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USA Today NetworkDan Nowicki, The Arizona Republic Published 9:08 p.m. ET Aug. 3, 2017 | Updated 12:54 a.m. ET Aug. 4, 2017

Sen. John McCain talks about the need for immigrants with all skill levels and how the issue should be handled as part of an overall package, during an interview with The Arizona Republic on Aug. 3, 2017. Thomas Hawthorne/azcentral.com

Sen. John McCain speaks with reporter Dan Nowicki at The Arizona Republic in downtown Phoenix, Aug. 3, 2017.(Photo: Tom Tingle/The Republic)

PHOENIX A week after his dramatic call for bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, Sen. John McCain says he wants to revive a long-standing attempt to reform the nations immigration system when he returns to Washington.

Before leaving Washington for treatment for brain cancer, McCain, R-Ariz., said he broached the idea with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The two collaborated on unsuccessful immigration legislation in 2013 as part of the bipartisan effort known as the "Gang of Eight."

President Trump's goal of building a U.S.-Mexico border wall might provide an opening for a bigger bargain on the issue, McCain said.

"Immigration reform is one of the issues I'd like to see resolved," McCain told The Arizona Republicin a Thursday interview. "I've got to talk to him (Schumer) about when would be the best time. I think there are all kinds of deals to be made out there. I really do."

His goal remains a long shot in the Trump era, with Senate Majority Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., running the Senate and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., leading the House of Representatives.

Even at times when the White House was friendly to the idea, success on the issue has proved elusive for McCain, who has worked on comprehensive immigration reform bills for more than 10 years. But while former presidentsGeorge W. Bush and Barack Obama wanted immigration reform, Trump has appeared hostile to any approach that would balance border-security investments with a pathway for citizenship for immigrants without legal status who have settled in the United States.

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McCain's remarks came a day after Trump backed a Senate bill from Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and David Perdue, R-Ga., that proposes sharp cuts to legal immigration.

But the six-term McCain, who turns 81 on Aug. 29, also is in a more reflective place in his long Senate career as he faces a serious health challenge and undergoes chemotherapy for brain cancer.

"We'll know in a few weeks," McCain said of the cancer on Thursday in a meeting with Arizona Republic editors and reporters. "I hate the use the word 'beat it,' because it's not a matter of beating. You either get cured or you don't get cured."

The nation's eyes were on McCain in the early hours of July28when he gave a decisive thumb's down to the Senate Republican "skinny repeal" health-care legislation, which had the effect of derailing the current GOP push to undo the Affordable Care Act, one of Obama's signature accomplishments.

Earlier in the week, McCain who returned to Washington after a surprise July 14 craniotomy to remove a blood clot that revealed the cancer entranced his colleagues with a memorable July 25 floor speech in which he decried the Senate's current state of partisan dysfunction and urged a return to bipartisan camaraderie and compromise.

McCain said he was "shocked" the rest of the Senate stuck around to hear him speak.

"I think they stayed to listen, not so much because of my vote, because of what I was trying to say," McCain said. "They're not happy with this polarization. They're not happy with this not getting anything done. That's not why they come to the Senate."

In the meeting with the newspaper's editorial board, McCain said Schumer is in agreement about the need to return to immigration reform.

"Basically it's what we passed last time, brought up to date with the new challenges, like opioids," McCain said. "It's still there. We got 68 votes, I think, the last time. I don't think that's going to be any different next time."

It's conceivable that a group of bipartisan-minded Republicans in the Senate can make common cause with bipartisan-minded Democrats.

One longtime champion of comprehensive immigration reform applauded McCain's return to the fray, despite the long odds.

"It's difficult to imagine Trump signing a comprehensive immigration reform bill because he's so focused on stoking his base," said Frank Sharry, the executive director of the liberal-leaning national pro-reform organization America's Voice.

"But you can see how more and more people are moving away from Trump as his poll ratings sink, as his lying becomes endemic, and his temperament is so obviously juvenile," he said. "It's conceivable that a group of bipartisan-minded Republicans in the Senate can make common cause with bipartisan-minded Democrats."

McCain would be the natural leader of such a movement, Sharry said.

