Gutierrez talks immigration on C-SPAN Washington Journal
February 12, 2014 - Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) joined C-SPAN #39;s Washington Journal to discuss immigration reform in 2014. The Congressman is one of the Dem...
By: RepLuisGutierrez
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Gutierrez talks immigration on C-SPAN Washington Journal - Video
Steve Case Immigration Reform Is Pro-Business2926
By: Terri Harvilicz
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The political mood in Washington seems to have turned against comprehensive immigration reform mostly for tactical reasons in the Republican Party, which may or may not make good sense.
The two big political stories out of the United States in the last week both centre on the Republican Party, but they seem to convey opposing messages. On Tuesday, Republicans in the House of Representatives surrendered unconditionally in the fight over the US debt ceiling. The Republican leadership sent a clean measure for increasing the ceiling, with no conditions, to a vote, knowing that it would pass as it did, 221 to 201, even though most Republicans still voted against.
But in the other story, prospects for the passage of immigration reform have dwindled, as Republicans increasingly shy away from the idea. A brief flurry of optimism was put to rest last Thursday when speaker John Boehner all but ruled out agreement on a measure this year.
Its been a while since we looked at immigration reform, of which the key point is the attempt to open up a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, mostly from Mexico. In the middle of last year things looked reasonably positive, but the mood soon turned. Its been up and down since then, but a consensus has now emerged that nothing is likely to happen until after mid-term congressional elections in November.
There has never been any likelihood that the majority of Republicans would actually embrace reform. The question is whether the majority would be sufficiently tolerant of the idea to allow a reform bill to come to a vote in the House, where a few Republicans would vote with the majority of Democrats to pass it.
That in turn depends on how worried the Republicans are about their standing with non-white voters, especially Hispanics. Last weeks change of heart seems to have been substantially driven by a sense of optimism that the party is doing well enough to not need to concern itself too much with reaching out beyond its traditional voter base, and that the attempt to do so could be a dangerous distraction.
Quoting Republicans knowledgeable about the issue, a New York Times report said that reaching any agreement has become appreciably harder because of a Republican reluctance to get caught up in an internal feud and stomp on their increasingly bright election prospects.
Immigration is an emotional issue, so bringing it back to the forefront obviously risks exposing the partys internal tensions. And as has always been the case, theres a tendency from the Republican point of view to see it as a lose-lose issue: if reform fails, they will get the blame, yet the Obama administration will take the credit if it succeeds.
Not everyone thinks the issue is dead. Jonathan Cohn in the New Republic says that Lots of senior Democrats think Boehner still wants a deal, and suggests that he is trying simultaneously to reassure nervous conservatives that he wont cut a bad deal, to give Republicans more leverage should more serious negotiations begin, and to create a handy excuse in case legislation simply proves impossible to achieve.
Its also not clear that the decision if thats what it is to get the midterms out of the way first makes good tactical sense. If the Republicans do as well as theyre hoping, the result will be an influx of new, largely hard-right GOP legislators, who presumably will be even less sympathetic to immigration reform than the current crop. On the other hand, if they do unexpectedly badly, their negotiating position vis-a-vis the administration will just deteriorate further.
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Immigration reform sinking fast in the US | The World is ...
Sen. Chuck Schumer said Thursday he supports a new idea to get the Senates immigration reform bill through the House using a discharge petition, saying immigration is the No. 1 way to get the country on track.
In a statement to POLITICOs Mike Allen, Schumer said he supports an idea mentioned in E.J. Dionnes column in The Washington Post to have a majority of members of the House force House Speaker John Boehner to allow a vote on the Senate-passed bill.
The idea thats begun circulating, to do a discharge petition on immigration reform in the House, is a good one and I would urge House Democrats to take it up, Schumer said in the statement. Its clear a majority of the House supports immigration reform. A minority faction has scared Republicans out of acting even though large parts of the Republican base, including business and religious groups, support the bill, making a discharge petition an appropriate remedy.
