Over 500 Groups Demand End To Local Immigration Checks

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Tuesday September 01, 2009 · 8:50 AM PDT

2009/09/01 · 08:50

Since taking office, the Obama Administration has been doing a carefully choreographed dance with both sides of the immigration debate in an attempt to place itself in a "sweet spot" where it believes it will be able to appease all concerned parties when the thorny issue of immigration reform finally moves up the legislative agenda.

Taking a cue from past administrations who tackled immigration legislation, like Reagan in 86, and Clinton in 95, Obama has chosen to pave the way for negotiations by launching a pre-emptive strike against opposition from the right by engaging in increased crackdowns and heavy-handed enforcement to prove that he's "serious about enforcing the law". Both Reagan and Clinton engaged in increased workplace raids and ramped up deportations before coming to the table to negotiate. Bush, did the same after the failure of reform legislation in 06.

But Obama, being much more attuned than his predecessors to the potential negative PR ramifications of pictures of crying children, or parents being paraded around in shackles, plastered across the pages of the New York Times or the Nightly News, has chosen to send his dog-whistle messages to the right in far more subtle ways.

Duke1676

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Friday August 21, 2009 · 7:54 AM PDT

2009/08/21 · 07:54

On Thursday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and senior White House and DHS staff met with about 100 immigrant advocates and leaders from faith, business, law enforcement, and labor to reassure them that the administration is still serious about fulfilling its promise to enact immigration reform. So serious in fact, President Obama took time away from his battle for healthcare reform to make an unexpected appearance before the group and reiterate his commitment to getting immigration legislation passed in 2010.

And of course when all was said and done, those in attendance thanked Napolitano and Obama for again telling them that they have not been forgotten. Press releases and statements were quickly penned, each guardedly optimistic, yet appreciative of the attention paid the issue by the administration.

Duke1676

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Wednesday August 19, 2009 · 12:32 PM PDT

2009/08/19 · 12:32

On Thursday, President Obama will once again meet with the movers and shakers in the Immigration Reform debate. Having already punted the ball down field, postponing any meaningful reform until next year, Obama will take this opportunity to reassure those concerned that he hasn't forgotten them, and more importantly, their constituents and members who worked so hard to put him in office.

And when the niceties and glad-handing are over, they will hunker down to the kind of horse trading that goes on in proverbial smoke filled rooms.

Political calculations and public relations strategies will as much topics of conversation as policy and legislative change. And when the smoke clears, we'll be one step closer to some sort of Frankenstein compromise, cobbled together of various bits and pieces of previous legislative initiatives, concessions to numerous special interests, and easily sold sound bites intended to mollify the great middle of the uninterested or uninformed.

And so it goes

Duke1676

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Monday August 17, 2009 · 2:59 PM PDT

2009/08/17 · 14:59

Last Friday night around 11:30 PM, an unidentified Latino man walked down Division Avenue in Patchogue NY.

As he approached the intersection of Division and West Avenues, three white teens hanging out in a nearby parking lot called out to him. Seconds later he was struck in the face, knocked to the ground, and as the teens shouted racial slurs, robbed of cash and other personal items. .... Just another case of "beaner hopping" in Long Island's Suffolk County.

Duke1676

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Saturday August 08, 2009 · 7:58 AM PDT

2009/08/08 · 07:58

This week the Obama administration finally announced a long overdue revamping of its immigration detention system.

Duke1676

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Friday July 17, 2009 · 1:04 AM PDT

2009/07/17 · 01:04

After months of wading through the mixed messages and red herrings thrown out by The Administration and Democratic leadership, trying to figure out exactly what form the long promised initiative to reform US immigration policy will take, a rough blueprint for Comprehensive Immigration Reform has finally emerged from The Council on Foreign Relations.

If I'm reading my tea leaves correctly, the report, written by a nineteen member bipartisan panel, lays out what will become the "middle ground" consensus position that pro-reform forces will rally around. The fact that the panel contains representatives from the various factions of the newest version of the CIR coalition, including those with ties to advocacy groups like NCLR and unions like SEIU, along with economists, scholars, politicians and members of government agencies, leads me to believe that my hunch is most likely right.

Duke1676

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Wednesday February 04, 2009 · 6:26 AM PST

2009/02/04 · 06:26

This afternoon, Sheriff Joe Arpaio plans to parade 220 chained immigrant detainees, carrying their own bedding, through the streets of Phoenix from the county jail to their new home in a newly expanded area in Arpaio's infamous "Tent City"

Having expanded his tent facility to house 2500 of the 10,000 inmates currently incarcerated in the county jail with a newly authorized $1.6 million dollar grant from the state, Arpaio vows to fill it with immigrant detainees.

