1. Obama says GOP gives him edge
2. Survey: Arizonans favor amnesty
3. Confusion over VT policy
4. Activists target Obama aide
5. Regent U. pres. to speak
1.
Obama Says Republicans Give Him a Leg Up With Latino Voters
By Julia Edwards
The National Journal, November 01, 2011
Although his approval rating among Latino voters has been hovering around 50 percent, according to Gallup polling, President Obama is convinced that he can win over their votes for one important reason: Republicans can’t.
In a roundtable with Hispanic media at the White House, Obama said that it won’t be hard to pit Latinos against Republican candidates in campaign ads.
“We may just run clips of the Republican debates verbatim. We won’t even comment on them, we’ll just run those in a loop on Univision and Telemundo, and people can make up their own minds,” the president said.
Obama is confident that the GOP stance on immigration, the economy, and health care will anger Latino voters, no matter who the party chooses as his opponent. But Obama admits that his record isn’t perfect. He lost the battle to pass the Dream Act that would award in-state tuition at American universities for children of illegal immigrants, and the unemployment rate among Hispanics is at 11. 7 percent—higher than the national rate of 9 percent.
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http://www.nationaljournal.com/obama-says-republicans-give-him-a-leg-up-...
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2.
Survey says Arizonans would favor path to citizenship
KTAR.com, November 10, 2011
A poll conducted by Arizona State University shows a favorable approach to allowing undocumented longtime residents to be able to become United States citizens.
The survey by the Morrison Institute surveyed people across the state of Arizona.
The feedback was that 78 percent said they would support the policy if certain criteria was met.
If they pay a fine, pass a criminal background check here and their nation of origin, get a taxpayer I.D. number and demonstrate they can speak English.
"The issue of illegal immigration is much more complex than most people realize," said Merrill, senior research fellow at Morrison Institute and the poll director.
"People see the issues of border enforcement and what to do about undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for many years, many with children who are American citizens, as separate issues.
This poll shows that while almost all Arizonans want stronger enforcement of border security, people also are strongly in favor of some sort of earned citizenship program."
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http://ktar.com/category/local-news-articles/20111110/Survey-says-Arizon...
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3.
New 'Bias-Free' Immigration Policy Presents Challenges
By Jane Lindholm
Vermont Public Radio, November 11, 2011
(Host) For the past five days the Vermont State Police have been operating under new guidelines for how to deal with questions of illegal immigration.
The revised "bias-free policing policy" is intended to make the rules more clear both for police officers, and for migrant farm workers and others whose status in this country may be questioned.
But as VPR's Jane Lindholm reports, there are still gray areas.
(Lindholm) On September 13th, Vermont State Police stopped a driver for speeding on Interstate 89. The two passengers in the car were Mexican immigrants working on a Vermont farm: Danilo Lopez and Antonio Mesa-Sandoval.
The farm workers weren't involved in the traffic infraction. But they couldn't provide immigration documentation when a trooper asked, so they were taken into custody.
A week later, Governor Shumlin addressed the question of who should bear the responsibility for checking residency status.
(Shumlin) "It is my belief that immigration policy should be enforced by the Federal government. And that it is not our local sheriffs' challenge when they're working so hard dealing with limited resources or frankly the State Police's challenge to really spend a lot of their resources dealing with immigration issues when they have much tougher jobs to do."
An internal review by the State Police concluded that the trooper acted appropriately in the traffic stop, following the rules and regulations set out for the state police.
But the case spurred Governor Shumlin to review the state's bias-free police policy and make some changes. Those changes were announced on Friday and have already been implemented by the State Police.
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http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/92477/
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4.
Activists say Obama aide Cecilia Munoz has ‘turned her back’ on fellow Hispanics
By Peter Wallsten
The Washington Post, Novemebr 9, 2011
The highest-ranking Hispanic official in the Obama White House is being targeted as a traitor by fellow Latinos in a highly personal, ethnic-based campaign against the president’s deportation policies.
Cecilia Munoz, who was a longtime immigrant rights activist before being named President Obama’s director of intergovernmental affairs, has emerged as a key defender of the administration’s policies, directly rebutting complaints from Hispanic activists that the government has unfairly targeted harmless people and torn families apart.
Now a petition drive by the grass-roots group Presente.org demands that Munoz "return to her roots" and retract the "inaccurate" statements she has made in defense of Obama. And a number of Hispanic bloggers are calling for her resignation, including one who branded her a "Latina spokesmodel for Obama's immigration policy."
