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Today, leading police executives from states as diverse as California, Iowa and Texas joined a growing chorus of law enforcement officials calling for comprehensive immigration reform. The law enforcement leaders, who discussed the issue during a telephonic press conference, described how the broken immigration system damages public trust and harms public safety. They stressed the importance of getting input from state and local law enforcement as Congress prepares to take up immigration reform in early 2010.

Because today is National Undocumented Worker Day (NUWD), I decided to do something about it. It is a travesty what is going on in this country. Millions of so-called "illegals" are deported daily - on a DAILY basis - and it has to stop. Just today I was ordering coffee at Cosi, and the lady there (who is Mexican either Guatemalan or Chilean) couldn't understand my order, messed it up. I wanted to yell at her, make her feel bad in some way, but I stopped myself - because she is here illegally, and I need to put myself in...

Today, in a meeting to convene a diverse group of labor, advocacy, faith and business leaders, SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina met with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to discuss immigration reform. As an added bonus, President Barack Obama made an unscheduled visit to the meeting and reiterated his support of pushing through a comprehensive immigration package this Congress. The Hill reports that: "Obama urged leaders to work together in order to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Advocates took the presidential visit as a sign of the administration's commitment to the issue." In the first of its kind meeting...

To ensure that issues involving legal immigration don't get lost in the fiery debate about illegal immigration, Silicon Valley Congressman Mike Honda today will introduce a bill that would give green-card holders the same rights as citizens to bring their spouses and children to the U.S.

Building a fence along the Mexican border and fighting over proposed immigration restrictions in Fremont are a lot more visible right now than any new paths to citizenship. But that didn’t stop Nebraska advocates of a more welcoming attitude from stepping forward to make their case in Lincoln and Omaha Monday. “I can’t tell you how devastating it is to me to see that fence as an American citizen,” the Rev. Chuck Bentjen said at the Lincoln launch of the National Campaign to Reform Immigration for America. Bentjen, based in Lincoln with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was one...

MEXICO CITY | Mexican President Felipe Calderon, ahead of a meeting and joint press conference with President Obama, called on the United States to pass an immigration bill as part of a new partnership between the two countries, even as he said Mexico welcomes U.S. business investment. "Open up the door of hope," Mr. Calderon said at a ceremony to welcome Mr. Obama for a one-day visit to Mexico before they both go to Trinidad and Tobago for the Summit of the Americas, a gathering of the Western Hemisphere's leaders, this weekend. For his part, Mr. Obama barely mentioned the...

Here's what Cornyn said about the Obama White House's decision to re-open the public dialogue on immigration: "I applaud President Obama's commitment to addressing comprehensive immigration reform this year, and stand ready to work with him to produce a product that represents the best interests of America, including respect for the rule of law, national security and economic security. "Comprehensive, common-sense immigration reform remains a top priority for me. Any legislation must protect our borders, promote economic prosperity in Texas and throughout the United States, and be consistent with our American values of compassion, family and opportunity."

Here is a video report that says President Obama intends to tackle "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" this year that will include increased Border Security, a path to citizenship for illegals already here, and cracking down on those who employ illegal immigrants. . . . . . (Watch Video)

The New York Times managed to get the following ad hominems into yesterday’s immigration editorial: “racialist extremism,” “nativism of fringe right-wingers,” “white-supremacist views” and (that old standby of the anti-sovereignty left) “Know-Nothings.” The editorial was a hysterical response to last week’s National Press Club event, where a group of immigration-reform advocates observed that if the GOP is ever again to become a majority party, it has to get real about defending our borders.

Given last year's election results, major immigration reform ought to pass in 2009 – but first, the incoming Obama administration has to decide what to do about some draconian policies put into place by the Bush administration. After failing to pass its own reform bill in 2007, Bush & Co. launched a policy of high-visibility workplace raids, mass deportation and rigorous employment verification designed to show that they were tough on illegal immigration. President-elect Barack Obama denounced the raids during the campaign, but canceling George W. Bush's policies could open the new administration to charges that it's "soft" on enforcement...

