President Obama’s Univision appearance continues to divide commentators. Also, the legal fight over SB 1070 isn’t over, as Arizona again appeals a hold on one of SB 1070’s provisions, this time regarding violations for harboring and transporting illegal aliens. And Microsoft is still pushing for a STEM-based green card proposal. The measure did receive a majority of votes, but because it was being voted on as a suspension of the rules, it needed a 2/3 majority to pass.
Arizona Appeals Hold on Harboring Provision of SB 1070
“Arizona Governor Jan Brewer plans to fight a federal judge’s ruling against a part of Arizona’s tough immigration law that would have made it a crime to harbor illegal immigrants, court papers showed on Thursday. Lawyers for the Republican governor said the state planned to lodge an appeal with the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco to remove a block placed on the measure by a lower court judge on September 5. A formal appeal has not yet been filed,” the Chicago Tribune says.
Navarrette: Obama Should Apologize for Immigration Policies
“Instead of going on the defensive and retreating into the fantasy world where he and his administration do no wrong, and where it’s those dastardly Republicans who prevented him from keeping his promise to make immigration reform a top priority, Obama should have offered up a mea culpa,” says Ruben Navarrette Jr.
“The president has made a mess of things. He broke campaign promises and, more important, broke up hundreds of thousands of families by deporting parents, and placing their U.S.-born children on this side of the border in foster care so that other people could raise them.”
Microsoft Lobbying for STEM Green Card Proposal
“Microsoft has a promising plan to break the logjam in Congress over immigration reform, at least in the high-skills arena. The software company proposes Congress expand by 20,000 the number of H-1B visa permits companies use to bring overseas hires to the U.S. The increase would be targeted to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs,” the Seattle Times says. “That greatly helps Microsoft which currently has 6,000 job openings – more than half of which require technolology and science skils. But it also addresses a skills shortage faced by many companies beyond the technology industry.”
Debra Saunders: Obama’s Immigration Policy Designed With Politics in Mind
“[Sen.] McCain never has forgiven Obama for supporting a poison pill that toppled the fragile coalition behind the immigration bill. McCain was willing to risk his far-from-modest ambitions to pass a compromise measure that was 11 years in the making.
For his part, Obama opted for purity – and kept alive a bill whose promise has kept the Latino community snuggly inside the Democrats’ pockets,” notes Debra Saunders in her column. “Unashamed, the president told Ramos that the Latino community ‘can send a message that this is not something to use as a political football,’ by – wait for it – voting. For Obama, of course. He never would use immigration as a political football.”
No Surprise: The George W. Bush Institute Endorses Mass Immigration for Economic Growth
“The U.S. is still the top destination of all immigrants worldwide, but the percentage coming here has slipped in recent years. To retain our edge, the U.S. needs comprehensive, pro-growth, immigration reform. This will be the topic of an upcoming conference to be held jointly by the George W. Bush Institute and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas this December,” says Matthew Denhart with the George W. Bush Institute at the Huffington Post.