer. "We are economically and politically important in the United States. We need to keep fighting, we need to have our contributions here recognized."
http://www.latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/04/28/obama-meets-latino-leaders-immigration/#ixzz1LQiGbnhq
Fox News Latino
Published April 28, 2011
Comprehensive immigration reform doesn't stand a chance without Republican support, President Obama said in a White House meeting with Latino celebrities on Thursday.
The president said that without the support of Republicans, who now have a majority in the House of Representatives, an overhaul of the immigration system that would include a path to legalization stood little chance of happening, according to those who were at the meeting.
"The White House wants Hispanics to understand that the president cannot just create laws, nor can he just stop deportations by decree," tweeted Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas. To the question about whether there will be immigration reform, she added, the answer was "Not without Republicans."
President Obama met at the White House with Latino celebrities to stress his commitment to immigration reform, according to a White House email about the meeting.
The meeting took place amid mounting frustration among many Latinos – long a crucial voting bloc for Democrats – over what they see as Obama’s hollow promises to reform immigration policy.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, actress Eva Longoria said the president stressed his commitment to the DREAM Act, a measure that would help undocumented youth obtain legal status if they meet certain conditions. Most states do not allow undocumented immigrants to attend public colleges where they live at in-state tuition rates, making a higher education cost-prohibitive for many of them.
Last year, the DREAM Act passed in the House, where the Democrats were a majority, but failed in the Senate.
"Obviously we were all disappointed that it didn't pass," said Longoria. "They're wonderful students. It's really undebatable that they should be here and continue their education. We need an educated workforce and these kids would be that."
Among others invited to the meeting were Don Francisco, host of the variety show “Sabado Gigante,” actress America Ferrera of “Ugly Betty,” and musician/producer Emilio Estefan.
In recent days, Obama also met with immigration and civil rights advocates to drive home a similar message about his commitment to an overhaul of the immigration system that would stress both tighter enforcement as well as a way to help some undocumented immigrants legalize their status.
That meeting did little, however, to quiet criticism by groups on different sides of the immigration issue about federal inaction over the flawed immigration system.
An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants -- most from Latin America -- live in the United States.
Those who favor a strict immigration policy that would step up enforcement assailed the president for not including conservative activists in the meeting. They argue that the federal government is not doing enough to enforce the laws already on the books regarding illegal immigration.
Latino activists who want more lenient immigration policies, conversely, say they feel betrayed by Obama, who vowed during his presidential campaign that he would reform the immigration system in his first year in office.
The leaders said that the president did not push for reform with anywhere near the same determination and passion that he did for health care reform.
The celebrities who attended the Thursday meeting said the president and some of his advisors who also were there said that Latinos with high profiles could help build up public support for comprehensive immigration reform by helping to promote the important role immigrants play in the United States.
"The message has to get across not only to Latinos but to non-Latinos," Longoria said. "There's fear, people have a fear" of immigrants.
"If they knew that immigrants pay more taxes than Chevron, maybe they would change their views," she said.
Obama often has blamed Republicans – many of whom oppose giving undocumented immigrants a pathway to legalization, seeing it as "amnesty" – for the failure to reform immigration.
But increasingly, many Latinos are seeing Obama as an obstacle to steps that would give some kind of reprieve to undocumented immigrants who meet a strict set of criteria. They have been particularly critical of the record number of deportations that have taken place under the Obama administration.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a fellow Democrat and one of the most vocal supporters of immigration reform in Congress, has launched a nationwide campaign to push Obama to tackle immigration.
Gutierrez even stated that he would not support Obama in his re-election bid in 2012 if he did not make a greater effort to stem the deportations which, the congressman claims, divide families and hurt immigrant communities.
The celebrities who attended the Thursday meeting said Latinos could not wait for Congress to become supportive of immigration reform on its own.
"The president needs our help to get the votes in Congress for immigration reform," said Estefan, the music producer. "We are economically and politically important in the United States. We need to keep fighting, we need to have our contributions here recognized."
http://www.latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/04/28/obama-meets-latino-leaders-immigration/#ixzz1LQiGbnhq
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Texas Republicans Take Harder Line On Immigration
By Wade Goodwyn
NPR
March 29, 2011
In Texas, the Republican Party is changing its tactics on illegal immigration.
