- Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), a longtime supporter of immigration reform, could become a leader on the issue this year. Just days after he said reform is still a top priority in his agenda, he will be joining activists in a Chicago rally tomorrow in support of comprehensive immigration reform.

- About 200 Chicago businesses partnered with Jim Edgar, the former Republican governor of Illinois, in announcing a coalition to push for the reform of federal immigration laws. From the Chicago Tribune: “The group argued that legal status for an estimated 540,000 illegal immigrants in the state would result in billions of dollars of new economic activity. … Edgar said he has tried to convince Republican colleagues of the economic merits of immigration, warning that a lack of support could cause lasting political damage. ‘If the immigrant community views us as a party that is hostile to them … we just can’t afford that,’ he said.”

- Reps. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.) met with Mexican president Felipe Calderon this week to discuss the future of the fight against drug cartel violence, and they said they intend to try to expedite aid, from the Merida Initiative, to the Mexican government to help it fight increasing violence. This comes just as U.S. authorities announced that trafficking routes in Cuidad Juarez, one of the most violence-ridden city in Mexico due to drug trafficking, is now controlled by the powerful leader of the Sinaloa cartel. Read more about this story here and about the Mexican drug war here.

- Arizona’s senate bill 1070, which would mandate some of the toughest immigration enforcement laws in the country, is still on hold, according to KPHO news channel’s Website. The bill would make it a state crime for anyone to be in the country illegally and for anyone to harbor or transport an illegal immigrant. Since it has already been passed by the state senate and two House committees, the bill was expected to move quickly to the governor. Now many believe the bill is being put on hold because it doesn’t have enough votes in the House. It is expected to be heard by the full House sometime next week.

- Service Employees International Union members are calling for abuses within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to stop during a two-day vigil. The union is protesting ICE abuses as documented recently by The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Department of Homeland Security’s own Office of Inspector General. This appears to be the first national attempt to draw attention to the most recent mismanagement issues by ICE.

- A former guard at Port Isabel Detention Center, an immigration detention facility, in Los Fresnos, Texas, was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday for six charges filed against him — three deprivation of civil rights charges and three abusive sexual contact charges. According to court records, the former guard will serve five years probation after his release from prison. This adds to the list of claims against Port Isabel from civil rights groups who have previously noted injustice and abuse in the facility. It’s also the same facility that prompted detainees to go on a hunger strike last year.

- New America Media has a Q&A with Laura Hill, a research fellow at Public Policy Institute of California, to discuss a new study that looks at data from 2003 to examine the effects of permanent residency on the wages and earnings of immigrants. “Our comparison group was immigrants who have been continuously legal and who got a green card at the same time as those who were unauthorized,” Hill said. “We found that getting a green card is not really associated with earning gains especially in the short term for the low skilled worker. If you were a high skilled worker, had a Bachelor’s degree or higher, you could see an earnings or occupational gain attributable to a green card.” Read about the study here.

- Californians are shifting away from proposals that call for the removal of all social services from illegal immigrants, including public schooling and emergency medical attention, according to a new Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California poll. From the Los Angeles Times: “Large majorities in the poll supported two alternative proposals: one that would couple stronger enforcement at the border with a temporary worker program, and one that would combine stronger border enforcement with a path to eventual citizenship for illegal residents who perform community service, pay back taxes and learn English. The support for both a guest-worker program and a citizenship option were notable partly because they come at a time when California voters remain deeply pessimistic about the state’s economy.” Read more here.

The Houston Chronicle reports that next week, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee on border affairs, will meet with State Department officials to discuss the expansion of the Merida Initiative, a program that helps Mexico with equipment and training. He is also planning a subcommittee hearing to decide the best way to send military equipment to Mexico, fast-track training initiatives and cooperate with the Mexican military and law enforcement to fight cartel violence.

Cuellar’s planned meetings come after lawmakers met with Mexican president Felipe Calderon earlier this week. Cuellar and Reps. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) and Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.), who met Calderon in Mexico City, said yesterday they will attempt to expedite aid, including helicopters and other equipment, to the Mexican government to help them fight drug cartel violence. Reyes said Obama and Calderón have been working to develop a “next phase” of assistance, since the government’s Merida Initiative, a program that helps Mexico with equipment and training, is in its last year.

