Immigration

‘Rewriting the Rules: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity,’ and the ‘Progressive Agenda to Combat Income Inequality’

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Earlier today, a panel discussion at a Roosevelt Institute event with economist Joseph Stiglitz, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled the new report by Stiglitz, “Rewriting the Rules: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity.” Check out RewritetheRules.org to find out more. Download of the Full Report (.pdf).

Rewriting

Bill de Blasio and Elizabeth Warren Talk Income Inequality:

Who said it is about income inequality, Mayor Bill de Blasio or Senator Elizabeth Warren?

“This doesn’t just come from Republicans. A lot of Democrats seem to have floated along with the idea that the economic growth is in direct opposition to strengthening the well-being of America’s families, and that we have to choose economic growth or our families. That claim is flatly wrong.”

The answer is Ms. Warren, the progressive senator from Massachusetts who some are hoping will decide to run for president as an alternative to a Hillary Clinton bid likely to be funded by donors from the banks Ms. Warren often rails against.

But it could just as well been Mr. de Blasio, who spoke just moments after Ms. Warren at the National Press Club this morning during an event called Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy, which carried with it the tagline “An agenda for growth and shared prosperity.” In recent months, as he’s traveled to the Midwest and now Washington in an effort to urge a focus on income inequality in the 2016 presidential race, Mr. de Blasio too has expressed the idea that even some within his party have not given the issue the attention it deserves.

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Court of Appeals is skeptical of Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio’s frivolous lawsuit

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In late December, a Federal judge tossed Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio’s frivolous lawsuit challenging president Obama’s executive orders on immigration.

Babeu-ArpaioU.S. District Judge Beryl Howell warned in an opinion (.pdf) that while Arpaio’s lawsuit brings up important issues, the sheriff couldn’t file the suit because he hasn’t suffered direct harm from Obama’s executive actions.

“The role of the Judiciary is to resolve cases and controversies properly brought by parties with a concrete and particularized injury— not to engage in policymaking better left to the political branches,” Howell said.

“The plaintiff’s case raises important questions regarding the impact of illegal immigration on this Nation, but the questions amount to generalized grievances which are not proper for the Judiciary to address.”

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Howell’s decision went on to note that Arpaio has no authority to enforce national immigration laws — he’s a local sheriff — and that his alleged harm is “largely speculative.”

Naturally, there was an appeal filed. Last Monday, Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio and his disreputable attorney Larry Klayman from Freedom Watch were in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia. CNN reported, Second round for Arizona sheriff’s case against Obama immigration orders:

A federal appeals court on Monday heard the latest series of arguments in an Arizona Sheriff’s challenge to President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration.

The attorney representing Maricopa County’s controversy-prone Sheriff Joe Arpaio urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reverse a district judge’s December ruling and allow the case to proceed.

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Hillary Clinton ‘evolves’ on immigration reform

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The first time that Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2007, she was Against Licenses for Illegal Immigrants (New York Times). In change from 2008: Clinton now supports driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants.

Some political observers have opined that Clinton’s stance on this issue in her first run for president cost her the nomination. Clinton has now “evolved” on immigration reform, much the same way that Barack Obama “evolved” on the marriage equality issue.

It is also a politically calculated move to hold together the “Obama coalition” that allowed Obama to comfortably win two elections. The ever-growing Latino electorate is a major voting bloc of the “Obama coalition.”

On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton kicked of her listening tour in Nevada at Rancho High School in Las Vegas. Clinton spoke for the first time about immigration reform at a school where 70 percent of the population is Hispanic. Transcript (excerpt):

ClintonIt is also essential that we strengthen families and communities and that means that we have to finally and once and for all fix our immigration system—this is a family issue, its an economic issue too, but it is at heart a family issue. If we claim we are for family, then we have to pull together and resolve the outstanding issues around our broken immigration system.

The American people support comprehensive immigration reform not just because it’s the right thing to do—and it is—but because it will strengthen families, strengthen our economy, and strengthen our country. That’s why we can’t wait any longer, we can’t wait any longer for a path to full and equal citizenship.

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The Mass Deportation Party wants to nullify constitutional ‘birthright’ citizenship

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I have posted  several times that The GOP is officially the party of Steve King and of mass deportations.

As further evidence of this truism, Steve King Wants to End Birthright Citizenship:

SteveKingRep. Steve King is leading a controversial push in Congress to repeal a longstanding American policy (sic) that grants citizenship to any child born in the United States–even those born to undocumented parents.

The Iowa Republican and his Louisana colleague Sen. David Vitter have introduced matching birthright citizenship bills that would deny citizenship at birth unless at least one parent is either a U.S. citizen, a “lawfully admitted” permanent resident, or someone who has otherwise served in the U.S. military. King’s bill so far has 22 cosponsors, all Republicans.

“The illegal parents, are they going to decide? Or are we going to decide as representatives of the people of the United States of America?” King asked colleagues on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security at a hearing on the issue Wednesday. “I suggest that it’s our job here in Congress to decide who will be citizens, not someone in a foreign country who can sneak into the United States and have a baby.”

For now, the House committee doesn’t plan to take up King’s bill. “The Committee is only interested in examining the issue at this time,” a House Judiciary Committee aide told National Journal.

“Birthright” citizenship is contained in the 14th Amendment, Section 1. It is not a “policy,” it is a constitutional right. If Steve “cantaloupe calves” King wants to change this, it will require a constitutional amendment. But his bill is proceeding on the assumption that he can nullify this constitutional provision by a simple legislative act. The right-wing National Journal even goes so far as to suggest that the “next president” (presumably a Republican) could do this by an executive order. This is how unhinged the leaders of the Mass Deportation Party are.

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Former AZ Legislator says US House might impeach Judge Snow

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County is having a less than stellar week, as he stands trial for contempt of court. On Thursday afternoon he was asked by US District Judge Murray Snow if what had been reported by Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times in June 2014 and January 2015, … Read more