I like most Mexican people, just as I like most Americans. I don’t have prejudice against them, they are God’s children, just like me. So let’s get that out of the way. What I do hate, is illegal activity. I don’t like it when people ignore our laws, and sneak into our country. Yes, yes, we are a country of immigrants, I get that, I love that, I respect that, and encourage that. But, we are not a country of illegal immigrants. Law and order should be followed in all things. What I hate more than illegal immigration, is when...

What part of illegal alien is so difficult to understand? Apparently, there are those who are either too confused, too unwilling or too incapable of understanding the meaning of those simple words. Instead, they'd rather emotionalize any debate on illegal immigration with cries of racism, discrimination and an alleged lack of compassion for our fellow human beings. They choose this course rather than honestly dealing with the established fact we are a nation of laws - laws intended and necessary to preserve civility and order for our common good. I, for one, refuse to be intimidated or influenced by such...

<p>President George W. Bush told a group of Texas reporters Friday that he regretted immigration policies were not reformed while he was in office.</p> <p>"I'm very disappointed that it didn't pass," he said in an interview with correspondents from his home state. "I'm very worried about the message that said, 'Republicans are anti-immigrant.'"</p>

Riverside and San Bernardino counties added more Latino residents between 2000 and 2007 than all but three other U.S. counties, a new analysis of U.S. Census data found. The report, by the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Center, also found that most Latino population growth is now from new births. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was mostly from immigration. That means no matter what happens to the immigration rate, the Latino population of Riverside and San Bernardino counties will continue to grow steadily, reaching a majority within several years, experts say. Riverside County's Hispanic population surged 60 percent between...

The U.S. is being infiltrated by illegals, sold to foreign powers, and abandoned by its government. But are Americans enabling the dissolution of our economy and country as well by continuing to buy foreign goods? America literally is being sold out from underneath Americans. According to the 2008 Economic Report of the President: "The United States is both the single leading recipient and leading source of foreign direct investment in the world. In 2006, total cumulative FDI in the United States was almost $1.8 trillion, 15 percent of the world total." In 2006, foreign-owned assets in the U.S. totaled roughly...

At least John McCain is back to his old self. This assumes, of course, at some point he wasn't.Believe me, he was. (See the entire 2008 campaign).He's back to being the crotchety old Republicrat spitfire, Mac the Mav.That reach-across-the-aisle, strolling-down-the-median joie de vivre he possesses (and can beckon at will) is throttling up for the new administration.Goodie gumdrops.Since the time is just about right for McCain to ride the wave of ascendancy back into the good graces of the media (who, you'll recall, once upon a time, had rockets in their pockets for him when he was still their beloved...

Via the Standard. This is what they’re going to do to pass the time in Congress between bailouts? Jerk around with a hot-button issue guaranteed to enrage all sides and exacerbate Democratic infighting while the economy’s melting down and the Iran nuclear clock ticks on? Why not toss social security onto the table too, just to really get the juices flowing?

The Obama transition team declined to comment but sources said Miss Napolitano is expected to get the job once Mr. Obama begins formally announcing and introducing Cabinet choices. Lawmakers were already talking in public Thursday as if the pick were a done deal. The move drew praise from Mr. Obama's Republican presidential opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who said he called his home-state governor to offer his congratulations.

On his first full day as President, Barack Obama will be greeted by salutes, good wishes - and throngs of protesters on the National Mall demanding immigration reform.   It will be a thunderous welcome, delivered mostly by Hispanic voters who - having provided a critical edge to Obama on Election Day in several key states - are looking for payback. "We voted in the millions, and now we're going to demand progress in the millions," said Angelica Salas, an organizer of the Jan. 21 protest and director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. RELATED: LATINO...

Immigration Reform in Oklahoma Now (IRON) awards Republican Presidential hopeful Duncan Hunter it's only "EXCELLENT" rating and endorsement! Meanwhile, frontrunner's John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney come up short. "The only conservative candidate, Duncan Hunter Effective in getting border security fence in San Diego area, wrote the Secure Fence Act of 854 miles to complete the southern border. Has worked diligently to stop illegal immigration in California and America over the past 8-9 years. Current ranking member of House Armed Services Committee He is not part of ‘free trade’ crowd. He believes the industrial base should be...

