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Ariz. Immigration Law Puts Obama In Tight Spot By Earl Ofari Hutchinson 04/24/2010 President Obama wasted no time in denouncing Arizona's hard-nosed anti-immigration law. He called it misguided, irresponsible and a threat to civil liberties. Obama's right. The bill is wasteful, unenforceable, and more ominously virtually a license for police to engage in racial profiling. But it's also popular in Arizona and judging from polls and underground sentiment of millions of Americans on immigration, popular with them too. Arizona officials claim they had to act in large part because the federal government has dithered, stalled, and back pedaled countless times...

PHOENIX - Gov. Jan Brewer ignored criticism from President Obama on Friday and signed into law a bill supporters said would take handcuffs off police in dealing with illegal immigration in Arizona, the nation's busiest gateway for human and drug smuggling from Mexico. With hundreds of protesters outside the state Capitol shouting that the bill would lead to civil rights abuses, Brewer said critics were "overreacting" and that she wouldn't tolerate racial profiling. "We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act," Brewer said after signing the law. "But decades of inaction and misguided policy have...

Washington (CNN) -- The push for immigration reform may be on the front burner for congressional Democrats, but sources say that ultimately, they believe the issue is unlikely to have enough votes to pass. Democrats say the goal is to try to take it up in the Senate before discussing the Supreme Court nomination this summer and spend the rest of the session before the midterm election on the politically potent issue of jobs. One big reason for the immigration reform push, sources say, is that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in a brutal battle to win re-election in...

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday warned that without federal immigration reform the door would be open to "misguided efforts" such as a new Arizona law that has raised questions of civil rights. Obama pressed for immigration reform at a White House Rose Garden ceremony in which 24 members of the U.S. military originally from China, Mexico, Ethiopia and other countries became American citizens.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama criticized Arizona's tough immigration bill as irresponsible Friday and said his administration is examining whether it would violate civil rights. Obama said the federal government must act responsibly to reform national immigration law—or "open the door to irresponsibility by others." "That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe," Obama said.

President Obama on Friday said Arizona's proposed law making it a state offense to be an illegal immigrant represents "irresponsibility," and said he's directed his administration to examine the law and see if it violates civil rights.

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama on Friday harshly criticized a proposed law in Arizona to crack down on illegal immigration and said his administration would examine the measure to see if it is consistent with federal law. Speaking at a naturalization ceremony for active-duty members of the military, Mr. Obama also made a fresh pitch for comprehensive immigration legislation, which Democratic congressional leaders have said they will try to move this year.

Calling a proposed crackdown on immigrants in Arizona "misguided," President Barack Obama said Friday the federal government will closely monitor the situation in the state for possible civil rights violations. A bill approved by the Arizona legislature would make it a crime not to carry proof of legal status and would empower police to ask about a person's immigration status if they have doubts. The bill has not yet been signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican. Obama said the legislation "threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between...

President Obama urged Congress on Friday to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, saying that inaction would lead to "misguided efforts" and "irresponsibility by others." The president also said an immigration bill currently on the Arizona governor's desk was "misguided," and said he has ordered his staff to "closely monitor the situation" to make sure the measure will not violate people's civil liberties. The bill, already passed by the state House and Senate, would require authorities in Arizona to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are in the country illegally.

Border states have become frustrated beyond all patience with the federal government’s inability — and reluctance — to enforce immigration laws. In Arizona, voters passed a law authorizing local and state police to investigate potential immigration violations, a measure that had overwhelming and bipartisan support in the state. Instead of acknowledging the failure of several administrations to deal with immigration violations, including his own, Barack Obama lashed out at the state’s voters instead — and threatened to pursue civil-rights legal actions against them:

A congressman from the president’s home state is threatening that he will urge Latino voters to stay home this November if the Democratic Party does not make a concerted effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (Ill.) is arguably President Barack Obama’s biggest Democratic critic in Congress. And he’s not fond of Obama’s top advisers at the White House, either. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) member has strongly criticized the administration’s policy on deportation and questioned its commitment to far-reaching reform. Some Democrats have felt little urgency in pursuing the controversial issue, partly because they see no risk...

