Washington Republicans Agree with the President in Moving Forward with Immigration Reform and the "Kid's Act" for Dreamers

Many Republicans in Washington are speculating that some type of Immigration Reform bills will move forward before the end of 2013. Republican Eric Cantor is planning on introducing the “KIDS Act,” which gives citizenship to one million DREAMers.

National Review reports: Cantor made his most impassioned public case for the legislation yet at a press conference this morning, saying that addressing the fate of the so-called DREAMers – a reference to the DREAM Act, another bill that would afford citizenship to illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children — is “an issue of decency, of compassion.”
“Where else would these kids go? Again, they’ve been brought here as a minor in many instances having no idea what was going on, knowing no other place than America as home,” Cantor added.
Speaker John Boehner is also supporting the legislation. “This is about basic fairness. These children were brought here of no accord of their own. Frankly, they’re in a very difficult position and I think many of our members believe that this issue needs to be addressed,” he said.

Washington Post reports: Byron York reports that the prospects for reform are still alive, noting there is a core group of House Republicans still working on a series of proposals, though they are shrouded in great secrecy. These efforts, York reports, have the blessing of GOP leaders.''
...Frank Sharry tells me that if Eric Cantor goes through with his plan to introduce the “KIDS Act,” which gives citizenship only to the one million DREAMers, immigration advocates and many Dems probably would be prepared to accept it — if Republicans are also willing to go to conference negotiations. “If the KIDS Act is good on the substance, Republicans will be surprised at how much love it gets from immigration reform advocates,” Sharry tells me. “Many of us would encourage Democrats to vote for the KIDS Act, if in exchange Republicans agree to a bicameral negotiation where all issues are on the table, including legalization and citizenship for the 11 million. This would be a stepping stone (to overall Comprehensive Immigration Reform).”

Guest Voz - Dee Dee Garcia Blaze: Naive Dream Act Activists Should Not Ask Rep. Nancy Pelosi to Pull Partisan Immigration Card Prematurely

In a demonstration recently in a Phoenix Field Office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, DREAMers, undocumented moms, and U.S. citizens laid siege to the facility, in one instance blocking a bus filled with ICE detainees.
In a Guest Voz, Deedee Garcia Blaze explains this is a premature move by the Dreamers:

Mexican-American Times Dee Dee Garcia Blaze reports: Naive Dream Act activists should avoid asking Rep. Nancy Pelosi to pull a partisan comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) card until all bipartisanship means have been exhausted.  It is important to foster a bipartisanship spirit first and avoiding premature moves that will only anger Republican leadership and GOP votes we need in order for CIR to progress.  We cannot get past the government shutdown yet and the last thing we need to do is start the CIR conversations on the wrong foot — particularly with a looming Oct. 17 debt ceiling deadline when the Treasury says the government will be in danger of defaulting on its obligations.

 A discharge petition move like this signals a cute procedural gimmick essentially indicating party leaders are unable to sit down together and work out their differences.  Reasonable GOPers acting behind the scenes are not going to throw Boehner under the bus so early in the CIR game.
What made the Senate Immigration reform bill successful was it was supported in a bipartisan fashion.  We had Republican Sens. John McCain, Jeff Flake and Marco Rubio who supported fixing the clearly broken system.  Most importantly, it is important for Dream Act activists to understand one thing:   Democratic Congressmen and women are not in control of the House of Representatives.   Republicans own the House.