The relatively welcoming, tolerant attitude embraced by George W. Bush when he was governor is waning. It has been overtaken by a flood of Arizona-style get-tough measures, with nearly 100 immigration bills written or filed.
And while legal challenges will surely follow if many of those measures pass, the debate in Texas is clearly shifting.
The Bush Strategy
The state is now more than ever in the nation's conservative vanguard. Among its most conservative leaders is state Rep. Leo Berman from northeast Texas. Though Berman's district is far from the Mexico border, he's leading the charge on immigration. One of his bills would "stop giving automatic citizenship to children born in Texas."
There's also a voter ID bill; a bill that would require elementary school children to prove their citizenship upon enrolling — data that would then be turned over to state and federal authorities; and another Berman bill that would make English the official state language.
"That will shut off the state printing anything in any language but English," he says, "and that's going to save millions of dollars right there."
This is a significant change in strategy for the Texas GOP. In the mid '90s, Texas Republicans watched as their counterparts in California went on an anti-illegal immigration crusade and lost control of the state.
But in Texas, the economy was booming; the suburbs of Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio were exploding; and thousands of illegal immigrants sat astride 2-by-4s, nail guns in hand, building those neighborhoods.
So, then-Gov. Bush and his man Karl Rove crafted a different strategy from their California colleagues: Hispanic-friendly.
The result? In 1998, George W. Bush crushed his Democratic opponent, getting nearly half the Hispanic vote — a triumph that placed him on the path to the presidency one year later.
The young governor learned his political style at his father's knee. Not only was George H.W. Bush a former president of the United States; he was a Texas oilman. And for generations, those independent oil producers, along with farmers and Texas ranchers, have employed inexpensive, hard-working Mexican laborers.
'Throwing Away Their Future'?
But in the halls of the Texas Capitol in 2011, Bush's approach is considered insufficiently conservative by most Republicans. The one powerful interest group that still thinks Bush had it right is the Texas Association of Business.
"If suddenly all the undocumented workers [in the state] were simply to go back to their home of origin, it would be disastrous for the Texas economy," says Bill Hammond, president of the group.
It is no exaggeration to say the membership of Hammond's group supplies the Texas Republican Party with a large measure of its fiscal lifeblood. On behalf of his clients, the thousands of big- and small-business owners in Texas, Hammond roams the state Capitol, trying to impart a bit of reality about the Lone Star State's economy.
"The impact on the Texas state economy of immigrant labor is about $17 billion a year," he says. "That's an enormous segment of our economy, and we simply would not be able to function without these people."
Until this year, Hammond and his Republican allies in the Texas Legislature have been able to kill most immigration bills in committee. Hammond would like to expand the immigration pipeline to allow more workers to legally enter the state. That proposal currently has zero chance.
"Today, 56 percent of Texans under the age of 25 are minorities. The growth in the population has been largely Hispanic over the last 10 years," he says. "I believe the Republican Party is throwing away their future."
A Plea To Tone Down The Rhetoric
Republican state Rep. Aaron Pena represents the border city of Hidalgo. "The tone of the debate is basically saying, 'We don't want you. ... This is a war over our culture. These people bring diseases into our country.' "
He says the six Hispanic Republicans in the Texas House have been trying to persuade some of their colleagues to tone down the anti-Hispanic rhetoric.
"Many times, you won't see our handiwork out in public," he says. "It's done behind the scenes."
Pena says there are plenty of Texas Republicans who quietly share his concerns about the tone of the debate and its long-term effect on Hispanic voters.
But now, there are plenty who don't, including Berman. "Most Hispanics right now do vote Democrat; there's no question about it," Berman says. "So what vote are we going after? We're going after a vote that doesn't vote Republican anyway."
It's too early to tell how many of the dozens of bills will become law. While the Texas House seems hot for immigration bills, the Senate seems less so. It's distracted by a $27 billion budget deficit that's threatening to gut the state.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/29/134956690/texas-republicans-take-harder-line-on-immigration
NPR
March 29, 2011
In Texas, the Republican Party is changing its tactics on illegal immigration.
