Borders.

President Obama said there is one thing he absolutely won’t compromise on in immigration reform: a pathway to citizenship. But as for what he would be willing to give up, he won’t say… The president praised the bill produced by the Gang of Eight as a “good piece of work” that doesn’t include everything Obama [...]

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Borders.

The [Gang of Eight] bill would … exempt wide swaths of people currently counted against immigration caps from any limits: The spouses and children of legal permanent residents would be allowed to come to the country on an unlimited basis, for example. Thus, some combination of, perhaps, 7 million DREAMers, agricultural workers, and the newly [...]

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"A fine-toothed comb."

Straight talk. “I believe if we pass this legislation, it won’t gain us a single Hispanic vote, but what it will do is put us a playing field where we can compete. Right now we can’t compete,” he said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “The numbers in the last couple of [...]

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Salesmanship.

Rubio really is a one-man conservative outreach program when it comes to this bill. His ties to the tea party base are so deep that reformers were constantly worried he’d abandon negotiations rather than risk an inevitable backlash by signing onto a compromise. Rubio made light of the dynamic at a press conference introducing the [...]

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Hmmmm.

An important follow-up to Lindsey Graham’s claim yesterday that Tsarnaev didn’t ping the federal watch list before his trip to Dagestan because of a spelling error. The Free Beacon asks a good question: Is Napolitano suggesting here that DHS knew when he left, but not when he came back? Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said [...]

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Society?

Via Michael Goldfarb, a complement to Erick Erickson’s post today at Red State about Republican aides turning desperate, shrill, and repulsive as the Gang of Eight bill runs into stumbling blocks. Quote: MORNING MINDMELD, from GOP Senate aide whose boss favors immigration reform: “The … analysis that the Boston attacks are a setback for immigration [...]

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Questions.

Via the Daily Rushbo, I assume from the second clip below that Rubio didn’t persuade him in the first. He didn’t persuade me either. I’ve held off on posting over the last few days even though fellow border hawks Conn Carroll and Mickey Kaus have been tearing into the Gang of Eight’s plan because I [...]

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Heat.

Several dozen tea party members demonstrated outside some of Rubio’s Florida offices on Tuesday to protest the comprehensive immigration bill that Rubio and seven Senate colleagues announced this week, which includes a path to citizenship for up to 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. At one event in Palm Beach Gardens protesters held signs [...]

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It begins.

Even TPM seems incredulous. The left’s supposed to wait until after Republicans help pass amnesty to start shrieking that they’re Latino-hating racists who’ll never change. Enter American Bridge, a prominent Democratic super PAC devoted to tracking Republican candidates and gathering opposition research. The group is out with a dossier Monday entitled “Barriers to Reform: The [...]

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Amnesty?

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) blitzed all five Sunday shows in his most public pitch yet for the emerging immigration reform bill, arguing that it would control the border, and rejecting conservative criticisms that it provided “amnesty” for illegal immigrants in the country. “This is not amnesty. Amnesty is the forgiveness of something. Amnesty is anything [...]

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What could go wrong?

Second look at Charlie Crist? No, no second looks at Charlie Crist. Ever. Rubio is planning a media blitz to promote the bill — which is expected to be released early next week — making the rounds on all of the Sunday political talk shows starting this weekend, wooing skeptical conservative radio hosts and pitching [...]

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Allies.

Via CNS and the Media Research Center, a snapshot from yesterday’s “Rally for Citizenship” in D.C. in which a guy who’s done more than any other pol in America to make immigration reform possible ends up eating shinola anyway. I don’t really think this is inexplicable, incidentally. This is a sneak preview of the “thanks” [...]

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Charades.

Via Mickey Kaus, I glossed over this in yesterday’s post but I shouldn’t have. What happens if, as everyone but everyone expects, DHS can’t meet the Gang of Eight’s security targets at the border after five years? Magical things, my friends: [I]n a delicate compromise worked out over weeks of negotiations, the bill avoids any [...]

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Legality.

In contrast to the Senate plan — which would provide one clear, if difficult, path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country — the House legislation will most likely offer three distinct paths to legal status. Young immigrants in the country without legal papers, who often call themselves “Dreamers,” and [...]

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Hurry.

It’s not the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship that has immigration reform proponents worried — at this point, it’s clear that this will be part of any deal Senate negotiators produce. It’s how difficult they choose to make it… “The sleeper issue in immigration reform is, do all 11 million people qualify for legal [...]

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Change?

Is this progress or a runaround? Rubio wrote to Pat Leahy last weekend to urge him not to let the Judiciary Committee rubber-stamp the Gang of Eight’s bill. Democrats want to rush it through, knowing that the longer it ends up being attacked on the Senate floor, the greater the chance the fragile coalitions that [...]

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Politics.

Yes, really. Remember, even a notorious immigration squish like McCain refuses to bow to Orwellian demands to stop using the term “illegal immigrant.” With good reason: Isn’t “illegal immigrant” itself a politically correct alternative to the statutory term “alien”? “Illegal alien” was too harsh and Other-y, so “illegal immigrant” came into vogue. They’re just like [...]

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Concession?

You tell me. Listen below to Schumer on yesterday’s “Meet the Press” describing the process agreed on by the Gang of Eight. First comes probationary legal status, which has always been the Democratic prize. Then comes border security, replete with certain “metrics” to quantify improvement. Then comes the path to citizenship. He doesn’t explicitly say [...]

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Soon?

A day after labor and business groups struck a deal on a new guest-worker program, key senators said they are within reach of finalizing an immigration overhaul proposal. Members of the Senate’s bipartisan “gang of eight,” which is crafting a comprehensive immigration bill, said they have not signed off on a proposal just yet, but [...]

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Change?

Before you go further, skim this post from last month rounding up recent data from various polls on immigration. Almost universally, there was 50-60 percent support for a path to citizenship. A month later, Pew finds 43 percent. Hmmmmmm. Head for the lifeboats, Marco. While there’s still time. Lots of interesting data there. For starters, [...]

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Enforcement.

The newsiest bit from yesterday’s interview with Telemundo. Rubio’s said since the beginning that the path to citizenship (which is different from initial probationary legal status) can’t happen until the border’s been tightened, so if O insists upon this then Rubio’s destined to walk away. But would Obama insist upon it, to the point of [...]

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Enforcement.

No one has video of this glorious moment in the annals of border security? C’mon. I’m trying to figure out why he would tweet this and I can’t settle on a theory. Maybe because he thinks it shows that the “goddamned fence” won’t keep illegals out, in which case there’s no point in expanding the [...]

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Borders.

What’s wrong with this picture? SEN. MARCO RUBIO, in an interview for “Behind the Curtain,” on the likelihood of immigration reform going to President Obama’s desk this year – the first time Rubio has said this: “A lot of it is going to hinge on the viability of a guest worker program. There are elements [...]

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Sabotage?

Kabuki? Or double kabuki? Mickey Kaus says we’re being played by both sides here: Ah, but Obama has his own bill, waiting in the wings! As a “backup.” If negotiations fail, he just might introduce it! How does that work again? The already pro-amnesty Gang of 8 is unable to reach a deal–but then the [...]

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Game over?

Skip to 10:15 for the key bit. Is this endgame already for Rubio? He’s sworn up and down that unless Democrats agree to make border security the trigger for a path to citizenship — i.e. measurable security improvements first, before any path is created — he’ll walk away. Now here’s Schumer sounding an awful lot [...]

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