Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Monday, November 05, 2007

Among native-born Mexicans, for example, only 45% thought the marches had a positive effect on the way the rest of the American public thinks about illegal or undocumented immigrants, compared with 63% among foreign-born Mexicans.

Similarly, only 48% of third-generation Hispanics viewed the marches as a positive, compared with 60% among first generation Latinos.

Among those who were English dominant, 32% said the marches had a positive effect on the way Americans viewed undocumented immigrants, compared with 64% among those who were Spanish dominant.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Saturday, October 13, 2007

God will be asked this Sunday to weigh in on the state children’s health insurance program, as members of various faith groups plan to pray for an override of President Bush’s veto of the measure.

The call to prayer by the PICO National Network of religious organizations is aimed at generating at least 10,000 calls to 35 targeted members of Congress who voted against the bill (HR 976) but might still be convinced to support an override attempt Oct. 18.

“We’re praying that our elected officials find the courage to put aside politics and do right by our children,” reads a flier that will be distributed Oct. 14 to parishioners in congregations participating in the event.

"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ... But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him"

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

There are 10 million Protestant Hispanics in the U.S. today. 90 percent of them adhere to a variant of Pentecostalism. It was this subgroup of Latinos who helped George W. Bush increase his margin among Hispanics in 2004 -- "the percentage of Bush voters among Hispanic Catholics remained exactly the same." Penn's own surveys suggest that Protestant Latinos are largely values voters; Catholic Latinos are much more likely to respond to economic issues.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Just got to the Ames Straw Poll after many mishaps... The first thing a
visitor notices: the Ron Paul presence. I predicted he'd come in 7th in the poll.

But the first thing you see when you get here is countless Ron Paul signs and Ron Paul workers. There' a giant Ron Paul sign right out front. Mitt Romney's got nothing on this guy... Now, I stand by my prediction ? heck, I stand by all of them until the vote comes down. I think most of these folks are from out-of-state, and thus can't vote. But I'll report back when I've had some time to walk around.

Well, I think I answered my Ron Paul question after battling the sun for about an hour... Out of staters, overwhelmingly. I went to talk to the five Ron Paul folks holding a big poster outside the entrance. 0-5. Not one from Iowa. They'd driven in from Kansas City, Missouri. One woman was from New Jersey.

I asked another guy holding a sign on the way in: Huntsville, Alabama.

I asked three more RP folks: Out of town.

I asked two more: Out of town.

I asked four more: Out of town.

I'd been told some Iowa Ron Paul supporters were holed up at his tent, so I headed over...

I asked three folks sitting and eating Ron Paul's food: Nope.

I approached another man: Finally, a guy from Iowa!

Oops... I ask him why he's supporting Ron Paul: "I don't know anything about him."

Oh well, maybe he was about to be converted.

Now, let me be clear: None of this means there are no Iowans supporting Ron Paul
at the Straw Poll today. We'll know the exact number of them around 7:00 p.m. And,
obviously, other candidates have lots of supporters in from out of state. But unless he places in the top four, there's a huge gap between the national activist showing and the ability to deliver votes in a geographically contained area ? once again proving that the Ron Paul phenomenon is a small group of people posting a lot of blog comments and swarming online polls.

Labels: 2008 candidates

Thursday, July 05, 2007

[E]arly indications suggest that the Democrats are likely to gain a few Senate seats in the upcoming elections. Would not a more liberal [immigration] bill emerge in 2009 if there were a Democratic president and a somewhat more sympathetic Congress?

Janet Murguía, the president of the National Council of La Raza, makes the case against waiting until after the presidential election. "Our worry and our concern is that a new president would not see immigration as a top priority," she says. "It will be a very polarizing and difficult issue. And the fight isn't going to get any easier as we go along. I would think that any presidential candidate -- whatever his or her public position on the issue -- would really hope that the whole thing would be solved in this Congress."

Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the right-of-center Manhattan Institute and a zealous advocate of immigration reform, offers a similar assessment. "The chances of getting a bill in 2009 are risky at best," she says. "They don't take up health-care reform, they don't take up Social Security every year. And the votes probably won't be there unless you suddenly have 60 Democratic senators." Jacoby also raised the specter of an anti-immigrant backlash: "The economy could go sour, we could have a terrorist attack. Who knows?"

Labels: [E]

Monday, July 02, 2007

The Chairman of the Republican Party on Friday lambasted Democrats and Republicans who helped kill an immigration bill in the Senate and challenged them to come up with a solution beyond ``just build a fence along the border.''

``The voices of negativity now have a responsibility to come up with an answer,'' RNC Chairman and U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, R-Fla. said.

``How will you fix the situation to make peoples' lives better? How will you continue to grow the economy? How will we bring people out of the shadows for our national security and for the sake of being a country that is just?'' he demanded.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

The bill's bipartisan supporters, who include liberals such as Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and conservatives such as Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said they would push hard to survive Thursday's vote. But they were frustrated by the lack of enthusiasm shown by many in the president's party.

Some noted the virtual absence throughout Wednesday's floor debate of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has declined to say how he would vote on the measure.

McConnell left GOP colleagues including Arlen Specter, R-Pa., to contend with the Vitter-DeMint-Sessions group, while Democrats were represented in the chamber most of the day by Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

If a component is tabled — at least 50 votes needed, with 99 senators voting — it’s killed. If a component is not tabled, senators cannot dispense with it without unanimous consent. At the end of the 30 hours of post-cloture debate, senators likely will use up or down votes on any components not tabled.

