Sen. Lindsey Graham,GOP In #39;Demographic Death Spiral, #39; Must Pass Immigration Reform,TRAITO
(CBS) Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of the gang of eight bipartisan senators who drafted the comprehensive immigration reform bill, attempted on Thursda. ...
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Sen. Lindsey Graham,GOP In 'Demographic Death Spiral,' Must Pass Immigration Reform,TRAITO - Video
Rep. Renee Ellmers stance on immigration reform certainly didnt hurt her in her GOP primary win Tuesday but it didnt necessarily boost her, either.
A new poll from a pro-reform group conducted after voters cast ballots in Tuesdays North Carolina races found that immigration mattered little when they decided who to favor Ellmers or challenger Frank Roche, who centered his bid on the incumbents stance on immigration policy.
Ellmers position on immigration which includes legalization of immigrants living in the United States unlawfully made no difference for 59 percent of voters in their decision Tuesday, according to the poll. Fifteen percent of those polled said that stance made them more likely to support Ellmers, while 24 percent said it made them less likely.
(Full election results from POLITICO)
Of the voters surveyed, 65 percent said they heard not much or nothing about Ellmers views on immigration reform, while 34 percent said they heard some or a lot about her stances. And just 6 percent of voters ranked immigration as their top issue when deciding whom to vote for, while 9 percent listed it as a second choice.
It is clear that immigration was not a top tier issue for voters in this primary, said Republican pollster Glen Bolger, whose firm Public Opinion Strategies conducted the survey for the pro-reform Partnership for a New American Economy, which was launched by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Immigration reform advocates had kept close tabs on the Ellmers-Roche battle, seeing it as the best and perhaps the only test case in the nation of how the issue of immigration would matter in a Republican primary. Roche, a long-shot candidate whose fundraising fell far short of Ellmers, focused his challenge on the two-term lawmakers general support for immigration reform.
The poll also showed considerable support for a path to legal status with conditions from Republican primary voters in North Carolinas 2nd District, which Ellmers represents.
(PHOTOS: 10 must-watch House races in 2014)
Seventy-one percent of voters surveyed said they support a plan that would include bolstered border security and enforcement provisions, as well as a legal status for undocumented immigrants if they pay penalties and back taxes, as well as learn English. Meanwhile, 25 percent say they would oppose such a plan.
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Poll: Immigration negligible in N.C.
For a legislative cadaver, U.S. immigration reform has been kicking up a fair amount of dust. Pro-immigration activists have been protesting in front of the White House and lambasting President Obama as the nations deporter in chief. Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner has chastised his colleagues for being too timid to take up immigration legislation, then returned to Washington and taken it all back, placing blame, as usual, on Obama.
Unless House Republicans have a last-minute conversion and produce credible legislation, its time for the president to act. Obama has already directed Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to review options for easing deportations, and the president should think big. The demise of immigration reform would be a humanitarian failure and a political one. Millions of undocumented immigrants are locked in place, with deep roots in communities but limited ability to realize their full potential or contribute their full measure to the economy. An estimated 4.4 million undocumented immigrants have children who are U.S. citizens. About 600,000 have spouses who are either American citizens or legal residents. Most have been in the U.S. for a decade or more. Many have jobs in addition to families.
These immigrants are rarely among the deported. Most expulsions occur within 100 miles of the Mexican border, where recent arrivals are often targeted. At the same time, removals from what the Department of Homeland Security categorizes as the nations interiormore than 100 miles from the borderhave declined in recent years. Still, thousands of otherwise law-abiding immigrants with legal family members are deported each year, and millions live under the threat of it.
Having already deferred deportations for Dreamersyoung undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as childrenObama should extend the policy on similar terms to undocumented immigrants with lengthy residencies in the U.S. and family members who are U.S. citizens or legal residents. He has discretion in the enforcement of immigration law, though it would incense the opposition and further polarize debate. Opponents would no doubt label such a move as amnestyand they would be correct. But what is their alternative? The possibility that the U.S. will deport 11 million undocumented immigrants is no more than a cruel fantasy. And all sides agree that the status quo is destructive, undermining both the rule of law and immigrants potential.
