Two Republican Senators playing influential roles in the immigration debate are demonstrating contrasting profiles in leadership this week. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is up for re-election in 2014 in one of the most conservative states in the nation, responded to the possibility of ads being run against him...
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When it comes to immigration reform, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has a problem. In Spanish we’d say “quiere quedar bien con Dios y con el Diablo”—he wants to get along with God and the Devil. In other words, he’s trying to have it both ways. This past...
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Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has joined the likes of Jeff Sessions, Chuck Grassley, John Cornyn, and Donald Trump (!) in the “slow down” caucus, last weekend petitioning Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Pat Leahy to hold more hearings, etc., before pressing forward on immigration reform. While the rest of the “slow...
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Last weekend, Marco Rubio joined the chorus of Senate Republicans asking Patrick Leahy to slow down immigration reform, leading commentators and advocates alike to slam Rubio for trying to halt the gears on immigration. At a time when the moment seems so ripe for reform, we must ask Rubio–a...
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This weekend, the AFL-CIO and the US Chamber of Commerce agreed to a guest worker visa program, a major breakthrough in one of the biggest hurdles to immigration reform legislation. The agreement means that the “all major policy issues” have been resolved in the run-up to legislation. As...
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Over the weekend, officials at the US Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO announced that they had reached an agreement on a guest-worker program in immigration reform, one of the key holdups in the process to legislation. Though some members of the Senate Gang of 8 were quick to note...
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Big news this afternoon with reports that a deal has been reached between the gang of eight senators and the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce on the creation of a new worker program. And, Ana Avendaño, Director of immigration and community action at the AFL-CIO, tweeted: We have a deal...
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Update: Young has issued a full apology: “I apologize for the insensitive term I used during an interview in Ketchikan, Alaska. There was no malice in my heart or intent to offend; it was a poor choice of words. That word, and the negative attitudes that come with it, should...
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In the latest blow to GOP minority outreach, the big news of the day involves Rep. Don Young (R-AL), who referred to immigrants as “wetbacks” while speaking on a local radio station yesterday: “My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” Young, an...
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A range of developments underscores the momentum behind immigration reform, while highlighting the newfound support for reform from both traditional and non-traditional backers. Even the spate of stories last week that asked if business and labor disputes would help scuttle the overall reform effort were overblown, as the talks...
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