Immigrations Reform

Rodolfo Bravo, a native of Baja, Mexico, crossed the border illegally when he was 24. He found work at a Los Angeles-area tire shop. He had two children, Stephany and Rodolfo. Over two decades passed. Stephany is now 21 and a student at UC Santa Barbara. Rodolfo Jr. is 13. Bravo still works at the same tire shop. And he and his wife are still in the United States illegally. Stephany applied for permanent residency for her parents as soon as she turned 21. But the process, if successful, will take years.

SAN FRANCISCO - For years, Silicon Valley companies wanted as little to do with Washington as possible. Hiring lobbyists to promote and protect their interests was about as far as they went. But a new generation of technology entrepreneurs believes it can no longer afford to ignore the Beltway, and is setting its sights on Capitol Hill. Leading the way is Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, who with other tech executives is starting a political advocacy group that plans to push an ambitious legislative agenda, people familiar with the plans said.

WASHINGTON -- Conservative Republicans are open to an overhaul of the nation's immigration system, including creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, according to a new report on voter attitudes in two states with early presidential contests. According to a Republican research group , recent discussions with Republican voters in Iowa and South Carolina indicated that conservatives are inclined to support the party's involvement in fixing immigration and may well reward potential presidential candidates, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who have taken a prominent role in that effort.

Service Employees Union President Mary Kay Henry on Sunday will join hundreds of farmworkers, religious and community leaders, local officials, students and others in a march in Bakersfield for immigration reforms that would provide a path to citizenship for the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. The march is also intended to honor the legacy of farmworker activist Cesar Chavez, whose birthday is celebrated in California on March...

WASHINGTON - Republican leaders, increasingly anxious to push an immigration bill through the House despite opposition from many conservatives, have decided to downplay the question of whether illegal immigrants will qualify for citizenship and focus on other parts of the deal. There are "literally dozens and dozens of issues that are involved in immigration reform," Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters Tuesday as he confidently predicted progress in the House. A bipartisan House group that has been meeting on immigration is "essentially in agreement over how to proceed," Boehner said, although aides to House leaders say a formal proposal appears unlikely until next month.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Rand Paul is calling for conservatives to embrace the cause of immigration reform, outlining a proposal that would grant some form of legal status to the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants after the federal government has certified that the border is secure. Paul's proposal, outlined in a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Tuesday, carefully avoided the term citizenship. Instead, the Kentucky senator said he sought a middle ground that would include a multi-year process of granting visas to undocumented workers that would hinge on the annual verification of the security of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Denise Panaligan, a UCLA sophomore, didn't tell her mother where she was headed Wednesday morning. She knew that if she told the truth, her mother would worry.      Panaligan, in blue jeans and white T-shirt, boarded a bus and traveled to Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, where she met up with her friend Anthony Ng. They were the only two Asian Americans at an immigration reform rally conducted in English and Spanish.      Panaligan, 19, confessed to me that she was nervous.

Angry voters infamously shut down Congress' switchboard in 2007 to oppose immigration reform - an outburst that helped convince Republicans of the proposal's outsize political peril. As Congress debates immigration reform again this year, there are still a lot of angry people - at least if the vitriolic phone calls and faxes raining down on one Florida farmer are any gauge. Joe Wright was featured in a Los Angeles Times story and video in February about how business owners are becoming vocal supporters of immigration reform.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Silicon Valley turned out in force on Capitol Hill to push its high-tech immigration reform agenda. In a rare show of unity, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer were among a coalition of high-profile executives and venture capitalists to send a letter on Thursday to President Obama and congressional leaders pressing for a fix to restrictive immigration laws by year's end. ...

For environmentalists, population has long been a problem. Many of the things we do wouldn't cause so much trouble if there weren't so many of us. It's why I wrote a book some years ago called "Maybe One: An Argument for Smaller Families. " Heck, it's why I had only one child. And many of us, I think, long viewed immigration through the lens of population; it was another part of the math problem. I've always thought we could afford historical levels of immigration, but I understood why some other environmentalists wanted tougher restrictions.