On the heels of leaving CNN, Lou Dobbs sat down with Telemundo’s María Celeste for this interview. Celeste confronts Dobbs for the many past inflammatory remarks he made against immigrants—in particular, the insinuation that Hispanic immigrants are responsible for bringing leprosy into the United States. Watch as Dobbs backpedals and softens his harsh anti-illegal immigrant tone.
While the Obama administration has spent the past year discussing its plans to reform our broken immigration system, it is the day to day actions that, at times, draw a stark contrast to the hope and promise of a new strategy on U.S. immigration. The nomination of Stephanie Rose to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa seems like a mixed signal to immigration reformers. Rose’s 12-year career in the U.S. Attorney’s office was most notably marked by her role as lead prosecutor on the largest (and most controversial) immigration worksite enforcement in U.S. history. Read the rest of this entry »
Angela Kelley, VP for Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress.
Following a series of roundtable meetings that brought together persons with very diverse opinions on immigration policy, Brookings Institute and the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University recently released Breaking the Immigration Stalemate: From Deep Disagreements to Constructive Proposals. After witnessing the national immigration debates of the past few years, the lead authors—William Galston of Brookings, Noah Pickus of Duke, and Peter Skerry of Boston College—explained that they wanted to “address the problem rather than exploit the politics of the problem” and bring together academics and other experts with divergent perspectives to work through the differences in the room and reach a consensus. Furthermore, the group aimed to start its policy discussion in a different place than Congress has started, and hone in on the problems of past proposals as well as fill in the gaps and make linkages between policy issues. The results are mixed. Read the rest of this entry »
A motley collection of anti-immigrant zealots and talk-radio shock jocks of the far right descended upon Washington, DC, this week for an annual event dubbed “Hold Their Feet to the Fire.” The two-day marathon of angry rants on the air waves coincided with three days of lobbying visits to congressional offices organized by the nation’s largest anti-immigration group, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Predictably, the assorted speakers and activists in attendance at this year’s hate-fest blame immigrants—particularly unauthorized immigrants—for virtually every economic and social ill to befall the United States, and demand that Congress continue to pursue the “deportation-only” approach to unauthorized immigration that has proven to be an utter failure for more than two decades. Read the rest of this entry »
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Chairman of the Immigration, Refugee and Border Security Subcommittee, has tapped Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to help garner GOP support for a comprehensive immigration bill this year. While not always voting in favor of common sense solutions to our broken immigration system, Senator Graham has shown himself to be at least one Republican leader who understands the importance of our nation’s changing demographic—especially in his home state of South Carolina—on future electoral races. Read the rest of this entry »
Anti-immigrant groups like the “Minutemen” vigilantes are not only proliferating, but are rapidly beginning to resemble the white-supremacist and anti-government militias that have populated the netherworld of the Radical Right since the early 1990s. Adding insult to injury, the farcical conspiracy theories that circulate among both extreme nativist groups and right-wing militias are now being mainstreamed by commentators on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News. Although the various strains of far-right extremism have by no means coalesced into a single movement, the ideological lines that once distinguished them have begun to blur. Read the rest of this entry »
Utah’s “get tough on immigration” legislation, Senate Bill 81 (SB81), went into effect last week on July 1st. The litany of protests from faith groups, local police, and conservatives, however, demonstrates the futility of trying to solve a federal immigration problem through state law. Even Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. hesitated before signing SB81 into law back in March 2008, hoping the federal government would intervene with a national immigration reform bill before the July 1st implementation date. Read the rest of this entry »
As America celebrates its 233rd birthday, we are reminded of the many contributions immigrants have made to America throughout our great history. Nowhere will this be more celebrated than in the 50 naturalization ceremonies taking place around the nation this weekend where 6,000 immigrants will become Americans at venues like Disneyworld and George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Five hundred of those about to pledge their allegiance to America are already defending our nation on a daily basis as members of the armed services. They will take part in naturalization ceremonies in Baghdad, Norfolk, Camp Lejeune, and Nellis Air Force Base. Read the rest of this entry »
After the launch of the national immigration campaign, Reform Immigration FOR America, earlier this week, immigrants, labor unions, business, religious groups, and civil rights organizations continued full steam ahead today at the national immigration Campaign Summit in Washington, D.C., to push Congress for comprehensive immigration reform.
According to Summit organizers, the newly re-energized groups managed to send more than 100,000 faxes calling for comprehensive reform to Congress in the last 48 hours—in addition to a full day of lobby visits on Capitol Hill. The campaign, said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, is an effort to help support President Obama and ensure that his promises of comprehensive immigration reform becomes legislative reality.
The reality is that the President wants immigration reform, the American people want immigration reform, and we are launching the Reform Immigration for America campaign to make it happen.
Today, President Obama made history by nominating the first Hispanic, federal judge Sonia Sotomayor, for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, Judge Sotomayor will replace retiring Justice David Souter and become the first person of Puerto Rican heritage—and the third woman—to serve on the high court.
In a heartwarming speech, President Obama highlighted Judge Sotomayor’s rigorous intellect, mastery of the law and depth of experience on the bench, which he characterized as “more varied than anyone currently serving on the United States Supreme Court when they were appointed”—a measured response to conservative jabs at her credibility and jurisprudence.
The President also made a point of honoring the American dream when he praised the hard work of Judge Sotomayor’s Puerto Rican parents, who moved to New York and worked several jobs to support their family. Sotomayor’s father was a factory worker with a third-grade education who died when Sotomayor was nine. Read the rest of this entry »
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