Morning News, 8/22/11

By Bryan Griffith, August 22, 2011

1. Obama woos Hispanics
2. Perry talks in SC
3. Sheriffs seek donations
4. Activists cheer amnesty
5. Bishop targets AL

1.
Obama administration works to rekindle excitement among Hispanic voters
By Peter Wallsten
The Washington Post, August 21, 2011

While most of Washington was embroiled in the debt-ceiling drama last month, about 160 Hispanic leaders from across the country filed into the White House one day, largely unnoticed.

For two days, they enjoyed full access to top presidential advisers, Cabinet members and administration officials from across the government. Before the participants left town, they received a glossy 33-page booklet detailing talking points to be shared back home — 1.9 million Hispanics kept out of poverty by the stimulus, $808 million in loans last year to Hispanic small businesses, and an extra $1 billion directed to colleges with large numbers of Hispanic students, to name a few.

The event was part of broader efforts by the White House and Obama’s reelection campaign to rekindle excitement among Hispanic voters, many of whom have turned their backs on the president amid disappointment over his immigration policies. Key to the strategy is shifting voters’ attention beyond the caustic immigration debate with data-driven appeals that show progress in other areas, while arguing that Obama is better on immigration than any of his potential Republican foes.

The tensions — and the administration’s aggressive efforts to soothe them — reached a climax of sorts in a flurry of activity last week, with the administration making a surprise announcement Thursday that it was giving officials discretion to suspend certain deportation cases that have drawn fire from critics, such as ones involving young people brought to the country in early childhood.

The White House move came two days after immigrant advocates delivered tens of thousands of petitions to Obama’s reelection headquarters and other Democratic Party offices demanding an end to the administration’s aggressive deportation policy.

Adding to Democrats’ anxiety are signs that Republicans are trying to take advantage of the strain between Obama and Hispanics.

Crossroads GPS, the pro-GOP group advised by Karl Rove, saturated Spanish-language airwaves in key states last month with ads blasting Obama’s record. And one of the party’s presidential front-runners, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, brings a history of courting Hispanic voters. He even backed a law granting in-state college tuition for many children of illegal immigrants.

The White House outreach strategy underscores the quandary facing Obama and his aides, who are struggling to keep their hold on a voter bloc that was a key piece of the president’s 2008 coalition of minorities, young people and white liberals and is expected to play an even greater role in deciding his reelection.

Administration officials announced last week that they would host Hispanic policy conferences in cities across the country. Some will be in key political battlegrounds — with the first to take place this month in Orlando, home to a large Puerto Rican community that is a prime target for the campaign’s early voter registration efforts.

“I understand the pain that our community is going through,” said Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis, who is hosting policy roundtables with Hispanic activists across the country as a top White House liaison to the community. But, she added, “I think it’s amazing how little people know of the good things that this administration has done.”

At her roundtables, Solis distributes handouts describing measures her agency has taken to help Hispanics. At a meeting in Las Vegas this month, she gave out literature about policies designed to improve safety conditions for Hispanic workers. She said other announcements geared toward helping Hispanics would come soon, although she declined to offer specifics.

Obama won two-thirds of the Hispanic vote in 2008 after pledging that overhauling immigration policies would be a top priority in his first term. While immigration does not always rank as the No. 1 issue for Hispanics, activists say Obama’s failure to pass legislation granting a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, combined with a deportation program that has removed more than 1 million illegal immigrants since 2009, has stirred deep disappointment.

A majority of the Hispanic voters surveyed by the nonpartisan polling group Latino Decisions said they know an illegal immigrant, and one-fourth said they know someone who is facing deportation or has been deported.

Obama’s job approval rating among Hispanics has plummeted since its high mark in April 2009, according to Gallup, from 85 percent to 49 percent this month.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-administration-works-to-rek...