(Also on POLITICO: Schumer floats 2017 immigration plan)
Dionne argued in his column that Tuesdays House vote passing a clean debt ceiling hike with nearly every Democrat and a handful of Republicans should provide a model for moving immigration reform.
Schumer has also floated a proposal to have an immigration bill pass that doesnt go into effect until 2017, under the next president, mitigating Republicans concern that President Barack Obama could selectively enforce whatever they pass.
He said Thursday that the important thing is passing reform.
(Also on POLITICO: Immigration groups turn to anger)
I believe immigration reform is the No. 1 thing we could do to straighten the country out and get our country moving again, Schumer said on MSNBCs Morning Joe on Thursday. The CBO said that, actually, immigration reform would increase GDP by 3.5 percent, more than any Democratic spending program or any Republican cut program. So I feel a keen urgency to get this done.
Schumer said his proposal shows Democrats are not pushing immigration reform for political reasons.
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Abstract
The House Republican leadership recently released its Standards for Immigration Reform, which amount to little more than a repackaging of the flawed and harmful Senate bill. The principles of the House leadership match up almost exactly with the framework laid out by the Senates Gang of Eight for the Senate bill. Both chambers promise new enforcement, border security, and visa reforms in exchange for amnestya costly, unfair, and unworkable policy that didnt work in 1986 and wont work now. Congress should reject dangerous policies that do not fix the problems of the U.S. immigration system but only make it worse. Rather than repeat the mistake of 1986, the House leadership should focus on how it can encourage President Obama to enforce existing law.
The House Republican leadership recently released its Standards for Immigration Reform.[1]Regrettably, these standards amount to little more than a repackaging of the flawed and harmful Senate bill. The principles of the House leadership match up almost exactly with the framework laid out by the Senates Gang of Eight for the Senate bill.[2 ]
The House. It is the fundamental duty of any government to secure its borders, and the United States is failing in this mission. We must secure our borders now and verify that they are secure. In addition, we must ensure now that when immigration reform is enacted, there will be a zero tolerance policy for those who cross the border illegally.[3]
The Senate. To fulfill the basic governmental function of securing our borders, we will continue the increased efforts of the Border Patrol by providing them with the latest technology, infrastructure, and personnel needed to prevent, detect, and apprehend every unauthorized entrant.[4]
Analysis. There is next to no difference between the Senate bill and the House principles. It is well known that the Senate bill directs billions of dollars to border security and uses flawed metrics that do not effectively measure how many immigrants are still illegally entering the U.S. every year.[5] The Houses Border Security Results Act sets up similarly misguided metrics and requires at least 10 additional reports for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to give to Congress, half of which are recurring.[6] While the proper metrics can be important, ultimately what is needed are actual results, which neither the House principles nor the Senate bill can ensure.
The House. There will be a zero tolerance policy for those who cross the border illegally or overstay their visas in the future. Faced with a consistent pattern of administrations of both parties only selectively enforcing our nations immigration laws, we must enact reform that ensures that a President cannot unilaterally stop immigration enforcement.[7]
The Senate. We will demonstrate our commitment to securing our borders and combating visa overstays by requiring our proposed enforcement measures be complete before any immigrant on probationary status can earn a green card.[8]
Analysis. While the two are very similar, here the Senate bill actually makes enforcement more difficult by providing the executive branch with additional discretion and waivers.[9] What the House principles and the Senate bill have in common on this point is that neither the House nor the Senate has a way of ensuring that the President will actually enforce the law. The House may claim that it does, but, if the President already disregards current laws, how can the House really ensure that President Obamaor a future Presidentwill respect a new immigration law?[10] Ultimately, both the Senate and House promise more enforcement, but neither can actually deliver it.
The House. A fully functioning Entry-Exit system has been mandated by eight separate statutes over the last 17 years. At least three of these laws call for this system to be biometric, using technology to verify identity and prevent fraud. We must implement this system so we can identify and track down visitors who abuse our laws.[11]
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House Standards for Immigration Reform Nearly Identical to Flawed Senate Bill