Yearly Archives: 2008

GOP Has “a Very, Very Serious Problem”

Latino population distribution in 2000. The population has grown since then. (Wikipedia image)
The decline in Latino support for Republican candidates has some in the party worried. With demographic trends showing an increasingly diverse country, any party that fails to appeal to minorities is going to have trouble winning elections.
For the GOP, Florida is the state [...]

Candidates Spent $27.5 Million on Immigration Ads, Latino Group Says

Immigration is still a big issue, according to the Latino advocacy group America’s Voice. So big that presidential and congressional candidates spent $27.5 million running 253 advertisements about the issue during the run up to November 4.
Here are a couple samples from close races. In many races, the issue was treated as a vehicle [...]

The Future of the Border, Part 2: What Will Obama Do?

Gov. Janet Napolitano, likely the next homeland security secretary. (Wikipedia photo)
Under a new, more liberal administration, ICE will presumably tone down the raids, and the website for the presidential transition says as much:
Immigration raids are ineffective: Despite a sevenfold increase in recent years, immigration raids only netted 3,600 arrests in 2006 and have placed [...]

The Future of the Border, Part 1: The State of ICE

Former ICE head Julie Myers. (Wikipedia photo)
Since its creation in 2003 as part of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has earned a reputation for controversy. It is perhaps best-known by the news-consuming public for the series of high-profile raids on employers, the most infamous of which was the Postville, Iowa raid [...]

Backlash Against Newsday for Hate Crime Coverage

Long Island-based Newsday has been following the Marcelo Lucero murder in great detail, even sending a reporter to Ecuador to interview his friends and family. But some see coverage of this case, which involves a group of American youths who allegedly attacked and killed an immigrant, as too positive about immigration.
One Newsday reporter was thrown [...]

Teens Charged with Hate Crimes in Immigrant’s Murder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x58A6o2NEBs

Seven Long Island teenagers have been charged with hate crimes for the murder of an Ecuadorian immigrant earlier this month. The high school students were indicted today for an attack that ended with one of them stabbing Marcelo Lucero.
In a case that tops last summer’s murder of Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez in Shenandoah, Pa., [...]

2010 Battles Loom in the West

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her supporters may be looking ahead to 2012, but in western states that swung from red to blue, Republicans are eyeing 2010.
A top target for the GOP will be Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who was re-elected Senate majority leader earlier this week. It’s good to be the king, except for [...]

Could the Media Be to Blame for Immigration Reform’s Failure?

A report released by the Brookings Institution in September asserts that the media’s framing of the immigration debate is to blame for the failure of comprehensive immigration reform in 2006 and 2007. The media’s narrative about immigration is one of “illegality, crisis, controversy and government failure,” the report states, and this narrative is open to [...]

Colorado’s Proposition 8 Connections

Gay marriage supporters in Denver protest the passing of California’s Proposition 8 which defines marriage in the Golden State as between one man and one woman (Denver Post)
The Colorado Independent suggests Focus on the Family’s financial support of California’s Proposition 8 was a contributing factor to recently announced layoffs at the Colorado Springs-based ministry. Focus [...]

Weekly Immigration News Round-Up, 10/15

Mexico is setting up a call center in Tuscon, Ariz., to help Mexican citizens who run into immigration problems. Mexican officials say the center is designed to help illegal workers, and that it was prompted by an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment in Arizona. The center, which will have a toll-free number and be staffed 24 [...]