1. Possible chairs of Judiciary
2. Latino GOP candidates poised
3. Aide to Sen. Reid lied to Feds
4. Latino immigrants sue CT
5. Issue central to Hispanics

1.
Immigration hard-liners to lead Judiciary?
By Simmi Aujla
Politico (Washington, D.C.), October 26, 2010

Immigration reform would not only be dead in a Republican House; the policy debate would take a decidedly rightward turn in the House Judiciary Committee, which could become a hotbed of conservative activism on one of the most volatile issues in U.S. politics.

Chairman-in-waiting Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has been an advocate of national Arizona-type immigration laws, implementing a mandatory verification program and revisiting the birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Smith’s wingman on the Judiciary Committee would be Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), one of the fiercest critics of illegal immigration, who would chair the immigration subcommittee.

Smith has been on the leading edge of conservative immigration policy since the mid-1990s, but he would have a much larger megaphone as chairman of Judiciary, even if his ideas never get a vote on the floor, because GOP leaders might hesitate to open the chamber to a full-blown immigration debate.

Reform advocates, frustrated by the inability of a Democratic Congress to push serious immigration reform, worry that the debate in the House may swing the opposite way.

Smith is “less interested in getting in the spotlight and more interested in driving immigrants out of the country,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, a group that supports a path to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants. “That’s why I am not looking forward to Mr. Smith coming to Washington.”

Through a spokeswoman, Smith declined to comment on his plans if he becomes chairman, because it would be premature before Election Day.

“They could really keep the debate alive, and they can really be very active in raising all sorts of questions that continue to — in the public mind — make immigration look as if it is just undoable and the government is never going to manage it,” said Doris Meissner, who was head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service under President Bill Clinton, while Smith was chairman of the immigration subcommittee. Meissner appeared before the committee to defend her leadership eight times in four years.

Conservative immigration groups believe even if Smith is stymied legislatively, his panel could become a national platform for the illegal immigration crackdown movement.

“There’s going to be a constant push on why the [Obama] administration hasn’t been more aggressive,” said Roy Beck, executive director of Numbers USA, a conservative group that advocates reducing the inflow of immigrants. “He’s not very happy with enforcement. He knows the law. And he will pin [the Department of Homeland Security] down every place he believes they are not enforcing the law that Congress has enacted.

“He does not have to depend on the Senate for that. He doesn’t have to depend on John Boehner,” Beck said.
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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44144.html

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2.
A Latino surprise
By Luisita Lopez Torregrosa
Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2010

One of the surprises of this year's election is that the GOP has put together a stronger set of Latino candidates to run for major seats than the Democrats have. In fact, despite the traditional preference of Latino voters for the Democrats, the party has put forward no Latino candidates for governor or U.S. Senate — not one. At the same time, the Republicans have plucked three top-tier Latinos who are likely to make history on election day.

In New Mexico, Nevada and Florida, Latino Republicans in hard-fought races for governor and U.S. Senate are now the front-runners with platforms highlighting hot-button issues such as jobs, the economy, taxes, the deficit and immigration. Those are issues playing well across the political landscape, including with Latino voters who ranked the economy, jobs and education as their top concerns — with immigration a distant fifth — in a recent Pew Hispanic Center survey.

Buoyed by the Republican steamroller that is expected to take control of the House and perhaps even the Senate, Latino GOP candidates have broken through to the top in politically moderate states. They've done so despite their outspoken support for tougher anti-illegal immigration measures like the controversial Arizona law that is bitterly opposed by many Latinos.

In New Mexico, Susana Martinez, a 50-year-old county district attorney, may become the nation's first female Latino governor. She is leading Diane Denish, 61, Gov. Bill Richardson's lieutenant governor, by 10 percentage points in recent polling. Richardson, the country's sole Latino governor, is retiring. Like other conservatives, Martinez favors lower taxes, cuts in Washington spending and tough border enforcement and, like most "tea party"-backed candidates, she is antiabortion and anti-gay marriage. Her appeal to the tradition-minded and law-and-order Latino community is expected to earn her 30% of their vote, which would be an unusually high percentage for a Republican among Latinos in New Mexico.

Of course, the success of Latino Republicans does not alone tear down, or even loosen, the tight Democrat-Latino alliance. But it certainly raises questions about the assumption that Latinos robotically vote the Democratic ticket, and more important, it undermines the conventional wisdom that socially and fiscally conservative Latinos cannot win high office in predominantly Democratic states with large Latino populations. The GOP incursion into Latino territory also serves as a reminder that many Latinos, especially first- and-second-generation immigrants, tend to hold on to old-country traditions and religious dogma, expressing more conservative views than other Democrats on such issues as abortion rights and gay marriage.

