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Immigration Reform 
Tue May 21, 2013 at 03:11 PM CDT
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(Thanks to America's Voice for keeping tabs on Texas's two anti-immigrant Senators. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
 Update: Cruz 3 has just been rejected on a 5-13 vote. Senators supporting a permanent, second-class status: Sessions, Lee, Grassley, Cruz, Cornyn.
Right now the Senate Judiciary Committee (#CIRmarkup) is considering Sen. Ted Cruz's amendment 3, one of the worst amendments that has been proposed to the Senate Gang of 8 immigration bill. Cruz seems to think that citizenship is a "poison pill" and that the only way the bill can pass through the House is without the pathway to citizenship.
We ask Ted Cruz: what does he want to do with Eric?
Find out below the jump.
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Tue May 14, 2013 at 06:19 PM CDT
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(Watching the debate on comprehensive immigration reform in the US Senate? Don't forget John Cornyn's history of hypocrisy on the issue. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
Below is a post that Frank Sharry, the Executive Director of America's Voice, wrote for Huffington Post about Sen. John Cornyn and his stances on immigration:
 As a group of eight senators, four Republicans and four Democrats, work together to make progress on immigration reform, there's one senator not in the group to keep an eye on. His name is John Cornyn.
In fact, Cornyn is famous for posing as reformer even as he works to derail reform.
From 2005 through 2007, the group I headed worked closely with Senators McCain and Kennedy to pass bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform. In 2005 and 2006 Senator Cornyn teamed up with Senator Kyl of Arizona to propose an alternative bill. He made eloquent speeches about the need for reform. He issued positive press releases on his hopes for reform. He held meetings with advocates for reform. We believed -- and hoped -- he was positioning himself to be the deal maker on a bill that would fix our immigration system once and for all.
Unfortunately, Cornyn turned out to be typical politician. All hat and no cattle. As the immigration bill moved to the Senate floor in 2006, he proposed poison pill amendments to weaken support for it. He voted against it, even though 23 other Republicans voted for it. It turned out all that posturing was aimed at undermining, not enacting, reform.
Read more about how Cornyn's up to his same old tricks in 2013.
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Mon May 06, 2013 at 01:55 PM CDT
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 The SEIU, a labor organization representing the service industry, participated in a immigration reform rally with thousands of supporters in Houston in conjunction with May Day. The event, in advance of this week's discussion over a Senate immigration bill, was part of a nationwide push for reforming immigration policies that includes a path to citizenship.
"The drumbeat for common sense immigration reform is only getting louder," said Eliseo Medina, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer. "Today, as we raise our voices and our American flags in honor of all working families, we march and rally throughout the country to make sure we mark 2013 as the year our government passed an immigration bill worthy of our highest national values."
Not everyone rolled out the welcome matt. Houston blogger for Big Jolly Politics called it a, "rally for illegal immigration" and said, "I'd suggest that instead of arrogantly flaunting our laws, perhaps your organizers could set up a day to clean the park...You'd be amazed at what that would do for your reputation." He blame them for our closing schools and even connected them to cartel violence, "...it is but a short jump to attributing the violence of drug cartels to all illegal immigrants - after all, if you are arrogant enough to flaunt the fact that you are breaking one law, it is easy to conclude that you have no respect for any authority."
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Mon Apr 29, 2013 at 03:54 PM CDT
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If there's such a thing as a GOP demographic doomsday clock, it's ticking down to the day when Latino voters turn Texas blue and the Republicans cease winning national elections. A new post at The Hill from columnist Brent Budowksy argues that that day will come much, much sooner if Republicans kill immigration reform. Here's an excerpt of his post:
Texas is indeed going blue. The only question is when. If Republicans sabotage immigration reform, Texas Democrats may not have to wait for a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign in 2016. Some leaders of the conservative movement and talk radio are mounting a campaign to defeat or destroy the immigration bill, acting in a way that suggests what some Republicans have called "the party of stupid."
