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Sen. David Vitter, R-La., on Sunday told Fox News he and his colleagues are trying to determine whether the administration has seriously considered mass legalization for illegal immigrants based on a newly discovered memo outlining ways to grant legalization without going through Congress. The draft memo, first obtained by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley's office from the U.S. Customs & Immigration Services, outlines ways the administration was exploring to legalize swaths of illegal immigrants "in the absence of Comprehensive Immigration Reform," according to Fox News. "Then this 11-page memo has gotten out, and it's not alleged anymore," Vitter told Fox...

Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that the Obama administration supports “no enforcement” of immigration law as he defended Arizona’s controversial statute that gives police new powers to question people they suspect are in the country illegally. The Justice Department is suing to block the statute, claiming it illegally preempts federal law. “It should come as no surprise that any number of people who advocate open borders and advocate no enforcement of the law, including this current administration, are trying to throw up these roadblocks,” Hayworth said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.” Hayworth is challenging Sen. John...

WASHINGTON — Religious leaders and lawmakers traded Scripture passages Wednesday at a congressional hearing on whether there's an ethical imperative to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. Arguing for a comprehensive immigration package with a guest-worker program, Richard Land , the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission , quoted from Matthew, Leviticus and Micah in pressing for action on the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S.

A Virginia lawmaker looking to enact an immigration law similar to Arizona's is challenging the Obama administration to come at his state with a lawsuit, too, saying he hopes the Justice Department has "so many targets" they can't focus. Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart told The Washington Post that the Obama administration's lawsuit against Arizona will probably fall flat. He claimed Arizona is on "firm footing" and encouraged other jurisdictions to follow Arizona's lead.

The White House invited four of the country’s top evangelical pastors to attend President Obama’s speech this morning calling for immigration reform. ... The Rev. Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals. NAE is the nation’s largest evangelical group and has long sought to be a moderate evangelical alternative to the Christian Right. Dr. Richard Land, President, Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. ... worries that conservatives will burn bridges with the country’s fast-growing Hispanic bloc if they take a hard anti-immigrant line. Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Council. Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor of the...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will give a major speech Thursday calling for action to fix America's broken immigration system, though few observers believe any major reform can pass this year. Obama will speak at American University in Washington in an effort to ignite new momentum behind the massive and politically problematic drive to secure US borders and deal with millions of illegal immigrants. "He thought this was a good time to talk plainly with the American people about his views on immigration," White House deputy spokesman Bill Burton said on Wednesday. "He thinks this debate is about accountability --...

Several Senators have learned of a possible plan by the Obama Administration that would provide a mass Amnesty for the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens. Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), eight Senators addressed a letter to the President asking for answers to questions about a plan that would allow DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to provide an amnesty if they can't secure enough votes for a bill in the Senate. The letter that was sent to Pres. Obama earlier today asks the President for clarification on the use of deferred action or parole for illegal aliens. The executive actions are...

Secure Communities strategy prioritizes immigration enforcement actions against convicted criminal aliens RICHMOND, Va.- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Secure Communities was activated as of last week in every county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This biometric information sharing strategy enables ICE to identify any alien booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime. This capability is part of ICE's comprehensive strategy to improve and modernize the identification and removal of criminal aliens from the United States. Formerly, during the booking process, arrestees' fingerprints were checked for criminal history information only against the biometric database maintained by the...

"We can Help... Sec. of Labor, Hilda Solis: "Every worker in America has the right to be paid fairly, whether documented or not." 1-866-487-9243

EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- Mexico condemned the shooting of a 15-year-old boy by a U.S. Border Patrol agent Thursday through diplomatic correspondence and an angry phone call to the Homeland Security secretary. Some Mexican politicians called for the agent's extradition to face Mexican justice.

