New Congress Convenes with Record Number of Latino Members

Fox News Latino, 1/3/2012

The new Congress, convening Thursday, includes the most Latino members ever.

The 113th Congress includes one more Hispanic in the U.S. Senate, bringing the total to three. History was made when Ted Cruz, a Republican candidate, became the first Latino to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate after he handily defeated Democratic challenger Paul Sadler in the seat that was held by retiring GOP Sen. Kay Baily Hutchison.

Cruz, who was backed by the Tea Party, joins New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican. All three are attorneys and Cuban American in a country where an overwhelming majority of Latinos are Mexican.

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Hispanics poised for big gains on Hill

Politico, 2/16/12

Hispanics are poised for major gains in Congress this fall, ensuring a boost to their clout on Capitol Hill.

Latinos are positioned to seize at least a handful of new House seats, thanks to redistricting. California has three new Hispanic-majority districts, and Texas, depending on the final outcome of legal wrangling over congressional maps, is expected to have one or two. Democrats also are fielding at least six strong Hispanic recruits in other districts currently represented by white members. And the GOP has a high-profile candidate of its own in former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, who’s trying to unseat Rep. Lois Capps, a white Democrat.

Taken together, the Hispanic delegation could see its ranks swell. Hispanic lawmakers currently hold 25 House seats, according to The Almanac of American Politics, and after the election, that number could reach well over 30.

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War on drug cartels needs Congress

Politico, 12/7/11

For more than 30 years, the United States and Mexico have engaged in a mutually destructive trade in which narcotics are sent north and high-caliber weapons shipped south.

When I was a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles during the late 1980s and early ’90s, investigating the torture and murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement agent Enrique Camarena, I thought the level of drug violence could not be worse.

But it is — beyond anything we could have imagined. As the cartels have fought for survival during the five years since President Felipe Calderon took office, violence against civilians, politicians, journalists and police has reached staggering levels of depravity. Just last month, the Zeta Cartel threatened public school teachers to turn over half their pay or be murdered. Hundreds of schools had to be shut down.

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Congressional hearing focuses on border security

Houston Chronicle, 9/19/11

A Colorado woman who says her husband was shot and killed by drug cartel gunmen while they were boating on a U.S.-Mexico border lake last year said Monday that she’s still waiting for the attackers to be brought to justice.

During a congressional field hearing on border security launched by Republican Rep. Ted Poe, Tiffany Hartley recounted how she and her husband, David Hartley, had visited a church on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake and how gunmen began shooting at them from a boat, hitting her husband in the head.

“It’s only by the grace of God that I’m here today,” Hartley said. Poe, whose district stretches north and east of Houston, called the hearing in the hopes it would send a message to Washington that the drug violence plaguing Mexico can bleed over into the U.S.

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Editorial: Sorry Mr. Calderon (in Spanish)

K Street

El Universal, 5/20/2010

“I don’t have 60 votes in Congress,” responded the United States President, Barack Obama, to his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon, when he again insisted on comprehensive migration reform that would take millions of undocumented migrants out of the shadows.  The political environment in this neighboring country does not allow for more.  Mexico, then, must widen its perspective and develop a bilateral agenda that allows for something more than security cooperation.

Again, as in the times of George Bush and Vicente Fox, security occupied the majority of the attention between the officials of both states.  Still, the lesson that can be learned on this occasion is that even within a single theme the horizon can be widened. From the meeting between Calderon and Obama came four new points of focus for the fight against organized crime, including the protection of human rights, active participation of civil society, the construction of communities with greater social cohesion, reduction in the use of illicit drugs and the search for alternatives for the youth that fill the ranks of the cartels

…The piece goes on to argue that progress on migration will be more difficult to achieve, and that instead of relying on public statements to move the U.S. Congress, a strategy of ongoing direct lobbying would be more effective.

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To Overhaul Immigration, Advocates Alter Tactics

The New  York Times, 1/1/10

Lacing up new pairs of walking shoes with a flourish, four immigrant students set out on foot from downtown Miami on Friday, starting a four-month walk to Washington to protest what they called the Obama administration’s lack of action on legislation granting legal status to illegal immigrants.

Three of the four protesters, who are current or former students at Miami Dade College, do not have legal-resident status and risk detention byimmigration authorities during the 1,500-mile walk.

The students’ trek showed the resolve and also some limitations of groups supporting an immigration overhaul that would include measures to legalize illegal immigrants. Those groups said this week that they would start a national campaign in January to pressure President Obama to push for the overhaul before midterm elections in November.

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Obama Sees Early 2010 Start on Immigration Reform

Photo by Flickr user Scott Ableman

Reuters, 8/7/2009

President Barack Obama said on Friday he expects Congress to overhaul the country’s immigration system, an issue that fires up emotions on both sides of the political divide, by “early next year.”

Speaking to Hispanic reporters at the White House, Obama said he hopes a bill for comprehensive immigration reform will be drafted by the end of this year.

Obama tapped Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on June 25 to work with Congress to speed up immigration reform as senators warned another failed effort could doom chances for a generation.

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Health Care Overhaul Ignores Illegal Immigrants

Washington Post, 7/8/2009

As Congress wrangles with overhauling the healthcare system, there is one population not being discussed. No proposal for a national health plan would cover the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.

This would seem like a big problem, one that could seriously undermine the cost-savings benefit of a program that aims to be universal, but analysts say the notion that illegal immigrants drain the health system is overblown.

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Congress may cut off spending on Mexican trucks

The Dallas Morning News, 3/5/2009

Congress may force President Barack Obama into a showdown with Mexico over free trade.

Lawmakers are preparing to cut off the money for a 1 1/2-year-old pilot program that opened the way for up to 500 Mexican trucks from 100 operators to drive deeper into the United States.

The U.S. has allowed only a few Mexican trucks to drive beyond a southern border buffer zone, although it agreed when it signed the North American Free Trade Agreement to allow Mexican trucks full access to U.S. roadways beginning in 1995.

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