Gov. Gary Herbert signed four immigration bills collectively known as the UTAH COMPACT at a semi-private ceremony in the Capitol Tuesday morning, officially putting Utah on a pioneering path of leadership on the hot button issue of immigration reform. Herbert, with House Speaker Becky Lockhart, Senate President Michael Waddoups and LDS Presiding Bishop David Burton at his side,, said the signing of a guest worker bill and an enforcement-only bill was putting the federal government on notice. Utah is issuing challenge to the federal government on its sovereignty by issuing guest worker visas. However, because it has a two-year lag before it takes effect, state officials are already talking with White House and congressional officials about using Utah’s approach as MORE
We’ve always supported passage of the DREAM ACT as part of a larger overhaul of our broken immigration system, and if Harry Reid has his way, the DREAM ACT may become a reality. Reid is supposed to introduce the act this next week as an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill, a move that has the Republicans and some Democrats slightly “upset”. Should it be done in this manner? Probably not, but Republicans, the party of “No”, have had more than a decade to get behind this bill and the time has come to get it passed.
More proof of the bigotry and racism of ALIPAC’s own jabbering jackass, when he ridicules and bans someone trying to give a common sense and logical opinion from the perspective of a legal immigrant. Steinar Andersen, a legal immigrant from Norway and an IT manager for a logistics firm in the Chicago area posted this letter on May 2, 2010 in the Chicago Tribune. I am a legal immigrant. I walked the walk pursuing the American dream. I came to this country legally. I learned to speak English (and slang so that I could fit in) because I wanted to excel in this country. I graduated from high school in Carpentersville. I served in the U.S. Marine Corps for almost MORE
From California to New Yorks Long Island and from Chicago to Miami, hundreds of thousands to to the streets to show support for immediate immigration reform and their opposition to Arizona’s SB-1070, America’s version of apartheid. In Los Angeles, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck estimated that about 50,000 immigration rights activists participated in Saturday’s May Day rally. “All this was an estimate,” Beck said when asked about the department’s earlier projection. “These are educated guesses. We were unable to tell what the event in Arizona would do, so we estimated 100,000 people.”] Only one arrested was reported for a minor vandalism incident. “The event was peaceful,” Beck said. “Everyone who came out here was peaceful,” Beck said. “Everyone got MORE
CNN is reporting that Senator Chuck Shumer (D-NY) and other will hold a news conference at 5:30 pm today to unveil a draft of proposed legislation to deal with our broken immigration system. The 26 page document will outline proposed efforts to secure the border (whatever that means) as a precursor to the more. The news conference is a result of meetings yesterday between Senators and pro-reform stakeholders. More as it comes available UPDATE: “The 26-page draft obtained by CNN attempts to woo GOP senators in part by calling for ‘concrete benchmarks’ to secure the border before granting illegal immigrants the opportunity to gain legal status. Those benchmarks include: increasing the number border patrol officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs MORE
A little comic relief from ALIPAC’s Willy Gheen as he makes his unwanted and worthless opinion known once again. ALIPAC is issuing the following responses to today’s ‘March For America’ which is attempting to place over 100,000 illegal immigrants and their supporters on the Washington Mall to demand Comprehensive Immigration Reform Amnesty from DC Lawmakers. For every 1 undocumented immigrant participating in the March for America, there are more than 100 Patriotic American Citizens demanding an overhaul to our broken immigration system.
What is estimated to be more than 100,000 people will descend on Washington D.C. today in support of comprehensive immigration reform, which has been stalled because of the debate over healthcare reform. The event, sponsored by hundreds of civil rights, immigrant advocacy, religious, community and labor groups may prove to be the largest issue based rally of the Obama presidency. It is certain to overshadow the recent teabagger events which oppose anything and everything the administration has tried to accomplish. The event starts with an interfaith service and rally on the National Mall. Speakers include Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney and NAACP president Ben Jealous. Despite claims of some of the most virulent anti immigrant groups such as ALIPAC, the MORE
ALIPAC looking forward to another monumental failure as it reveal plans to derail Immigration Reform
Monday morning is always good for a chuckle when the “press releases” fly from the fingers of ALIPAC’s William Gheen. Being in the middle of another fundraising effort,which isn’t going so well at the moment, Gheen sent out three of them this past week, meant to instill fear in the hearts and minds of his mindless lemmings, and to open their wallets so he can continue living his lifestyle. In one, Gheen lists all of his failures over the past year or so, although he calls them successes. The truth is, as usual, he is taking credit for something his email campaigns have had little effect on the outcome. ALIPAC promised they were going to inform millions of Americans about MORE
Cross Posted from Change.org Anti-immigrant forces love to blame California’s complex economic troubles on undocumented immigrants, prescribing mass deportation, an end to sanctuary policies, and tougher borders as the one-size-fits-all panacea to west coast troubles. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an immigrant himself, hasn’t done much of late to stand up to these falsehoods about his state’s economic woes, causing an L.A. Times editorials to criticize him for wandering “between leading and scapegoating.” Recently, he decided to balance the budget at the expense of the most vulnerable, low-income legal residence immigrants — making only a small short-term dent in the massive deficient while setting CA up for larger long-term losses when immigrants have to turn to more expensive emergency services for care. (On a related MORE
Catholic Bishops onboard for Immigration Reform
While attention is focused on final negotiations over health-care legislation, Catholic bishops have signaled they will play a leading role in pushing for comprehensive immigration reform this year by using the power of their pulpits and bipartisan political influence on Capitol Hill. Earlier this week, bishops hosted a briefing to outline plans for persuading the public and wavering members of Congress that fixing a broken immigration system is a moral and practical priority.