The senators’ proposals included in Reid’s clay pigeon amendment and the order of consideration are:

Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas Require illegal immigrants to return home after receiving probationary visa and before receiving Z visa, which would put illegal immigrants now in the country on a path to citizenship. Tabled on Wednesday, 53-45.

Jim Webb, D-Va. Limit Z visas to those who have been in the country at least four years and can demonstrate ties to their communities. Tabled on Wednesday, 79-18.

Christopher S. Bond, R-Mo. Prohibit green cards for Z visa holders. Under the bill, Z visa holders would put illegal immigrants now in the country on a path to citizenship. Tabled on Wednesday, 56-41.

Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn. Increase the number of family parent visas. Tabled on Wednesday, 56-41.

Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. Allow additional green cards for parents of U.S. citizens if the 87,000 cap on green cards for spouses and mi- nor children of lawful permanent residents is not met. The increase would be the difference between the cap and the actual number issued. Withdrawn.

Robert Menendez, D-N.J. Increase family points in merit-based immigration system. Tabled on Wednesday, 55-40.

Max Baucus, D-Mont. Strike all references in the legislation to requirements for issuing secure driver’s licenses and identification cards under the REAL ID Act (PL 109-13). Tabling motion failed Wednesday, 45-52.

Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa New Title III (employee verification system). Would still require that all new employees be verified; however, it would only require current employees to be checked if there is evidence to suspect unlawful employment.

Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M. Increase the number of federal judgeships in districts experiencing heavy immigration caseloads.

Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. Require congressional approval of all Social Security “totalization” agreements, which allow workers to divide their work between more than one country and withhold payment of taxes. Under current law, the agreements take effect if neither the House nor the Senate object within 60 days of submittal by the president.

Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Broadly defined enforcement amendment that includes strict penalties for those who overstay visas, including deportation and a lifetime ban on re-entering the country, with some waivers for those who can prove excep- tional circumstances such as a hospital stay. Also requires that heads of household for all illegal immigrant fami- lies wishing to receive Z visas return to their country of origin first, and within three years of the bill’s enactment.

Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. Increase penalties for employers who repeatedly hire illegal immigrants, banning them from receiving federal

contracts for no less than five years, up from a maximum of two years.

Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Increase the number of H-1B visas issued each year.

Norm Coleman, R-Minn. Allow officials of federal, state or local government entities to question individuals about their immigration status if the officials have probable cause to believe the individuals lack legal status.

Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. Require that illegal immigrants pay a supplemental fee of $500, on top of other fees and fines in the legislation, to fund border security and enforcement.

John Thune, R-S.D. Deny probationary benefits to the current illegal population until the bill’s series of border security and enforcement triggers are met.

Bernard Sanders, I-Vt. Employers would have to certify they had conducted no mass layoffs before qualifying to hire foreign workers.

Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. [Codifies] an oath of allegiance for naturalization.

Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio Ban employers from hiring guest workers for a year if they fail to post positions with state employment agencies.

Carl Levin, D-Mich. Provide refugee-related protection for Iraqi religious minorities.

Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. Prohibit states and localities from requiring businesses to build day labor shelters.

Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. Require tamper-proof biometric Social Security cards.

John Ensign, R-Nev. Bar credit for Social Security for work done as undocumented immigrant.

Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt. Provide refugee-related protection to persecuted scholars.

Lindsey Graham, R-S.C Direct Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to report to Congress on the number of temporary workers who ignore order to return home when visas expire, and to reduce the number of temporary workers for the next year by that number. Also would provide for information sharing between DHS and state and local law enforcement, and reimburse those agencies for detaining and transferring illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Reduce Y guest-worker visa cap by the number of workers overstaying their visas.

Manager’s amendment A broad array of mostly technical and non-contentious changes.

House Republicans hurt the president's cause this week by passing a party resolution disapproving of the Senate bill. The sour Senate mood was captured by Sen. Pete Domenici (R., N.M.), who had voted with the president Tuesday to call up the bill, but said he would oppose the cloture motion to limit debate this morning.

"This bill is toast," he said in an interview. "This bill will never become law, and consequently I don't see why I should continue down this path. It's not going to pass the House ever. So we're never going to get a bill. So why go through this torture?"

A supermajority of 60 votes is needed to invoke cloture, and the administration's high-water point Tuesday was 64. A loss of five votes would be fatal, and apart from Mr. Domenici, Sens. Christopher Bond (R., Mo.) and Richard Burr (R., N.C.) are expected to now oppose cloture, and Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) remained uncommitted.

Among Democrats, Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jim Webb of Virginia are moving toward the "no" column. Also, Sens. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, more-liberal labor Democrats, were up in the air because of family and labor provisions in the bill.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Monday, June 25, 2007

"It would be a huge blow, an enormous bill, if this [pick an amendment] happens," said Cecilia Munoz, vice president for policy at the National Council for La Raza, the largest Latino rights group.

But Munoz and members of other immigrant rights groups said they will still support the bill's passage, while pressing for changes in the House or in eventual House-Senate negotiations.

"If this was the final bill, if this was going straight from the Senate floor to the Rose Garden signing ceremony, there would be full-throated opposition, but it's not. We still have another chamber to go through," said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, which supports the bill.

What Senator Cornyn is referring to is a provision the bill which, frankly, we think there's been a fair amount of misunderstanding and mythology about. There is a provision -- what he's talking about is a provision that said that when the undocumented workers come in out of the shadows to register for a probationary card, that DHS should give the card to them in 24 hours. ...

That said, because that mythology exists and there are people concerned about it, there's an amendment that will be considered this week that removes the reference to the 24-hour -- and I think -- my understanding is that's expected to pass. So that, I think, unjustified concern will be taken off the table completely.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Thursday, June 21, 2007