JACKSON, Miss. --Mississippi's Republican governor campaigned last year on minimizing government regulation of business, but he signed bill Monday that he said will require employers to use an unproven federal system to check immigrants' status. Haley Barbour said he has "serious concerns about specific provisions of the bill that could have unintended negative consequences." The bill becomes law Jan. 1. It will require employers to use the U.S. Homeland Security electronic verification system to check whether new hires are legal residents. Employers who hire illegal immigrants could lose their business license for a year and any state contract work for...

November 29, 2007Federal Gridlock on Immigration Reform Leads States to Action:  States enacted triple the numbers of laws in 2007 over 2006 DENVER - In the absence of federal immigration reform, state legislatures have passed an unprecedented amount of legislation related to immigrants in a range of policy arenas.As of November 16, 2007, roughly 1562 pieces of legislation related to immigrants and immigration had been introduced among the 50 state legislatures. Of these bills, 244 became law in 46 states. 11 bills have been vetoed by governors. Two measures are still pending governors’ review.State legislators have introduced roughly two...

A classic Catch 22. We can't deport them because their home country doesn't want them. Why? Because they are convicted murderers. So we have to free them here. http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20168227&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8

Assimilating to the GOP The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal, Mark Krikorian Scott McConnell No contemporary American political movement has had more difficulty finding an effective tone than the immigration-reform lobby. Its aim of slowing down the rate of immigration has long been supported by popular opinion, but it has never found majority elite support in either party. The eloquent arguments pushed by National Review in the early 1990s, particularly Peter Brimelow’s powerful brief for the American nation as a product of shared culture and ethnicity, were for the most part rejected or shunned by the conservative...

California’s Illegal Nanny-State by: Bethany Stotts, September 25, 2008 The debate over illegal immigration—a culture war fought on the dual fronts of terminology and selective media coverage—reached another milestone this September, when the California state appeals court decided that a class-action lawsuit represented by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) was improperly dismissed by the Yolo County superior court. The out-of-state plaintiffs filed suit in 2006 after California passed a law providing in-state tuition for exemption holders, including foreign nationals and illegal immigrants. The complaint (pdf), issued by IRLI, argues that the California statute violates federal law and the U.S....

A new Spanish-language John McCain television commercial airing in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico attacks Barack Obama for not doing enough to support the so-called "comprehensive immigration reform" legislation backed by President Bush and Sen. Ted Kennedy that was defeated in 2007 after a national uprising in which it was characterized as a massive amnesty scheme. The English-language translation of the 30-second commercial, "Which Side Are They On?" is here: Announcer: Obama and his congressional allies say they are on the side of immigrants. But are they? The press reports that their efforts were "poison pills" that made immigration...

McCain Camp Slams Obama Ads Linking Candidate to Limbaugh by FOXNews.com Thursday, September 18, 2008 John McCain and Rush Limbaugh are both slamming Barack Obama’s campaign for linking the two in a series of newly released Spanish-language ads that blast McCain as a two-faced, anti-immigrant lawmaker intolerant of Hispanics. Limbaugh lambasted McCain for an entire summer two years ago over McCain’s sponsorship of an immigration reform bill that included a temporary guest worker program and path to citizenship for illegal aliens.

If immigration is your number one political priority, what should you do this election? We begin with the observation that Democrats will likely consolidate and expand their control of the Senate and the House. This is good news for the immigration cause. However, in spite of controlling Congress for the past two years Democrats have done virtually nothing on immigration benefits and have continued massive spending on immigration enforcement. So, even though most political analysts are agreed that Democrats are poised for significant gains in the House and the Senate, that alone does not portend any immigration benefits in the...

New McCain ad blames Obama and Democrats for death of immigration overhaul effort.(CNN) – John McCain’s campaign is running a Spanish language ad in battleground states that blames Barack Obama and Senate Democrats for the failure of attempts to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws — even though the Republican nominee and his Democratic counterpart cast identical votes in the key Senate showdowns on that issue last year “Obama and his congressional allies say they are on the side of immigrants. But are they?” asks the announcer in the 30-second spot, “Which Side Are They On?” “The press reports that their...

