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President Obama Includes Immigration Reform on List of Problems that He Will Continue to Work With Republicans On While White House Press Secretary Gibbs Stresses the Need for Bipartisanship on Immigration Reform Legislation
By Micheal E. Hill
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 -- 6:42 pm EDT
In a March 30, 2010, interview on NBC's "Today Show," President Obama included immigration reform as one of the big issues that needs to be tackled and one on which he will continue to attempt to work with Republicans.
While some may consider the President's comments a mere throw-away line, it could be significant, in that in half a dozen interviews with senior Obama Administration officials since the health care reform bill was cleared for the President's signature, no other official has included immigration reform on the list of big items that the White House is committed to working on.
In the meantime, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was questioned on the President's commitment to immigration reform at his March 30, 2010, White House Press Briefing. In response to questioning, Mr. Gibbs stated that Senator Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) recent assertion that the Obama Administration has done almost nothing on immigration reform was incorrect, and he stressed that immigration reform would not happen with all Democrats but that, rather, it would need to have the support of Republicans in order to succeed.
You can see the relevant video clip of the President's comments on immigration during his March 30, 2010 "Today Show" appearance, as well as a video clip of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' comments on immigration reform at his March 30, 2010, White House Press Briefing, by clicking on the play buttons above.
Senators Schumer and Graham Talk About Prospects for Comprehensive Immigration Reform on NBC's "Meet the Press"
By Micheal E. Hill
Sunday, March 28, 2010 -- 2:47 pm EDT
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday continued his criticism of the White House on comprehensive immigration reform, saying that President Obama has done "almost nothing" to advance the issue legislatively, despite his promise that he would pass it in the first year of his Administration. Senator Graham called enactment of comprehensive immigration reform "a tough, heavy lift" and said that the overall political atmosphere has been poisonedby the health care reform debate. The Senator made his comments on Sunday, March 28, 2010, during a joint appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" with Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security Chairman Charles Schumer (D-NY).
Senator Graham has been partnering with Senator Schumer on a yet-to-be-introduced comprehensive immigration reform bill. On March 19, 2010, the two senators coauthored an opinion piece that ran in The Washington Post in which they described a framework for comprehensive immigration reform. However, later on that day Senator Graham released a statement calling into serious question whether or not he still supported the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Since then, Senator Graham has raised eyebrows even higher by calling the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform dead, saying he favored an incremental approach, and severely criticizing the Obama Administration's performance and sincerity on the issue.
Senator Graham did little during his March 28 "Meet the Press" performance to settle concerns that some in the pro-immigrant advocacy community may have about his commitment to comprehensive reform legislation. At one point, Senator Schumer pleaded with Graham to continue working with him to find a second Republican so the bill could be introduced and moved. Senator Graham responded somewhat ambiguously, challenging President Obama to write his own comprehensive immigration reform bill and to find a Republican to support it. At the same time, though, Senator Graham said he would keep working with Senator Schumer on the effort.
Immigration Differences on Display as Rubio and Crist Battle it Out for the Republican Nomination for Florida's Open U.S. Senate Seat
By Micheal E. Hill
Monday, March 29, 2010 -- 10:15 am EDT
Governor Charlie Crist (R-FL) on Sunday counterpunched against former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (R-FL) on the subject of immigration, accusing the former Speaker of doing nothing to move anti-immigrant legislation through the Florida House. Crist's attack came while tepidly defending his own support for the 2007 Kennedy/McCain comprehensive immigration reform bill.
For his part, Former Speaker Rubio downplayed his inaction on anti-immigrant legislation during his tenure as Speaker of Florida's House of Representatives and talked up his opposition to legalization programs, which he called "amnesty."
The Governor's and former Speaker's comments were made during a joint appearance on the March 28, 2009, edition of Fox News' "Fox News Sunday."
It remains to be seen if immigration will become a hot issue in the race as it heads for an August, 2010 primary.
You can see video of Senator Schumer's and Graham's performance on "Meet the Press" by clicking on the play button above.
Senate Rejects Sessions Verification Amendment to Health Care Reform Clean-Up Bill as Congress Clears Measure for the President's Signature
By Micheal E. Hill
Monday, March 29, 2010 -- 12:20 pm EDT
The Senate has approved a House-passed health care reform clean-up budget reconciliation measure. Shortly after Senate action on the bill, the House cleared it for the President's signature, which the President is expected to affix to the measure on Tuesday, March 30.