In 2013, McCain and Schumer led the bipartisan Gang of Eight, which also consisted of Republican Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

Their legislation aimed to balance border security with a pathway to citizenship and a modernized visa system.

In his new book, Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle, Flake positively recounted his role in the immigration deliberations, which resulted in a bill that passed the Senate but went nowhere in the Republican-controlled House.

More: Trump backs GOP senators' plan to crack down on legal immigration

More: Full text of John McCain's Senate floor speech: 'Lets return to regular order'

"The Gang of Eight four Republicans, four Democrats proved that the process as designed can actually work," Flake wrote in the book.

For his part, McCain said he realizes it won't be easy, and doesn't know if he could ever persuade to Trump and McConnell to go along.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that if we could pass it through the House and Senate the way we passed it through the Senate last time, it's like this Russia (sanctions) bill, it doesn't matter," McCain said. "Do you think he signed it because he liked it?"

Concerns about border wall and merit-based immigration

In conversations with The Republic, McCain was skeptical that the Senate would support a wall as envisioned by Trump, or its price tag. He emphasized, as others have, that certain stretches of the border don't need a wall because of natural barriers.

"I'm not against a border wall, OK, but go to China and you'll see a border wall there," McCain said. "We need technology, we need drones, we need surveillance capabilities and we need rapid-reaction capabilities. But to think that a wall is going to stop illegal immigration or drugs is crazy."

McCain said he supports merit-based immigration but worries about how farm labor, such as the workers who pick lettuce in Yuma, and other low-skilled workers would fare under the Cotton-Perdue bill that Trump is backing.

"I think you have to consider that we do want high-tech people, but we also need low-skilled people who will do work that Americans won't do," McCain said. "I wouldn't do it. Even in my misspent youth, I wouldn't do it."

Follow Dan Nowickion Twitter: @dannowicki

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McCain aims to revive immigration reform when he returns to Congress - USA TODAY

The liberal elite such as those at CNN quote Emma Lazarus poem as if its one of our nations founding documents.

Its a poem.

Wouldnt it be marvelous if they were as passionate about our actual founding documents? They like to shrug that the Constitution is a quasi-relevant living document whose words can be bent to whatever shape the current generation likes. Oddly, they never say that about Lazarus prose.

Instead, in almost partisan pushback Wednesday against a proposed immigration policy that simply puts American interests forward, CNNs Jim Acosta accosted Trump administration aide Stephen Miller about how the policy would somehow violate Lazarus um, poem The New Colossus inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.

Make no mistake, the sonnets flowing notions are a lovely sentiment and ideal one that this page ascribes to and which, truth be known, America has lived up to to a fault. Miller notes that the foreign-born population coming into the U.S. has quadrupled since 1970.

We have led the league in immigration, and certainly in the illegal kind, and have strained our ability to absorb it all, particularly since so many immigrants have been low-skilled, low-income workers who have depressed wages and have been prime candidates for government aid. And in the age of terror, we have done so at great risk to our own safety.

Its a wonder there arent cracks on Lady Libertys shoulders.

Acostas diatribe argumentative, interruping and sanctimonious, rather than merely inquisitive objected to reducing immigration, though he offered no specific target number that would please him or the Statue of Liberty. And he seemed to imply that requiring English proficiency is somehow mean, when in reality its the furthest thing from compassion to encourage immigrants not to learn the dominant language in their new country. Its also required for citizenship.

Yet bizarrely, Acosta appeared to equate the English language with a race that we are now only going to allow in people from England and Australia and engineer a racial and ethnic flow of people into this country.

What world-class ignorance. People all over the world speak English; it is the unofficial language of world commerce. Nearly 60 countries in the world have enshrined English as their official language (though, interestingly, we have not). But its racist to expect new Americans to speak it? Good grief.

This is the uphill battle our leaders must fight against the political correctness cops in the media. But most Americans have to be thankful theyre fighting it: 72 percent favor tight restrictions on immigration. Heaven forbid we institute an American policy that actually benefits America.

Were proud that Georgia Sen. David Perdue is in the forefront of this, along with Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, helping lead the charge for an orderly, thoughtful, merit-based legal immigration system that actually takes Americas best interests into consideration: The Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act would take into account what skills America needs and what skills, including language, prospective immigrants would bring with them.