Security: After letting Mexico's president trash Arizona's immigration law and his immigration enforcement chief say he won't enforce it, the president wants to send a token National Guard contingent to the border. There's something disingenuous about the president's plan to deploy 1,200 National Guard troops to the Arizona border to help the Border Patrol catch illegal aliens. His director of immigration and customs enforcement, John Morton, has said he might not enforce immigration crimes reported by Arizona officials, though the state's new law merely copies federal law. Morton is director of ICE, not chief justice of the Supreme Court. He...

Immigration: An Arizona official asks a good question: If California wants to boycott Arizona over the way it enforces federal law, what about the electricity California gets from there? The problem with righteous indignation is that when others call you on it and tell you to put your money where your mouth is, it can cause an embarrassing leak in your hot air balloon. Gary Pierce, a commissioner on the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission, has done just that, calling the bluff of the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Pierce wrote Villaraigosa a letter saying in essence that...

WASHINGTON -- Confronting soaring frustration over illegal immigration, President Barack Obama on Wednesday condemned Arizona's crackdown and pushed instead for a federal fix the nation could embrace. He said that will never happen without Republican support, pleading: "I need some help." In asking anew for an immigration overhaul, Obama showed solidarity with his guest of honor, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who called Arizona's law discriminatory and warned Mexico would reject any effort to "criminalize migration." The United States and Mexico share a significant economic and political relationship that stands to be damaged the more the nations are at odds over...

ABC News' Karen Travers reports: During First Lady Michelle Obama's visit to an elementary school in Silver Spring, Md., Wednesday, a second grade female student brought up immigration reform in a very personal way. The student shyly raised her hand and said, "My mom ... she says that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn't have papers." Mrs. Obama replied:"Yeah, well that's something that we have to work on, right? To make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers, right? That's exactly right." The girl then said quietly, "But my mom doesn't have any...

Many people on the left believe that they are tolerant because they are pro-choice, favor gay marriage and are generally socially liberal. But that is not tolerance. Tolerance is putting up with viewpoints and behavior that you don’t agree with. Liberals and leftists have a very hard time with that. For the second time in two years, agreeing with a majority of Americans is verboten at the Miss USA beauty pageant. In 2009, Carrie Prejean

“I want you to instruct your, whatever the communication is -- the people, some of them, oppose immigration reform are sitting in those pews and you have to tell them that this is a ‘manifestation of our living the gospels.’ Our patron saint of San Francisco, St. Francis of Assisi, he said, ‘Preach the gospel - sometimes use words.’ We need the words to be said because it isn’t being picked up automatically,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at the Catholic Community Conference.

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President Barack Obama has endorsed one of the more inventive efforts to protest Arizona’s new immigration law, taking note of special jerseys that the NBA’s Phoenix Suns are wearing that call the team “Los Suns.’’ “I know that a lot of you would rather be watching tonight’s game —the Spurs against `Los Suns,’ from Phoenix,’’ the president told a crowd celebrating Cinco De Mayo at the White House on Wednesday evening. The Suns decided to wear the jerseys after Arizona’s governor signed legislation aimed at reducing illegal immigration to the state. Suns owner Robert Sarver, reflecting the anger of many...

With immigration reform back on the front page thanks to Arizona's new controversial law, it's going to be very interesting to see how the Obama-loving press report what he did concerning this issue when he was a junior senator from Illinois in 2007. For instance, David Broder's "How Congress Botched Immigration Reform" published in Thursday's Washington Post didn't even mention Barack Obama's name. This seems particularly odd given this paragraph (h/t Jennifer Rubin): But once the bill hit the floor, it was attacked from both flanks. The most conservative Republicans -- Jim DeMint of South Carolina, David Vitter of Louisiana...

What a difference 24 hours makes. Yesterday President Obama appeared to close the door on addressing immigration reform this year, saying, "We've gone through a very tough year, and I've been working Congress pretty hard. I know there may not be an appetite to dive into another controversial issue." But today, Democrat leaders in Washington announced a new effort just days after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill that enables her state to enforce illegal immigration. The reaction to the Arizona law has ranged from condemnation by Obama to the sometimes violent protests by illegals who don't want to...