Along the way, the Senate considered one immigration-related amendment, rejecting an amendment offered by Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Republican Jeff Sessions (R-AL). The Senate rejected the Sessions Amendment on Thursday, March 25, 2010, tabling it by a vote of 55-43.
The Sessions amendment to H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, would have required that an applicant provide a sworn statement specifically attesting to the fact that the health insurance enrollee is a citizen, a U.S. national, or an eligible lawful permanent resident; required that persons attesting to alienage-based eligibility deomnstrate their eligibility with specific pieces of documentation; required that each health care exchange that is created by the bill verify eligibility in accordance with the way eligibility for other federal health related programs is established and verified under the Social Security Act; directes the exchanges to rely upon the DHS Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program; and required that legal immigrants wait five years afer entry to the United States before they can receive affordability tax subsidies for health insurance.
Senators voted largely along party lines in rejecting the Sessions Amendment. All Republicans voting voted in favor of the amendment. Only two Democrats supported it: Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN) and David Pryor (D-AR).
Click Here to see the text of the Sessions Amendment to H.R. 4872 Click Here to see the vote on Tabling Sessions Amendment to H.R. 4872
Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Two Immigration Status Bills
By Micheal E. Hill
Friday, March 26, 2010 -- 1:51 pm EDT
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has approved two measures that would relax immigration law by providing protections for refugees and asylees who are serving abroad and providing immigration status protection for lawful permanent residents of the United States who wish to return temporarily to their countries of citizenship to provide assistance to their former countrymen. The Committee acted on Thursday, March 25, 2010, approving the first measure by unanimous consent and the second by a voice vote.
The first measure that the Committee approved is S. 2960, the Refugee Opportunity Act, which was introduced in the Senate by Senate Judiciary Commitee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Republican Richard Lugar R-IN). As approved by the Committee, S. 2960 would exempt aliens who have been admitted as refugees or granted asylum and are employed overseas by the Federal Government from the one-year-long physical presence requirement for adjustment of status to that of aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence.
The second measure that the Committee approved isS. 2974, the "Return of Talent Act," which was introduced in the Senate by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Republican Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT). As approved by the Committee, S. 2974 would establish a new program, called the "Return of Talent Program." The new program would allow up to 1,000 aliens per year who are legally present in the United States to return temporarily to the country of their citizenship or nationality and have the time spent outside of the United States count toward towards the naturalization physical presence requirement. In order to be eliigble for the program, an alien would have to be returning to a country that is engaged in post-conflict or natural disaster reconstruction, and the alien would have to be "making a material contribution to reconstruction efforts" in his or her country of citizenship or nationality.
The Committee approved the Refugee Opportunity Act by unanimous consent after first adopting a subsitute amendment to the measure. It approved the Return of Talent Act by a voice vote after first adopting a substitute and two perfecting amendments to the bill.
Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee action now prepares the two bills for consideration by the full Senate, which could occur at any time.
Click Hereto see amendments to the two meaures that the Committee adopted Click Here to see press release and statement from Chairman Leahy
President Obama Signs Historic Health Care Reform Bill Containing Both Enhancements to and Restrictions on Immigrants'
Eligibility for Health Care
By Micheal E. Hill
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 -- 2:56 pm EDT
President Barack Obama has signed landmark health care reform legislation into law. The bill signing ceremony took place at 11:30 am EDT on Tuesday, March 23, 2010, in the East Room of the White House.
With regard to immigrants, the new health care reform law exempts persons who are not lawfully present in the United States from the measure's general mandate that virtually everyone living lawfully in the United States be covered by a qualified health insurance plan. The new law also makes legal immigrants eligible for its health care affordability tax credits without having to wait for any length of time after entry to the United States. And, perhaps most controversially, the measure generally bars aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States from using their own funds to purchase health insurance products that are listed on the Health Insurance Exchange that the bill creates.
The new health care reform law establishes a new citizenship and immigration status verification regime that is designed to ensure that persons who are not lawfully present in the United States do not receive health insurance products and benefits from which they are barred. It relies on the recently enacted Children's Health Insurance Program reauthorization bill's mechanism for verification and will subject everyone who purchases health insurance through the exchange, who benefits from an exchange plan, or who receives an affordability tax credit to the new citizenship and immigration status verification regime.
