Black caucus presses Obama on voting rights, immigration

By Dave Boyer
The Washington Times
Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Black lawmakers pressed President Obama on Tuesday to ensure that immigration reform doesn’t short-change African immigrants, and they also strategized about ways to strengthen minority voting rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

The Congressional Black Caucus met with Mr. Obama at the White House for about 90 minutes, their first gathering with the president in more than two years. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge, Ohio Democrat and CBC chairwoman, said immigration reform legislation in Congress was a topic of concern at the meeting.
“We want to be sure that the immigration bill, which they’re saying is comprehensive, is in fact comprehensive,” Ms. Fudge said. “And that includes people from the Caribbean and from Africa, which heretofore had been done by diversity visas. We want to be sure that the people we represent, those that come from under-served countries, poorer countries, are included in the bill.”
The CBC and others say the Senate-passed immigration bill could lead to lower immigration from countries with high black populations. The bill would replace the current lottery system for immigrants with by a merit-based formula that gives more points to applicants with higher academic degrees. Some say the new merit-based system would reduce the number of African immigrants.
The House has yet to take up comprehensive immigration reform; Mr. Obama has urged House lawmakers to complete a bill before the congressional August recess.
Black lawmakers also talked to Mr. Obama about protecting minority voting rights in light of the Supreme Court ruling last month, which voided a provision requiring certain states and localities with a history of voting-rights abuses to get pre-clearance from the federal government before making any changes to voting laws.
Ms. Fudge said the lawmakers “talked about how we strengthen Section 2” and ways to determine a “formula” that would cover all states, as opposed to a state-by-state procedure. She said they reached no consensus at the meeting with the president, but agreed to work with the Justice Department on the issue.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz2YZgC3721