Court to Hear Suit By Illegal Aliens Challenging Filibusters
“Solving one of the nation’s most hotly debated issues – comprehensive immigration legislation – may hinge on a little-understood procedural rule that’s played an increasingly crucial role in Congress. The filibuster is intended to protect the voice of the minority party in Washington. But several undocumented students were in federal court Monday charging senators with abusing a filibuster that, they say, unconstitutionally denied them ‘a path to American citizenship,'” McClatchydc.com reports.
Immigration Debate Draws Lobbying Dollars
“As Congress prepares to tackle the massive issue of immigration, legislators understood that the central issues have not changed much since their last attempt failed in 2007,” USA Today reports.
“Shortly after the election, a group of influential Republicans announced the creation of Republicans for Immigration Reform, a super PAC designed to help GOP members of Congress who support a comprehensive immigration solution. The super PAC was created by Carlos Gutierrez, former Commerce secretary for President George W. Bush, and Charlie Spies, the treasurer of Restore our Future, the primary super PAC that backed Romney’s presidential campaign.’
Illegal Alien Intern Arrested on Capitol Hill
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested an unpaid intern for Sen. Robert Menendez’s (D-N.J.) office, who was a registered sex offender and an illegal immigrant. The intern, Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, was arrested in New Jersey last Thursday, as first reported by The Associated Press. Sanchez came to the United States on an expired visitor visa from Peru,” The Hill reports.
“The Department of Homeland Security knew that Luis Sanchez Zavaleta was both an illegal alien and a registered sex offender as early as October. Nevertheless, high ranking DHS officials placed electoral politics ahead of public safety and the law, when they instructed ICE agents not to arrest Mr. Sanchez until after the 2012 elections,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR in a press release.
Rubio: Immigration Bill Must Balance Interests
“Look, I’m open-minded on the approach [to an immigration bill], except that my preference is we have to deal with it comprehensively. I just question the wisdom of doing it in one massive piece of legislation, the reason being that every time that Washington has tried to tackle an issue like this comprehensively, you end up trading one good policy in exchange for five very bad policies or four very bad policies,” said Sen. Marco Rubio on the Hugh Hewitt radio show.