See recorded video of the signing ceremony and the President's bill signing statement below, courtesy of C-SPAN:
PBS News Hour Runs Extensive Piece Examining the Prospects for Enactment of Comprehensive Immigration Reform Legislation This Year
By Micheal E. Hill
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 -- 4:28 pm EDT
The PBS News Hour ran an extensive piece on Monday, March 22, 2010, in which it examined the prospects for enactment of comprehensive immigration reform legislation during the 111th Congress. The piece includes statements from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Repersentative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL); footage from the March 21, 2010 immigration reform march and rally in Washington, DC; and an extensive debate on the substance, politics, and prospects for comprehensive immigration reform, featuring Ali Noorani of the National Immigration Forum.
The PBS News Hour piece is re-run in its entirety here, courtesy of the Public Brodcasting System:
House Passes Historic Health Care Reform Bill Containing Both Enhancements to and Restrictions on Immigrants' Eligibility for Health Care, Clearing it for President Obama's Signature
By Micheal E. Hill
Monday, March 22, 2010 -- 12:40 am EDT
The House of Representatives on Sunday passed a landmark health care reform bill containing a number of significant provisions relating to both legal and illegal immigrants' access to health care. Sunday evening's House action cleared the measure for President Obama's signature, which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 23.
The House debate on the historic measure began early Sunday afternoon, concluding at about 10:30 pm EDT. Voting ended at about 10:50 pm EDT, with the House passing the measure by a vote of 219-212. No Republicans voted for the measure. Only 34 Democrats voted against it.
While Sunday night's House action on the health care reform bill has cleared it for the President's signature, the legislative process on health care reform did not end with Sunday evening's vote. The Senate is expected to spend much of the next week trying to enact a clean-up measure that will make changes to the law that President Obama is expected to sign in the next 12 hours or so. This is because shortly after the House passed the health care reform bill, it also passed a clean-up measure making changes to it. Those changes will have to be ratified by the Senate before they can become law. But regardless of whether the Senate goes on to pass the clean-up measure, the health care reform bill will be law within a matter of days.
Shortly after the House passed the health care reform bill, President Obama spoke to the nation from the East Room of the White House, saying, "This is what change looks like."
As a general matter, the health care reform bill requires almost everyone living in the United States to purchase a qualified health insurance plan or face a tax penalty. It also establishes health insurance exchanges, on which private sector insurance companies will list their health insurance products; establishes health affordability tax credits to help persons who cannot afford health insurance purchase it; expands eligibility for Medicaid to a greater number of lower-income persons; and institutes a number of requirements on insurance companies with respect to the benefits that they must offer.
With regard to immigrants, the health care reform bill exempts persons who are not lawfully present in the United States from the measure's general mandate that virtually everyone living lawfully in the United States be covered by a qualified health insurance plan. The bill also makes legal immigrants eligible for its health care affordability tax credits without having to wait for any length of time after entry to the United States. And, perhaps most controversially, the measure generally bars aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States from using their own funds to purchase health insurance products that are listed on the Health Insurance Exchange that the bill creates.
The health care reform bill establishes a new citizenship and immigration status verification regime that is designed to ensure that persons who are not lawfully present in the United States do not receive health insurance products and benefits from which they are barred. It relies on the recently enacted Children's Health Insurance Program reauthorization bill's mechanism for verification and will subject everyone who purchases health insurance through the exchange, who benefits from an exchange plan, or who receives an affordability tax credit to the new citizenship and immigration status verification regime.
Even before Sunday night's final vote on the health care reform bill was cast, the question of whether or not the measure would pass had already been answered. A dramatic week of uncertainty over whether or not President Obama and the House Democratic Leadership would be able to muster the 216 votes needed for House passage of the measure finally came to a head at around 4:00 pm EDT on Sunday, when the White House cut a deal with Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI) on the question of federal funding for abortion. That deal helped deliver Representative Stupak and as many as seven of his colleagues into the "Yes" column, ensuring that there would be a sufficient number of votes in the House to pass the bill.
President Obama Addresses Immigration Marchers, Pledging Support for Enactment of Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Before Year's End
By Micheal E. Hill
Monday, March 22, 2010 -- 4:20 pm EDT
President Barack Obama on Sunday addressed a crowd of pro-immigrant marchers that was estimated at more than 200,000, pledging that he would do “everything in my power” to get a bipartisan deal within the year."
