The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged immigration policy

Virginia Tea Party Convention - Day 2

GOP aims to bolster immigration enforcement, but little change is likely

By | 11.04.10 | 6:00 am

During his campaign for the presidency in 2008, Barack Obama made the now-broken promise to Latino supporters that he would pass comprehensive immigration reform in his first year as president. But in remarks to the press on Wednesday, after Republicans took control of the House and won back several More…

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Loses Three Members (At Least)

By | 11.03.10 | 1:31 pm

Three House members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus — Reps. John Salazar (D-Colo.), Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) and Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) — lost their bids for re-election yesterday, meaning the pro-immigration reform wing of Congress will shrink next session. Arizona Democratic Reps. Gabrielle Giffords and Raul Grijalva could still lose their More…

Tancredo, Angle, Whitman Lose After Anti-Illegal Immigration Campaigns

By | 11.03.10 | 1:22 am

A few pieces of good news for supporters of a more inclusive immigration policy: Harry Reid beat out Sharron Angle (R), who ran a campaign that relied heavily on anti-illegal immigration rhetoric, and immigration hawk Tom Tancredo lost the race for Colorado governor.

Angle posed a serious threat to Reid, More…

Coming Soon to the House: Immigration Foes

By | 11.02.10 | 10:13 am

Politico has a story today on how some of the likely new GOP House members plan to address immigration. Many of them pushed for tough immigration enforcement and anti-illegal immigration laws in their home states and cities, which could signify the types of legislation they would try to More…

How Would a Republican Congress Handle Immigration?

By | 10.26.10 | 10:39 am

According to supporters of progressive immigration reform, not very well. A Republican-run House would put Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) in charge of the Judiciary Committee and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) atop its immigration subcommittee — meaning the two border security hawks would have a major say in all immigration-related legislation More…

Latino Vote May Not Be Low in Midterms After All

By | 10.25.10 | 2:51 pm

Although Latino voters generally prefer Democratic candidates, reports of low enthusiasm among registered voters a few weeks ago seemed to indicate that few Latinos would show up at the polls on Nov. 2. But don’t count Latino voters out yet, Latino Decisions’ Matt Barreto and America’s Voice’s Frank More…

May Day March and Protest, 2010

Redefining birthright citizenship, one state at a time

By | 10.20.10 | 7:43 am

In the best-case scenario, Texas state Rep. Leo Berman hopes his state will be sued. The representative for Texas’ 6th District, along with more than a dozen other Republican state legislators across the country, plans to introduce a bill in the next session calling for his state to discontinue

More…

Immigration Courts Tossing Out Record-High Number of Cases

By | 10.18.10 | 8:57 am

Houston immigration judges are throwing out an unprecedented number of cases after an internal review of the city’s immigration court docket, the Houston Chronicle reported yesterday. That means many non-criminal illegal immigrants are more likely to be released: About 200 immigration cases have been dismissed per month since More…

Immigration Advocacy Groups Step Up Local Efforts

By | 10.11.10 | 12:29 pm

Pro-immigration reform groups are stepping up local efforts to help illegal immigrants deal with police, learn English and understand deportation proceedings, USA Today reports. As deportations become more prevalent, the groups argue Congress should act to provide a pathway to legal status for non-criminal illegal immigrants More…

How Much Does it Cost to Deport 392,000 People?

By | 10.07.10 | 4:08 pm

Roughly $9.2 billion, according to figures from a March report on the per-immigrant cost of each step of the removal process. The numbers are estimates, of course, but it is still useful to illustrate the high costs behind the record number of deportations the DHS announced More…