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2.
Rick Perry moves right on immigration
By Robin Abcarian and Maeve Reston
Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2011

Immigration advocates in Texas were heartened last year when the Republican governor, Rick Perry, flatly stated that Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants "would not be the right direction for Texas."

But in June, Perry convened a special session of the Legislature, hoping to pass a measure outlawing sanctuary cities — places where police are not allowed to ask people they detain about immigration status.

The law, which had already failed during the Legislature's regular session, was defeated a second time thanks to an opposition coalition that included immigration activists as well as law enforcement officials, evangelical pastors and Republican business owners, among them one of Perry's biggest fundraisers.

Why did the governor push the ban in a state where no official sanctuary cities even exist? Many in Texas, including Perry supporters, thought they knew the answer: He was considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination.

"I suspect it came from his advisors," said Houston insurance broker Norman Adams, a Republican and Perry supporter who fought hard against the bill, which he considered anti-business. "You know, 'You need to look tough on immigration, so we want a sanctuary bill.' "

As governor of the state with the longest common border with Mexico — 1,254 miles — Perry entered the presidential race in a unique position among the top tier of Republican presidential aspirants.

His state is home to nearly a fifth of the U.S. Latino population, and in his most recent reelection, he received 38% of the Latino vote. Like other ambitious Republicans in Western states with large Latino electorates, he has held more moderate or nuanced positions on illegal immigration than others in his party.

In 2001, Perry supported a Texas version of the DREAM Act, which allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and has drawn strong opposition from many conservatives. Perry also has pressed for a guest-worker program and has said he supports a border fence, but only in high-population areas.

"There's a lot of gray with Perry," said Republican restaurateur Louis Barrios of San Antonio, who has raised money for Perry and believes the governor's views were informed by his hardscrabble West Texas upbringing. "He's a farmer. A poor farmer. He knows what immigrant labor has done for this country."

But his more recent moves have leaned to the right. In May, Perry signed a stringent voter ID law that required citizens to show one of five acceptable ID photographs before they may vote. (Opponents argued that the requirement would disenfranchise the poor and minorities who lack passports or driver's licenses.)

Perry's previous moderate stances have already caused him problems among Republican voters, particularly those who oppose compromise on illegal immigration.

But his more recent conservative positions carry a risk as well, imperiling his standing among Latinos, an important voting bloc in national battleground states such as New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada. In June, Perry got a chilly response when he spoke at a conference of the National Assn. of Latino Elected Officials in San Antonio. Outside the conference, a coalition of Latino and civil rights groups staged a protest against him.
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http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/20/nation/la-na-0821-perry-immigrat...

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3.
Border Sheriffs Seek Donations to Unblock Arizona Immigration Law
Fox News Latino, August 22, 2011

A group of sheriffs representing an Arizona border county is seeking $60,000 in donations to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the state's controversial immigration law.

The Border Sheriffs group, which represents Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, wrote in fundraising letters that it has raised $29,000 but needs $31,000 more for the brief or key parts of SB1070 will remain blocked by the courts.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's office is trying to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case and overturn an April decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Brewer had asked the appeals court to lift an injunction imposed by a federal judge the day before the law was to take effect on July 29, 2010. The U.S Justice Department sued to block the law, saying it violates the Constitution because enforcing Immigration law is a federal issue.

The Arizona Daily Star reported that Dever wants to submit a "friend of the court" brief saying why the high court should take the case from his on-the-border view.

The brief is a filing by an outside party about a case under consideration, and it may include information not in previous appeals. Such briefs can have an impact, said Nick Dranias, an attorney who heads the Goldwater Institute's Center for Constitutional Government and has filed many such briefs.

"I think of the amicus brief as the op-ed of legal briefings," Dranias said.

Dever said he wants to tell the court how the Arizona law, known as SB1070, can help his border county.

"We're trying to drive home the importance and significance of this law relieving pressure on the border here by eliminating sanctuary policies in this state," Dever said.
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http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/08/22/donations-sought-to...