The President told marchers that "[t]oday there is a growing coalition of law enforcement officials, faith and community leaders and members of the labor and business sectors who understand that immigration reform is critical for our security and prosperity." He said, "I've always pledged to be your partner as we work to fix our broken immigration system and that is a commitment that I reaffirm today,"
The President went on to say in his videotaped remarks, “You know as well as I do that this won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight, but if we work together across ethnic, state and party lines, we can build a future worthy of our history as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.”
In addition to the videotaped message from President Obama, a number of Members of Congress also addressed the crowd, including Representative Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), and Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Chair of the CHC Immigration Task Force.
The video below is the message delivered by President Obama to the March 21, 2010 rally:
Click Hereto see the text of Representative Gutierrez's prepared remarks at the rally
If a Protest March Occurs in the Capitol but There is No One There To ...
By Micheal E. Hill
Sunday, March 21, 2010 -- 9:00 am EDT
In 1910, physicists Charles Riborg Mann and George Ransom Twiss posed the now famous question, "when a tree falls in a lonely forest, and no animal is near by to hear it, does it make a sound?" The two physicists' query was meant at the time to be both metapysical and philosophical. It has been posed countless times over the ensuing years. Indeed, it is a particulary apt question in Washington, DC, where it often is used to describe an event that is staged in an effort to grab the attention of the press and public but that might as well have not occurred because the media paid no atttention to it and, as a result, the public never heard about it.
By the end of the weekend, pro-immigrant advocates may wind up pondering the question that was posed by Mann and Ransom at the turn of the 20th century.
Months ago, the pro-immigrant advocacy community organized a march on Washington in support of comprehensive immigration reform. However, organizers could not have known at the time that they had scheduled the march on the same day that a cliffhanger vote will occur on a landmark health care reform bill that is the most significant piece of legislation that Congress will have considered in several generation. The battle over health care reform has sucked up almost every ounce of energy in Washington. The media cacophany is nearly deafening.
Nonetheless, the march will go on. And what a march it promises to be. As the weekend began, estimates of the number of participants who will be coming from around the country to participate in the march ballooned from 50,000 to as many as 100,000. March events will begin today at about 11:00 am EDT with a mass celebrated by Cardinal Roger Mahony, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles. An interfaith prayer service will take place at 1:00 pm EDT today, followed by a three hour-long rally on the National Mall begining at 2:00 pm EDT. Following the rally, demonstraters will march past the U.S. Capitol Building to Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, about five miles away.
Even if official Washington takes little note of the march because of the simultaneous debate on health care reform, the march has, indeed, had an impact.
In the weeks leading up to the march, President Obama has had to pay a lot of attention to the issue of comprehensive immigration reform. He has held a number of meetings with religious, civil rights, and ethnic leaders on the subject. He has met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on the issue. And he has met with Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the two leaders in the U.S. Senate on the issue None of those meeting would likely have taken place had it not been for the impending March on Washington. Moreover, Senators Schumer and Graham have accelerated their efforts to produce a framework for comprehensive immigration reform, a devleopment that almost certainly would not have occurred without the impending march.
Only time will tell whether the march garners the attention that organizers sought. But whether it does or not, it already has yielded organizers significant results.
Representative Gutierrez and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Reverse Course on the Health Care Reform Bill
Will Support Measure Despite Immigrant Restrictions
By Micheal E. Hill
Saturday, March 20, 2010 -- 9:24 pm EDT
Representative Luis Gutirrez (D-IL) and five of his colleagues in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) held a press conference late on Thursday, March 18, at which they announced they would vote in favor of the Senate health care reform bill and the accompaying clean-up reconciliation bill, despite the provisions in it that bar undocumented aliens from using their own funds to purchase health insurance.
Representative Gutierrez was joined in his Thursday afternoon press conference by Representative Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Chair of the CHC; Representative Xavier Becerra (D-CA), a member of the House Democratic Leadership; and Representatives Charles Gonzalez (D-TX), Joe Baca (D-CA), and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA).
Virtually every other member of the CHC is expected to follow Representative Gutierrez and his five colleagues in voting in favor of the Senate-passed measure and the accompanying reconciliation bill.
In explaining his change of posiition on the Senate health care reform bill, Representative Gutierrez said, “I cannot see that voting against this health care bill is going to bring us any closer to comprehensive immigration reform.” Gutierrez went on to say, “I do see that a success and a victory on health care will allow this president to be strengthened and to be able to carry out with more political capital our ultimate goal.”
