The Hill, February 3. Democrats face a politically tricky choice over whether to pursue a compromise with Republicans on immigration reform that was recently floated by Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. The Republican presidential contenders are willing to grant illegal immigrants legal status if they came to the country at a young age and served in the military. It’s a tough election-year call for Democrats for several reasons. Immigration reform has been a winning issue for them as staunch GOP opposition has driven Hispanic voters to support Democratic candidates in recent cycles. Hispanic voters helped Democrats win tough Senate races in Colorado and Nevada in 2010. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) bolstered his standing among Hispanic voters by claiming immigration reform as one of his highest priorities. During his State of the Union address last month, President Obama called for Congress to resurrect the DREAM Act, even though lawmakers say there is virtually no chance of it passing the GOP-controlled House.

ImmigrationImpact.com, February 3. OPINION. Despite the devastating consequences of state immigration laws in Alabamaand Arizona, legislators in other states have introduced similar enforcement bills this year. Legislators in Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia introduced an array of costly immigration enforcement bills in their 2012 legislative sessions—some which are modeled on Arizona’s SB 1070. While study after study continues to document how these extreme state laws are costing state economies, disrupting entire industries and driving communities further underground, state legislators clearly aren’t getting the message. Last month, legislators in Mississippi introduced a slew of anti-immigrant bills. State Senator Joey Fillingane, for example, introduced SB 2090, a bill which requires police to check the immigration status of anyone they reasonably suspect is undocumented, makes it a crime to fail to carry proper immigration documents and a crime to harbor or transport an undocumented immigrant, and a misdemeanor for an undocumented immigrant to apply for or solicit work.

Investor's Business Daily, February 3. Liberal groups have a plan to prevent likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney from getting much support in the Hispanic community: Tie him to Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. If you're asking, 'Kobach who?' you're not alone. But to liberals he is notorious as the brains behind Arizona's tough anti-immigration law. They are betting that his endorsement of Romney will make the presidential candidate toxic to Latino voters. 'He can't walk back his fondness of Kris Kobach, the godfather of anti-immigrant legislation like Arizona's SB 1070,' said Service Employees International Union Secretary Treasurer Eliseo Medina. SEIU and pro-Democrat Super PAC Priorities USA are running ads hitting Romney on immigration and Kobach specifically. 'The impact that the endorsement had was really, really loud in the Latino community,' said one SEIU activist. 'I mean, the blogosphere went crazy.'

New York Times, February 2. While Mitt Romney is taking a hard line on immigration even as the Republican primaries head toward the heavily Hispanic states of Nevada, Colorado and Arizona, the Mormon Church to which he belongs has become a decisive player in promoting policies that are decidedly more friendly toward immigrants. The church was instrumental last year in passing controversial legislation in Utah that would provide 'guest worker' permits to allow illegal immigrants with jobs to remain in the United States. The church also threw its weight behind the Utah Compact, a declaration calling for humane treatment of immigrants and condemning deportation policies that separate families, which has been adopted by several other states. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is known for its reluctance to be seen as meddling in politics. But on immigration, the church actively lobbied legislators, sent Presiding Bishop H.

Politico, February 2. Ron Paul dropped his standard stump speech on Wednesday and aggressively courted Latino voters. At a senior center in East Las Vegas, the Texas congressman told about 100 Hispanics that they have been unfairly made 'scapegoats' for the country’s economic troubles. He said it’s 'part of human nature' for newcomers to be shunned, but that prejudice toward outsiders worsens when unemployment is high. He said that illegal immigrants were being scapegoated in a manner similar to Jews in Nazi Germany because of tough economic times. 'When things go badly, individuals look for scapegoats,' he said. 'I just do not believe that barbed-wire fences or guns on our border will solve any of our problems,' he added. In focusing on Latinos, Paul is reaching out to an important voter group that can help him make a strong showing in the state’s Saturday caucuses, which will award delegates on a proportional basis. Alabama Immigration Law Costs $11 Billion, Study Shows.

KRWG News, February 2. A fight over whether to stop undocumented immigrants from getting driver's licenses in New Mexico is on hold temporarily while Democrats make a last-ditch effort to reach a compromise with Republican Gov. Susana Martinez who wants to scrap the license policy. The House Judiciary Committee decided not to take a final vote on the issue late Wednesday night after spending more than four hours debating the politically charged issue. New Mexico and Washington are the only states allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain the same driver's license as a U.S. citizen. Utah grants immigrants a driving permit that can't be used for identification. The committee chairman, Rep. Al Park of Albuquerque, warned that, without a compromise, the struggle over the license issue was shaping up as a repeat of last year when the House voted to stop issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants but the Senate rejected that proposal.

