NDN Blog

President Barack Obama recently appeared on Sabado Gigante, with living legend Don Francisco. The interview is below:

Part 2 is below <

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Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is facing a growing uproar over criticizing businesses that hire undocumented immigrants while at the same time having hired one as a nanny for nine years.

In a recent debate, she was pummeled by her Democratic opponent Jerry Brown on this very issue. George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times has more in his story Housekeeper issue casts Whitman as hypocrite:

Words do matter. Whitman made herself into a very large target at UC Davis when she declared: "We do have to hold employers accountable for hiring only documented workers, and we do have to enforce that law."

Despite the revelation the next day that she herself had employed an illegal immigrant maid for nine years — unbeknownst to her, she says — Whitman repeated the admonition in a second contentious encounter with Brown on Saturday at Cal State Fresno: "If we don't hold employers accountable, we will never get our arms around this [illegal immigration] problem."

This led to a thunderous smack down from Brown:

"Ms. Whitman obviously didn't crack down on herself," the Democrat replied. "This is a question of talking out of both sides of her mouth."

Skelton's article focuses not on the problems associated with hiring undocumented workers, but rather the current Republican posturing on the issue of immigration:

The Republican candidate's problem is not that she hired an undocumented housemaid. That's understandable in modern California. The Mexican immigrant's papers were phony, after all.

That would be a problem only within the Republican right, which Whitman pandered to in winning the GOP nomination. And that's her problem now as she runs among a broader electorate, because the early hard-line anti-illegal immigrant stance seems so contradictory.

It also amounts to impractical policy, as she herself has shown.

"Basically, it's disingenuous rhetorical fantasy about what the California governor can do," says Democratic consultant Bill Carrick, who's not involved in the gubernatorial race.

"What happens when Whitman's next door neighbor has a swat team of gardeners show up every week? Is she going to notice this and send in her inspection team? She is exposing the reality of California at the same time she's engaging in all this hollow rhetoric."

NDN Senior Advisor Alicia Menendez was on MSNBC this weekend to talk about the One Nation March and the Mid-Terms, video is below:

For the uninitiated Secure Communities is a federal program designed to identify criminal illegal immigrants who are already in the prison system and assist the federal government in removing them from the United States.

N.C. Aizenman of The Washington Post has a good summary of the program here.

Although controversy over civil liberties issues has surrounded similar efforts, the Fairfax program, Secure Communities, has had a lower profile. It automatically checks the digital fingerprints of anyone processed at the jail against immigration databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. If someone is found to be an illegal immigrant whom officials want to deport, an officer of DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, calls the jail's booking desk within an hour to place a "detainer" on the person.

Some states have tried to opt out of using Secure Communities, but are finding that the program once thought to be voluntary is now mandatory. Shankar Vedantam of the Washington Post has more in his article Local jurisdictions find they can't opt out of federal immigration enforcement program:

The Obama administration is making it virtually impossible for Arlington County, the District and other jurisdictions to refuse to participate in a controversial immigration enforcement program that uses fingerprints gathered by local law enforcement agencies to identify illegal immigrants.

Secure Communities is already up and running in 32 states but is set to go nationwide:

Secure Communities, which operates in 32 states and will soon be running nationwide, relies on the fingerprints collected by local authorities when a person is charged with anything from a traffic violation to murder. The fingerprints are sent to state police, and then to the FBI, for criminal background checks.

The voluntary nature of the program is a nuanced issue at this point as there is some debate over where  federal jurisdiction begins and what rights states have in utilizing the program:

A senior ICE official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the involuntary nature of the program, said:

"Secure Communities is not based on state or local cooperation in federal law enforcement. The program's foundation is information sharing between FBI and ICE. State and local law enforcement agencies are going to continue to fingerprint people and those fingerprints are forwarded to FBI for criminal checks. ICE will take immigration action appropriately."

In fact the only way a state could opt out of the program would be to deny the FBI fingerprints of incarcerated immigrants:

The only way a local jurisdiction could opt out of the program is if a state refused to send fingerprints to the FBI. Since police and prosecutors need to know the criminal histories of people they arrest, it is not realistic for states to withhold fingerprints from the FBI - which means it is impossible to withhold them from ICE.

Today, in a hearing at the House Subcommittee on Immigration, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fox News President Rupert Murdoch urged congress to pass immigration reform.

Suzanne Gamboa of the Associated Press has more in Media Moguls Urge Congress To Reform Immigration, quotes are below:

...media moguls Rupert Murdoch and Michael Bloomberg made a similar appeal to Congress: Do something about immigration.

Murdoch, the founder of News Corp., urged lawmakers during a hearing Thursday to match attempts to secure the border with efforts to ensure that employers can't hire people illegally.

For his part, Bloomberg, the mayor of New York as well as the founder of the financial news and information service bearing his name, told lawmakers that they should show some leadership on the issue.

Murdoch and Bloomberg lead a coalition of businesses and mayors who want action on immigration reform:

Murdoch and Bloomberg lead a coalition of businesses and mayors to push for immigration reform. The group supports providing a path to legal status for those in the U.S. illegally. Murdoch himself was born in Australia and, while expanding his interests in U.S. media, became an American citizen in 1985. Citizenship allowed him to own U.S. television stations.

Murdoch gave a personal reason for his support of immigration reform:

"As an immigrant, I chose to live in America because it is one of the freest and most vibrant nations in the world. And as an immigrant, I feel an obligation to speak up for immigration policies that will keep America the most economically robust, creative and freedom-loving nation in the world," he said.