The kind of violence they intend to mitigate? The kind happening throughout Cuidad Juarez. Since U.S. authorities now believe Juarez’s trafficking routes are controlled by Mexico’s most powerful cartel leader, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman of the Sinaloa cartel, drug traffickers could become more powerful now than ever, and violence could get worse.

From Cuellar’s press release:

“The consensus between the United States and Mexico is that we need a forward-thinking strategy built on more interoperability between our law enforcement and more direct investments in stabilizing local Mexican communities,” said Congressman Cuellar. “President Calderon said we’ll begin to see a similar initiative unfold in Ciudad Juarez that is centered on strengthening rule of law and expanding investments in social and economic infrastructure”…

Moving forward, Congressmen Cuellar, Reyes and Pastor will continue to make recommendations to Congress regarding Mexico and the Mérida Initiative program, in addition to matters related to ongoing southern border security.

These border lawmakers seem intent on taking steps to mitigate Mexico’s drug war. And not a moment too soon: According to StopTheDrugWar.org, the total body count since Calderon took office in 2006 is 19,032; this year alone, 2,721 have been killed.

Remember, this is the House, not the Senate, where the minority party has practically no institutional power to derail legislation. Democrats have absolutely no one to blame but themselves for once again folding after the ante.

Specifically, the proposed Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Interrogations Prohibition Act proscribes “forcing the individual to be naked, perform sexual acts or pose in a sexual manner” — a la Abu Ghraib — “beatings, electrical shock, burns, or inflicting physical pain; waterboarding; using military working dogs; inducing hypothermia” — it happened at Guantanamo to Mohammed al-Qatani — sleep deprivation, dietary manipulation, denial of medical care, “using force or the threat of force”; “mock executions;” religious desecration in an intelligence context; “sensory deprivation”; “prolonged isolation”; “placing hoods or sacks over the heads of the individual;” “exploiting the phobias of the individual” and more. Basically, it clarifies that the entire parade of outside-the-Army-Field-Manual-on-Interrogation horrors during the Bush administration are criminal acts. We’ll see if this ever actually makes it to President Obama’s desk.

The CIA declined to comment on pending legislation.

“Due to the high visibility of the issues surrounding the tragic event at Fort Hood, the President has instructed the National Security Council to assume control of all informational briefings. The NSC has directed that the leadership, as well as the chairmen and ranking minority members of the relevant congressional committees receive briefings first.

“I have been told that the Director of National Intelligence is still committed to providing the full membership a briefing on the activities within the jurisdiction of this Committee. I believe that this will occur, and I will push to schedule a briefing before the end of this week.”

Just yesterday, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) postponed the Senate Armed Services Committee’s scheduled briefing on Fort Hood in accordance with President Obama’s request for Congress to await the results of military and law enforcement inquiries.

After cafeful consideration and consultation with the Ranking Minority Member and other members of the Committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will conduct an investigation into possible violations of federal law, including the National Security Act of 1947.

This investigation will focus on the core issue of how the congressional intelligence committees and Congress are kept fully and currently informed. To this end, the investigation will examine several issues, including the program discussed during Director Panetta’s June 24th notification and whether there was any past decision or direction to withhold information from the Committee.

Who knows if the bill will pass, given President Obama’s emerging, uh, robust definition of executive power. But if this signifies anything, it indicates that the now-largely-forgotten Nancy Pelosi/CIA fracas has made congressional Democrats sick and tired of the ability for a small group of members of Congress to endlessly he-said-she-said the press about intelligence activities. If there’s a full intelligence committee briefing about covert action, then any member who publicly misrepresents its substance is vulnerable to a horde of colleagues calling that member out. It’s naive to think that members will stop misrepresenting the contents of classified briefings, or that reporters will suddenly adjudicate between truth and falsity in such matters, but, y’know, dare to dream.