Must Read News

America’s Voice is starting a new series to bring Spanish-language coverage of immigration and politics to a wider audience. Look for daily roundups (in English), of some of the best Spanish-language news. “The EFE and AFP news agencies report that President Obama’s State of the Union address will focus on the economy. At a demonstration held in front of the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C. yesterday, activists protested President Obama’s neglect of his campaign promise to the Hispanic community to make comprehensive immigration reform a reality, as reported by Notimex and La Opinión.”

Here are some of the best immigration tidbits from around the internets today — oh, and leave us some Friday comment love if you get a second. Andrea Nill at the Wonk Room reports on Lou Dobbs’ sprint to dump the toxic brand image he’s built up for himself on immigration. Maegan La Mala at Vivir Latino posts video and the new findings that immigration reform would be a 1.5 trillion dollar stimulus to the economy. Dave Neiwert points out the hypocrisy of Glen Beck’s “pre-emptive defense of the coming wave of anti-immigrant bigotry.” (Check out the updates.)

Jennifer McFayden over at About.com writes: “Peaceful, maybe, but ALIPAC president William Gheen is known for his hard line approach.” She quotes him saying telling Congressman Gutierrez (D-IL) to “”Make my day punk!”(Seriously?) and then goes on to say, “I don’t know what poll Gheen is using, but if he’s quoting the recent CNN poll that’s making the rounds, he might want to look at this blog post from America’s Voice.”

Some of us already knew this, but the fact that good immigration policy also boosts the middle class is a myth-buster that bears repeating, as well as a new report by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI). Immigration Impact argues:

The myth that immigration is bad for U.S. workers has sullied the immigration debate for far too long. A new report by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI), “Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class: 2009 Edition,” sets the record straight. In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and in an

First, pardon the shameless self-promotion, but America’s Voice has produced a TV ad regarding CNN’s Lou Dobbs problem, in conjunction with the Media Matters campaigns to Drop Dobbs. Watch the ad and donate to get it on the air.

Next up: health care. Cynthia Tucker, a brilliant editorialist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, comments on the lack of compassion for uninsured immigrants and uninsured Americans in this supposed “city on the hill.” Andrea Nill describes the outrageous claims by Senator Grassley (R-IA) that the Baucus bill doesn’t do enough to screen out undocumented immigrants (speaking of shameless!). And check out this Matt Bor’s cartoon from September 16, which skewers the likes of Grassley.