Nov 15, 2010

Advocates press for immigration bills as Hispanic vote is debated

10:34 AM

A recent protest in Georgia over policies on illegal immigrants applying to colleges and universities. CAPTIONBy David Goldman, APA Latino Republican who is leaving Congress is urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take up a bill that would open a path to citizenship for thousands of students who are illegal immigrants.

The prospects for considering what is known as the DREAM Act are slim, however, as Congress begins its lame-duck session focused on what to do about tax cuts set to expire and how to fund the government.

"These deserving students are being punished for decisions not made by them, but by their parents," Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., says in a letter to Pelosi.

Immigration advocates have been pressing Democrats to push through some kind of immigration legislation since Republicans took the majority in the Nov. 2 midterm elections.

GOP political strategist Ana Navarro told USA TODAY's Alan Gomez recently that some Democrats were saved by the Hispanic vote in the midterm elections -- and need to respond accordingly.

"Harry Reid owes his political life to the Latinos in Nevada and, in my view, he owes a debt," Navarro told Alan.

A post-election analysis by the Pew Research Center found Latino voters preferred Democrats over Republicans, 64% to 34%. In Nevada, Reid -- the Senate majority leader -- was preferred over GOP nominee Sharron Angle by more than a two-to-one margin.

In other immigration-related political news, Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona was pessimistic about the propsects of passage for a comprehensive immigration bill under a Republican-led Congress.

Asked if legislation that addresses security as well as citizenship issues will make its way through a new Congress, Grijalva told Univision this weekend: "I doubt it."

"Most of the extremists who will be part of this majority in the House, their campaigns' whole focus was that they don't want immigration reform and they just want to deal with the security issue," said Grijalva, who narrowly won re-election this month.

Grijalva said he believes he was targeted for defeat by Republicans, in part, because he called for a boycott of Arizona because of its new immigration law. The Arizona law allows law enforcement to determine the immigration status of people if there is a "reasonable suspicion" they are in the country illegally.

A federal judge has blocked the core of the Arizona law and the ruling is now under appeal.

Look for our colleague Alan to cover immigration issues in depth as the new Congress gets up to speed.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... eam-act-/1