The "Yes" vote announcement from Representative Gutierrez is somewhat of a reversal of the position that he forcefully articulated just two days previously on Fox News Channel. Video from the before and after interviews can be seen below:
NCLR Joins Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Reversing Course and Endorsing Senate Health Care Reform Bill Despite Its Provisions RestrictingImmigrant Access to Health Insurance
By Micheal E. Hill
Saturday, March 20, 2010 -- 9:15 am EDT
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), which bills itself as "the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States," abruptly reversed course on Friday and announced it was supporting the Senate-passed health care reform bill and its accompanying budget reconciliation clean-up measure, despite provisions in the Senate-passed bill that bar undocumented aliens from using their own funds to purchase health insurance.
NCLR's made its reversal of position known in a March 19, 2010, press release. The reversal came just one day after it had released a March 18, 2010, statement saying that it could not support the bill because of its immigration provisions. Moreover, the reversal of its position came less than 24 hours after the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) announced that it, too, was reversing course and supporting the Senate-passed health care reform bill.
In its first statement on March 18, NCLR had complained that the bill "bars access to health care for legal immigrants, establishes a burdensome verification system that will erect barriers to enrollment for eligible children and their families, and leaves millions of others without access to affordable coverage." However, in the second statement, which it released on Friday, March 19, the organization said, "[a]fter careful consideration of several key additions to the package and weighing its undeniable bemefits to our health care system, we have concluded that passage of the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act will result in significant improvements to the health status of Hispanic Americans," said Janet Murgia, President and CEO of NCLR. "We urge swift enactment of this historic legislation."
March 18, 2010, NCLR Statement in Opposition to Senate Health Care Reform Bill March 19, 2010, NCLR Statement in Support of Senate Health Care Reform Bill
Senator Lindsey Graham Reasserts His Belief that Enactment of Health Care Reform Will Kill Prospects for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
By Micheal E. Hill Saturday, March 20, 2010 -- 11:15 am EDT
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the lead Senate Republican on comprehensive immigration reform, has reasserted his belief that the enactment of health care reform will kill prospects for the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform legislation. The South Carolina senator issued his most recent missive on the subject in a formal statement that he released on Friday, March 19, 2010, just hours after he and Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security Chairman Charles Schumer (D-NY) issued an opinion piece in which they described a framework for comprehensive immigration reform. The two senators described their ideas in an OpEd that appeared in the March 19, 2010, edition of The Washington Post.
In his March 19 statement, Senator Graham said, "[t]he first casualty of the Democratic health care bill will be immigration reform. If the health care bill goes through this weekend, that will, in my view, pretty much kill any chance of immigration reform passing the Senate this year."
Senators Schumer and Graham Describe Framework
for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
By Micheal E. Hill Saturday, March 20, 2010 -- 1:15 am EDT
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security Chairman Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) yesterday coauthored an opinion piece in which they described a framework for comprehensive immigration reform. The two senators described their ideas in an OpEd that appeared in the March 19, 2010, edition of The Washington Post.
In what seemed like a carefully coreographed dance, President Obama released a statement shortly after the Schumer/Graham OpEd appeared, in which the President called the Schumer/Graham tome a "promising, bipartisan framework which can and should be the basis for moving forward." The President's statement went on to assert that the Schumer/Graham Framework "thoughtfully addresses the need to shore up our borders, and demands accountability from both workers who are here illegally and employers who game the system."
At the time of this writing, no details beyond the OpEd piece had been made available to the public. In the OpEd piece, the two senators wrote, "[o]ur plan has four pillars: requiring biometric Social Security cards to ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs; fulfilling and strengthening our commitments on border security and interior enforcement; creating a process for admitting temporary workers; and implementing a tough but fair path to legalization for those already here." The two senators went on to note that, "[b]esides border security, ending illegal immigration will also require an effective employment verification system that holds employers accountable for hiring illegal workers. A tamper-proof ID system would dramatically decrease illegal immigration, experts have said, and would reduce the government revenue lost when employers and workers here illegally fail to pay taxes."
