Thousands rally for immigration reform in DC

WASHINGTON – Frustrated with the pace of action to overhaul the country's immigration system, thousands of demonstrators descended on the nation's capital Sunday, waving American flags and holding homemade signs in English and Spanish.

President Barack Obama, who promised to make overhauling the immigration system a top priority in his first year, sought to reassure those at the rally with a video message presented on giant screens at the National Mall. The president said he was committed to working with Congress this year on a comprehensive bill to fix a "broken immigration system."
Obama said problems include families being torn apart, employers gaming the system and police officers struggling to keep communities safe.
The president, whose comments were released as he worked to get last-minute votes on a health care overhaul, said he would do everything in his power to forge a bipartisan consensus on immigration reform.
Some demonstrators were disappointed immigration reform hasn't come sooner.
Adolfo Recinas, 38, held one end of a large banner reading "Latinos for Legalization and Immigration Reform." Recinas said his message to Congress was: "Don't make any more excuses."
"I'm illegal and I got a business. I pay taxes," said the Prince Georges County resident who moved to the U.S. some 23 years ago and now lives northeast of D.C.
There are about 12 million undocumented immigrants. March organizers said people traveled from around the country in hopes the rally will re-energize the legislative effort to create a mechanism for them to gain legal status.
"It is hard because most people are worried about health care reform and stuff," said Manuel Bettran, a 21-year-old college student from Chicago who came by bus.
Bettran said his parents overstayed their visas in the U.S. but were able to take advantage of an amnesty in the 1980s to become citizens.
"Fortunately, they were able to become citizens during the last amnesty but I know many people that weren't that lucky," said the American-born Bettran, adding that his brother was never able to gain legal status and had to leave the U.S.

Graham tells Politico "President Must Step it UP"

President Barack Obama is summoning two key senators to the Oval Office on Thursday for an update on immigration reform efforts — but one of them, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), thinks Obama should be the one giving the update.
Graham, less than thrilled at the notion of providing the equivalent of a book report to the headmaster in chief, said Obama’s lack of direction on immigration reform is hampering Graham’s efforts to recruit additional Republicans to the cause.
“At the end of the day, the president needs to step it up a little bit,” Graham told POLITICO on Tuesday. “One line in the State of the Union is not going to do it.”
For the past six months, Graham and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — who meet with Obama at 3 p.m. Thursday — have worked on a reform framework. Their plan, which hasn’t been introduced yet, includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants (a liberal must-have) while sweetening the pot for moderates by proposing tough new safeguards, including a biometric national ID card for workers.
To the frustration of many reform advocates, Obama has kept his opinions of the possible deal vague, giving a head nod to reform in his State of the Union speech but not much more.
Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro offered no response to Graham’s challenge but reiterated the administration’s intention to allow Congress to hash things out before Obama weighs in, an approach reminiscent of his health reform strategy.
“The president’s commitment to fixing our broken system remains unwavering,” Shapiro said. “Earlier, the president told members of both parties that if they can fashion a plan to deal with these problems, he is eager to work with them to get it done, and he has assigned [Homeland Security] Secretary [Janet] Napolitano to work with stakeholders on that effort.”
Shapiro went on to reiterate Obama’s core principles — not prescriptions — including resolving “the status of 12 million people who are here illegally.” He punted when asked about the controversial ID system, which has the backing of some immigrant groups while sparking fierce opposition from civil libertarians.
“There are a number of options on the table, but we are clear that we need to build on and improve the existing verification system if we are going to get control of the job market for undocumented workers,” he said.
Napolitano, who has held dozens of meetings on the topic with House members and senators, was supposed to attend a previously scheduled Graham-Schumer meeting Monday, which had to be postponed when Graham’s flight from South Carolina was delayed. She’ll be overseas during Thursday’s meeting, an administration official said.
Graham said he wants a greater sense of direction to break the cycle of distrust that doomed comprehensive immigration reform during the Bush administration, despite the support of a Republican president and major party figures like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
“I think moderate Democrats have to come on board before you get Republicans, and Republicans have to come on board before you get Democrats,” said Graham.
At the moment, only a few brave congressional souls have walked the reform gangplank. With health care blanketing the capital like a horror-movie fog, and jobs, climate change and budget bills next in line for consideration, the chances of passing a politically risky immigration reform bill are somewhere between nil and exceptionally remote.
The hope, instead, is to build a consensus around a measure that could pass sometime in the not too distant, non-election-year future. While many Democrats publicly embrace comprehensive reform, most are privately rooting for inertia rather than tying themselves to any proposal that could be used against them in the midterms.
The tough part for Obama, however, is that the Obama-Graham-Schumer summit is also being closely watched by Hispanic groups, who are demanding proof of action as a reward for their overwhelming support of Obama in 2008.
With a massive March 21 pro-immigration reform rally planned for Washington, and Latinos the fastest-growing segment of the electorate, Obama can ill afford to alienate them.
“For the Latino community in this country, it’s the civil rights issue of their time, so delay obviously adds to disillusionment,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a Cuban-American who has urged the administration to move more quickly.
Immigration reform, he added, “would seal the community’s commitment to the Democratic Party.”
That opinion is shared by a collection of Hispanic groups, who have pressured the White House in forceful terms, threatening to withdraw support if Obama doesn’t follow through on his commitment.
But the appetite for a huge new push in immigration is as weak as it has been in years, with moderates like Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) — ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee — saying it’s not even on her radar.
“I’m not even thinking about it,” she said.
And Graham’s friend McCain, now facing a tough primary challenge from anti-immigration-reform conservative J.D. Hayworth, said he hasn’t even spoken with Graham about supporting the latest proposal.
And he offered low marks for Obama’s immigration reform efforts since taking office: “I don’t know what he’s done, so I don’t know how to comment on his performance,” McCain said of his 2008 opponent, adding that any attempt at reform would be “very, very difficult in this environment."

