Sen. Durbin on Farm Bill and Immigration Reform
From his home in Springfield, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin discusses the effects of the recently passed farm bill, and the need for comprehensive immigration ref...
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Lucido Manzella PC Reviews immigration reform
For more about Lucido Manzella: visit- http://youtube.com/watch?v=842s8A2fAiU Peter Lucido of Lucido Manzella Law Firm review immigration reform. The test ...
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Does Senator Lee support immigration reform and a raise in the minimum wage?
Sign up for Senator Lee #39;s tele-townhalls here: http://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/tele-townhall-meetings.
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Does Senator Lee support immigration reform and a raise in the minimum wage? - Video
Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) (pictured) faces Democrat Wesley Reed in a race to represent Texas' 27th Congressional District. | Bill Clark via Getty Images
When several dozen protesters lined up outside the Corpus Christi office of Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold last year, holding a petition with about 10,000 signatures in favor of immigration reform, they hoped to win the Republican's support before the 2014 midterm elections.
Six months closer to the already-heated elections, immigration reform advocates have little to show for it.
Although the two-term congressman has met with advocates and expressed openness to some type of reform, he hasn't made the full-scale evolution on immigration that some Republicans in similarly Latino-heavy districts have. His seat is safe enough that despite the large number of Latino voters he represents, he doesn't need to.
Farenthold's 27th District, which sits less than 200 miles from the Mexico border, has a substantial Latino population of 345,730 -- just under half the district. But that population isn't as influential as it once was. According to U.S. Census figures, the 2012 remapping of Texas increased the voting-age population for whites in the district by more than 100,000 voters, while reducing the number of Hispanics who could vote there by about that same number. Recent figures show the district currently has 243,991 white voters compared to 233,071 Hispanic voters.
In 2010, Farenthold defeated longtime Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) by just 775 votes, following a recount. He easily won reelection in 2012, in part because the district no longer included the Latino voting bloc in the border town of Brownsville and added heavily Republican communities around Corpus Christi.
In Farenthold's 2014 election campaign, immigration will be a major part of the debate. He told HuffPost in a statement this week that although he supports legal immigration, he is "opposed to any policy that promotes illegal immigration."
"That said, our current system is broken and needs reform," he continued. "I sit on the House Judiciary Committee, where weve been actively working on concrete solutions to fix our nations immigration policy, piece-by-piece. Over the last several months, our committee has already made key advancements in reforming our immigration system by passing individual measures aimed at fixing specific problems with the current system."
The incumbent faces Democratic newcomer Wesley Reed, a 44-year-old FedEx pilot and Marine Corps Reserve member who has lived in the district for nearly six years. Reed has been seeking the support of immigration advocates, arguing that the congressman is wrong for joining his party in opposing broad reforms prior to the November general election.
"[Republicans] are more willing to adhere to tea party talking points to try to make sure they have their tea party base and support from them so they don't get any kind of primary so they can stay in office," Reed said. "But that's not what we need to do as a Congress. We need to make sure that we work together to find legitimate solutions to the problems for the people who are here undocumented."
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Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), speaks at We Belong Together event last fall. (Courtesy of We Belong Together)
While House Republicans have been adamant that immigration reform is all but dead this year, a coalition of womens groups is hoping to revive the issue, wrapping it into the war on women offensive.
Arguing that women and children bear the brunt of the burden from a broken system, and that women will be decisive in the 2014 and 2016 elections, organizers said that Republicans should reconsider their approach to immigration reform.
Unless we actually have action from House leadership, from Speaker Boehner, to move a bill forward so that the majority of his members in his House can actually vote to move this bill forward, we will continue to push and push and make sure that women voters in November understand who has blocked immigration reform,Pramila Jayapal, chair of We Belong Together, which advocates for immigration reform, said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters.
Jaypal said that the timeline for reform cant be dictated by a small group of people, and that the lack of GOP action will have a political cost for the party as it tries rebrand its image and appeal to a more diverse pool of voters.
If the Republican leadership really looks at the cost of not moving immigration reform forwardthe cost for their leadership in Congress, they will start to understand that the lack of action is continuing to play into a frame that already exists, she said.
Congresswomen Suzan DelBene (D-WA) and Judy Chu (D-CA) have joined the push.
We know that when women come together and stand up for legislation, something can get done, even in this dysfunctional Congress, DelBene said, citing the work around the Violence Against Womens Act.
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