The Department of Homeland Security has just reported that during 2009, they issued 1,130,818 new Green Cards to foreign nationals, allowing them to work legally in this country. That number represents the fourth highest number of cards issued in one year.

750,000 of the new Green Cards were given to the families of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.

The top four recipient nations are as follows:

-Mexico…164,920 
-China…receiving 64,238
-Philippines…60,029
-India…57,304 

In Feb. 2009, the financial institution Merrill Lynch announced that the nation’s actual unemployment rate had reached 13.9 percent. A year later, that number had risen to 17.3 percent. This figure represents Americans...

Senator Harry Reid retreated today from having the Senate move quickly on immigration law changes, saying any overhaul would have to wait.“We won’t get to immigration reform this work period,” Mr. Reid, Democrat of Nevada  and the majority leader, told reporters after the private weekly luncheon of Democratic senators.Over the weekend, Mr. Reid raised the hopes of immigration advocates by suggesting at a rally in Las Vegas that he was ready to put immigration on the legislative front burner now that health care legislation was out of the way and Congress was returning from a two-week break.“We’re going to come...

Las Vegan Antonio Manriquez stood on the steps of the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse holding an American flag. Manriquez was one of nearly 3,500 immigration reform supporters who attended the Rally for America Saturday afternoon in downtown Las Vegas, which was hosted by Reform Immigration for America. The 45-year-old from Mexico City said he's an illegal immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years. He said he attended rally to push for comprehensive immigration reform, support others who are in the country illegally and to no longer live in fear of being separated from his three children, all...

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, told an exuberant crowd at an immigration rally Saturday in Las Vegas that Congress would start work on immigration overhaul as soon as lawmakers return this week. “We’re going to have comprehensive immigration reform now,” he said in a speech to more than 6,000 people, mostly immigrants. “We need to do this this year,” Reid said, drawing cheers from the crowd. Reid told the crowd he believes he has 56 Senate votes in support of the legislation. He outlined legislation that would include border security measures and a temporary guest worker program. To gain...

(snip) The Tucson paper's editorial board noted that he represents a border state affected by Washington's inaction. "Yes. Yes. I do. But so does the senator from New Mexico and the senators from California and all the border states all along. But it seems to me that the proposal should come, it's the obligation of the president of the United States to come forward with what he thinks is a proposal and then maybe we can all work together and get it resolved," he said. "So what have I done?" he added. "Not enough."Still, McCain said he expects to hold...

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, are believed to be on the cusp of introducing a new bill in the Senate on Comprehensive immigration reform. The Schumer/Graham initiative combines enforcement with earned legal status for immigrants who are out of status or came in illegally. Washington sources say they are ready to introduce the bill "any day now."

Supporters of an amnesty for illegal aliens are desperately scrounging for another Republican backer in addition to liberal Republican Lindsay Graham. With Republicans holding 41 seats in the Senate, plus several working class Democrats who will vote against an amnesty, another Republican backer is needed to make the amnesty appear ‘bipartisan.’ Even Graham appears to be reluctant to be the lone Republican supporter of the bill. "I urge the President to write a bill and see if he can get another Republican, see if he can convince the 16 Democrats who voted no the last time," he said during a...

Eliseo Medina, international executive vice-president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) made the following comments at a June 2009 Washington conference for America's Future Now!: Medina said that during the presidential election in November 2008, Latinos and immigrants "voted overwhelmingly for progressive candidates. Barack Obama got two out of every three voters that showed up." "Can you imagine if we have, even the same ratio, two out of three? Can you imagine 8 million new voters who care about our issues and will be voting?" Medina asked. "We will be creating a governing coalition for the long term, not just...

FRESNO, Calif. – Paula Medrano shifts uncomfortably on the doctor's examination table, holding out a wrist inflamed and swollen by arthritis. The 78-year-old has no health insurance, lives below the federal poverty level, and can't pay for the medication she needs. Just days before her appointment, President Barack Obama signed, with much fanfare, a historic bill to extend health care access to 32 million currently uninsured people.