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    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Nancy Pelosi’s immigration reform road show

    She probably dreams of all these undocumented Democrats being voters.
    ~~~

    By SEUNG MIN KIM | 4/9/14 8:04 PM EDT



    Nancy Pelosi is harnessing the same level of energy to push immigration reform that she brought to her biggest legislative achievement when she ran the House: the health care overhaul.

    The California Democrat does not wield the speaker’s gavel anymore, but she’s hitting the road to bring attention to immigration, which she calls her top legislative priority. In recent weeks, she’s pitched an overhaul to audiences from Miami to Los Angeles to Laredo, Texas.

    The Pelosi immigration road show is unfolding as the issue remains on the back burner in the Republican-controlled House.

    Democrats on and off Capitol Hill are frustrated that legislation has stalled and divided over the best way forward. But in an interview this week from her Capitol office, Pelosi said Democrats need to stay focused on a policy goal that she sees as more important than regaining control of the House.

    “It’s the biggest thing that we can do, and that’s why I’ve said to the speaker, to the press, to these groups, I would rather pass [a] comprehensive immigration reform bill than win the elections in November,” Pelosi said during the 30-minute interview. “There’s nothing we could accomplish in winning that would be as big as passing immigration reform.”

    Immigration reform is also an issue that energizes key Democratic constituencies that could help the party turn out its base in a difficult midterm year.

    But the political dynamics in Pelosi’s own party can be complicated. In recent weeks, immigration reform advocates have leveled increasing pressure on President Barack Obama to do more to stem the rising number of deportations under his administration.

    She endorses a recommendation from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that calls on the administration to shield immigrants here illegally from being removed from the United States if they would qualify for legalization under the Gang of Eight bill that passed the Senate last summer.

    That CHC proposal, Pelosi said, “makes all the sense in the world,” adding that the notion that the administration doesn’t have some prosecutorial discretion on deportations is “ridiculous.”

    “I believe that if status is the violation, then that should not be even in the scheme of things as to whether somebody would be deported or else you would be deporting 11 million people, which doesn’t make any sense,” Pelosi said. “I think that the approach that the Hispanic caucus is taking is exactly right.”

    But she also argues that immigration activists shouldn’t train all of their fire on Obama, saying that lets Speaker John Boehner and other GOP leaders “off the hook” for failing to bring immigration legislation to the floor. House Republican leadership released a one-page list of principles earlier this year, but the push on immigration was later largely scuttled as the GOP said its distrust of Obama is a major impediment to an overhaul.

    Boehner “puts his principles out there, we salute the principles, he takes it to his caucus, runs it up the flagpole, they not only don’t salute, they chop down the flagpole,” Pelosi said.

    Republicans — even those who are open to immigration reform — say Pelosi is a key reason nothing is happening. She made her concerns known last year when it appeared the House bipartisan immigration group went beyond negotiating a bill and moved into talks about the health care law. Critics also note that Pelosi did not bring up a comprehensive overhaul when Democrats controlled the House and maintained a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate in Obama’s first term.

    “One of the most important obstacles, one of the biggest obstacles, one of the most effective obstacles against immigration reform has been Nancy Pelosi,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who for several years was in the secret House immigration group that disintegrated last year.

    In a recent interview, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) acknowledged some “rocky” times between him and Pelosi during the House negotiations, but he said the two lawmakers “never lost respect for one another,” even during the most heated moments. Now, Gutierrez says he and the House’s top Democrat are “on the same page” on immigration.

    “You know, she’s a partisan warrior,” Gutierrez said of Pelosi. “But I have a deep sense that she’s setting that aside so her commitment is to getting it done, versus winning on it.”

    Pelosi is demonstrating her determination through a grueling travel schedule, where she’s logged thousands of miles to whip up public support for reform. In March, Pelosi attended seven events outside Washington where immigration was the sole focus or prominently featured, according to her office. That included a round-table discussion in Los Angeles with Mayor Eric Garcetti, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) and local activists, and a similar talk at the United Irish Cultural Center in her hometown of San Francisco with the city’s chief of police and the San Francisco Interfaith Council.

    Pelosi trekked south to Miami to promote reform at Florida International University with Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.) and north to meet with local union activists in New York. And she’s kept up the meetings in Washington — on Wednesday at the Capitol, she met with Fast for Families activists who gained nationwide prominence for going without food in order to draw attention to immigration reform.

    Democrats are trying every legislative maneuver in their arsenal to force a vote on immigration, including a discharge petition on a comprehensive bill that has garnered 191 signatures. The maneuver, which would require House leaders to put an immigration bill up for a vote, is highly unlikely to succeed.

    Pelosi insists comprehensive immigration reform is still possible, but she’s well aware that the legislative window is rapidly closing.

    Congress has to act on immigration reform by June, although July is also possible “as long as we’re moving in the direction of getting it done,” Pelosi said. She ruled out the chances of immigration legislation in the lame-duck session, saying that anyone who states reform is possible after the November midterms is “shooting you in the foot.”

    “It’s just not going to happen,” Pelosi said.

    The dwindling prospect for immigration reform is why advocates have urged lawmakers, particularly Democrats, to be more aggressive toward the administration on deportations. The drumbeat has only ramped up in recent days, as the administration undertakes a review of its enforcement policies.

    “I think for many people, the jury is still out whether Democratic leadership want immigration more as an election issue or a policy accomplishment,” said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, one of the loudest groups pushing Democrats on deportations. Still, he adds, Pelosi has “shown that she’s willing to stand up to the president to protect residents in her district and to make progress.”

    Pelosi appears confident that something will happen on immigration. She says she “trust[s] that in the weeks and months ahead that there’ll be some relief — hopefully it will be legislative.” And the stories of deportations she hears from advocates only underscore why Congress needs to take up a complete overhaul, she says.

    “I’ll be very honest with you: Looking at the numbers at some point in terms of how people are treated and deported and families separated and the rest, this has a scent of Japanese internment,” Pelosi said. “It’s really a black mark.”

    http://www.politico.com/story/2014/0...rm-105556.html
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    Nancy Pelosi: I'd Rather Pass Amnesty than Be Speaker

    by Tony Lee 9 Apr 2014, 6:08 PM PDT
    breitbart.com



    House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she would rather pass amnesty legislation than get her gavel back.

    “It’s the biggest thing that we can do, and that’s why I’ve said to the speaker, to the press, to these groups, I would rather pass [a] comprehensive immigration reform bill than win the elections in November,” Pelosi told Politico. “There’s nothing we could accomplish in winning that would be as big as passing immigration reform.”

    Politico noted that Pelosi has been traveling the country promoting immigration reform legislation and said she hoped a bill could pass by June or July. She ruled out the possibility of amnesty legislation being passed during the lame-duck session of Congress after the midterm elections.

    Democrats have circulated a discharge petition for their bill, which is the Senate's bill that the Congressional Budget Office determined would lower the wages of American workers with less stringent border security provisions, but it has failed to get the 218 signatures needed to force a vote.

    Other Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) have indicated that this year was the last chance to pass broad amnesty legislation.

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...han-Be-Speaker
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