Friday, July 30, 2010  -- 4:00 pm EDT
--Updated on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 12:45 pm EDT--

Thanks to this week's federal court ruling temporarily blocking the most controversial parts of Arizona's new immigration enforcement law, the issue of immigration will likely return as a prominent issue on at least several of the coming weekend's Sunday public affairs programs.  Among the programs on which immigration is almost certain to be discussed is CBS's "Face the Nation" program, which will feature Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Thomas Saenz, President of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), which is one of the major plantiffs in both the Arizona and Fremont, Nebraska immigration law challenges.  Immigration is almost certan to come up on FOX's "FOX News Sunday" program, as well, which will feature former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) as one of its guests.

The following is a guide to what can be expected on immigration on Sunday, August 1:

• ABC - This Week.  Among the guests appearing on the August 1, 2010, edition of  ABC's "This Week" will be  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Secretary of Defense Bill Gates.  It is uncertain whether the subject of immigration will come up during the interview portion of the program.  Participating in the roundtable discussion segment of the program will be ABC News' George F. Will;  Democratic strategist Donna Brazile; New York Times columnist Paul Krugman; and journalist Ahmed Rashid, author of Descent into Chaos and expert on Afghanistan and the Taliban.

• CBS - Face the Nation.  Among the guests appearing on the August 1, 2010, edition of CBS's "Face the Nation" will be Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Assistant Senate Minority Leader Jon Kyl (R-AZ); Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations; and Thomas Saenz, President of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.  Immigration and the federal lawusit challenging the constitutionality of Arizona's controversial new immigration law are certain to come up during the program.

• CNN - State of the Union.  The guest list for the August 1, 2010, edition of CNN's "State of the Union" program includes Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and senior Committee Republican Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The war in Afghanistan is likely to be the dominant subject during the appearance by the two senators.  But immigration could be a subject posed to Senator Graham, who made news this week by declaring that he was considering introducing a constitutional amendment that would bar birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants.  
  

• FOX - FOX News Sunday.  Among the guests appearing on the August 1, 2010, edition of FOX's "FOX News Sunday" will be 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  Also appearing on the August 1 program will be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and  House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).  The producers indicate that the subject of the recent court ruling temporarily blocking portions of Arizona's immigration enforcement law will come up in both the Palin and the McConnell/Boehner segments of the program.  Appearing this week during the roundtable segment will be Cici Connolly of The Washington Post; Liz Cheney, a former State Department official and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney; Juan Williams of National Public Radio  and FOX News; and Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard and FOX news.  It is highly likely that the lawsuit challenging Arizona's immigration enforcement law will come up during the roundtable segment of the program.
  

• NBC - Meet the Press.  Appearing on the August 1, 2010, edition of NBC's "Meet the Press" will be  Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Also appearing on the program will be New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I); former Chairman on the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan; and Governor Ed Rendell (D-PA).  Appearing during the roundtable segment of the show will be presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and MSNBC Senior Political Analyst, Editor-at-Large & Senior Political Analyst for TIME, and Co-Author of "Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime", Mark Halperin.  It is uncertain to what degree the subject of immigration will be discussed during the program.
  

• Reform of the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Account.  The Committee-approved measure would increase the maximum amount of funds that can be "parked" in the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) account from $100 MILLION to $200 MILLION.  It also would give the Secretary of State the authority to draw funds from the account.  Under current law, drawdowns from the ERMA account must be made by the President of the United States.

• Authority to Designate Certain Groups of Refugees for Consideration.  Section 7082 of the Committee-approved measure would authorize the Secretary of State, after notification to Congress, to designate specifically defined groups of aliens for consideration to be admitted to the United States as refugees.  A group so-designated would have to meet certain criteria.  Among those are requirements that the group's resettlement in the United States is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest; and that members of the group share common characteristics that identify them as targets of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion or that they otherwise have a shared need for resettlement due to vulnerabilities or a lack of local integration prospects in their country of first asylum for consideration as refugees.

• Voluntary Agency Matching Grant Program.  The committee report notes that "[t]he Committee continues to support the voluntary agency matching grant program and encourages the Office of Refugee Resettlement [ORR] to explore the continued expansion of this program."