JUFNews, February 2. Lia Dolinsky was born in 1987 in Kiev, Ukraine. At the age of two, her family, like other Soviets, left their home in hopes of a better life. En route, however, the collapse of the Soviet Union began and suddenly their documents were no longer valid. They could not return to the Soviet Union and the United States wasn't an option. Luckily, they were able to go to Israel. They received Israeli citizenship, began learning Hebrew, found jobs and sent Lia to ballet school. Their hopes of reuniting with the rest of their family were answered when the Dolinsky family won the Green Card lottery. After living in Israel for six years, they moved to Chicago. Alexey Abramovich was born in Angarsk, Russia. He didn't know anything about being Jewish growing up. When he was 15, his family saw an article in a local newspaper about a program for teens, sponsored by the Jewish Agency for Israel, to study in Israel. Alexey applied and was accepted. He immediately fell in love with this country. It opened a whole new world for him where he discovered his Jewish identity.

Daily Caller, February 1. A Customs and Border Protection officer checks the passport of a non-resident visitor to the United States inside immigration control at McCarran International Airport, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011, in Las Vegas. White House press secretary Jay Carney today doubled down on President Barack Obama’s support for more immigration of high-tech workers, despite growing public concern about the displacement of the American white collar workforce. “We need to make it more possible for highly qualified people who are being educated here, or coming from abroad to work here, [to] build businesses here, grow the economy here, create jobs here,” Carney said at the midday press conference. “The broader picture is one of a need for more engineers, a need for more highly skilled, highly educated workers to help us grow those industries in the United States that will be the foundation for our economic future,” Carney said. However, a large-scale program for high-tech workers risks alienating middle-class voters who don’t want to see their jobs, or their relatives’ jobs, given to low-wage immigrants, said Center for Immigration Studies director Mark Krikorian.

Philly.com, February 1. In the Philadelphia area, Fernanda Marroquin, 22, an undocumented immigrant from Peru, has become the face of the youth movement fighting for the legalization and humane treatment of illegal immigrants. As an organizer for DreamActivist Pennsylvania, she sees the struggle as being far broader than pushing for a single piece of legislation, like a federal DREAM Act, which she agrees is not going anywhere in this election year. "We realize we have to fight for all immigrants. The fact that families are being separated on a daily basis is ridiculous," she says. Marroquin's older sister, Maria, first came out publicly and declared herself as undocumented at rallies in Philadelphia two years ago. Since Maria moved to the Chicago area to attend Dominican University, Fernanda has become more outspoken here. A Philly immigration lawyer, Dave Bennion, has been by their side, advising them and other undocumented youths. He's taken up the immigrant-rights cause so seriously that in October, he quit his job at the nonprofit Nationalities Service Center so he could focus more on advocacy.

Politico, February 1. Alabama’s controversial immigration law, considered one of the toughest in the nation, is costing the state’s economy up to a whopping $10.8 billion annually, according to a new study. Under the law, which passed in the state last year, police are allowed to detain individuals suspected of being an illegal immigrant and cannot produce proper documentation to show their status. Some provisions of the law were stayed by the courts, but the law has still resulted in families fleeing the state to avoid the new strict rules. The cost-benefit analysis, conducted by economist Samuel Addy of the University of Alabama, determined that the estimated 40,000 to 80,000 unauthorized immigrant workers fleeing the state have resulted in 70,000 to 140,000 jobs lost and $2.3 to $10.8 billion reduction in Alabama’s GDP annually. Also, the law is estimated to cost Alabama $56.7 to $264.5 million in reduced state income and sale tax collections, as well as $20 to $93.1 million less in local sales tax collections, the report found.

BBB.org, January 31. In some Latin America countries, a notario is a lawyer. In others, the title denotes someone who holds public office. In the United States, however, a notary is simply someone legally empowered to witness and certify documents and take affidavits and depositions. These two words and their respective descriptions are causing major headaches for Spanish-speaking immigrants, according to Debora Wagner, managing attorney for Colorado Legal Services in Greeley, Colo., because notarios are preying on the misunderstanding between these two words.“They are giving legal advice, taking people’s money and not helping them with their immigration cases,” she said. One notario went so far as to claim she worked for Colo. Sen. Bennett’s office. Whether you’re renewing a Green Card, becoming a citizen or trying to choose the right forms, immigration issues can be complicated and it’s important to do things right.