Senators Graham and Schumer also addressed enforcement and criminal alien issues in their OpEd, saying "[w]e propose a zero-tolerance policy for gang members, smugglers, terrorists and those who commit other felonies after coming here illegally. We would bolster recent efforts to secure our borders by increasing the Border Patrol's staffing and funding for infrastructure and technology. More personnel would be deployed to the border immediately to fill gaps in apprehension capabilities." They also said that "[o]ther steps include expanding domestic enforcement to better apprehend and deport those who commit crimes and completing an entry-exit system that tracks people who enter the United States on legal visas and reports those who overstay their visas to law enforcement databases."
Curiously, while Senators Schumer and Graham addressed the issue of employment-based immigration in their OpEd, they did not address the issue of family-based immigration at all.
The Lead Senate Republican on Comprehensive Immigration Reform Trashes Obama and Talks Down the Prospects for Enactment of CIR
By Micheal E. Hill
Monday, March 15, 2010 -- 5:45 pm EDT
At various times last week, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the chief Republican sponsor in the Senate of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) legislation; declared his continued support for CIR; asserted that he favored piecemeal immigration measures; expressed support for an enforcement-first approach to immigration; questioned the sincerity of President Obama on CIR; contended that moderate Democrats and Republicans in Congress were opposed to CIR; and declared CIR dead if, as expected, Democrats use budget reconciliation procedures to enact health care reform legislation. And to think ... all of these assertions were made by the GOP champion of CIR. With friends like this ...
Above, Senator Graham extolls on comprehensive immigration reform during his Sunday, March 14, 2010, appearance on ABC News' This Week.
Health Care Reform, DHS Appropriations, Comprehensive Immigration
Reform, and Refugee Matters Top This Week's
Immigration and Refugee Legislative Agenda
By Micheal E. Hill
Monday, March 15, 2010 -- 8:30 am EDT
The attention of the country's political world will be focused on the U.S. House of Representatives this week as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) struggles to assemble the 216 votes that she will need in order to clear an historic health care reform for President Obama's signature. If enacted into law, the measure pending before the House would have serious consequences for immigrants' access to health care.
As if a battle over the enactment of a landmark health care reform with enormous consequences was not enough to keep Washington-based immigration and refugee advocates busy, Congress also this week will turn its attention to refugee matters as it commemorates the 30th anniversary of the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980. Among the refugee-related activities taking place on Capitol Hill this week is a scheduled markup of refugee protection legislation in the Senate Committee on the Judiciary; the likely introduction of a major new refugee protection bill by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), the participation of two key Members of Congress in a symposium looking a the history, future, and effectiveness of the United States refugee admissions program; and the participation of key legislators in a symposium on the plight of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons.
Various committees in Congress this week are conducting at least four hearings on immigration- or refugee-related matters, including hearings on the Obama Administration's fiscal year 2011 appropriations request for the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bureaus; a hearing in the House Committee on Homeland Security on the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Border Initiative (SBI); and an oversight hearing on thr Department of Justice, at which Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. is scheduled to testify and at which issues relating to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) could come up.
Finally, tens of thousands are expected to converge on Washington this weekend for a protest march in support of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). The march, which occurs on Sunday, March 21, 2010, comes as official and unofficial Washington is struggling to analyze conflicting and, at times, confusing signals that have emerged from a flurry of meetings held by President Obama last week on the subject of comprehensive immigration reform. At various times last week, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the chief Republican sponsor in the Senate of CIR legislation, declared his continued support for CIR; asserted that he favored piecemeal immigration measures; expressed support for an enforcement-first approach to immigration; questioned the sincerity of President Obama on CIR; contended that moderate Democrats and Republicans in Congress were opposed to CIR; and declared CIR dead if, as expected, Democrats use budget reconciliation procedures to enact health care reform legislation. And these assertions were made by the GOP champion of the 111th Congress.
When the dust on the week to come settles, it may well prove to have been a seminal one for immigration, refugees, and the 111th Congress.
Click Here to See MicEvHill's "This Week on the Hill" for the week of March 15, 2010
More than Three Days After CHC Meeting with Obama, Only One Caucus Member Has Issued a Concrete Threat to Oppose Senate Health Care Reform Bill Over Immigration Provisions
By Micheal E. Hill
Monday, March 15, 2010 -- 9:00 am EDT
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) last week threatened to open a new front in the legislative battle to enact a health care reform bill, implying that a substantial number of its membership might vote against both the Senate-passed health care reform bill and a key health care reform clean-up measure because of concerns about the treatment of immigrants under the two measures. However, as this week begins, only one of the 24 CHC Members had publicly indicated a willingness to follow-through with the threat.
