The pro-life, pro-family Republicans are now pro-neonatal detention and deportation. It isn't enough to drive out the people not born here; now they want to drive out the ones that were.
— Luis Gutierrez
The initials BP used to stand for British Petroleum, but like Kentucky Fried Chicken, they changed their name to improve their image. Apparently, 'Petroleum,' like the word 'Fried,' connoted a company too oily for American tastes.
Obama the President needs to stand up for what Obama the candidate and what Obama the Senator and what Obama the Chicago community organizer stood for and lead the Congress towards reform.
The American people overwhelmingly want to see smart policy that secures our families, our borders, and our economy.
In the public debate, while commentators and critics have targeted immigrants with blame and bullying, our nation's immigrants have simply kept on working, kept on contributing, and kept on hoping for a solution.
In the immigration debate, some things are constant. They never change. One is that opponents of immigration reform will use it as a wedge issue and will blame everything from unemployment to rising health care costs on immigrants.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has been clear that deporting young people who have lived in the U.S. for years and were brought here through no fault of their own as children should not be the targets of deportation.
I was the first Latino member of Congress to support Senator Obama's candidacy. For quite a while, I was the only one.
Immigration policy should be set and enforced federally.
I understand the frustration provoked by our broken immigration system. But 50 state immigration policies are just a recipe for more chaos.
U.S. v. Arizona is a landmark case not just because of the constitutional issues related to who regulates and enforces immigration, but because of its civil rights implications, too.
Punishing individual immigrants who are deeply embedded in American communities is not the mandate Trump was given when he was elected.
On Tuesday 26 July 2011, I was arrested in front of the White House along with a dozen other pro-immigrant advocates and clergy. We sat down on the sidewalk in front of the White House with a banner that read 'One Million Deported Under President Obama' and refused to move when the police ordered us to.
While jobs, education, and healthcare rank among the top issues for Latino voters, immigration is a threshold issue.
We cannot be a pro-immigrant party only when it is convenient.
We should be clear that we prefer a system that allows people to come to the U.S. with visas, not in the hands of smugglers.
If I saw someone in need and I did nothing, I'd be defacing my own humanity.
The issue of immigration is one of the most complex and politically difficult issues because there is so much passion on all sides.
Appeasing Wall Street is to be expected from the GOP who do little to hide their true intentions and their defense of the wealthiest financial institutions and interests.
We need legal immigration as an alternative to illegal immigration and a way of getting the millions of unauthorized immigrants already here to get legal and get in compliance with our laws.
Lots of special interests play the immigrant blame game every day because they like things the way they are and don't see a need for change.
The immigrant blame game is one of the most predictable, and most deplorable, elements of public debate in our nation.
In my experience, young people fighting for the passage of the DREAM Act and to prevent the deportation of those who are eligible are among the most committed and fearless advocates for change in this country.
Too many people fought too hard to make sure all citizens of all colors, races, ethnicities, genders, and abilities can vote to think that not voting somehow sends a message.
Senator Obama and I had been on the same side of many fights, and we had worked together on the issue that is most urgent to me - comprehensive immigration reform.
Legal immigrants have been an engine of economic growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship on this continent for longer than we have been a nation.
We are saying that when our nation targets law enforcement efforts at someone's appearance or what neighborhood they live in or what job they do, it is not living up to our nation's basic ideals.
I have never pretended to be a legal scholar, but when scores of lawyers are lining up to agree with the Supreme Court that the president has the power to make choices when it comes to whom to deport and whom to let stay, then I tend to agree with them.
DACA is a lifeline for individuals who have grown up in the U.S. but who lack immigration papers.
I am a strong supporter of President Obama and was the first national Hispanic elected official to endorse him, and I want him to be reelected in 2012.
The American people are much more practical than Republican lawmakers on equal pay, on the minimum wage, on same-sex marriage, and on basic civil rights.
We must stand on principle and practicality, and we should be very clear that a policy aimed at driving out 10 or 11 million people is not a good one.
Republicans will criticize whatever President Obama does because that is what they do.
We need to decouple the movement for comprehensive immigration reform and justice for immigrants from the legislative process and from the Democratic Party process. They are too linked.
BP should be Banned Permanently because they are too failed to be big.
I am a senior Democratic Member of Congress whose parents were born in Puerto Rico and for whom Puerto Rico self-determination has been - and remains - a central issue of my congressional career.
We need the federal government to assert their supremacy over the immigration issue and make it clear to state legislatures, cowboy cops, and the American people that the federal government is in charge and effectively enforcing and regulating immigration.
If immigration reform is bad for America's workers, then why does virtually every group that represents American workers support it so enthusiastically?
The immigrant blame game is constant. Cynical politicians believe it drives poll numbers; cynical commentators believe it drives TV ratings.
We should allow DREAMers to declare that they are not criminals, that they want to be here, want to fully participate in their society and get on the books. We should make college, work, and military service available to them.
As a Democrat from Illinois, as a member of Congress who believes in and admires President Obama, it genuinely pains me to say that the facts show that this president has done no more to solve our immigration crisis than George W. Bush.
I remember clearly the afternoon I sat down with Obama. In December 2006, he was preparing for a family trip, and the decision to run weighed heavily on his mind. As a progressive member of Congress from Illinois, I was excited and energized by the prospect of my senator, and my friend, running for president.
Democrats and Republicans agree on most of a unified, politically viable, and workable immigration reform package. Both parties agree that border security is a key part of any strategy.
We believe that the way you dress and the shoes you wear are not probable cause for questioning or arrest.
I was arrested twice in demonstrations in front of the Obama White House in the push for DACA.
Ending the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program was a serious mistake that will harm the United States and will spark a national political crisis.
If you are opposed to immigration or support strictly punitive immigration measures, you cannot even start a conversation about other issues with most Latino voters.
The Democrats cannot say that we stand with immigrants if that secretly means we only stand with immigrants in odd-numbered years or when southern Democrats complain.
We should encourage people who have lived here peacefully for years to earn legal status over time.
If you are brown, black, Asian, or anything other than an English-speaking, highly-trained technician, the Republican Party doesn't want you here.