Speaking at the National Council of La Raza conference today, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) engaged in a lively give-and-take with several Latino activists who questioned his stance on illegal immigration. In one heated exchange with an audience member, a questioner asked McCain whether he, like presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama (Ill.), would make immigration reform a top priority as president and provide a pathway to citizenship for 12 million undocumented workers living illegally in the U.S. as part of a single immigration bill. McCain responded by defending his record on immigration against Obama's, saying the Democrat took his lead from...

SAN DIEGO – Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Monday vigorously disputed his opponent's assertion that he had backed away from his own comprehensive plan to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. “I do ask for your trust that when I say I remain committed to fair, practical and comprehensive immigration reform, I mean it,” the Arizona senator told the National Council of La Raza convention here. “I think I have earned that trust.” On Sunday, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, told the same group at the San Diego Convention Center that McCain backed off his...

"But I do ask for your trust that when I say, I remain committed to fair, practical and comprehensive immigration reform, I mean it. I think I have earned that trust." —John McCain

WASHINGTON - John McCain, angling to win a bigger share of the fast-growing Latino vote, is taking the risky step of placing an immigration overhaul at the center of his appeal. The presumed Republican presidential nominee, who trails Barack Obama among Latinos, had been focused on assuring conservatives that securing the U.S. border with Mexico would be his immigration priority. But McCain has adopted a message that gives equal weight to helping employers and immigrant workers and their families. That suggests that as president he would back the kind of legislation that has roiled many in his party -- most...

Underscoring the importance of the Hispanic vote, the McCain campaign is going on the air with a new ad that makes a specific appeal to the rapidly growing demographic. In the one-minute television spot, entitled “God’s Children,” Mr. McCain refers to the military service of Hispanics in wars, past and present. He asks Americans to “remember that these are God’s children. They must come into our country legally, but they have enriched our culture and our nation as every generation of immigrants before them." The ad, which will appear in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, features scenes of the Vietnam...

Team McCain has its latest ad out today, taken from a New Hampshire debate in June 2007, when John McCain soliloquized on the contributions of Hispanic citizens and residents to our efforts in Vietnam and Iraq. Titled “God’s Children”, the ad matches imagery to McCain’s impromptu salute: "My friends, I want you the next time you’re down in Washington, D.C., to go to the Vietnam War Memorial and look at the names engraved in black granite. You’ll find a whole lot of Hispanic names. When you go to Iraq or Afghanistan today, you’re going to see a whole lot of...

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain told a major Hispanic group here Tuesday that he remains committed to passing the kind of immigration legislation that angered many Republican voters last year (snip)

SAN JOSE—In yet another sign of his pivoting toward the general election, Senator John McCain said at a roundtable with business leaders here today that comprehensive immigration reform should be a top priority for the next president. Mr. McCain’s willingness to address the issue was striking given how the topic became something of a third-rail for Republican presidential candidates during the primary. When Mr. McCain’s presidential bid stalled last summer, many blamed his advocacy for the immigration reform bill in the Senate, which included a pathway to citizenship for the illegal immigrants already here in the country. ....cont.

NION CITY - Republican presidential candidate John McCain joined Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in calling today for comprehensive immigration reform, including guest worker visas to bring employees to California's Silicon Valley and the state's vast agricultural fields. The two men brought up the issue at McCain's prompting during a global competitiveness roundtable featuring California technology executives and entrepreneurs. Asked by Silicon Valley panelists on what he would do to grant more visa for skilled technology workers, McCain broadly advocated the comprehensive immigration reform plan he had backed with Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy in Congress. The same issue brought McCain intense criticism...

I wonder if the proponents of amnesty and open borders would consider this nation xenophobic, nativist or racist?

Border Security & Immigration Reform Immigration is one of those challenging issues that touch on many aspects of American life. I have always believed that our border must be secure and that the federal government has utterly failed in its responsibility to ensure that it is secure. If we have learned anything from the recent immigration debate, it is that Americans have little trust that their government will honor a pledge to do the things necessary to make the border secure. As president, I will secure the border. I will restore the trust Americans should have in the basic competency...

