Enrique Acevedo: Mr. President, excuse the personal note, but I grew up in a generation that has lived with the unfulfilled promise of immigration reform, and I’m not that young. And do you think if you are reelected you will be the President that gets it done? And can you promise you’ll do it within the first year of your second term?
“We are enforcing flawed laws in the most humane and best possible way,” said Obama during his speech to the largest Hispanic civil rights group in the nation on Monday. “I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own. Believe me…” According to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Obama administration has deported over 1 million immigrants since the beginning of its term in 2009.
If Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signs the bill into law, Georgia will become the second sate to enact such a law. Parthiv N. Parekh, editor in chief of the Indian-American publication Khabar Magazine in Norcross, Ga., writes that the new immigration bill is "backwards."
"It's been nerve-racking because it puts me at a risk," the 30-year-old said of her speech supporting Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) reintroduction of the DREAM Act. The bill, which passed in the House last year but failed to clear the Senate, would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented youths like her, brought to the United States as children. "But I think you have to focus on the individuals to get away from the politics of an issue that's so divisive. Once you know that there are real people attached to the statistics, then you have to start working on real solutions."
The immigration reform President Obama just presented does not feature many new proposals, but it includes basically everything that was known and necessary. What is different than before is that the president raised this issue’s priority in his agenda with a trip and a speech. Does this mean still more rhetoric and no action? Yes, unless someone interested in comprehensive immigration reform gets involved—someone like the private sector.
Crooks & Liars,By  karoli, A huge cheer just went up from the House as Nancy Pelosi announced the House passage of the DREAM Act. 8 Republicans crossed the aisle and voted for it along with 208 Democrats. Republicans voting for it: Cao, Castle, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, Inglis, Ros-Lehtinen, Djou, Ehlers. Democrats voting against it: [...]
New America Media, Question & Answer, Sandip Roy, EDITOR’S NOTE: Several GOP lawmakers who took a hardline position on immigration after SB 1070 passed in Arizona are using the party’s electoral success to push for ending “birthright citizenship†in the next Congress. But a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) says that [...]
New America Media, Question & Answer, Sandip Roy, EDITOR’S NOTE: Tamar Jacoby is the president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a nonprofit that organizes the business sector around immigration reform. New America Media editor Sandip Roy interviewed her about the impact of Tuesday’s midterm elections. Roy: Is the new composition of the House and Senate bad news [...]
New America Media: Washington Afro, News Report, Staff Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele once again talked his way into the news this week with comments on Arizona’s controversial immigration law. Steele, speaking to Spanish-language television network Univision, said the views of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer don’t necessarily represent his view or those of all [...]
