Free Republic

Posted on Tue, May. 08, 2007 Martinez, activists spar over immigration BY CASEY WOODS Sen. Mel Martinez, stung by a national immigrant advocacy group campaign urging him to be more aggressive on immigration law reform, defended his work on the issue Tuesday.''It's disappointing there are groups out there ready to drive wedges and politicize this critically important issue,'' Martinez wrote The Miami Herald in an e-mail. ``I've been working since day one on this matter, and for clearly partisan groups to design a national campaign and put out advertisements signals to me that they're more interested in creating a...

Immigration deal is near, says Specter By Elana Schor May 09, 2007 The Senate’s bipartisan immigration talks yesterday yielded the first stirrings of a “grand bargain,” but the fate of the compromise remained uncertain amid political pressure from interest groups and a potential filibuster. Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Republican and leader of recent negotiations on immigration reform, took the floor to announce the progress and ask Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for more time before the next week’s floor deadline. “We have come to an agreement on what we have called a ‘grand bargain,’...