For the second time in less than a week, President Barack Obama was in full campaign mode Thursday, as he blamed recalcitrant Republicans in Congress for the “partisanship and election-year politics” that have prevented passage of comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
Mexican President Felipe Calderón took the opportunity to speak out for immigration reform and against Arizona’s recently passed immigration law during his trip to Washington, D.C. this week.
Calderón and President Barack Obama held a joint press conference at the Rose Garden Wednesday, May 19, where Calderón took aim at the Arizona immigration law, calling it “discriminatory.”
Latino groups have been calling for President Obama to deliver on his campaign promise of making immigration reform a top priority, with some activists and lawmakers in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus complaining he wasn’t doing enough.
By Roger Noriega.
If a policeman ever asks me for proof of my citizenship and I have the reasonable suspicion that the only reason he did so is the color of my skin, I will ask him to be taken to jail, where my lawyer will present my Kansas birth certificate along with a civil lawsuit against the officer and the people he works for. That sort of thing shouldn’t happen in this country – and it is no more likely to happen in Arizona under that State’s new immigration law. Politicians and activists who claim to be champions of immigrants or Latinos are doing no good by sowing misunderstanding, division, and disrespect for our laws and the people who enforce them.
By Manuel Ballagas.
These days, you find plenty of US politicians agreeing on just one thing –the immigration system is “broken”. It’s a comfortable truism, to say the least. With about 11 million undocumented nationals living and working in this country –and the prospects of that figure growing every single day- its sounds more like an understatement. A pity we didn’t hear the same, over the years, about our “broken” health system. If anything, we could have easily avoided the belated and costly reform that followed.
While Mexico’s government has blasted the state of Arizona for passing Senate bill 1070, a report from Amnesty International accuses Mexico of human rights abuses against illegal immigrants passing through their country.
The new immigration law passed by Arizona has sparked a national debate on illegal immigration, again bringing the issue to the center of national politics.
A Republican Texas lawmaker plans to introduce an immigration measure similar to the new law in Arizona, a move state Democrats say would be a mistake.
Rep. Debbie Riddle of Tomball said she will push for the law in the January legislative session, according to Wednesday’s editions of the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle.
Opponents of Arizona’s new immigration law have been saying that they plan to challenge its constitutionality in court.
Proponents defend the legislation, signed Friday by Gov. Jan Brewer, as a legal response to the flood of illegal immigrants in a state where the federal government estimates 460,000 of them live.
The top four contenders for Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nomination, including incumbent Governor Jan Brewer, have all expanded their support since last month in match-ups with the likely Democratic nominee, State Attorney General Terry Goddard.