National Immigration Forum

WASHINGTON - An influential network of some of the country's wealthiest liberal political donors is steering resources to an advocacy group backing President Obama's agenda and to organizations working to pass immigration reform, providing a surge of money that could boost the president's legislative goals. Democracy Alliance, an invitation-only group that makes funding recommendations to its members, selected the pro-Obama Organizing for Action and immigration reform groups such as the National Immigration Forum as some of its top 2013 priorities at its spring conference in Laguna Beach last week, according to leaders of the organization.

WASHINGTON - An influential network of some of the country's wealthiest liberal political donors is steering resources to an advocacy group backing President Obama's agenda and to organizations working to pass immigration reform, providing a surge of money that could boost the president's legislative goals. Democracy Alliance, an invitation-only group that makes funding recommendations to its members, selected the pro-Obama Organizing for Action and immigration reform groups such as the National Immigration Forum as some of its top 2013 priorities at its spring conference in Laguna Beach last week, according to leaders of the organization.

Regarding the McCain/Kennedy immigration amnesty bill ("Joint Bill Would Revamp Immigrant Worker Rules," May 13), the National Immigration Forum claims that "in contrast to the status quo, it will mean honest admissions policies, tightly enforced." The NIF shows incredible contempt for the intelligence of the American people if it thinks anyone will believe such nonsense. We are to believe that a bill drafted by the same politicians who have stubbornly blocked enforcement of the existing immigration laws is going to result in "tight enforcement"?

The Obama administration has extended the deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops along the Southwest border for an additional three months. The troops sent to assist the Border Patrol last August were scheduled to withdraw at the end of June, but have been ordered to remain in place until Sept. 30, according to Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for the Homeland Security Department. The extension is intended to help prevent illegal border crossings and stop shipments of cash moving south from drug sales while the Homeland Security Department adds more patrols, fences and sensors in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The Obama administration has extended the deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops along the Southwest border for an additional three months. The troops sent to assist the Border Patrol last August were scheduled to withdraw at the end of June, but have been ordered to remain in place until Sept. 30, according to Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for the Homeland Security Department. The extension is intended to help prevent illegal border crossings and stop shipments of cash moving south from drug sales while the Homeland Security Department adds more patrols, fences and sensors in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

A new study on the effects of immigration finds that total per capita government expenditures are much lower for immigrants--legal and illegal--than for native-born citizens. The report also paints an upbeat picture of immigrants' educational achievements and asserts that the nation's natural resources and environment are unaffected by the influx of immigrants. "As of the 1970s, immigrants contributed more to the public coffers in taxes than they drew out in welfare services," the report says.

Days before a planned march in Washington, D.C., two U.S. senators announced their framework Thursday for a bipartisan immigration bill that would increase resources for border enforcement, create a biometric Social Security card to prevent forgeries and legalize millions of undocumented immigrants. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) laid out their proposal in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, saying that "the American people deserve more than empty rhetoric and impractical calls for mass deportation."

More than 30 million U.S. residents are immigrants, bringing their share of the nation's overall population to the highest level since the 1930s, the Census Bureau reported today. Of the 13.3 million who arrived in the last decade, a smaller percentage settled in California than had in the 1980s as immigrants bypassed traditional gateways to establish beachheads across the South and the Farm Belt.

Immigrants from the British Isles and Northern Europe, some argue, gave America its core values, its laws, its manners and customs. As for later immigrants, they were stereotyped as eternal foreigners, unwilling to assimilate and endlessly posing a threat to American culture. Such was said of Italian, Asian and Afro-Caribbean immigrants, even of the Mexicans who had long populated large stretches of the Southwest. Yet all these people assimilated and brought something fresh to the culture.

For immigrants in chilly Binghamton, the doorway to America opens through the friendly building on Front Street. But Friday, the American Civic Assn. -- a place crowded with recent arrivals taking English classes and citizenship exams -- became a killing zone. A gunman barricaded the back door of the immigration services center with a car, thwarting escape, then entered through the front door.

Days before a planned march in Washington, D.C., two U.S. senators announced their framework Thursday for a bipartisan immigration bill that would increase resources for border enforcement, create a biometric Social Security card to prevent forgeries and legalize millions of undocumented immigrants. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) laid out their proposal in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, saying that "the American people deserve more than empty rhetoric and impractical calls for mass deportation."

Regarding the McCain/Kennedy immigration amnesty bill ("Joint Bill Would Revamp Immigrant Worker Rules," May 13), the National Immigration Forum claims that "in contrast to the status quo, it will mean honest admissions policies, tightly enforced." The NIF shows incredible contempt for the intelligence of the American people if it thinks anyone will believe such nonsense. We are to believe that a bill drafted by the same politicians who have stubbornly blocked enforcement of the existing immigration laws is going to result in "tight enforcement"?

More than 30 million U.S. residents are immigrants, bringing their share of the nation's overall population to the highest level since the 1930s, the Census Bureau reported today. Of the 13.3 million who arrived in the last decade, a smaller percentage settled in California than had in the 1980s as immigrants bypassed traditional gateways to establish beachheads across the South and the Farm Belt.

A new study on the effects of immigration finds that total per capita government expenditures are much lower for immigrants--legal and illegal--than for native-born citizens. The report also paints an upbeat picture of immigrants' educational achievements and asserts that the nation's natural resources and environment are unaffected by the influx of immigrants. "As of the 1970s, immigrants contributed more to the public coffers in taxes than they drew out in welfare services," the report says.

The largest group of immigrants to the United States since the beginning of the century is embracing the nation's lifestyle by the millions--buying homes, speaking English, becoming citizens and intermarrying at surprisingly high rates, according to a new study of national census data. Commentators brought together by the report's sponsors at a forum Tuesday in Los Angeles called the conclusions consistent with the ethnic transformation of Southern California.

Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee reached a bipartisan agreement Thursday on a proposal to split the Immigration and Naturalization Service in two, a bid by Congress to assert its role in overhauling the agency. The Bush administration has proposed a similar change to the INS that it sought to accomplish without congressional action. The proposal announced Thursday by Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.