In Florida, Marco Rubio, a 39-year-old son of Cuban exiles and former state legislator, leads in a competitive three-way race for the U.S. Senate. If he wins, he will become the only Latino Republican in the Senate. A tea party darling, he is ahead of U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek, a black Democrat, and Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running as an independent after withdrawing from the GOP primary in light of Rubio's surging popularity. With national media attention focused tightly on this race, Florida has drawn the headliners of the campaign circuit: President Obama, former President Clinton and Sarah Palin. Rubio's lead in a recent poll is at 46% to Crist's 32% and Meek's 20%.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-torregrosa-latino-v...

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3.
Aide to Harry Reid Lied to Feds, Submitted False Documents About Sham Marriage
By Jana Winter
FoxNews.com, October 25, 2010

An aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid repeatedly lied to federal immigration and FBI agents and submitted false federal documents to the Department of Homeland Security to cover up her illegal seven-year marriage to a Lebanese national who was the subject of an Oklahoma City Joint Terror Task Force investigation, FoxNews.com has learned.

Diana Tejada, Reid’s Hispanic Press Secretary, admitted to receiving payment for “some of her expenses” in exchange for fraudulently marrying Bassam Mahmoud Tarhini in 2003, strictly so he could obtain permanent U.S. residency, according to court documents.

Tarhini, now 37, was held in jail and at an immigration detention center in connection with his 2009 indictment on felony charges, documents show. He pleaded guilty to entering a fraudulent marriage to evade immigration laws — a Class D felony — in November 2009, and he was deported in March 2010.

Tejada, now 28, was never charged for her role in the crime.

“We did not charge the woman, and of course we don’t discuss the reasons we don’t charge people,” said Bob Troester, spokesman for the Western District of Oklahoma U.S. Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, which began as an FBI investigation out of the Oklahoma City Joint Terrorism Task Force.

“There’s multiple factors that go into charging decisions. She wasn’t charged and we can’t go beyond that.”

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement would not comment on why it took five years to investigate the couple's marriage.

As recently as five weeks ago, on Sept. 21, 2010, Tejada appeared as a guest on a Spanish-language radio program in her official capacity as a spokeswoman for Harry Reid.

Monday evening, Reid’s spokesman Jim Manley said Tejada was no longer employed by Reid’s office. When asked when Tejada left Reid’s services, the spokesman had no comment.
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/25/exclusive-aide-to-harry-reid-...

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4.
Latino Immigrants to Sue a Connecticut Police Dept., Asserting Racial Bias
By Sam Dolnick
The New York Times, October 25, 2010

When Yadanny García asked police officers in East Haven, Conn., why they were ordering him to the ground, they shocked him three times with a Taser gun, punched him and told him to “go back to your country.”

When José Luis Albaraccín was arrested after questioning an officer, he was taken to the police station, sprayed with pepper gas and beaten to the floor.

And when Edgar Torres vowed to complain publicly that officers had used a Taser gun on him four times for no reason, an officer threatened to kill him.

These are some of the accusations in a lawsuit to be filed on Tuesday in Federal District Court in New Haven on behalf of nine Latino immigrants against the East Haven Police Department, the former police chief and 19 officers, 9 of whom are named.

The suit, the latest in a series of complaints by Latino residents, says the police in this town have practiced racial profiling and intimidated them with beatings, false arrests and unwarranted raids on legitimate businesses.

“It isn’t just one thing,” said David Rosen, a New Haven lawyer who is filing the suit in collaboration with the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School. “The point of the case is that it’s a lot of things, and that none of the instances were promptly and appropriately responded to by the department’s leadership.”

The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages and asking the court to force the police to stop “the profiling campaign.”

The acting police chief, Gaetano Nappi, did not return phone calls requesting comment.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/nyregion/26bias.html

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5.
Immigration Issues Galvanize Hispanic Voters
By Steve Krafft
FoxNews.com, October 26, 2010

Only 51 percent of Latino registered voters across the nation said they're planning on going to the polls -- that's compared to 70 percent of registered voters.

But a recent Pew Hispanic Center poll suggests that while voter motivation across the nation might be weak, Latinos in Arizona are gearing up for Nov. 2 election.

Mi Familia Vota says they've registered nearly 20,000 new voters.

When Governor Brewer signed the tough immigration bill into law, members of the Hispanic community converged on the State Capitol to show their opposition.

But will those strong feelings translate into a real impact at the polls? Hispanic community organizers say yes.

"This midterm election we will see an increase," says Lydia Guzman with Somos America. "There have been so many different groups promoting the Hispanic vote, there is also a lot of participation when it comes to folks registering to vote."

But an ASU political scientist who studies Hispanic voting patterns doubts there will be a big impact next Tuesday.
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http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2010/10/26/immigration-issues-galv...