Budowsky targets Texas' two Senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, who are being hesitant (to say the least) on immigration reform. John Cornyn, as DREAMer Cesar Vargas today pointed out in the post below, has historically made noises about supporting immigration--and then failed to walk the walk when the time came. Ted Cruz has said that he's open to supporting immigration--provided that it doesn't create a pathway to citizenship. Both of them signed Gang of Hate leader Jeff Sessions' recent letter to slow down (read: kill) immigration legislation. In terms of doing the right thing by immigration and attracting Latino voters, these tactics just aren't going to fly. Budowsky continues:
Cruz increasingly resembles Rush Limbaugh, whose extremism hurts Republicans, which does not matter to Limbaugh, so long as it increases his ratings, which it does. Cruz's opposition to just immigration reform is bad for Texas and bad for Hispanics.
Here is the scenario if Cruz and other rightists succeed in destroying immigration reform: First, Democrats would win a huge and high-turnout majority of Hispanic voters for a generation. There would be talk of a GOP "war on Hispanics" similar to the talk of a GOP "war on women." Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) understands this. Cruz does not.
The retrograde right does not. The talk radio right, which leads the kamikaze faction of Republicans, increases its ratings in ways that increase the votes for Democrats. Second, I have long argued, and polls have suggested I am right, that Hillary Clinton would have at least a 50-50 chance of carrying Texas's electoral votes in 2016.
I have also suggested that if Democrats mount strong candidates for governor or senator in 2014, the odds of their winning are approximately 40 percent today.
However, if Republicans sabotage immigration reform, the powerful reaction among Hispanic voters would be so substantial that this alone increases the odds that Democrats carry Texas in 2014 and would make Hillary Clinton a favorite to carry Texas in 2016.
Third, the anti-GOP explosion among Hispanics would dramatically increase the chances that top-tier Texas Democratic candidates run for senator and governor in 2014 because they will know they have a stronger chance of winning.
The future of Texas are leaders like state Sen. Wendy Davis (D), San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro (D), and Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-Texas). It is not Republican governor-for-life Rick Perry (most recently seen attacking nationally respected educators at the University of Texas), Cruz (most recently seen attacking immigration reform), or Cornyn (most recently seen worrying about a GOP primary opponent from friends of Cruz).
The Cruz-promoted, rightist attack on immigration reform puts the squeeze on Cornyn. Does Cornyn support immigration reform, making him vulnerable on the right, or oppose immigration reform, making him anathema to Hispanic voters?
Fourth, all of these patterns are reflected in electorally important states beyond Texas. Florida creates deep jeopardy for the GOP. Hillary Clinton already clobbers Jeb Bush and Rubio in 2016 polling. GOP Gov. Rick Scott is almost as unpopular among Florida voters as the bird flu. Voters in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and other states are watching the immigration debate closely.
Fifth, would you want to be an incumbent GOP House member representing a large Hispanic population running for reelection as the candidate of the party that destroyed immigration reform? Immigration alone could turn three to eight House seats blue in 2014.
Texas Democrats benefit from high-octane, future statewide Democratic candidates such as Davis and the Castro brothers. These are very dynamic and successful leaders with brilliant political futures. They and other Democrats like them are the future of Texas.
If the GOP sabotages immigration reform, that future begins now.
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Mon Apr 29, 2013 at 03:50 PM CDT
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Last week, The Houston Chronicle published a searing op-ed from Cesar Vargas of the DREAM Action Coalition, which targeted Texas Senator John Cornyn on immigration. At America's Voice, we consider Cornyn to a big hypocrite on immigration, so big of a hypocrite that we even gave him an award for it.
You'll like this article, but Cornyn hated it. He (@JohnCornyn) actually tweeted "complete bs" to the DRM crew about it:
Seriously, that was the response of the senior Senator from Texas.