The tension will be evident Thursday in Phoenix, where a group of illegal immigrants and their families and allies are planning to confront Munoz at a National League of Cities event where she is scheduled to speak.
Immigration advocates have been agitating against Obama since 2009, angry that overhauling immigration policy seemed to take a back seat even as he amped up enforcement. The administration announced last month that it had deported about 397,000 people in fiscal year 2011, bringing the total deported under Obama to more than 1 million — more than under any other administration.
But it is the activists’ recent decision to take on Munoz that has added a cultural twist to the debate.
‘Turned her back’
The 49-year-old daughter of Bolivan parents has often been described as a ferocious activist unafraid to challenge lawmakers and presidents in defense of immigrants. And, at least until now, she has been a key voice for Obama in reaching Hispanic voters, who are viewed as central to the president’s reelection strategy in the must-win battlegrounds of Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
“It appears that Cecilia has turned her back on the important legacy she left as an immigrant rights advocate,” said Roberto Lovato, co-founder of Presente.org. “Cecilia Munoz has made a 180-degree move from being a champion for immigrants to being the No. 1 defender of a horrendous immigration policy.”
A White House spokesman, Luis Miranda, said Munoz would not comment for this story. Instead, Miranda e-mailed a statement blaming Republican lawmakers for blocking immigration overhaul efforts.
The administration, he said, has made “dramatic improvements” in the country’s enforcement system. That includes policies ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to prioritize deportations of criminals, people who were deported and then returned, and recent illegal border-crossers.
Responding to criticism, administration officials in August pledged to conduct a case-by-case review of pending deportation proceedings and suspend low-priority cases such as those that would remove students who were brought to the United States at a young age — though officials concede that the review has not fully begun yet.
Concern on the left over Munoz’s role intensified in late October after she appeared in “Lost in Detention,” a documentary on the PBS show “Frontline” that examined the treatment of detainees held at Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails and that featured accounts of Latino immigrant families separated after mothers or fathers were deported.
The report echoed the concerns that many activists have voiced for years over a federal program called Secure Communities, in which people charged with state and local criminal violations are also checked for immigration status. Critics say many minor offenders are being detained and deported.
In a combative interview with journalist Maria Hinojosa, Munoz defended the administration’s actions, pointing to policy changes in recent months designed to prioritize deporting criminals and playing down the more sympathetic cases.
Asked to reconcile her advocacy background with the record of the administration she serves, Munoz responded, “We each have our responsibilities in this arena, and it’s important that everybody do their job wisely and well.”
Critics have homed in on Munoz’s assertions that more than half of those deported in the past year were criminals and that the government is focused on those who commit “serious crimes.” She and other administration officials say that the vast majority of deportees fell into high-priority categories.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/activists-say-obama-aide-cecilia-...
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5.
Regent University president to appear on immigration issue
By Brian Lyman
The Montgomery Advertsier, November 9, 2011
The president of a Virginia university founded by televangelist Pat Robertson will be joining a group of conservative evangelists planning to address immigration in Alabama today.
"I think there's this picture painted that this is an issue for liberals only," Carlos Campo, head of Regent University, said during a phone interview Wednesday. "We believe deeply in the rule of law and don't think amnesty is a good idea."
But Campo -- who stressed his appearance is not on behalf of Regent -- said his priorities are as much about "bringing people out of the shadows" as securing the nation's borders.
"I think people are afraid," he said. "There are a lot of people who are afraid. There are churches that feel a moral responsibility to help the needy and are now wondering if giving help can put them in jeopardy."
Campo, the son of a Cuban father and an Irish mother, and other Christian evangelical leaders will appear in Birmingham today to show support for immigrant families and call on the federal government to address immigration issues. The group is part of Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, a group founded by former John McCain presidential adviser Juan Hernandez. According to its website, the group seeks a "bipartisan" solution to immigration issues that favors secure borders and paths to citizenship or legal status.
The Regent president said he fears the current system sends confusing messages.
"There are two signs at the border of Mexico," he said. "One says, 'No Trespassing,' the other says, 'Help Wanted.'"
That confusion, he said, has led to state immigration laws that he calls a "cry for help" from the federal government.
"We want to stand alongside people in Alabama to say to the federal government that something must be done," he said. "We need to begin to address this at the federal level."
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http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20111110/NEWS02/111100323/Regent-University-president-appear-immigration-issue?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|s