Surrounded by an electrified fence that Joe jokes will be one that immigrants "won't want to scale," the tent facility will eventually become the new home for those caught in Arpaio's racial profiling roundups.

As usual, Arpaio has invited the press to document the hour long march in order fuel his colossal ego and need for constant media attention.

Duke1676

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Monday February 02, 2009 · 8:19 PM PST

2009/02/02 · 20:19

Recently there have been a spate of hyperbolic, anti-immigrant, diaries depicting a scourge of H1b visa holders stealing American high-tech jobs and replacing US workers in times of economic uncertainty.

Taking advantage of current economic anxieties, groups like the Progammers Guild and their allies have seized the opportunity to promote their zero-immigration agenda by depicting foreign workers as the cause for rising unemployment rates.

Of course this would be nothing new if it were coming from the usual right-wing anti-immigrant websites. But by candy-coating their xenophobic message in outrage against evil corporations, and painting themselves as advocates for working Americans, these groups and their followers have managed to find some resonance at Kos.

Of course, those who have followed immigration issues for some time are well aware of the nasty streak of xenophobia that permeates the H1b visa debate.

Duke1676

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Monday January 19, 2009 · 9:19 PM PST

2009/01/19 · 21:19

It's only fitting that in the closing moments of the most lawless administration in our nation's history, President Bush chose as his final act, to grant clemency to two rogue Border Patrol agents who shot an unarmed man in the back, then attempted to cover up their crime. From its inception, this administration has always been based on the assumption that those in positions of authority are beyond the constraints law and that cover-ups, secrecy, and lies are acceptable means to an end.

In a move aimed to appease the anti-immigrant base of his party, Bush commuted the sentences of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were convicted of shooting suspected marijuana smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, in the back as he fled back across the Mexican border. The agents then attempted to cover-up their actions by filing false reports and hiding evidence.

Duke1676

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Monday January 12, 2009 · 8:20 AM PST

2009/01/12 · 08:20

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the right-wing Center for Immigration Studies, has taken to the pages of the National Review to outline what he claims is a new GOP approach to immigration.

Pointing out that for too long Republicans have argued about immigration in terms of "lawbreaking" and illegality, Krikorian suggests instead that a new framing is needed ... a framing he views as a more welcoming and in line with public opinion.

Taking a page from the same playbook that brought us the great Bush oxymoron: "Compassionate Conservatism "... Krikorian does The Decider one better and frames out a new right-wing paradox for mass consumption: "Anti-immigration but Pro-immigrant"

Duke1676

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Saturday January 10, 2009 · 7:03 AM PST

2009/01/10 · 07:03

With only days left until the end of the Bush administration, two new rules have been hastily enacted that strike at the heart of the civil liberties of immigrants and asylum seekers. One denies immigrants legal representation in deportation cases, the other mandates DNA tests for all detained immigrants and for US citizens who have been accused of a crime, but not convicted.

Duke1676

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Tuesday January 06, 2009 · 11:21 AM PST

2009/01/06 · 11:21

Each year approximately 2.8 million students graduate from US High Schools. Some will go on to college, join the military, or take other paths in life, hopefully all becoming productive members of society.

But for approximately 65,000 of them, these opportunities will never be available. Not because they lack motivation, or achievement, but because of the undocumented status passed on to them by their parents.

Lacking legal status and social security numbers, these students, raised and schooled in the US, cannot apply to college, get jobs other than those at the bottom of the economic ladder, or otherwise follow their dreams.

They grew up on American soil, worked hard and succeeded in spite of all odds, and want nothing more than to be recognized as individuals and not just the holders of a status they had no part in acquiring.

In Washington, politicians have debated the fate of these kids for more than seven years, holding lives and futures in their hands while vying for political advantage.

For these kids, and thousands more who have already managed through sheer force of will to complete their higher education, but now face a life of uncertainty and alienation, the DREAM Act is the only answer

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Immigration reform need not be a triple-headed hydra

Reading the Tea Leaves: McLarty-Bush Council on Foreign Relations Report

Sheriff Joe to March Immigrant Detainees to Tent City in Chains

More evidence of dysfunctional immigration policy - H1b

A Final Spit in the Face from Bush

Mark Krikorian attempts to put lipstick on a pig.

Hold DHS Accountable!

Support a DREAM at Change.org