Immigration

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Rep. Raúl Grijalva chastized Senate Republicans on
Monday for using the Boston Marathon bombing to fight against
comprehensive immigration reform. On Monday, Sen. Chuck Grasssley (R- iowa) threw a hissy fit trying to deny what he plainly said last Friday. POLITICO Tiger Beat on the Potomac reported, Terrorism enters immigration debate:

“We appreciate this opportunity to talk about immigration reform in
light of all that has been happening in Massachusetts,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee Friday at an immigration reform hearing.

Raw Story reports, Rep. Raul Grijalva blasts Republicans for using Boston bombings to stall immigration reform:

“To prey on the raw emotions of the American people right now, after
this tragedy in Boston, to prey on their insecurities and justifiable
anger, to try to delay a bill, stall a bill so nothing is done, is
nothing more than a tactic, and it’s very disappointing,” he said on
MSNBC. “If you want to have security in this country, part of the
package has to be comprehensive reform so the millions of undocumented
people out there come forward, we know who they are, and you begin to
cull who is eligible for a path to citizenship and who should not be
here.”

Posted byAzBlueMeanie:

Well isn't this rich. . .

Sen. Ted "Calgary" Cruz (Tea Party-TX), was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His mother was an American and his father was a Cuban refugee to the U.S. during the Cuban Revolution. Cruz's family moved from Canada to the U.S. when he was four years old.

Cuban refugees hold a special immigrant status under the Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act (1966). The law applies to any native or citizen of Cuba who has been inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States after January 1, 1959 and has been physically present for at least one year; and is admissible to the United States as a permanent resident.

The news media, which treats Hispanics as a homogenous and monolithic voting bloc, rarely ever reports that immigrants from Mexico, Central America and Carribean countries resent this "Castro Express Card" special immigrant status for Cubans. Cruz is unmoved by his own family's history of immigration.

Manu Raju at POLITICO Tiger Beat on the Potomac reports today that Ted "Calgary" Cruz will lead Tea Party opposition to the "Gang of Eight" immigration reform bill if it includes a pathway to citizenship. Ted Cruz v. Marco Rubio on Immigration:

The Texas freshman is sharply critical of the pathway to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants, a central part of the bipartisan bill that Rubio helped write. Cruz is weighing whether to aggressively oppose the immigration overhaul, a decision that could neutralize Rubio’s outreach to conservative activists in order to minimize their opposition.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Talk about unfortunate circumstances and timing. Today was the first congressional hearing on the "Gang of Eight" comprehensive immigration reform bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The anti-immigrant nativists of the GOP "Know Nothing Party" seized on the events in Boston as a ready excuse to oppose immigration reform.

Based upon numerous media sources (I would urge caution given the shameful performance of the media this week), the "Boston Bombers" are 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, believed to be a permanent legal resident, and his brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a naturalized U.S. citizen.  The brothers are Muslims and ethnic Chechens. NBC news reported that the two are believed to have lived in the U.S. since 2002 or 2003 after coming to the country with their family, possibly as refugees.

That news prompted conservative critics to drag the events in Boston into the immigration debate. POLITICO Tiger Beat on the Potomac reports, Terrorism enters immigration debate:

Immigration reform faces a new hurdle — the Boston terrorist attack.

Conservative opponents pounced on news Friday that the two suspects in the case, Muslim brothers and ethnic Chechens, are believed to be legal permanent residents.

* * *

“We appreciate this opportunity to talk about immigration reform in light of all that has been happening in Massachusetts,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee Friday at an immigration reform hearing.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., two members of the "Gang of Eight," plan to brief President Barack Obama on the group's comprehensive immigration reform biill on Tuesday. Senators had originally planned a high-profile rollout of their measure,
including a Tuesday morning news conference where they would be flanked
by immigration reform advocates. But the group opted to postpone the event late Monday because of bombings at the Boston Marathon. Schumer, McCain Issue Summary of Immigration Bill – Roll Call:

The bipartisan group of senators working on an immigration overhaul
proposal has released a 17-page summary of its bill, which includes a
provision that will exempt the children of unauthorized immigrants from a
$500 penalty charged to those seeking to have their status legalized.

[A Scribd copy of the 17 page summary is available here. Outline of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (h/t Talking Points Memo).]

Under the bill, unauthorized immigrants may apply to receive legalized status, known as Registered Provisional Immigrant Status.

In order to be eligible, an individual must have immigrated to
the United States prior to Dec. 31, 2011, and maintained a continuous
physical presence since then.