Irish Times, January 31. Irish campaigners for immigration reform in the US say they hope to soon see progress on a visa Bill which, if passed, would allow up to 10,000 Irish nationals annually to work in the US for two years. This month members of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) met at the White House with representatives from President Barack Obama’s domestic policy council, the state department and the department of homeland security to discuss support for the E3 visa Bill which was introduced in the Senate by New York senator Charles Schumer last December. The campaigners are seeking a statement of support for the Bill from the White House given that the Obama administration supported a recent Bill that would allow other ethnic groups, including Chinese, Indians and Hispanics, to obtain extra green cards. The E3 Bill currently has the support of just over 50 senators but still lacks endorsement from Republicans.

ImmigrationImpact.com, January 30. OPINION. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has outdone itself when it comes to shoddy research. In a recently released report on “demographic changes” in Arizona, FAIR utilizes an almost random assortment of statistics to make its case that the state’s unauthorized immigrants are fleeing in droves thanks to get-tough immigration policies. The report occasionally pays lip service to the impact on unauthorized immigration of the 2008-2009 recession, as well as persistently high unemployment rates that continue to this day. Yet FAIR concludes, without evidence, that state-level immigration enforcement has been the single most important factor causing the decline of the unauthorized population. In reality, this conclusion is not supported by the data which FAIR presents. FAIR’s report is painfully self-contradictory. It opens with the bold statement that the “efforts of Arizona policymakers to deter the settlement of illegal aliens in the state and to encourage those already in the state to leave have made major advances in their objective.”

Fox News Latino, January 30. As Republican presidential candidates battle for the Latino vote in Florida, President Barack Obama's campaign released a memo predicting that he would win the Hispanic support by something verging on a record margin. In a memo to reporters Monday, Obama for America said Republicans have “sealed the political fate of their party with the Hispanic electorate” because of their “extreme rhetoric on immigration.” “It is … clear from polling that the positions the Republican candidates have taken on the issues most important to the Hispanic community are directly at odds with Hispanic voters,” said the memo, written by pollster Sergio Bendixen and 'Obama for America' spokeswoman Gabriela Domenzain. “The speeches and policy statements of both Romney and Gingrich on issues like the economy, the creation of jobs, health care, public education, housing, programs for seniors, and immigration are deeply unpopular with most Hispanics.” Latinos have become an increasingly important voting bloc, particularly in swing states where their support could tip the general election. The 2010 Census showed that the Hispanic population grew to 50.5 million in 2010 from 35.3 million in 2000. About 21 million are eligible to vote.

IrishTimes.com, January 27. “I HAD A flight back to New York after six weeks and I just simply didn’t take it, says designer Susan Kennedy of her impromptu move from the Big Apple to Buenos Aires two years ago. For the Sandymount girl who left Ireland just weeks after her graduation in 1995, putting down roots in a foreign city was nothing new. While studying German and philosophy at UCD, a green card lottery win saw her move to San Francisco. She describes herself as the last of a generation of “presumptive emigrants”. While the job scene in Ireland had started to pick up, she says that, for her, emigration was “just a sort of well-beaten path. I was sort of raised in the culture of that.” Though always interested in fashion and design, in San Francisco Kennedy got sucked into the tech boom and spent the next 10 years working in Silicon Valley. Working for companies including Knight Ridder, the then parent company of newspapers such as the San Jose Mercury News and the Miami Herald, helping to bring the titles into the digital age, Kennedy describes the culture in the Bay area at the time as “wild”.

Computerworld, January 27. Offshore outsourcing companies continued to make up the majority of the top 10 H-1B visa users in 2011, according to new government data. These offshore firms have been adding employees by the thousands as their revenues increase. Cognizant, a New Jersey-based IT services provider with major operations overseas, led the list. The company had 4,222 initial or new visas approved and 1,493 renewal petitions. Google was last on the list, with 383 new H-1B visas and 232 renewals. Offshoring is showing signs of being a major political issue this year, but opinions remain divided. President Barack Obama highlighted it in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. But he hasn't coupled offshore outsourcing with visa usage. One of the leading Republican candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, has called for eliminating the H-1B cap and says the cap policy is wrong. The data for this story comes from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. One list shows new applications for H-1B visas; the second list shows the combined totals for new visas and renewals. A H-1B visa must be renewed every three years. The U.S. issues 85,000 H-1B visas annually. Of that number, 20,000 are reserved for advanced degree graduates of U.S. universities.