• No-Year Contingency Fund.  The committee report notes that the Committee is rejecting the Administration's request for a no-year contingency fund to deal with unanticipated refugee resettlement needs.  It notes, however, that the bill provides "cash and medical assistance for a full 8 months, and bill language provides for the extended availability of these funds for 2 years.

• Intensive Case Management.  The committee report earmarks "not less than $15,000,000 for intensive case management activities to provide comprehensive services to refugees."

• Emergency Housing Assistance.  The committee report earmarks "not less than $10,000,000 for emergency housing assistance."
  
  
• Refugee School Impact Grants.  The committee report provides up to $18 MILLION for the refugee school impact program.  This compares to $15 MILLION that was provided to the program in fiscal year 2010.  The committee report's language states that "[t]he Committee intends that the additional funding sbould be used to serve school districts impacted by Haitian children and families coming to the United States because of the earthquake on January 12, 2010."

In the case of Arizona's law, Judge Bolton ruled that the following four sections of the measure are preempted by federal law:

• Portion of Section 2 of S.B. 1070
  A.R.S. § 11-1051(B): requiring that an officer make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person is unlawfully present in the United States, and requiring verification of the immigration status of any person arrested prior to releasing that person.

• Section 6 of S.B. 1070
  A.R.S. § 13-3883(A)(5): authorizing the warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe the person has committed a public offense that makes the person removable from the United States.

• Fiscal Year 2011 Funding for Refugee Resettement, Trafficking Victim Assistance, Torture Victim Assistance, and Unacommpanied Alien Children.  Both the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies and the full Senate Committee on Appropriations are expected to markup the fiscal year 2011 bill that funds the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) during the week of July 26.  ORR operates  the federal government's refugee resettlement, trafficking victim assistance, and torture victim assistance progras.  It also operates the federal government's programs to place and care for unaccompanied alien children who are found in the United States while their immigration status is being resolved.

• Fiscal Year 2011 Funding for Border Security, Interior Immigration Enforcement, and Immigration Services.  The House Committee on Appropriations is expected to markup the fiscal year 2011 bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security's border security, interior immigration enforcement, and immigration services processing and adjudicatory functions during the week of July 26.

• Supplemental Fiscal Year Border Security and Refugee Funding.  The full House of Representatives is expected to take up H.R. 4899, a fiscal year 2010 emergency supplemental appropriations bill during the week of July 26.  The version that the Senate approved on Thursday, July 22, 2010, jettisoned $700 MILLION in border security provisions that the House had approved on July 1, leaving intact about $700 MILLION in refugee-related provisions that the Senate had previously approved.   
  

• Hearings on FBI Oversight, the Crisis in Haiti, and Fraud in the Issuance of Passports.  Three House or Senate panels have scheduled hearings on immigration- or refugee-related matters during the week of July 26, including a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on the operations of the FBI, a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on the crisis in Haiti, and a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on fraud in the issuance of passports.
  

• Off-of-the-Hill Activity.  The "off of the Hill" activity on immigration during the week of July 26 includes a possible ruling in federal district court in Phoenix, Arizona in the case of United States v. Arizona, and a hearing on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp on requests for temporary injunctions from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund in relation to their lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of a recently enacted Fremont, Nebraska immigration enforcement law.

• ABC - This Week.  Among the guests appearing on the July 25, 2010, edition of  ABC's "This Week" was Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ), who called the problems besetting immigration a "federal issue that should be handled by the feds," commented on the need for border security, and called for a "common sense path to citizenship" for undocumented aliens during his appearance on the program.

prohibit the Department of Justice

Text of DeMint-Vitter Arizona Immigration Lawsuit Amendment
Press Release from Senator DeMint Announcing Arizona Lawsuit Amendment

• Blocking the Lawsuit Challenging the Arizona Immigration Enforcement Law.  The full Senate is expected to resume consideration of H.R. 5297, the "Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010."  The measure would provide incentives for banks to lend to small businesses.  It does not contain any significant immigration-related provisions.  However, Senators Jim DeMint (R-SC) and David Vitter (R-LA) have put the Senate on notice that they intend to offer a floor amendment to the measure that would bar federal lawsuits against the state of Arizona challenging the constitutionality of SB 1070, the state's controversial new immigration enforcement law.

