Immigration Reform Bill Forum at Neema Gospel Church this coming Sunday
Please join us for a free Legal advise and presentation by a reputable Lawyer from Atlanta – GA who is keenly following the developments of the above Bill. She will be available to answer all your immigration and other legal questions in preparation for the above Venue: Neema Gospel Church at 575 W.Arapaho Rd, Richardson, TX 75080 www.neemachurch.org Time: Immediately after the Worship Service which ends at 1pm. OPEN TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES Pastor Jackson Kingori Phone: 469-682-8879
Senate rejects Republican effort to gut immigration bill
(Reuters) – The Democratic-led U.S. Senate on Thursday rejected a Republican amendment that foes said would have undermined a key element of the White House-backed bill that aims to provide a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa said the defeat of his amendment, 57-43, broke a promise by President Barack Obama’s Democrats to permit an “open debate” on the landmark immigration legislation. Democrats forced a vote after little discussion. Grassley’s amendment would have required the Obama administration to certify “effective control” of the entire southwestern border of the United States before any…
Senate votes 82-15 to begin historic immigration reform debate
In an initial victory for proponents of comprehensive immigration reform, the Senate on Tuesday easily passed a procedural vote to begin debate on the broad bipartisan measure, with just 15 senators – all Republicans – objecting. The 82-15 vote offers an initial show of strength for supporters of the legislation, although some Republicans who voted for the initial procedural measure say they will not support the final product unless amendments are added to strengthen the legislation’s requirements to secure the nation’s southern border. The vote came hours after President Barack Obama, flanked by a broad array of supporters in remarks…
Full Senate holds its first immigration vote this afternoon
This afternoon, the full U.S. Senate holds its first vote on the bipartisan immigration legislation, which seeks to bolster border security and establish a pathway to citizenship for the nation’s millions of undocumented immigrants. This vote on the motion to proceed requires 60 votes, and it’s expected to cross that threshold. But the question is whether there are potentially as many as 70 senators who support the final legislation, which would give the legislation lots of momentum, putting pressure on the GOP-controlled House of Representatives to take up the Senate version. Today’s vote COULD give us a hint. A reminder:…
US House passes measure to deport young immigrants
The Republican-controlled House voted Thursday to resume the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children, a largely symbolic move in the first immigration-related vote in either chamber of Congress this year and a measure of the daunting challenge facing supporters of a sweeping overhaul of existing law on the subject. The party-line vote of 224-201 was aimed at blocking implementation of President Barack Obama’s 2012 election-year order to stop deportations of many so-called DREAM Act individuals. Democrats on the House floor reacted with boos when the provision was added to a routine…
Video: Immigration debate starts on Monday, says Senator Reid
The Senate will begin considering the landmark immigration reform bill on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday morning. Senator Reid said that the bill will be finished before the July 4th recess. He said that bill has been thoroughly debated and everybody has the details of the bill. He believes there is tremendous momentum for this bill to pass.
US locking up undocumented kids with adults
Over the past few years, record numbers of children, usually from Mexico or Central America and often traveling alone, have crossed illegally into the United States. From October 2011 to October 2012, some 31,000 juveniles (PDF) were apprehended by the Border Patrol. And according to a new report, more and more of them have landed in immigration detention centers—alongside adults. Data obtained by the nonprofit National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) shows that the federal government detained at least 1,366 immigrant children for three or more days in 30 adult facilities between 2008 and 2012. The data, secured in a Freedom…
Senator Says Immigration Bill to Pass Senate by July 4
WASHINGTON — A senator guiding an immigration overhaul bill through Congress says he wants the Senate to pass the measure by July 4 and predicts as many as 70 votes in support. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday that the bipartisan coalition of lawmakers working on the bill is moving forward over House Republicans’ objections. The New York senator adds that the eight lawmakers who developed the legislation would consider amendments to their proposal. Schumer says that if Republicans oppose an overhaul of immigration laws, they will see their party relegated to minority status for a generation. He predicts voters…
In prior immigration overhaul, legalized farmworkers prospered
MADERA, Calif. (AP) — After Paulino Mejia crossed the border illegally into the U.S. in 1980, he picked grapes, peaches and other crops in California’s agricultural heartland, lived in crowded rental housing, hid from immigration agents and sent paychecks to family in his native Mexico. His life, however, changed in 1986, when Congress agreed to allow immigrants who were in the country illegally to get legal status — with a special provision that focused on farmworkers. Mejia then stopped living in fear. He left agriculture to join a construction company that hired only legal workers, sent his two daughters to…
Immigrant Who Met Obama: ‘You’re Dealing With Human Lives’
WASHINGTON — When Mehdi Mahraoui, a 22-year-old legal resident, was a child in Morocco, he thought the coolest possible job would be to sell bleach. There was a man who came to their neighborhood in his village to sell it, and he was always dressed in bright colors and seemed, to Mahraoui as a small child, to live a good life. His father asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, and he told him bleach peddler. His father didn’t like that — he sold their house and car and saved to come to the United States…