Here's an excerpt from Cesar's op-ed, but you should read the whole thing -- just to make John Cornyn mad:
Since 2005, Sen. Cornyn has had a record of defeating reform efforts while portraying himself as a fighter to fix the country's outdated immigration system. At the 2011 Hispanic Leadership Network conference, Cornyn said, "They (Democrats) have controlled Congress for four years, have occupied the White House for two years, and yet they've broken every promise to lead on immigration reform." And last month, while accepting the "Small Business Advocate of the Year" award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Cornyn talked about the need to fix our broken immigration system. And yet, Cornyn in 2010 voted against the DREAM Act - a bill that would provide a path to legal status for certain undocumented students - and recently introduced a "border security only" bill despite the country's overwhelming support for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Indeed, the "Gang of 8" legislation addresses many, if not all, of Cornyn's demands for border security. Under the proposed legislation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security must create, fund and begin a border security plan within six months. DHS will receive billions of dollars to fund border security enhancements. For interior enforcement, the bill requires U.S. employers to implement E-Verify; government officials will have to set up an exit/entry system to track foreign visitors or workers who overstay their visas. Further, Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, both from the border state of Arizona, have pressed for heightened security measures in the compromise. There is minimal excuse for Cornyn to join anti-immigrant voices to halt progress.
This time, we're all watching to see if Cornyn tries to play the same old games. And, that's not BS.
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Tue Apr 23, 2013 at 04:30 PM CDT
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 Rep. Louie Gohmert may have a solution to the Republican Party's struggle with Hispanic voters -- shift his Party's rhetoric from the fear and mistrust of Hispanic immigrants, whom they will need to win future elections, onto "radical Islamists". It's a craft he has been honing since we first heard of "terror babies" anchoring Muslim extremists onto US soil.
Before authorities could apprehend the second Boston bombing suspect, Gohmert theorized their connections to, "what Osama Bin Laden charged Chechens to do many years ago", and said that our first response should be to, "secure the border." It seems he is trying to play the line of anti-terrorist and not anti-immigrant. Gohmert told C-SPAN, "We owe it to the immigrants who have come in legally to keep them safe as well. We know Al Qaeda has camps over with the drug cartels on the other side of the Mexican border."
At first blush it may sound like what the Hispanic Leadership Group called a, "blatant attempt to disingenuously twist public sentiment at a vulnerable time", but Louie asserts his frustration that terrorists are being "trained to act Hispanic" and cross our border when, "they are really radical Islamists." It's not completely surprising with the two major issues of the day being Immigration Reform, and a national tragedy perpetrated by foreign born individuals, that the lowest common denominator would be to connect the two using fear of an international terrorist plot. But the prudent thing to do is wait for more facts to surface before jumping to conclusions that could insight fear or intolerance unnecessarily.
Officials are now saying that the two men were motivated by what they saw as US aggression in the Muslim world and did not have connections to international terrorist groups. Philip Mudd, a former FBI and CIA counterterrorism official, said the Boston attacks more closely resemble, "Columbine than any connection to Al-Qaeda." New ideas, not new targets, is what the national Republican Party should be looking for, because sweeping generalizations about a major religion and pitting Americans against other Americans, no matter if they are naturalized or natural born, is never the answer.
Follow me on Twitter at: @joethepeb
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Wed Feb 27, 2013 at 02:18 PM CST
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For weeks Congressional Republicans, including Texas' own Senator John Cornyn criticized the President's comprehensive immigration reform proposal because they thought border security should be the top priority. On Tuesday Rep. Pete Gallego who represents the longest stretch of Texas-Mexico in Congress made it clear that the single biggest threat to border security is actually sequestration. In his first floor speech he admonished Congress for its finger pointing on the issue and challenged members to work together to solve the nation's problems.
"In small town West Texas when there's a fire everyone works together to put the fire out and no one focuses on how the fire started or who started the fire until after the fire is out. Here and now in Washington many folks are more focused on who is to blame for the sequester than trying to do something about it." - Rep. Gallego
The Congressman characterized the across the board cuts as having both economic and national security implications, saying, "Not having a vote this week is a decision by some in Congress for decreased border security, job loss and furloughs, and it devastates local communities and the state of Texas." His district contains a number of strategic military bases including Ft. Bliss in El Paso and Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio that could face furloughs in the tens of thousands.