And while students and youth in support of DREAM Act and Immigration Reform are trying to encourage Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Xavier Becerra to facilitate a discharge petition right now, it will only be met with premature anger particularly when there is a substantial threat that the United States might refuse to pay the debts.  This is why we witnessed Republican Senator John McCain refusing to support a government shutdown Tea Party Sen. Ted Cruz was advocating for.
As such, and in order to see progress of CIR at the Republican-led House of Representatives level and to also satisfy the proactive attempt by DREAMers with a discharge petition idea, we might suggest they begin micro-targeting vulnerable Republicans with a high Mexican-American/Latino population.   A discharge petition should be used as a last resort in light of the impending debt talks.
We ought to work smarter — not harder.
Independent registered voters are will be hawkish on vulnerable Republican  lists, since it is evident obstructionism is at the Tea Party Republican level:
Latino Decisions has identified 44 GOP-held House seats in which Latino voters could influence the outcome of elections in 2014 and beyond. This includes districts where the Latino voting-age population exceeds the 2012 margin of victory or swing districts won in 2012 by President Obama and the House Republican candidate that also have notable Latino populations. If the GOP loses just 17 seats in 2014, the Democrats will regain majority control.
While Latino Decisions has identified 44 GOP-held House seats we can influence, twelve of the 23 members live in districts where Hispanics make up more than 10 percent of the voting age population according to a chart below:

Target List of Republican Representatives Mexican American / Latinos are calling on.

Those members are California Reps. Jeff Denham, David Valadao, Buck McKeon, Gary Miller, Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman, Florida Reps. Dan Webster, Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce, Nevada Rep. Joe Heck, and New York Reps. Peter King and Michael Grimm.

The Dream 9 Team will be Allowed to seek Political Asylum!

A group of Mexican-born nationals known as DREAM 9 will be allowed to seek political asylum in the United States.

DREAM 9, is a group of nine who were born in Mexico but brought to the United States illegally when they were children and have cited fear of persecution if they are forced to return to Mexico.

Christopher Bentley, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said DHS ruled that the immigrants have a "credible fear" of being persecuted if they are sent back to Mexico. "The legal threshold for credible fear is broad and low, in order to ensure that individuals who may face a 'significant possibility' of persecution if removed have the opportunity to have their case heard before an immigration judge," Bentley said.

The group of activists attempted to reenter the U.S. at the Nogales, Arizona trying to protest the thousands of people who have been deported under the Obama administration but they were arrested and have been in federal custody ever since.

An immigration judge will decide whether or not “DREAM 9” will be allowed to stay in U.S. In order for a person to seek political asylum they need to prove “that he or she belongs to a race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion,” according to Citizenship and Immigration Services guidelines.

Until an immigration judge is able to hear their case, it is most likely they will be released from detention in Arizona and could be eligible to apply for work permits in the future.

Tea Party Republican Steve King Says Dreamers Are Drug Dealers!

Tea Party Republican Steve King makes no secret about his hatred towards "Illeeegals." He also HATES Dreamers.

Last week, King claimed that the majority of Dreamers -- are actively engaged in the drug trade.
"For everyone who's a valedictorian," King claimed, "there's another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. Those people would be legalized with the same act."

"La Bruja" Jan Brewer SUED for Denying LEGAL DREAMERS Drivers' LIcenses!

The Guardian reports: Alejandra Lopez, 19, is one of thousands of young Hispanic "Dreamers" who grew up in the US and have been authorised to live and work here under Barack Obama's deportation reprieve.
But Lopez, the main carer for three US citizens – her child and two younger brothers – has been forced to turn down job interviews because she has been denied a driving licence by her home state of Arizona.