ImmigrationImpact.com, January 27. OPINION. The President’s State of the Union address this week re-iterated some of his key themes on immigration—support for comprehensive reform, dismay that DREAM Act students and foreign students educated in this country have no way to legalize their status, and a belief that he’s done enough to the secure the border. More importantly, he framed these themes in context to America’s economic recovery, innovation and growth. However, while any mention of immigration in the State of the Union is welcome, it’s what the President didn’t say that may have more of an impact on how his administration is remembered this year on immigration—and how his vision is measured by voters in the coming election.In the State of the Union address, President Obama repeatedly signaled to Congress that he would sign sensible bills to reform our immigration system, big or small. But he quickly noted that partisan politics would make it all but impossible to pass comprehensive reform: The opponents of action are out of excuses. We should be working on comprehensive immigration reform right now. But if election-year politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let’s at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, and defend this country. Send me a law that gives them the chance to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right away.

San Francisco Chronicle, January 27. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is at the top of every pundit's short list to be the Republican vice presidential nominee, in the belief that having a Latino in the second spot on the ticket will attract Latino voters who have been fleeing the GOP in recent years. But today at the Hispanic Leadership Network conference in Miami, the Berkeley organization Presente Action is launching a national anti-Rubio campaign during his big moment in the national spotlight, days before Tuesday's critical Florida primary. Their assertion, backed by recent surveys, is that Rubio's positions on several key issues, immigration in particular, are far from the mainstream of the Latino electorate. So Presente, a 3-year-old, 250,000-member online hub that aims to be "the Latino MoveOn.org" is aiming its campaign at the senator who is a Tea Party darling. The campaign's name: "No somos Rubios." ("We are not Rubios.") Rubio opposes a pathway to citizenship as part of comprehensive immigration reform and does not support the Dream Act - legislation that calls for undocumented students who were brought to the United States as minors and who have lived here for at least five years to be given a path to legal residency if they graduate from U.S. high schools and meet a variety of legal criteria. Many polls show that Latinos support both a pathway to citizenship and the Dream Act.

The Hill, January 27. A freshman Republican congressman from Florida is proposing a bill to give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship through military service. Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.) proposed a bill this week similar to the DREAM Act but aimed only at those who serve in the military. Illegal immigrants are currently not allowed to join the military. Rivera is a supporter of GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who supports the idea. Mitt Romney, who fought with Gingrich over immigration at Thursday night's debate in Florida, has also said he supports the concept. In fact, Rivera’s bill was inspired by the discussion on immigration during Monday’s presidential debate in Florida, The Miami Herald reported. 'If these young people are willing to die for America, then certainly they deserve a chance at life in America,' Rivera said in a statement. Rivera told the Herald that after Gingrich backed the idea and Romney supported it at Monday’s debate, he decided to introduce the legislation. 'With the presidential debate...and with Romney's support, that means the two front-running candidates are supportive of it, and that could help these kids,' Rivera said. 'Then Republicans in Congress [might] say, 'If our two presidential front-runners are fine with it, most Americans would be fine with it.' Rivera defended the former House Speaker on Friday as he was taking fire for his 'language of the ghetto' comment, which Romney attacked in an advertisement that became part of the discussion at Thursday’s debate.

ImmigrationImpact.com, January 26. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney stole a page from the restrictionists’ playbook this week when he promoted the idea of “self-deportation” during a presidential debate. “If people don’t get work here,” Romney stated, “they’re going to self-deport to a place where they can get work.” Rather than initiate a constructive solution to our nation’s immigration problems, Romney is jumping in bed with immigration restrictionist groups who support policies that tear American families and communities apart, devastate local economies, and place unnecessary burdens on U.S. citizens and lawful immigrants.Romney’s use of the term “self-deportation” is not at all surprising given his recent collaboration with Kris Kobach, the current Secretary of State of Kansas who continues to serve as chief legal counsel to the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), an arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Kobach, the self-professed author of several state and local immigration-control bills, advised Romney on immigration during his 2008 presidential bid and has long-promoted the strategy of “attrition through enforcement”— the immigration-control strategy to drive away the unauthorized population by making their lives so miserable that they will choose to “deport themselves” rather than remain in the U.S.