His office also released this handy infographic of the impact of sequestration on the US-Mexico border. You can follow him on twitter at @RepPeteGallego and see his house floor speech below the jump.
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Mon Feb 11, 2013 at 00:11 PM CST
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 Immigration reform presents Texas Democrats with a rare but golden opportunity to create a narrative. From Governor Perry's State Of The State to the bills filed so far this session, Texas Republicans have been interestingly mum on the issue of immigration compared to recent sessions. They have either had a change of heart on issues like "Voter ID", and "Sanctuary Cities" (which Perry classified as "emergency legislation" in 2011, but it did not reach his desk) or demographic realities have forced a different strategy. I assume the latter, but if not talking about immigration is the new strategy, that should be low hanging fruit for Democrats at the state and federal level.
The costs of our antiquated system gives Texas Democrats the ability to approach reform from an economic perspective. Not only has the State Comptroller's report indicated that undocumented workers were an actual net value to taxpayers, but the federal expenditures for immigration enforcement were significantly more than that of all other federal law enforcement agencies combined.
President Obama has already stated that Immigration Reform will be a top priority of his 2nd term agenda. It's also clear by their courting of Texans behind the scenes and at the national convention that Texas is part of that equation. Look for a strong statement on Immigration in the State of the Union tomorrow. With headlines like "On immigration, Texas surprisingly quiet" in Politico and "A Texas-sized silence as immigration talks ramp up" in the Dallas Morning News, it sure seems like a great time to say something.
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Fri Jun 22, 2012 at 06:00 PM CDT
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The Obama Administration's decision earlier this month to allow some undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation may eventually be seen as a turning point in federal immigration policy, but a recent New York Times article by Damien Cave shows the great extent to which deportations have affected Texas families. Cave's article tells the story of Jeffrey Isidor, a 10-year old American born to Mexican parents. Jeffrey was attending Gleason Elementary School in Texas when his father, a 39-year old carpenter, was deported. Jeffrey's story is not an abberation; nearly 50,000 people deported reported having American children. Mr. Isidoro, wearing a Dallas Cowboys hat in his parents’ kitchen, said he was still angry that his 25 years of work in the United States meant nothing; that being caught with a broken taillight on his vehicle and without immigration papers meant more than having two American sons — Jeffrey, 10, and his brother, Tommy Jefferson, 2, who was named after the family’s favorite president.
As for President Obama, Mr. Isidoro uttered an expletive. “There are all these drug addicts, drug dealers, people who do nothing in the United States, and you’re going to kick people like me out,” he said. “Why?” The Isidro family are a prime example of the kind of people President Obama referenced in his speach announcing the change in policy: those who "are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper." After his father was deported, Jeffrey struggled in school and longed for his missing parent. He eventually joined his father in the Mexican state of Puebla, but adjusting to life in a foreign country has not been easy. There has to be a better way. Jeffrey and the tens of thousands of children like him are not - as Texas State Rep. Debbie Riddle said in 2010 - "little terrorists" or an "anchor babies." They are Americans. President Obama's announcement is a step in the right direction, but it is tragic that so many young Americans must decide between living and receiving an education in their home country or staying with their families.
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 at 00:24 PM CDT
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This week, it's the 104th anniversary of Ellis Island's one-day peak - the day when more immigrants were welcomed than any other in American history. On April 17, 1907, 11,747 immigrants became Americans - and that was just at Ellis Island.
Today, 104 years later, America is stuck in the mud with a broken immigration system. Americans want reform that unites families, promotes fair employment practices, and restores America's place as a nation that welcomes those seeking freedom from persecution and a better way of life.
This week, Immigrants' List -- a bipartisan political action committee dedicated to electing pro-immigration lawmakers - unveiled the 2011 inductees into the Immigration Hall of Shame. Texas Congressman Lamar Smith, now chair of the House Judiciary Committee, is #2 on the list.
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