This isnt the end of the world. It isnt overturning Lazarus. As Perdue notes, currently only 1 out of 15 immigrants come here with a marketable skill.

All were asking is to tip the scales a little back toward Americas interests.

Its long overdue.

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Now, this is immigration reform - The Augusta Chronicle

Be careful before you invite Brian Davison to become a Facebook friend. You shouldnt expect warm and fuzzy posts from a tenacious rabble-rouser who wages personal campaigns for free speech, accountability and freedom of information.

Over the last two years, Davison has filed three separate civil rights lawsuits against the Loudoun Board of Supervisors and Chairwoman Phyllis Randall (D), Commonwealths Attorney Jim Plowman (R) and the Loudoun County School Board. They have at times blocked him from their Facebook pages, deleted critical comments he posted and attempted to ostracize him. One needs only to read Davisons online comments to understand why he gets under their skin.

Davison has sought public access to the school systems student growth percentile (SGP) scores. Hes accused Plowmans office of refusing to investigate perjury by school officials. Hes offended Randall with comments about corruption, lack of accountability and conflicts of interest that extend to the families of public officials, some of whom work for county government or the school system. And, yes, Davison pokes at the Times-Mirror for what he sees as a failure to report rigorously on alleged corruption and conflicts by elected officials.

To his supporters, many of whom are members of the anything-goes club of anonymous online commenting, Davison is a valiant campaigner for truth. To his critics, hes a self-righteous insulter. Before last week, few would have characterized him as a patriot. Now hes mentioned in the same sentence with James Madison, the Virginian who wrote the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights.

The Times-Mirror has consistently campaigned for open government and freedom of information in a county that frequently conducts business behind closed doors and uses Virginias Freedom of Information Act to block disclosure of information rather than provide access to it. Were also wary of anonymous, online comments that can distort stories with bias, prejudice, insults and inaccuracies. We acknowledge that were not always comfortable with the tone of anonymous discussion on LoudounTimes.com, but we regard it as important forum for readers to express their views on stories and discuss them with fellow citizens. When we err, we're more comfortable erring on the side of freedom of expression rather than censorship.

These are uncomfortable times. First Amendment lawsuits now raise the legal argument in which Twitter users claim their constitutional rights have been violated because President Donald Trump the commander-in-tweet blocks them from his personal Twitter handle. The argument about social media rights rages in a day and age when politicians, from the president on down, are using their private accounts to discuss public affairs or socialize their positions with constituents.

Davisons cases may provide a legal precedent. A federal judge ruled Chairwoman Randall violated Davison's First Amendment rights because she briefly banned him from her personal Facebook account.

"The suppression of critical commentary regarding elected officials is the quintessential form of viewpoint discrimination against which the First Amendment guards," U.S. District Judge James Cacheris wrote in the ruling on Davisons suit.

The judge didn't issue punishment against Randall since her Facebook ban only lasted about 10 hours. That said, the judge noted Randall committed "a cardinal sin under the First Amendment" by barring the constituent who posted about county corruption. What's more, the judge pointed out from the first sentence of the ruling that "this case raises important questions about the constitutional limitations applicable to social media accounts maintained by elected officials."

Somehow that decision was interpreted by the county as a victory for the countys elected officials. The status of social media is a novel question in the law, huffed County Attorney Leo P. Rogers as if Facebook was a passing fad.

Meantime, Randall insists shes a defender of the First Amendment and cites legal confusion. In earnest calls to the Times-Mirror she defended her takedown of Davison as an appropriate response to offensive comments pertaining to family members of public officials. Later, in reaction to the ruling in the School Board case, she acknowledged confusion:

while I blocked the plaintiff overnight for approximately eight hours because he made inappropriate comments, not about the elected official but about the members of their families, and another court finds a First Amendment infraction. It just doesnt make sense to me.

It all makes perfect sense to Davison, who argues that Loudouns elected leaders will go to any lengths -- and at any cost -- to defend arcane rules that enable them to govern behind closed doors, provide cover for conflicts of interest and shut down dissent.