The flavor-of-the-month immigration bill comes from a Democrat, North Carolina’s Heath Shuler and his bill, HR 4088, entitled the “Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act of 2007” or “SAVE Act.” (The text of the bill is available HERE, and other information HERE.)Shuler’s bill has three key parts. According to Shuler’s press release on the bill, these are “a strict emphasis on border security, employer verification, and interior enforcement.” No provision is made for amnesty for illegal aliens, which is why the House Democratic leadership views this bill as welcome as a case of smallpox.Within border security, it increases the...

April 02, 2008, 4:00 a.m. The Strange Case of SEIUDo unions prefer civil war to immigration reform? By Carl F. Horowitz If numbers were all that mattered, Andrew Stern would be America’s most successful labor leader, hands down. For over two decades, he’s led the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — first as president John Sweeney’s chief strategist, and since 1996 as Sweeney’s successor. Under Stern, SEIU’s membership has nearly doubled to around 1.9 million, a feat all the more remarkable given that most unions during that period shrank or held steady. Union members held nearly a third of...

WASHINGTON – In the wake of last year’s failed immigration reform efforts, twelve Republican Senators today introduced 15 specific enforcement bills, each designed to make important improvements to America’s immigration system. Each bill in the package represents a specific step toward securing America’s borders, increasing enforcement at the workplace, or restoring law and order to our nation’s immigration system. The coalition, led by U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), will call for full Senate consideration on each of the individual bills as amendments to any appropriate legislative vehicle or as stand-alone pieces of legislation. “The American people have made it clear...

GOP senators to introduce toughest-yet immigration package Bills would mandate prison time for illegal border crossings and compel English in dealing with federal agencies. March 5, 2008 WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans are set to announce today the hardest-hitting package of immigration enforcement measures seen yet -- one that would require jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, make it harder for them to open bank accounts and compel them to communicate in English when dealing with federal agencies. The bills give Republicans a way to put pressure on the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to take a tougher...

So if McCain can come back from the dead on the campaign trail, does that mean immigration reform can be similarly resurrected on the Congressional agenda? No way, at least according to two key early-state House Republicans. Iowa Rep. Steve King, a Thompson backer who has rapidly become a leader on the issue, warned against reading too much into the early GOP primary results, particularly Huckabee's win in the Hawkeye State. ... He said that many of the Iowans who are stongly opposed to illegal immigration are also devout Christians and firmly anti-abortion, and that even "as they listened to...

I don't normally post up articles I get in email, mostly as I can't trace the source. This one however is worth reading and taking to heart! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In 1978/79, I was living and studying in Denmark. But in 1978, even in Copenhagen, one didn't see Muslim immigrants. The Danish population embraced visitors, celebrated the exotic, went out of its way to protect each of its citizens. It was proud of its new brand of socialist liberalism - one in development since the conservatives had lost power in 1929, - A system evolved in Denmark where no worker had to...

AS THE DEMOCRATS brought their weary road show to Vegas tonight, most analysts suspected that Hillary Clinton would get a mulligan on the illegal immigration question that she botched so badly at their last tussle. It played out as expected. Right out of the box, Campbell Brown asked the candidates about illegal immigration. Rather than focus on their own purported solutions to the crisis, they collectively decided to focus their ire on George W. Bush for not solving the problem first. This has become the default refrain for Democrats when they have nothing to say or no real means of...

ODESSA, Texas (AP) - President Bush's former deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, says the government will need a temporary worker program to be successful with immigration reform. Rove said the program is needed reduce pressure on the nation's border security apparatus. But he says the details of such a program haven't been explained to the American public well. He also says the U.S. Border Patrol will need to be doubled and its budget tripled with 300 miles of fence built. The comments came yesterday as part of the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute's Distinguished Lecture Series at the...

While sometimes needling Bush, Fox applauds his onetime American counterpart for "cultural sensitivity." Several days before the attacks of Sept. 11, Fox writes, he and Bush hugged at Andrews Air Force Base after returning on Air Force One from an Ohio immigration reform rally. "We're going to get this done," Fox recalls Bush saying.

White House press secretary Tony Snow, during his last day on the job yesterday, lamented the state of modern political discourse and said President Bush is right about immigration and that his defeated plan will one day be the law.