Last week's CHC threat first emerged less than 24 hours before a scheduled March 11, 2010, meeting between CHC Members and President Obama to talk about health care reform. The first warning sign that they might not follow-through on their threats came following the meeting, when not a single CHC Member spoke to the press about how the meeting had gone. By Friday morning, March 12, Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) had become the lone CHC Member commeting on the health care and immigration issue, indicating that he would not be able to support the Senate health care reform bill at this time because of his concerns about its immigration-related provisions. Read More ...
Behind the Scenes Action Dominates
Immigration and Refugee Legislative Agenda
By Micheal E. Hill
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 -- 11:00 pm EST
Congress returned to Washington in January to convene the second session of the 111th Congress. But up to now, immigration and refugee matters have taken a back seat to machinations over other legislative matters.
That may soon change.
With immigration advocates poised to march on Washington less than two weeks from now in an effort to pressure Congress and the White House to move on comprehensive immigration reform legislation, immigration and refugee issues have begun to heat up in Washington.
The following is a brief summary of some of the issues bubbling up in Washington:
Comprehensive Immigration Reform. President Barack Obama has summoned Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security Chairman Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to the White House for a Thursday, March 11, 2010, Oval Office meeting to discuss comprehensive immigration reform. Ever since assuming the chairmanship of the Immigration Subcommittee in January of 2009, Chairman Schumer has promised to unveil a comprehensive immigration reform bill and begin to move it through the Senate. After laying out his general principles for immigration reform last June, Chairman Schumer has repeatedly set and missed self-imposed deadlines for action on comprhensive immigration reform. He is partnering with the Department of Homeland Security and Senator Graham in drafting the measure.
Conventional wisdom would have us believe that only the narrowist of windows remains open for consideration of comprehensive immigration reform legislation during the remainder of the 111th Congress.
Health Care Reform and Immigrants.While much of the press and media attention on health care reform legislation has focused on the battle over the treatment of abortion under the bill, it has been little noticed that the issue of treatment of both legal and undocumented immigrants under the legislation is also a matter that could either propel or derail health care reform legislation. Key members of theCongressional Hispanic Caucus(CHC) have quietly threatened to vote against the Senate-passed version of the health care reform bill if at least one of two problems with the measure are not resolved. The first of these problems is the Senate bill's provision that would bar undocumented aliens from using their own funds to purchase health insurance products that are listed on the health insurance exchanges that the bill would be create. The second of the problems is the Senate's refusal to include a provision in its bill that would repeal the five-year bar on legal immigrants' access to Medicaid.
Conventional wisdom would have us believe that the House and Senate will begin the formal steps needed to move health care reform legislation to a final conclusion within the next two weeks.
Immigration Restrictionst Amendments to Jobs and Tax Legislation. The Senate this week, and in the coming weeks, is expected to take up jobs bills and tax extender legislation. It is widely anticipated that immigration restrictionists in the Senate will offer immigration-related amendments during the debate on those bills. The most widely anticipated amendments are those that would make the E-Verify system mandatory and nationwide. But other amendments are possible, as well, including amendments that would codify a regulation currently in force that requires most federal contractors to use the E-Verify system; deny tax credits to entities that do not use the E-Verify system; require that the E-Verify system be used for entities distributing unemployment compensation; and reinstitute or codify a suspended SSA no-match rule.
Congress' actions on immigration- and refugee-related matters for remainder of the 111th Congress will be set against a backdrop of the looming 2010 mid-term elections, when the seats of all of the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and more than one-third of the 100 members of the U.S. Senate will be up for election. Many political analysts are predicting significant losses for Democrats in those elections. Only time will tell whether those predictions turn out to be accurate. However, what is certain is that the prospect of more than 80 close races in marginal districts and states will have a significant impact on whether and how Congress takes up such controversial measures as comprehensive immigration reform.
Beginning this week, MicEvHill.Com will resume updating its content on a daily basis until the 111th Congress adjourns.
New In March 2010
MicEvHill.Com has posted the text of the Sessions immigration amendment to H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. The Senate tabled the Sessions amendment on Thursday, March 25, 2010, by a vote of 55-43. -- Click Here to See the Latest Top Immigration and Refugee Legislative Documents
MicEvHill.Com has posted the text of a March 25, 2010, press release and statement from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on the subject of the Committee's approval of S. 2960 and S. 2974, two immigration status bills that he authored. -- Click Here to See the Latest Top Immigration and Refugee Legislative Documents
All this week, MicEvHill.Com has been testing a new feature, called the "Immigration- and Refugee-Related Videos of the Day." This new feature shows viewers important legislative-oriented immigration- or refugee-related videos of note, some long-form and some shorter-form.
