Associated Press
A young man stands in the gates at the U.S.-Mexico border awaiting his deportation at the port of entry in Tijuana.
It's best to keep expectations in check when it comes to the 113th Congress, which begins in January. On most key areas of public policy, the House majority, dominated by far-right Republicans, are nowhere close to the Democratic Senate or White House, and generally find the very idea of compromise offensive.
But if there's one meaningful area where progress is likely, it's immigration reform.
Latino voters' decisive tilt toward Democrats in the presidential election has given new life to proposals that would clear a path to legal status for the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. unlawfully.
For the first time in five years, some soul-searching Republicans are calling on the GOP to change its tone and embrace ways to ease the law to keep families together while intensifying efforts to tighten the borders.
"For too long, both parties have used immigration as a political wedge issue," Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said in a telephone interview. "But the time has come to find a bipartisan solution."
There's reason for encouragement. Republican leaders are starting to sing a new tune; bipartisan talks that were scrapped in 2010 have been renewed; and by all accounts, President Obama intends to push aggressively for a comprehensive bill, which will enjoy considerable public support. The prospects for success are arguably better now than at any point in decades.
But it still won't be easy. Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Susan Collins (Maine), whose votes would likely be critical in the upper chamber, have both signaled support for a narrow, less ambitious approach, basically passing the Dream Act -- and nothing else.
Other Republicans are willing to go along with a watered down version of the Dream Act that offers no pathway to citizenship (a.k.a., the Dream Act without the Dream).
Much of this may turn out to be posturing, and we probably won't have a real sense of the framework of the debate until after the State of the Union. But I mention this because even the reform bill with the best chance of success in 2013 will be a very heavy lift.
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Not to mention that there are still a lot of prominent Republicans insisting that all they need is to stop demonizing immigrants; they don't need to change their policy positions at all.
No, they just need to state them more 'delicately'.
Republican immigration policy is fracked up from the neck up (click here for the article).
Nearly half the wealth of the United States disappeared between 2006 and 2009.
Wealth continued to grow in almost a dozen states while the rest of the economy collapsed.
We need to use evidence to establish exactly why that happened so this does not repeat.
The real story of the Great Recession economy emerges when we look at population growth.
That is almost the same list that escaped the Great Recession.
Birth among US citizens has fallen to less than 2 per woman, well below the 2.3 required to compensate for mortality. That means that immigration is required to sustain industries like construction, real estate, and finance.
A coincidence emerges when we look at states that nullified the Real ID Act of 2005. The downturn in the "bikini graph" corresponds to when enforcement of the Real ID Act began.
The database established by the Real ID Act is actually being used for voter suppression and not for national security.
The "immigrant documentation fee" can cost $10,000, which is 5 months income for the average immigrant.
The Real ID Act of 2005 bans drivers licenses for migrant workers that cannot afford this fee. That allows state attorney generals the discretion to suspend civil rights under the authority of the Patriot Act.
Police in states that adopted the Real ID Act violate the "illegal search and seizure" clause of the US constitution by selling vehicles confiscated from unlicensed drivers and notifying immigration services about the "crime".
California makes $40 million from illegal auto sales in 2009, which collapses the automobile industry.
The following shows how the Real ID Act contributed to the collapse of US real estate in the 4 worst states.
1/3 of immigrants live in California. Reverse immigration accounts for population reduction of over 7 million between 2007 and 2011 (US Census Bureau).
There were about 160 million dwellings in the United States in 2006, with the following vacancy rates (US Census Bureau).
George Bush signed the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act of 2007 after housing abandonment threatened the banking system.
This was followed by the Housing Rescue Law of 2008 that required loan modifications.
Those two gems were followed by the collapse of the global economy, starting with California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Oregon.
Those growth changes rippled through the economy and eliminated millions of jobs in construction, real estate, and finance in 40 different states. Less than a dozen survive the economic collapse - all are opposed to the Real ID Act.
All of this is remarkable because California passed a law in 2006 which apologized for deportation of several million people in 1929, over half of whom were US citizens - the very same year our current economic collapse began.
New Mexico, Utah, and Washington issue drivers licences to immigrants despite the Real ID Act ban, and California follows in 2012.
An examination of the past 100 years confirms the link.
If you omit Reagan and Taft, then republican presidents have a record of 100% economic failure for over a century.
Republicans have a way of watering down everything to fool the electorate into believe that they're actually getting something. Creating a weak immigration bill while naming it The Dream Act, and walking around calling tax cuts and spending cuts "a balanced approach" is evidence of that.
We have to watch out for these guys. They'll hand us a turd, call it a candy bar, and hope we don't notice the difference. The press will frequently let them get away with such sleight of hand, but we shouldn't.
A republican "Dream Act" will contain genocidal policies.
So in other words,
Been there... The Republicans fillibustered the Dream Act. Then they accused the Democrats of doing absolutely nothing on immirgation to Latino audiences during this past election. Now they want to just propose the Dream Act or a watered-down Dream Act as thier entire supposedly "comprehensive immigration reform"??? They continue to think people are as stupid as thier own base is. Remember how Romney dodged questions about Obamas Executive Order and wether he would continue it? He said his plan is so gosh darn comprehensive it would dwarf the black guys puny little selective enforcement order...
