If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
In the defeat of the GOP candidate by a three to one margin, Hispanic voters sent a clear message to our leaders: No party can take the White House or the governor's mansion or the fancy wooden and leather seats in legislatures without the support of the people who clean them.
From a political perspective, the current approach of the Republican Party borders on suicidal. But it is more than that: It is also wrong on the merits. As Reagan showed us, America has always been about openness, about welcoming citizens from around the world.
Immigrant rights advocates want progressive immigration reform that we can mobilize behind, but instead we're left with more of the same: a plan that is heavy on enforcement and weak on amnesty, and that leaves us wanting so much more.
With the Senate moving towards action, House Republicans indicating we should be open to immigrants, and President Barack Obama making immigration reform a top priority, the country appears close to taking meaningful action on this important issue.
A few days ago I spoke to a friend about the need for immigration reform in this country, reform that would honor and respect both this nation and those who seek citizenship here. My friend asked me why, as an advocate for LGBT equality, I care about immigration. This is my response.
For several years, I have been talking about illegal immigrants, all over the country. Every time I finish my talk, I wait for a blast of hostility. It never comes.
Askew's fifth novel jumps into the timely debate over immigration with Grandpa Robert John Brown's "conviction of the heart," written in the rawboned, heartfelt and often funny prose that has defined much of her earlier acclaimed works on the Great Plains.
Getting a deal on immigration will be tougher than the fiscal cliff, but it is still possible if both President Obama and the Republicans learn from past successes, do not repeat missteps and seek to truly make this a win-win effort.
President Obama has proposed new legislation that would provide a path to citizenship and further secure the boarders, but, critically, it would also crack down on companies that lure undocumented workers into the country by illegally hiring them.
While Hillary had healed the divisions within the party to a large extent by the 2008 Democratic nominating convention, Obama naming Hillary for Secretary of State cemented the two halves of the party back together in an impressive way.
There's absolutely no risk, only gain, for Obama in taking the point on immigration reform to try and make that happen.
President Obama said it perfectly "It's about people." A conservative president got it in the 1980s and one of the most progressive presidents in the history of this country gets it today.
Surprisingly, a key sticking point is no longer the fate of the estimated 11 million-plus undocumented immigrants, but that of lesbian and gay bi-national couples and their families, who number less than 30,000.
LGBT communities will be a key constituency to weigh in on comprehensive immigration reform, and we call for a broader reform that supports not only same-sex couples but also all LGBT immigrants who desperately need reform to the currently broken system.
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