Pressure Builds on Senate Group to Reveal Bill
“A bipartisan Senate group working on immigration reform plans to set a timeline for unveiling legislation, as it feels subtle pressure from the chairman of the Judiciary Committee to act,” The Hill reports.
“Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a lead negotiator of the ad hoc group on immigration reform, says he and his colleagues realize the clock is ticking. They hope to soon have a timeline for unveiling legislation.”
Measuring Border Control
“Immigration reform is one of President Barack Obama’s priorities for his second term, and for a wide-reaching package to pass, lawmakers need to be convinced that the border with Mexico is secure. But that is no easy sell. Apprehensions of undocumented aliens at the frontier have dropped 50 percent since 2008, going to 365,000 people last year, which the Obama administration cites as evidence that border security measures work,” AFP News reports.
“But the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), dampened the government’s optimism last week.
A report submitted to the House of Representatives said the number of apprehensions at the US-Mexico border ‘provides some useful information but does not position the department to be able to report on how effective its efforts are at securing the border.'”
Some ICE Centers Release Illegal Aliens While Others Don’t
“An Immigration and Customs Enforcement decision to release some undocumented immigrants from detention centers because of looming budget cuts is being applied unevenly across the country. ICE wouldn’t explain Thursday why prisoners were let go beginning Tuesday from some facilities but not others,” USA Today says.
“Around the country, 300 illegal immigrants were released from federal custody in Arizona, stoking an already white-hot controversy in the border state that has one of the nation’s toughest laws against illegal immigration.”