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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No April Fools’ joke. At Talking Points Memo today is a great story about odd allies—and the friendship between undocumented activist extraordinaire Jose Antonio Vargas and founder of the Tea Party Patriots Mark Meckler. Vargas is the gay Pulitzer Prize-winning immigrant who first outed himself to the New York...
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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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“A Historic Breakthrough,” Says Frank Sharry It is reported 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. The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s...
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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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It’s Easter Recess for Congressmembers, who are back at home holding town halls, meeting with constituents–and being served petitions with tens of thousands of local signers all demanding immigration reform. A coalition of immigrant-rights groups, in conjunction with local organizations, have collected more than 40,000 petitions from immigration reform...
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