Among the videos posted this week have been two 30-second anti-illegal immigration campaign ads run in recent days by California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner in his battle against former eBay CEO Meg Whitman for the California Republican Gubernatoral race; the remarks made by President Obama at the March 21, 2010 immigration march on Washington; remarks made by President Obama on the occasions of House passage of and his signing of the landmark health care reform bill; and C-SPAN appearances by Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Representative Xavier Becerra (D-CA), and Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement John Morton; and an extended piece on comprehensive immigration reform run by the Public Brodcasting System. -- Click Here to See the Most Recent Immigration- and Refugee-Related Videos of the Day
MicEvHill.Com's "Today on the Hill" page has been updated to reflect the anticipated immigration and refugee legislative agenda for Friday, March 26, 2010 -- Click Here to See Today on the Hill
MicEvHill.Com added a number of documents to its "Top Immigration and Refugee Legislative Documents" page today, including the text of the substitute amendment to the "Refugee Opportunity Act" approved today by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary; and the text of Substitute and perfecting amendments to the "Return of Talent Act", which also was approved today by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. -- Click Here to See the Latest Top Immigration and Refugee Legislative Documents
MicEvHill.Com's "This Week on the Hill" page has been updated to reflect the anticipated immigration and refugee legislative agenda for the week of March 22, 2010. -- Click Here to See This Week on the Hill
MicEvHill.Com has posted video of an extensive C-SPAN interview and call-in session with Representative Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, on the subject of health care reform. -- Click Here to See Video of the Interview
MicEvHill.Com has posted video of an extensive C-SPAN interview that Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) on the subjects of comprehensive immigration reform and health care reform. -- Click Here to See Video of the Interview
MicEvHill.Com has added a number of documents to its "Top Immigration and Refugee Legislative Documents" page, including the prepared remarks of Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) at the March 21, 2010, immigration rally; the text of the proposed Executive Order on abortion and health care recorm; the text of a letter from Hispanic Roman Catholic Bishops expressing opposition to the immigration provisions in the Senate-passed health care reform bill; the text of a press release from Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) announcing his support for the Senate Health Care Reform Bill; a statement from President Obama on the Schumer/Graham Comprehensive Immigration Reform Framework; the text of H.R. 4872, the health care reform clean-up reconciliation package; and a CBO report scoring the reconciliation package. -- Click Here to See the Latest Top Immigration and Refugee Legislative Documents
MicEvHill.Com has added a number of documents to its "Top Immigration and Refugee Legislative Documents" page, including a press release from Senate Judiciary Committee Charirman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announcing the introduction of his Refugee Protection Act of 2010 and the text of the budget reconciliation recommendations that will serve as the vehicle for tthis week's House Budget Committee markup of the health care reform clean-up bill. -- Click Here to See the Latest Top Immigration and Refugee Legislative Documents
MicEvHill.Com's "This Week on the Hill" page has been updated to reflect the anticipated immigration and refugee legislative agenda for the week of March 15, 2010. -- Click Here to See This Week on the Hill
MicEvHill.Com has added a number of new documents to its "Top Immigration and Refugee Legislative Documents" page, including satements from the White House and from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on comprehensive immigration reform, and a one-page summary of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy's soon-to-be-introduced "Refugee Protection Act of 2010." -- Click Here to See the Latest Top Immigration and Refugee Legislative Documents
MicEvHill.Com's "This Week on the Hill" page has been updated to reflect the anticipated immigration legislative agenda for the week of March 8, 2010. -- Click Here to See This Week on the Hill
immigration status protection for lawful permanent residents of the United States who wish to return temporarily to their countries of citizenship to provide assistance to their former countrymen. The Committee acted on Thursday, March 25, 2010, approving the first measure by unanimous consent and the second by a voice vote.
announced it was supporting the Senate-passed health care reform bill and its accompanying budget reconciliation clean-up measure, despite provisions in the Senate-passed bill that bar undocumented aliens from using their own funds to purchase health insurance. 
gration reform. The two senators described their ideas in an OpEd that appeared in the March 19, 2010, edition of The Washington Post. 