She is one of five young undocumented immigrants from the state who filed a class action lawsuit on Wednesday challenging what they say is its unconstitutional and discriminatory policy of depriving them of a driving licence or other state identification.
Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona, issued an order in August this year to deny recipients of Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program any state identification of any kind, including licences. The DACA order, which was announced in June this year, allows undocumented young immigrants who came to the US as children to live and work here for a renewable period of two years.
The lawsuit was filed in the US district court for the state of Arizona on behalf of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, an immigrant youth-led organization, Lopez and four other individuals. (The Dream Act is the name given to legislation, delayed in Congress for years, that would grant citizenship to certain undocumented migrants. Aspirant migrants living in the US are known as Dreamers.)
Jennifer Chang Newell, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's immigrants' rights project, said: "Jan Brewer is thumbing her nose at the federal government. Federal immigration authorities have lifted the shadow of deportation from these bright and hardworking Dreamers, but Arizona insists on pursuing its own immigration policy aimed at keeping them in the dark."
She said that 87% of workers in Arizona, a state which has a poor public transportation network, drive to work.
"Rather than deny these young people the ability to drive – an everyday necessity for most people – our leaders should come together to enact long-term solutions that would allow our talented immigrant youth to achieve the American dream."
Brewer issued her order on 15 August, the day that the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) began accepting DACA applications. Brewer instructed agencies to "prevent DACA recipients from obtaining eligibility" for any "state identification including a driver's license" the lawsuit says. Arizona's motor vehicle division implemented Brewer's order on September 18.
Previous to the order, according to the lawsuit, DACA recipients would have been able to meet the requirements for a driving licence by submitting their employment authorisation documents. The legal challenge names Brewer as well as officials in the state's department for transportation.
Lopez, who has lived in the United States since she was four and is married to a US citizen, said: "It's hard to take my child to the doctor or help my two little brothers get to school and after school activities without being able to drive."
The high school graduate, who was granted federally deferred action status, including a work permit, in October, said: "Somebody offered me a job interview in Tempe (Arizona), which is about 25 miles away from where I live, but I had to turn it down because I'm not allowed to drive a car."
The lawsuit claims that Arizona's policy violates the supremacy clause of the US constitution by interfering with federal immigration law, and that it also violates the 14th amendment's equal protection clause by discriminating against certain non-citizens.
Linton Joaquin, general counsel of the National Immigration Law Center, said: "Young people like Alejandra have so much to contribute to Arizona. Unfortunately, her effort to fully participate in his community is stymied by governor Brewer's unlawful and wrong-headed executive order, which specifically targets immigrant youth who often know no other home."
An estimated 1.76 million young people in the United States are eligible for the DACA programme, including 80,000 in Arizona, according to the Migration Policy Institute, an independent, non-profit think tank in Washington DC. The USCS has deferred action to at least 53,275 individuals nationwide under the DACA programme, the lawsuit says.
Alessandra Soler, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, said: "This is a shameless attack on our youth. When our youngest and brightest residents are prevented from getting licenses, going to school or work and pursuing their dreams, entire communities suffer."
The ACLU also said it is continuing to challenge Arizona's notorious SB 1070 immigration law. The US supreme court struck down many of the provisions of the state's SB 1070 law in June this year, but the most controversial part of the law – the clause known as the "show me your papers" provision – that instructs police to investigate the immigration status of those they suspect of being undocumented who they come across in the course of other policing matters – was upheld.

Dreamers Apply for President Obama's New Dream Policy Starting Today! Anti-Latino Republicans Complain!

Today, hundreds of thousands of Dreamers brought to the country as children are applying for the Presidents new Dream Policy. In June, President Obama took matters into his own hands, announcing a program allowing DREAMers to receive a two-year deferment of deportation proceedings. These DREAMers can also apply for a work permit and later reapply for another deportation deferment.
On Tuesday, Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas said the agency is ready to process the flood of applications. He said,"USCIS has developed a rigorous review process for deferred action requests under guidelines issued by (Department of Homeland) Secretary (Janet) Napolitano. Childhood arrivals who meet the guidelines and whose cases are deferred will now be able to live without fear of removal, and be able to more fully contribute their talents to our great nation."

Meanwhile, anti-Latino Republican, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the program opens the door for fraud and unleashes a torrent of unemployed workers at a time when the country's 8.3% unemployment rate is already making life difficult for U.S. citizens and legal residents. Smith said, "President Obama and his administration routinely put partisan politics and illegal immigrants ahead of the rule of law and the American people. With this track record, it's looking more likely that even President Obama may lose his job in this economy when Americans go to the polls this November."

The Department of Homeland Security has not estimated how many people could participate in the new program. But the Pew Hispanic Center estimated that up to 1.7 million illegal immigrants could qualify. The application fee will be $465, and Mayorkas said that should cover the costs of hiring additional staff to process all the applications. DHS officials said a small number of cases can have their fees waived in extreme cases. Applicants must have been under the age of 31 as of June 15 (when the program was announced), entered the U.S. before reaching their 16th birthday, have clean criminal records and must have either graduated high school or be on that track.