GOP Senator Orin Hatch released an enforcement only immigration bill yesterday. Mark Eddington of Utah Television Station KCSG has the full details in his article Utah Senator Orrin Hatch Introduces His Own Immigration Bill:

Hatch’s bill, Strengthening Our Commitment to Legal Immigration and America’s Security Act, would require participation in key law enforcement programs, clamp down on identify theft, streamline our visa system, track the amount of welfare benefits being diverted to illegal immigrant households, curb serious abuses of our immigration laws and help prevent Mexican cartels from using our national parks and federal lands to grow marijuana and other illegal drugs

There is virtually nothing in the legislation other then enforcement measures, such as 287 G and Secure Communities:

For example, one key provision would require eligible states, counties and cities to make use of the Secure Communities and the 287(g) programs, which are highly successful U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE) initiatives that the senator has helped bring to many Utah counties and communities.

“The innovative technology and information sharing in these programs have resulted in the prompt identification and deportation of serious criminal aliens in Utah and other states,” Hatch said. “These programs are too important to stand idle in our battle against criminal illegal aliens.

This needs to change, and my bill will see that it does.”

But not only that, this bill would deny healthcare to children of immigrants:

The bill would further place limits on states’ ability to receive federal funds to provide Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover children and pregnant women who are not U.S. citizens. It would also direct the Health and Human Services Secretary to submit a yearly report to Congress on the total dollar amount of federal welfare benefits received by households of illegal aliens in each state and the District of Columbia, as well as the overall dollars the states spend on welfare benefits.

“This is vitally important,” Hatch explained. “Before we can have an honest discussion about the drain illegal aliens are having on our welfare system, we must be armed with accurate information to understand the extent of the problem and its serious ramifications to the prosperity of our nation.”

Senator Hatch did not provide a legislative path for his bill in the Senate.

Senator Robert Menendez has released his Immigration bill, The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010 (CIRA). 

Some highlights of the legislation:

1. CIRA contains ample funding for border security along with effective Date Triggers, which serve as bench marks for securing the Border.

2. It contains a robust section on future flow and guest worker visa's.

3. In terms of employer verification, CIRA shifts away from Biometric system's towards a national mandatory use of E-Verify.

4. Family Reunification Is Included.

5. Ag Jobs is included.

6. DREAM Act is included.

7. POWER Act is included.

You can see a longer summary of the bill in NDN's immigration section of our website at Senator Menendez's Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010, below is a pdf of a section by section summary of the bill that Senator Menendez office provided.

So.... Florida GOP Senate hopeful Marco Rubio has said in debates that he supports making English the official language of the United States.

Yet at the same time he is ok with releasing an advertisement in Spanish.... I guess that's just good politics for him.

George Bennett of The Palm Beach Post has more in his article Crist, Meek, Rubio clash in first Senate debate:

Rubio said he supports making English the official language of the U.S. and opposes a Democratic bill that would let students in the country illegally become citizens if they enlist in the military or attend college. Both Meek and Crist support the DREAM Act.

And his advertisement is below:

Nevada GOP Senatorial candidate Sharon Angle has just released one of the most vicious anti-immigrant advertisement's of the campaign season, and even her own campaign spokeswomen finds it hard to watch.

Delen Goldberg of the Las Vegas Sun has the full story here Sharron Angle spokeswoman condemns her candidate’s ad on immigration:

The chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Hispanic Caucus, who moonlights as a spokeswoman for Sharron Angle, this week denounced the Republican U.S. Senate candidate's ad on immigration.

Tibi Ellis on Monday told 1060 AM Spanish radio host Edwin Saldarriaga that she doesn't agree with Angle's depiction of illegal immigrants in a campaign ad released earlier this month.

"I condemned this type of propaganda, no matter who is running them, where they blame Mexicans as the only problem and where they attack them as the only source of illegal immigration," Ellis told Saldarriaga. "I don't agree with that."

The advertisement is below, and it is interesting that there is not a single citation to back up any of the claims made in Angle's anti-immigrant advertisement:

There has been some curious speculation as to why Senator Robert Menendez has decided to drop an Immigration bill before the Senate breaks for the mid-term elections. There has been even greater speculation as to what is actually in the bill.

Scott Wong of Politico has some answers HERE, with quotes below:

Two days before the Senate heads home, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is expected to introduce sweeping immigration legislation, a move seemingly designed to drive Hispanics and reform backers to the polls and remind them which party is still pushing for liberalized immigration laws.

While it is currently uncertain exactly what will be in the legislation, Senator Menendez has indicated that it will contain a pathway to citizenship.

But with Senate Republican's killing the DREAM Act last week, many see little chance of passing a comprehensive immigration bill this year. Senator Menendez's bill will mostly be viewed as a marker for future legislation:

Menendez’s comprehensive reform bill — which would provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants — will most likely die a quiet death at the end of this Congress, alongside another immigration measure known as the DREAM Act, which was blocked last week by Senate Republicans. 

Consensus is building among Democratic leaders, that working to pass immigration reform now is whats best for the country and the party:

“The conventional wisdom is that [immigration] is a bad issue for Democrats. That is wrong,” said one Democratic House aide familiar with the party’s strategy.

“The politicos in the Democratic Party said what we need to do is not talk about it and it will go away, but with 400,000 deportations of people who are not criminals, it is not going away.”

Senator Menendez is quick to point out that regardless of what political party people come from there is overwhelming support for fixing our broken immigration system:

“If you look at all of the polls, overwhelmingly, people want to see a resolution of the problem. They want to see our system reformed,” Menendez told POLITICO Tuesday. “So clearly, you see the difference between those who are willing to move forward and get a reform and [those who are] not, and for the Hispanic community, clearly they understand who stands on their side and [who does] not.”