1. Obama blames GOP
2. Law hurting Perry
3. Tancredo hits Perry
4. DC region demography
5. 'Uncle Omar' in court

1.
Obama blames Republicans for failure of immigration reform, says increase in deportations is misleading
By Rachel Rose Hartman
Yahoo! News, September 28, 2011

President Obama on Wednesday urged frustrated Americans to stop blaming him for the standstill on federal immigration reform and to direct their displeasure instead at Republicans in Congress.

"The notion that I can somehow just change the laws unilaterally is just not true," Obama told moderators Wednesday during a Hispanic online roundtable-- "Open for Questions"-- hosted by Yahoo!, MSN Latino, AOL Latino and HuffPost LatinoVoices.

"The fact of the matter is there are laws on the books I have to enforce. And there is a great disservice done to the cause of getting the Dream Act passed and comprehensive immigration reform passed by perpetuating the notion that somehow by myself I can just go and do these things," Obama said, referring to proposed legislation to provide a path to citizenship for some children of illegal immigrants.

The president praised past Republican presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, whom Obama said understood the importance of comprehensive immigration reform.

"Right now, you do not have that kind of leadership coming from the Republican party," Obama claimed.

Immigration reform is one of the many issues the president will be forced to address as he courts Hispanic voters during his 2012 re-election campaign. The president finds himself in a middle ground, both advocating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and acting as the enforcer of current immigration laws.

Obama was asked to address an increase in deportations that has occurred during his tenure. He said the numbers are "a little deceptive."
. . .
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-blames-republicans-failure-immi...

********
********

2.
In-state tuition law haunting Perry in GOP presidential run
By Julian Aguilar
The Texas Tribune, September 28, 2011

In 2004, Karla Reséndiz graduated near the top of her class at Rockwall High School outside Dallas. She was a member of the National Honor Society, captain of the fencing team and the leader of the school’s junior Rotary Club.

From there, Reséndiz went on to earn a doctor of pharmacy degree with honors in 2010 after completing the University of Texas at Austin’s six-year program. She paid the same in-state tuition rate any other Texas student would to attend the flagship public university. Now, Reséndiz and others like her find themselves engulfed in the latest political skirmish to roil the Republican candidates for president.

Reséndiz is the child of illegal immigrants — her family brought her to Texas from Mexico City in 1998 when she was 12 years old.

Gov. Rick Perry’s 2001 decision to sign into law a provision allowing Reséndiz and other illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates has drawn such harsh scrutiny that Perry now finds himself in an unusual position: outside the Republican mainstream on the issue of illegal immigration, at least judging from the reaction of his fellow GOP candidates.

That wasn’t the case in 2001, when House Bill 1403 passed the Legislature virtually unopposed and Perry signed it into law, making Texas the first state in the country to offer in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants. To qualify, a student must have lived in the state for three years, graduated from a Texas high school and agree to apply for permanent residency.

Perry’s attempt to defend the policy at the GOP debate last week in Florida by saying those who opposed it don’t “have a heart” only inflamed the criticism from other Republicans. His chief rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, has taken up the issue in a relentless assault.

“I fundamentally believe that it doesn’t make a lot of sense for American taxpayers to pay for the college education of illegal aliens particularly at a time when American taxpayers are having a hard time financing education for their own children,” Romney recently told radio host Jordan Sekulow.

Immigration hardliners like Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee went a step further and proclaimed Perry “finished” for what they call his support of illegal immigrants over legal residents and citizens. The group promises to protest outside Perry fundraisers this week.

“ALIPAC believes Rick Perry is unfit to be President of the United States because of his recent promotion of in-state tuition for illegal aliens, Perry’s choice to side with President Obama and Mexico against Arizona’s SB 1070 illegal immigration bill, and Perry’s opposition to significant border fencing,” the group said in a statement.

Even New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has been flirting with a presidential run, took a swipe at Perry in a question-and-answer session after a speech Tuesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

“I want every child who comes to New Jersey to be educated, but I don’t believe that for those people who came here illegally we should be subsidizing with taxpayer money, through in-state tuition their education,” Christie said. “And let me be very clear from my perspective: That is not a heartless position that is a common sense position.”

Perry’s campaign staff has tried to blunt the criticism over the in-state tuition law by highlighting his tough stances on other immigration-related issues.

