Immigration

WASHINGTON – A rare presidential visit to the Capitol coupled with an emotional appeal to Republican senators Tuesday may have persuaded some indecisive senators to support the immigration bill.

President Bush attended a Republican luncheon on the first full day back from Europe and spent most of the hour-long meeting talking about immigration, according to USA Today. He repeated the importance of the bill and the need to quickly resolve the status of 12 million illegal immigrants living in the shadows of society.

“This is a highly emotional issue, but those of us standing here believe now is the time to move a comprehensive bill,” Bush said just outside the Senate chamber to reporters. more >>

Christian leaders are urging President Bush and Congress to quickly bring the immigration bill back to the floor after the deal was pulled last week from the Senate agenda.

The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference called on the White House to “immediately intervene” on behalf of the derailed bill by lobbying Republican Senators who played a major role in the bill’s collapse.

NHCLC is the sister organization of the National Association of Evangelicals, representing 15 million Hispanic Evangelicals and 18,000 congregations. more >>

WASHINGTON – The immigration bill that incited a whirlwind of debate on Capitol Hill in recent weeks crumbled on Thursday in a dramatic Senate vote. Yet backers of the bill, heavy with fatigue and exasperation, vowed to revive it.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the chief sponsor of the legislation, said he will not give up on a bill that is aimed at “remedying one of the great national challenges we have,” according to USA Today. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also said he hopes to revisit the bill later.

“I, even though disappointed, look forward to passing this bill,” Reid said, according to The Associated Press. The Senate majority leader had called for a cloture vote in an effort to limit debate and force the bill through the Senate this week. more >>

WASHINGTON – The media spotlight is intensely concentrated on a contentious immigration reform plan, covering every step of the debate in Congress. Yet surprising, the majority of Americans say they still feel uniformed about the broad bipartisan immigration bill and thus cannot form an opinion on the legislation affecting 12 million people in the United States.

Nearly 60 percent of Americans said they did not know enough to favor or oppose the immigration bill before the Senate, according to a new Gallup Poll. The finding suggests that despite strong opinions and emotions by some groups reported in the media, most Americans are still left confused about what the immigration bill supports and how it will affect them.

However, participants who said they follow news on the immigration bill “very closely” or “somewhat closely” are mostly opposed to the bill. And among those who do know enough about the bill to have an opinion, opponents outnumbered those in favor by a three-to-one margin. more >>

WASHINGTON – The immigration debate is increasingly taking on a human face as senators and Christian groups are seeing the national crisis through the lens of their own immigrant grandparents or through the eyes of the affected families.

Among the top challenges before the Senate is to resolve the bill’s treatment of family members of illegal immigrants. While some support a point-system placing priority of education and skills over family ties, others are rallying in support of keeping the family together.

Humanitarian agency Church World Service launched its “Take 5 for Immigrants” campaign yesterday urging its constituents to take five minutes from Tuesday to Friday to call their senators about amendments being voted on that day. more >>