The relatively welcoming, tolerant attitude embraced by George W. Bush when he was governor is waning. It has been overtaken by a flood of Arizona-style get-tough measures, with nearly 100 immigration bills written or filed.
And while legal challenges will surely follow if many of those measures pass, the debate in Texas is clearly shifting.
The Bush Strategy
The state is now more than ever in the nation's conservative vanguard. Among its most conservative leaders is state Rep. Leo Berman from northeast Texas. Though Berman's district is far from the Mexico border, he's leading the charge on immigration. One of his bills would "stop giving automatic citizenship to children born in Texas."
There's also a voter ID bill; a bill that would require elementary school children to prove their citizenship upon enrolling — data that would then be turned over to state and federal authorities; and another Berman bill that would make English the official state language.
"That will shut off the state printing anything in any language but English," he says, "and that's going to save millions of dollars right there."
This is a significant change in strategy for the Texas GOP. In the mid '90s, Texas Republicans watched as their counterparts in California went on an anti-illegal immigration crusade and lost control of the state.
But in Texas, the economy was booming; the suburbs of Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio were exploding; and thousands of illegal immigrants sat astride 2-by-4s, nail guns in hand, building those neighborhoods.
So, then-Gov. Bush and his man Karl Rove crafted a different strategy from their California colleagues: Hispanic-friendly.
The result? In 1998, George W. Bush crushed his Democratic opponent, getting nearly half the Hispanic vote — a triumph that placed him on the path to the presidency one year later.
The young governor learned his political style at his father's knee. Not only was George H.W. Bush a former president of the United States; he was a Texas oilman. And for generations, those independent oil producers, along with farmers and Texas ranchers, have employed inexpensive, hard-working Mexican laborers.
'Throwing Away Their Future'?
But in the halls of the Texas Capitol in 2011, Bush's approach is considered insufficiently conservative by most Republicans. The one powerful interest group that still thinks Bush had it right is the Texas Association of Business.
"If suddenly all the undocumented workers [in the state] were simply to go back to their home of origin, it would be disastrous for the Texas economy," says Bill Hammond, president of the group.
It is no exaggeration to say the membership of Hammond's group supplies the Texas Republican Party with a large measure of its fiscal lifeblood. On behalf of his clients, the thousands of big- and small-business owners in Texas, Hammond roams the state Capitol, trying to impart a bit of reality about the Lone Star State's economy.
"The impact on the Texas state economy of immigrant labor is about $17 billion a year," he says. "That's an enormous segment of our economy, and we simply would not be able to function without these people."
Until this year, Hammond and his Republican allies in the Texas Legislature have been able to kill most immigration bills in committee. Hammond would like to expand the immigration pipeline to allow more workers to legally enter the state. That proposal currently has zero chance.
"Today, 56 percent of Texans under the age of 25 are minorities. The growth in the population has been largely Hispanic over the last 10 years," he says. "I believe the Republican Party is throwing away their future."
A Plea To Tone Down The Rhetoric
Republican state Rep. Aaron Pena represents the border city of Hidalgo. "The tone of the debate is basically saying, 'We don't want you. ... This is a war over our culture. These people bring diseases into our country.' "
He says the six Hispanic Republicans in the Texas House have been trying to persuade some of their colleagues to tone down the anti-Hispanic rhetoric.
"Many times, you won't see our handiwork out in public," he says. "It's done behind the scenes."
Pena says there are plenty of Texas Republicans who quietly share his concerns about the tone of the debate and its long-term effect on Hispanic voters.
But now, there are plenty who don't, including Berman. "Most Hispanics right now do vote Democrat; there's no question about it," Berman says. "So what vote are we going after? We're going after a vote that doesn't vote Republican anyway."
It's too early to tell how many of the dozens of bills will become law. While the Texas House seems hot for immigration bills, the Senate seems less so. It's distracted by a $27 billion budget deficit that's threatening to gut the state.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/29/134956690/texas-republicans-take-harder-line-on-immigration
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