“In light of the federal government’s failure to secure the border, Governor Perry has championed border security, authorizing $400 million from Texas to fight border crime, and called for penalties against employers who hire illegal immigrants and an end to sanctuary city policies,” Ray Sullivan, the campaign’s communications director, said last week after the Center for Immigration Studies released a report claiming more jobs in the state have gone to immigrants than native-born Texans.
. . .
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/law-55204-tuition-perry.html

********
********

3.
Tancredo bashes Perry on illegal immigrants and Muslims
By Eli Stokols
KWGN (CO), September 28, 2011

DENVER -- Since Texas Gov. Rick Perry's debate debacle last week, commentators and conservatives alike have been questioning his readiness and looking for another presidential alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Now, Colorado's Tom Tancredo is piling on.

In a column for the Daily Caller, Tancredo, who ran twice for his party's presidential nomination in an effort to inject the illegal immigration issue into the larger debate, is slamming Perry for his soft policies on illegal immigration in Texas -- and what Tancredo calls his "Muslim blind spot."

"What is not yet as widely known about Perry is that he extends his taxpayer-funded compassion not only to illegal aliens but also to Muslim groups seeking to whitewash the violent history of that religion," Tancredo writes.

"Perry endorsed and facilitated the adoption in Texas public schools of a pro-Muslim curriculum unit developed by Muslim clerics in Pakistan."

Tancredo cites a study by The Center for Immigration Studies, which shows that 81% of the 279,000 jobs created in Texas in the past four years went to non-citizens, a high number of them illegal aliens, to discredit Perry's central presidential argument -- that he's overseen a 'Texas miracle' of job growth while the national economy continues to decline.
. . .
http://www.kwgn.com/news/kdvr-tancredo-bashes-perry-on-muslims-txt,0,400...

********
********

4.
Washington region heavily populated with non-citizens
By Hayley Peterson
The Washington Examiner, September 28, 2011

Montgomery leads region with 17.3 percent, nationwide average is 7.3 percent

One out of every five Montgomery County residents is not a U.S. citizen, while nationwide, just 7 percent of residents don't have U.S. citizenship, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.

Across the Potomac, non-U.S. citizens -- who include residents who are obtaining citizenship,

hold a work visa or are in the country illegally -- make up 16 percent of Fairfax County's total population. In the District, the percentage is 8 percent, according to the 2010 American Community Survey data. Immigrants are drawn to the Washington region for its wealth of jobs with international organizations including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and government jobs with agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.

The disproportionate concentration of non-U.S. citizens in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs affects everything from education policy to elections, says Randy Capps, senior policy analyst with Georgetown University's Migration Policy Institute.

"These groups, especially in Montgomery County, tend to be well organized," and therefore effective lobbyists, Capps said. Maryland has created at least a dozen government-appointed committees and coalitions devoted to immigrant issues, which stay in close contact with hundreds of immigrant activists across the state.

Largely as a result of activists' lobbying efforts, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a bill this year that grants illegal immigrants lower tuition rates at state universities and colleges. The legislation will be voted on in a referendum in November 2012 after anti-illegal-immigration groups marshalled enough signatures on a petition to force the referendum.

Despite their legislative influence, however, more than half of Maryland's foreign-born population cannot vote.

Since electoral maps are drawn according to population totals -- not eligible voters -- dense populations of non-U.S. citizens tend to distort congressional and legislative districting, said Steve Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies.

"People who live around non-citizens, like those in Montgomery County, end up with more political influence than people who live around American citizens," he said. "We basically have the political system apportioned to represent people who can't vote."
. . .
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/09/washington-region-heavily...

********
********

5.
President’s illegal uncle giggles in court
By John Zaremba
Boston Herald, September 29, 2011

A giggling Onyango Obama -- the president’s illegal alien half uncle -- made a brief appearance in Framingham District Court today on charges he was drunk when he nearly struck an unmarked police cruiser last month.

Obama, 67, was visibly amused at the media spectacle, stifling laughter several times before his 30-second court appearance where a judge set a Nov. 17 pre-trial conference.

Obama did not acknowledge a Herald reporter’s questions upon arrival at Framingham District Court and neither he nor his lawyer made any comment on his way out where they were followed to the parking lot by a horde of media.

His attorney, P. Scott Bratton, did, however, tell the Herald that Obama, who has been living illegally in the United States for nearly 20 years, has returned to work at Conti Liquors in Framingham.

"He has. He’s doing well," Bratton said.

Obama was accompanied in court today by two attorneys and an unidentified male supporter. The courtroom was packed with some members of the media, but mostly with other defendants hauled in for the usual round of arraignments at the county court located in suburban Boston.
. . .
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1369735&srvc...