On the money Dude. Anything less than Marco Rubio's full support for truly comprehensive immigration reform will leave him empty of any significant Latino support in his 2016 run. Even if Republicans do a full turnaround on immigration, taxing the rich, Wall Street regulations, marriage equality, Medicare for all and the whole long list of actual policies that they've been fighting against for years and cost them the election, everyone will see it was just for votes and not because they believe it. There are still a lot of stupid people out there but the people who matter on these issues know who's been fighting for them, working for them and deserve credit for achieving them, when they're achieved.
The last time republican came up with a "Dream Act" it collapsed the economy.
Actually jst1, when these bills pass over the next four years, with only a few repug votes, the thugs will campaign on these issues and claim they were responsible for their passage. Just like they claim Democrats had total control in '09 and '10 and ignoring their blatant abuse of the filibuster. If Leader Reid doesn't make major changes during the first week of January when he has the opportunity, we will see the same landscape until at least 2014 when we have our next chance to take back the House.
So let me get this straight - Latino's are a growing (& voting) population here is America and because they've gone "democratic", the GOP is:
- pretending to "soften" their tone while saying the same ole thing.
- want to get the Latino vote, but don't want to discuss the "pesky" citizenship thing.
- haven't unwilling to "compromise" because that's a dirty word when NO is so much easier.
Ok, so in 2014 when we can retake the House - then who will the GOP blame?!
it's going to take an enormous effort to take back the house, even if the republicans try to hand it back with their policies. in one word - gerrymandering!
the time to begin is now (ok, take the rest of the year off). the people who organized the ground game that got the President reelected have to be kept happy and working until, well, forever. they will need money and support though.
every time your local hack lies or stiffs the people of his district, document it and save it. when the time comes, get it to those who can use it. if there is a loud enough, sustained, accurate response even some of the low-information types will have to take notice. with any luck it will be enough to tip enough "safe" districts to flip the house.
hate to say this immediately post-election when warm glow basking is so well deserved but the effort will have to restart soon.
as for me, i sit in a heavily democratic massachusetts district where republicans are almost an endangered species. but even here i'm keeping tabs on some local pols. i just hope i can get anything i find to those who know how to use it. so, even if some didn't like him as a person, he could turn a phrase...
"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." -- Ted Kennedy
Republicans do not want comprehensive immigration reform because their benefactors do not want it. Companies want a big supply of cheap labor to keep wages down. Immigration reform would decrease that cheap labor pool and those immigrants who get a recognized status would have all the same benefits that a US citizen has including SS, Medicare, unemployment, etc. Those items would cost a lot of money to companies.
I don't agree that Republicans don't want "comprehensive reform" It just needs to be defined. Is it amnesty? Is it a pathway? Where does the Pres stand?
We need to recognize reform will not cure the issue of wages. Wages are still based somewhat on what skills are needed for a job. Growing up in NYC, I saw many an immigrant family pressuring their children to get educated and move up the economic scale -all while working several low skill jobs. Having moved to Long Island I saw many immigrant workers standing for a job on low wage job lines because they had no skills. Better educated translates into higher wages.
I believe we should have comprehensive reform, but not place people here illegally ahead of those seeking lawful entry. I believe we should enforce current law and force employers to only hire legal residents. I believe children should not be punished for acts of their parents.
If people have documents to legally work here, they shoud be eligible for the benefit packages we offer.
This issues will not disappear. We need to solve it and stop with the amnesty bull.
I'm cynical. I think the talk among "reasonable" Republicans ( and since when has Jindal been remotely reasonable) is just that. It occupies the chattering classes and takes up a lot of time until it can all fade into memory. Then the Republlicans can get back to business as usual. Its difficult to sustain the energy of an election for very long. The President must move quickly on a number of fronts. Meanwhile Benghazi! Benghazi! is a lot of salacious sound and fury that portends the obstructionism that will likely continue from the Republicans. There is no let up on the drumbeat that President Obama is illegitimate and incapable.
It'll be interesting to watch. There are, what, 12 million undocumented immigrants? Republicans don't want 12 million new Democrats. If they approve the Dream act, they'll have very little time to convince these new citizens to join the Republican party. Then, of course, our economy depends on the cheap labor, which is another interesting issue.
They're kind of between a rock and a hard place.
Actually, I'm waiting for all you Illegal Immigrants and their offspring out there to get to your nearest Tribal Council office and get your temporary work permits and temporary resident certificates to allow you to work and live in Native (aka North) America.
USA OUT OF NATIVE (NORTH) AMERICA
There are many strong opinions here. There are so many different issues with regards to immigration. This country was built on the backs of immigrants. We need to all remember that. I just finished a REALLY good book called, "The Sacred Impostor" by author J. R. Lankford. The Sacred Impostor is the 3rd book in the series. While continuing the main storyline, it explores the issue of illegal immigration, depicts the ancient art of curanderismo, the Virgin of Guadalupe tradition, and takes my characters to Mexico.
http://www.jrlankford.com/