House Dems Heading To Alabama To Shed Light On Immigration Law

By Andrea Salazar

House Democrats will be visiting Alabama Nov. 21 to bring attention to the effects the state’s immigration law has had on the Latino community.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), a stark opponent of the Alabama law, considered the strictest immigration law in the country, is leading the effort. Acknowledging that he does not expect any immigration measure to make it to the House or Senate floors before the next election, the congressman said the Alabama visit is to raise awareness.

“The more light you shed on the abusive anti-immigrant law of Alabama, the more likelihood there is that you’re going to defeat it,” Gutierrez said at a news conference Thursday. “We’re going there to say that we came to listen and in listening also to ask you what it is you would like us to do as we return to the Congress of the United States.”

HB56, the Alabama immigration law, requires schools to find out students’ immigration status and calls on police to check a person’s status during stops or arrests if there’s “reasonable suspicion” that the person is in the country unlawfully.

Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) is welcoming her colleagues to Alabama and calling on her state to play the role it did during the civil rights movement.

“So many of the injustices that this nation has faced have been addressed on the ground in Alabama, and once again I believe that we in Alabama will lead the way with making sure we get a federal immigration policy and not a piecemeal state by state effort,” Sewell said.

Gutierrez emphasized that all visiting representatives would be spending their own money to pay for the trip. To that effect, Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas) said they were making the trip because immigration is an issue that affects everyone.

“If the law does not protect you today, it will not protect me tomorrow,” Gonzalez said. “We all have an interest in this.”

Pointing out that the author of the Arizona immigration law, Russell Pearce, was recalled in a special election this past month, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), warned politicians to take immigration seriously.

“That recall better be a harbinger for a lot of politicians that it’s time you took this issue of immigration in a serious way,” Grijalva said. “Look at comprehensive reform in a federal level and quit using people in their communities - Alabama, Arizona and others - as a whipping boy for a political advantage.”

Reps. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.), Al Green (D-Texas), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) and Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) will join Gutierrez, Grijalva, Gonzalez and Sewell in Alabama on Monday where they will hold a field hearing and attend the launch of a campaign to repeal the Arizona immigration law.

Embattled Rangel Will Stand Trial In September

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

A House Ethics Subcommittee laid out 13 charges of House rules violations this afternoon against Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), and began making preparations to hold what promises to be a highly watched trial.

Rangel had worked feverishly this week to strike a plea bargain with the committee, but ultimately came up short in that effort. Such a deal would’ve likely required the 80-year-old Rangel to admit to some wrongdoing.

The list of charges against the former Ways and Means Chairman was read by Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) and Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) who lead the investigation into Rangel’s alleged misconduct.

“The charges in the Statement of Alleged Violation relate to four general subject matters,” said Green.  “Solicitations and donations to the Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College [of] New York; errors and omissions on Rep. Rengal’s Financial Disclosure Statements; use of rent-stabilized residential apartment by respondent’s campaign committees; and failure to report and pay taxes on rental income on Respondent’s Punta Cana beach villa.”

Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Ranking Member Michael McCaul (R-Texas) both agreed that the trial would be necessary for the House to regain the trust of the American public.

“The American people deserve to hear the truth in this case and the charges against [Rangel],” said McCaul.  “[House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] herself has said that we are entering into an era of transparency and accountability. I agree. Let us begin today, let justice be served.

America welcomes 144 new citizens today

By Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
America opened her arms to swear in 144 new citizens at the Naturalization Ceremony in U.S. Capitol today.

“From the birth of our nation, foreign born Americans have made an indelible impact on our society,” said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Deputy Director Michael Aytes told the group.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), whose grandfather arrived in America at the age of 16 from Sweden, urged the new citizens to read the U.S. Constitution.

“It is the basic document that keeps us free, she said. “Even though my ancestors and your ancestors did not participate in writing this constitution, you own this constitution as much as anyone whose family has been here for centuries.”

Lofgren said that the study of immigration in America is an interesting task because “ although we are a nation of immigrants, sometimes we have anxiety about our status as a nation of immigrants.” She said that if we ever wanted a symbol of what our country is, “I think it is President Obama” whose father was not an American, but yet “we have selected a man with vision, with skill” to lead us.

Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-La.), the first Vietnamese American to serve in the U.S. Congress, said that “arriving here, I, like many of you sitting here, did not know the language, did not know the culture.”

The hardships of a new life, forcing oneself to learn a new language, adapting to a new culture “calls for each and every one of us that energy and that strength that I believe the almighty God has endowed in each and every one of us,” Anh said, adding that naturalized citizens are not guests in America, “We are America.”

On a lighter note, Ahn said, “The first time I had a taste of American Pizza… Needless to say, I didn’t like it very much because it did not taste like rice.”

Sorting out the fact from fiction in electronic employment verification systems

The House Judiciary Committee oversaw a hearing on electronic employment verification systems and the safeguards needed to protect privacy and prevent misuse within them. Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) presided over the hearing, while Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex.), and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) served as the primary witnesses. Both Lofgren and Conyers wanted a thorough explanation of the E-Verify system and the New Employee Verification Act (NEVA), sorting out the fact from the fiction.

Conyers said that the main purpose of the hearing was to figure out a way to improve the E-Verify system. E-Verify was created as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 in order to verify the employment eligibility of both U.S. citizens and noncitizens at no charge to the employer. Calvert and Shuler highlighted the benefits of using E-Verify. Calvert said that all employers are required to check all potential new employees, inversely protecting everyone from discrimination. Shuler explained the high performance rate, saying that out of 1,000 employees 942 would be cleared automatically, 53 would be correctly mismatched, and the remaining five would successfully fight their mismatch. This gave the system an error rate of only half a percent.

Johnson and Giffords argued the flaws of E-Verify and explained the benefits of NEVA. Johnson said that in order to create an effective, secure, and reliable system, the system must prohibit unlawful employment, protect workers, partner with employers, reduce the risk of identity theft, and protect Social Security. Giffords agreed with him and said that NEVA fulfills each of these guidelines making it the best alternative to the E-Verify system. She stressed that if Congress does nothing to improve the system, “we will have failed.”