Despite our distaste for bad behavior, online or off, we are inclined to agree.

There is a simple resolution to confusion over public participation in government: Open access to all meetings and information that impacts the welfare of citizens and provides accountability for public decisions.

True leaders have nothing to hide. They lead us out of the dark and into the sun even if it occasionally causes sunburn. Whether in Madisons time or Davisons or Davison's children's, open government, free speech and the First Amendment must stand as the foundations of American democracy and represent the values of our American experience.

You may not like Brian Davison or the democratizing platform of social media that he uses, but how one feels about either is wholly irrelevant. Our leaders should not worry about whether Davison is a pain. They should consider whether he is right.

Comments express only the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this website or any associated person or entity. Any user who believes a message is objectionable can contact us at [emailprotected].

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EDITORIAL: First Amendment 2.0 | LoudounTimes.com - Loudoun Times-Mirror

Hillary Clinton has hired two former aides from her 2016 presidential campaign to join "Onward Together," a political action committee working to advance the platform that the former secretary of state campaigned on, according to a report on Friday.

Onward Together, which was started earlier this year, has a slogan that reads "resist, insist, persist, enlist."

Emmy Ruiz and Adam Parkhomenko will be joining the PAC, after having performed key roles during Clinton's campaign. Ruiz served as state director in Nevada during the primary and Colorado during the election; Parkhomenko served as Clinton's director of grassroots engagement.

The Onward Together co-founder, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, confirmed to BuzzFeed that the two would be joining the PAC.

"She's [Ruiz] moving us right on task, which is what we really needed," Dean told BuzzFeed.

Parkhomenko and Ruiz will reportedly work alongside big name Clinton aides such as former campaign vice chair Huma Abedin, finance director Dennis Cheng, and press secretary Nick Merrill.

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Hillary Clinton enlists former campaign staffers for political group: Report - Washington Examiner

President Donald Trump won't stop talking about Hillary Clinton's emails. It's been some 38 weeks since the Republican defeated her in the 2016 election, but as recently as Thursday night he was still railing about the Democrat's use of a private email server while secretary of state.

"What the prosecutors should be looking at are Hillary Clinton's 33,000 deleted emails," Trump said in West Virginia just hours after news broke that special counsel Robert Mueller had impaneled a grand jury for his ongoing probe into the Trump campaign's possible collusion with Russia.

Related: Mike Pence will soon be president with help from Spicer, Priebus, Democrat Maxine Waters tweets

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But for all of Trump's comments about Clinton, he hasn't spoken much about a more recent development in an email controversy a lot closer to the White House: his vice president's.

The Indianapolis Star reported Friday that authoritiesfinally have all of the state-related messages Mike Pence sent from his personal AOL accounts while he was governor. In March, Pence was found to have used private email to discussofficial businessthe same thing for which Trump has lambasted Clintonat which point it was also revealed that his accounts had been hacked. At that time, Pence gave some of his emails to the state as hard copies. As of late June, all of his records had been sent over digitally.

"Our office is now in the process of reviewing the records, and we anticipate being in a position to provide copies of records that are responsive to pending [public record]requests soon," a spokeswoman for the current governor, Eric Holcomb, told the Star.

Pence and his legal team gave only the state messages that had to do with his role as governor, which is similar to what Clinton did in 2015. She said she got rid of the oft-mentioned 33,000 emails because she thought they involved only personal matters. But unlike Clinton,The Washington Post reported earlier this year, Pence was legally allowed to have a private account. He also didn't use it exclusively, as she did. Pence has insisted "there's no comparison whatsoever between Hillary Clinton's practice" and his own.

Trump, for his part, has continued to publicly discuss Clinton's emails, even referencing the scandal while talking about son Donald Trump Jr.'s decision to release messages that confirmed he met with a Russian lawyer in 2016 in hopes of getting damaging information about Clinton.

"My son Donald openly gave his e-mails to the media & authorities whereas CrookedHillary Clintondeleted (& acid washed) her 33,000 e-mails!" Trump tweeted July 22.

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Mike Pence Just Turned Over His Personal Emails, but Trump Is Still Focused on Hillary Clinton - Newsweek