Politico, January 25. Jeb Bush, who is staying neutral in the Florida primary fight that's moving through his state right now, cautions the Republican Party about losing an opportunity to appeal to Hispanic voters — a necessary voting segment if the party is to achieve victory in the fall — in a Washington Post opinion piece: In the 15 states that are likely to decide who controls the White House and the Senate in 2013, Hispanic voters will represent the margin of victory. For the Republican Party, the stakes could not be greater. Just eight years after the party’s successful effort to woo Hispanic voters in 2004, this community — the fastest-growing group in the United States, according to census data — has drifted away. Although Democrats hold the edge, Republicans have an opportunity. We also have a record of winning Hispanic voters in certain statewide and national elections. Here are four suggestions on how Republican candidates can regain momentum with the most powerful swing voters.

New York Times, January 25. State University of New York trustees unanimously approved on Wednesday a resolution supporting a plan to offer state-sponsored tuition assistance, grants and scholarships to college-bound illegal immigrants who want to enroll in state schools. 'The current demographic realities of New York State indicate that many of the brightest and hardest-working students eligible to enroll at SUNY are of undocumented status, and it is imperative that SUNY remain accessible to these students,' H. Carl McCall, chairman of the board of trustees, said in a statement. The resolution adds the State University of New York to the growing roster of supporters for several bills circulating in Albany that would extend financial benefits to illegal immigrants, toppling what has perhaps been their greatest barrier to acquiring a college diploma. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the New York City Council, the City University system and New York University recently threw their support behind the cause; in December, the state’s Education Department sent its own proposal to the Legislature.

Miami Herald, January 25. Sen. Marco Rubio scolded Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign over a Spanish-language radio ad that accuses rival Mitt Romney of being 'anti-immigrant.' 'This kind of language is more than just unfortunate. It’s inaccurate, inflammatory, and doesn’t belong in this campaign,' Rubio told The Miami Herald when asked about the ad. 'The truth is that neither of these two men is anti-immigrant,' Rubio said. 'Both are pro-legal immigration and both have positive messages that play well in the Hispanic community.' By mid-day, Gingrich’s campaign said it would pull the radio ad out of 'respect for the senator’s wishes.' About the same time, former Sen. Mel Martinez and a group of Hispanic leaders aligned with Romney in issuing a letter demanding Gingrich remove the ad. 'We respect Senator Rubio tremendously and will remove the ad from the rotation,' said Gingrich's Florida campaign leader, Jose Mallea.

ilw.com, January 24. Editor's Note: This article is the introduction to Green Card Stories, a new book that features dramatic narratives of 50 recent U.S. immigrants-each with permanent residence or citizenship-in compelling essays by nationally recognized journalist Saundra Amrhein and exquisite portraits by award-winning documentary photographer Ariana Lindquist. The book was created and produced in collaboration with renowned immigration lawyers and scholars Laura Danielson and Stephen Yale-Loehr. Laura and Steve co-wrote the introduction reprinted below. Each of the 50 stories is as old as the foundation of this nation, but also reflects the global trends and conflicts of the 21st century. Arriving from all corners of the globe, coming for work, love, to study, invest or escape persecution, the people in this book share a steely resourcefulness and a determination to fulfill their potential in America. Though the places from which they come have changed-today largely from Latin America and Asia instead of Europe-the essential drive to make it in America remains constant. Green Card Stories demonstrates that today's immigrants are just as hardworking, energetic, and eager to contribute to U.S. society as past generations of new arrivals.

Associated Press, January 24. Mitt Romney said in Monday's GOP debate that he favors what he calls 'self-deportation' over policies that require the federal government to round up illegal immigrants and return them to their home countries. 'The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here,' Romney said. Romney's answer came after he was pressed on how he could be in favor of illegal immigrants returning to their home countries and applying for citizenship while also saying that he does not want the federal government to round people up and deport them. Romney said that if employers enforce high standards for legal documentation of their employees, potential illegal immigrants will not be able to find work. He says this will allow the federal government to avoid having to round up people because they will leave on their own.