State Senate Panel Approves Immigration Bill

State Senate panel approves immigration bill
January 20, 2010 - 12:05PM
updated: January 20, 2010 - 4:01PM
Capitol Media Services

A Senate panel approved a far-reaching bill designed to combat illegal immigration, including allowing police to stop and actually arrest anyone they just reasonably believe is in this country illegally.
Other provisions of the measure approved Wednesday by the Senate Committee on Public Safety and Human Services include:
Paving the way for law enforcement to conduct "sting" operations to find companies knowingly hiring undocumented workers.
Making it a crime to stop a vehicle on the street to pick up someone to do a "day labor" job.
Requiring police to make a "reasonable attempt" to determine the immigration status of anyone they contact officially if there is "reasonable suspicion" they are an illegal immigrant.
Permitting anyone to sue a city, county or any government that has policies limiting immigration enforcement by their employees "to less than the full extent permitted by law."
Wednesday's 4-3 party-line vote, with Republicans in the majority, sends SB1070 to the full Senate.
The move is the latest effort by Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, to force local communities to do more to find, detain - and arrest or deport - those who entered the country illegally.
He specifically is taking aim at what he called "sanctuary policies" of some cities and police departments that direct police officers not to inquire about the legal status of those they encounter who are not otherwise being investigated for a crime. Pearce said that is why his legislation specifically allows anyone who finds governments are not living up to their obligations to sue.
That raised concerns by Sen. Rebecca Rios, D-Apache Junction, that people who are victims or witnesses would be hesitant to report crimes for fear of being arrested.
"That's valid concern," said Mark Spencer, the president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which supports the bill. But Spencer said that presumes police officers would use "racial profiling" to try to determine whether victims and witnesses are in this country legally.
Much of the debate centered around what authority - if any - police have to detain those they suspect of being illegal immigrants.
John Thomas, lobbyist for the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, specifically questioned the section about officers being able to arrest suspected illegal immigrants.
"This requires federal immigration training," he said, referring to a section of federal laws that allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement to train local police to enforce federal immigration laws. That training includes being able to properly identify who is and is not in this country legally.
But Pearce said all police officers have "inherent authority" to enforce federal immigration laws, even without special training. He said the only time that special training is required is after someone is arrested to determine their legal status.
Sen. Al Melvin, R-Tucson, said what Pearce is proposing is necessary.
"We often lose sight of the fact that our porous border and costs related to illegal aliens are costing the citizens of Arizona in excess of $2 billion a year," he said. Melvin said that includes educating illegal immigrants and their children, incarcerating those who commit crimes and the cost of emergency hospital treatment.
"If we could solve this issue - and this legislation takes us in that direction - we could, in many ways, almost eliminate our budget woes, these gut-wrenching billions in budget deficits," Melvin said.
The Department of Corrections reports that 6,313 of the nearly 41,000 inmates serving time for felonies are illegal immigrants.
There are no accurate figures for education, as schools are precluded from asking the legal status of either students or their parents. But the Pew Hispanic Center figured last year that about one of seven students in Arizona schools are here because of illegal immigration, whether the youngsters themselves are undocumented or they are born in this country to parents who entered the United States illegally.
Joe Sigg, lobbyist for the Arizona Farm Bureau Federation, said there is no need for the kind of "sting" operations this measure would facilitate, where police actively see if a company will hire someone who cannot prove legal residency as is already required by both state and federal law. He said if there are employers breaking the law, there will already be plenty of work for officers.
And Allison Bell, lobbyist for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said she feared some otherwise innocent companies might wind up in trouble.
The provision of concern spells out that companies are not "entrapped" if they were "predisposed" to breaking the law and officers simply provided the opportunity to break it.
Bell said the business group wants a definition of what makes a company predisposed to hiring illegal immigrants, suggesting that companies have an absolute defense to charges if they use the federal government's online E-Verify system to check the legal status of new workers.
Jennifer Allen, executive director of the Border Action Network, said one particular problem is a section of the measure making it a crime to transport or harbor illegal immigrants. She said that could make criminals out of the immediate family members of someone here illegally simply for having them in their homes or driving them somewhere in their cars.
Another provision would allow officers to arrest those they suspect are illegal immigrants by making it a criminal violation of state trespass laws to be in the state, whether on public or private land, and be in violation of federal immigration laws.
Pearce said, though, he's not necessarily looking to fill Arizona jails with illegal immigrants. He said it gives discretion to law enforcement officers whether to seek prosecution or simply turn offenders over to ICE.