• Adjustment of Status for Orphaned Haitan Adoptees.  The full House of Representatives this week is scheduled to take up H.R. 5283, the Help Haitian Adoptees Immediately to Integrate Act of 2010 or Help HAITI Act of 2010, which was introduced in the House by Representatives by Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE).  As introduced, H.R. 5283 would authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to adjust to permanent resident status an alien who was paroled into the United States pursuant to the humanitarian parole policy for certain Haitian orphans announced on January 18, 2010, and suspended as to new applications on April 15, 2010.  In order to be eligible, an alien would hace to apply for adjustment, be physically present in the United States when the adjustment application is filed, and be admissible as an immigrant.
  

• Supplemental Fiscal Year Border Security and Refugee Funding.  One of the major immigration- and refugee-related floor actions that could occur this week is consideration by the Senate of the House Amendments to H.R. 4899, a fiscal year 2010 emergency supplemental appropriations bill.  The House of Representatives approved its version of the measure on Thursday, July 1, adding more than $700 MILLION in border security funding and hundreds of millions more to assist refugees and Haitian Temporary Protected Status (TPS) applicants to a Senate-approved version of the bill that already contained about $700 MILLION in refugee-related spending.  The Senate approved its version of the measure on Thursday, May 27.  At the time of this writing, the House, the Senate, and the President are at a stalemate.  The consensus is that there are not sufficient votes in the Senate to clear the House-approved version of the measure because of concerns that conservative Democrats and Republicans have about the domestic spending that the House added to it.  However, the House appears to be holding firm.  Insiders speculate that the only reason the Senate would hold a vote on the House Amendments to the measure is to demonstrate that there are insufficient votes so the House will come to the negotiating table. 
  

• Immigration- and Refugee-Related Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations Bills.  Two subcommittees of the Senate Committee on Appropriations are expected this week to produce their versions of the fiscal year 2011 spending bills that fund the federal government's refugee admssions and verseas refugee assistance programs, as well as fund the federal immigration court system.

• Hearings on Border Security.  Three House or Senate panels have scheduled hearings for this week on border security matters.  This includes a hearing on the Merida Initiative, a hearing on the Department of Homeland Security Quadrennial Review, and a hearing on human sumggling
  

• Off-of-the-Hill Activity.  There is a significant amount of "off of the Hill" activity on immigration this week, including arguments in federal district court in Phoenix, Arizona in the case of United States v. Arizona, and panel discussions on such topics as the Visa Waiver Program and Mexican Drug Cartel violence.  See a more complete listing of that activity on "This Week on the Hill."

• CBS - Face the Nation.  Among the guests appearing on the July 18, 2010, edition of CBS's "Face the Nation" were Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM), who recenlty agreed to host a bi-national border governors conference in New Mexico in the wake of the decision by Arizona governor Jan Brewer to cancel the conference because her Mexican counterparts refused to travel to Phoenix, Arizona, where it previously was scheduled to occur; and former Representative J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), who has made immigration a big issue in his challenge to Senator John McCain (R-AZ) for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination.  Immigration was the sole issue the two guests discussed:

• FOX - FOX News Sunday.  Among the guests appearing on the July 18, 2010, edition of FOX's "FOX News Sunday" were House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) and House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN), who were asked about the Arizona immigration enforcement law:

• Illegal Immigrants Eligibility for In-State Tuition Rates in State Colleges.  Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) offered an amendment that would have "clarified" that individuals living in the United States illegally cannot receive postsecondary education benefits unless every U.S. citizen and national is entitled to the benefits regardless of their place of residence. It also would have allowed any U.S. citizen or national enrolled in a postsecondary educational institution to sue the institution or state agencies that regulate the institution to require compliance with the above, and would entitle individuals that prevail to compensation for damages and litigation costs.  And it would have instructed the attorney general to annually report to Congress on any institutions that are violating the bill's purpose and prohibit federal agencies from providing financial assistance to those institutions. 

• Citizenship Verification for the CHIP and Medicaid Programs.  Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) offered an amendment that would have rescinded unobligated funds provided under the State Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (PL 111-3), and would have required the program and Medicaid to verify the citizenship of individuals enrolled. 

• Federal Public Benefits for Guantanamo Detainees.  Representative Todd Tiahrt (R=KS) offered an amendment that would have made detainees kept at the detention facility on the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval station on the date of the bill's enactment, who are brought to the United States, permanently ineligible for federal public benefits.