House Republicans who object to a new class of deportation deferrals have the means to alter it. Its called legislation. A comprehensive immigration bill, with the imprimatur of Congress, remains by far the best possible outcome. A bipartisan majority of the Senate has already shown the way; the House need only follow suit. Government shouldnt be in the business of tearing families apart, Obama has said. Hes right.
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Obama Needs to Dial Back on Deportations
A month-long computer malfunction continues in the Dallas immigration courts and those around the nation. Even before the techno-problems, there was a significant back log of about 5,600 cases for the five judges of Dallas.
Now, some worry detained immigrants may be in for even longer detention stays while their civil cases drag through the courts. Delays for non-detained immigrants may actually benefit them and their families by stalling a deportation or giving more time for preparation of often complicated legal cases.
Immigration courts are still operating, sort of. But there's no timeline for a complete fix.
"Some cases may be continued while we continue to work through this issue," said Kathryn Mattingly, a spokeswoman in Falls Church, Va., for the Justice Department agency running the courts.
The spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Immigration Reform wouldn't clarify a statement on the agency website about "a hardware failure." They note the court information hotline is still operational but only current as of April 12, 2014.
For many attorneys, a big worry is whether there was a back-up of files, or was the government system so out-of-date none existed.
The head of the union for the immigration judges, Dana Leigh Marks, said the problem is significant, particularly snarling efficiency in the computerized docket system, or the formerly computerized docket system.
"It has been extremely difficult to function without it," said Marks, the president of the National Association of Immigration Judges and a San Francisco-based judge. "So much data about the cases is connected to it. I don't have access to a current schedule of my cases."
Judges and court interpreters are feeling the impact of the system hardware failure. But legal technicians who input every action in every case will have a hard time catching up with the activity of the last four weeks, Marks said. "All that coordination is facilitated through the docket system which doesn't function now," the union president said.
Some courts are holding hearings but rather than recording procedures digitally, court staff use old technology, four track tape recorders.
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Computer hardware failure in Dallas immigration courts snarling some cases
For Release: May 9, 2014 Contact: Judy Kent at (703) 759-7476 or [emailprotected] or David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or (703) 568-4727 (text enabled) or [emailprotected]
Marriott Chairman J.W. "Bill" Marriott, Jr. Ducks Key Question on Immigration at Company Shareholder Meeting
Declines to Explain Why Big Companies Supporting "Path to Citizenship" Don't Lobby to Secure Southern Border First to Help Build Public Support for the Immigration Law Changes Big Business Wants
Washington, D.C. - Today, at Marriott International's shareholder meeting in Washington, D.C., Justin Danhof, director of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project, asked Executive Chairman J.W. "Bill" Marriott, Jr. about the company's push for immigration reform.
Danhof, in his question, noted that 57 percent of the U.S. public supports the border fence and 69 percent supports using the U.S. military to keep Mexican drug violence out of the U.S. There is strong support for border security, and strengthening border security would increase public support for legalization of illegal immigrations already here. Therefore, given that the company has pushed for immigration reform for years without success, why does it not push for completing the fence and then push for legalization, as doing the former would make the public more agreeable to the latter?
"In his response, Mr. Marriott started by explaining that Marriott does very much support the idea of border security but, at the same time, he explained that many of the company's employees that are here legally and work using green cards deserve a path to citizenship, said Danhof. "That was really the entire crux of his answer. He did not say a word directed at the central point of my question, which was, 'why doesn't the company publicly support building a border fence and then engage in comprehensive immigration reform?' It was as if I hadn't asked that."
"The company's position is clearly to continue to push for legal status and border security at the same time," Danhof continued. "As I plainly articulated, this approach has failed in the past and could also fail going forward. Either way, it is a method that does not have the broad backing of the American public, and the company is risking its strong reputation with this approach."
"It is incomprehensible that a business such as Marriott that is heavily involved in the immigration debate cannot answer a simple question: why not build a secure border fence first, and then engage in the other dynamics of reform? If Marriott were to publicly endorse this approach, the company would align itself with a large block of the American public that is genuinely concerned about border security and continued illegal immigration from Mexico," continued Danhof.
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Marriott Chairman Ducks Immigration Question at Shareholder Meeting