Senators Jim DeMint (R-SC) and David Vitter (R-LA) on Wednesday, July 14, announed their intention to offer an amendment to pending legislation that would prohibit the Department of Justice and any other federal agency from participating in lawsuits seeking to invalidate SB 1070, the controversial new immigration enforcement law that recently was enacted by the state of Arizona. 

The two senators on Wednesday announced their intention to offer their amendment to H.R. 5297, a House-passed small business promotion measure that the Senate could take up next week.

In announcing he would offer the amendment, Senator DeMint said, "the state of Arizona is simply taking responsibility for a problem that the federal government has neglected for years, but Washington’s only response is to oppose these new enforcement efforts and take them to court.  The Obama administration should not use taxpayers’ money to pay for these lawsuits that the American people overwhelmingly oppose."

Senators DeMint and Vitter teamed up earlier this year on an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to force the acceleration of contruction of fencing along the U.S. border with Mexico, as well as on an unsuccessful effort to prohibit the counting of undocumented aliens in the 2010 census enumeration.


Click on the play button, below, to see video of Senator DeMint's appearance on the July 14, 2010, edition of FOX News Chanel's "Your World Cavuto" program touting his amendment:

Text of DeMint-Vitter Arizona Immigration Lawsuit Amendment
Press Release from Senator DeMint Announcing Arizona Lawsuit Amendment

•  The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Ciitizenship, Refugee, Border Security, and International Law has scheduled a hearing for this week on the ethical imperative for comprehsensive immigration reform.

• ABC - This Week.  Among the guests appearing on the July 11, 2010, edition of  ABC's "This Week" were Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force, and Representative Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Chairman of the immigration restrictionist-leaning Immigration Reform Caucus:
  

•  CBS - Face the Nation.  Among the guests appearing on the July 11, 2010, edition of CBS's "Face the Nation" was Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., who discussed the Department of Justice decision to file suit against the state of Arizona challenging the constitutionality of Ariziona's controversial new immigration enforcement law:

• CNN - State of the Union.  Among the guests appearing on the July 11, 2010, edition of CNN's "Late Edition" program were Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod, Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ), and Governor Bill Richardson (R-NM), all of whom discussed the recent decision by the Department of Justice to file suit against the state of Arizona in an effort to overturn the state's controversial new immigration enforcement law:
  

• FOX - Fox News Sunday.  Among the guests appearing on the July 11, 2010, edition of FOX's "Fox News Sunday" will be White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod, who was asked about tthe Department of Justice lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Arizona's recently enacted immigration enforcement law, and Assistant Minority Leader Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who also was queried aout immigration.  Appearing during the roundtable segment of the July 11 program were Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard and Fox News; Brit Hume, Fox News Senior Political Analyst; Mara Liasson of National Public Radio & Fox News; and Juan Williams of National Public Radio & Fox News.  The roundtable also addressed immigration during an extensive segment of the program:

• The Senate will have to deal with the emergency fiscal year 2010 emergency supplemental appropriations bill, to which the House has added $700 MILLION in border security funding and on which the Senate engaged in a fierce border security debate in May.
  

• While it appears unlikely at this point, the full Senate could take up the National Defense Authorization Act, the Committee-reported version of which contains a provision requiring the deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops along the U.S. border with Mexico.

• The House Committee on the Judiciary llkely will begin to hold hearings on comprehensive immigration reform.

• The Senate Committee on Appropriations could begin to markup some or all of the four fiscal year 2011 regular appropriations bills that fund the federal government's border security, interior immigration enforcement, immigration services adjudication, refugee admissions, overseas refugee assistance, and refugee resettlement operations.

• Miranda Rights for Foreign Nationals and Enemy Combatants.  Culberson (R-TX) amendment that would bar the use of funds in the bill to pay the salaries of officers or federal employees who provide individuals that are foreign nationals and enemy belligerents, as defined under current law, and in the custody of the Defense Department or the intelligence community, with an explanation of their Miranda rights, except as required by the U.S. Supreme Court.
  

• Lawsuit Against Arizona Immigration Enforcement Law.  Culberson (R-TX) amendment that would bar the use of the funds in the bill for the Justice Department to challenge in a lawsuit the Arizona state immigration legislation signed into law on April 23, 2010.