Wednesday, November 08, 2006  

BUSH SUGGESTS HE'S READY TO MAKE DEAL WITH DEMS ON IMMIGRATION REFORM 

President Bush told reporters today that he's hopeful that the the election victory by Democrats yesterday will lead to movement on immigration reform.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. On immigration, many Democrats had more positive things to say about your comprehensive proposal than many Republicans did. Do you think a Democratic Congress gives you a better shot at comprehensive immigration reform?

THE PRESIDENT: You know, I should have brought this up. I do. I think we have a good chance. Thank you. It's an important issue and I hope we can get something done on it. I meant to put that in my list of things that we need to get done.

I would hope Republicans have recognized that we've taken very strong security measures to address one aspect of comprehensive immigration reform. And I was talking to Secretary Chertoff today; he thinks that these measures we're taking are beginning to have measurable effects, and that catch and release has virtually been ended over the past couple of months. And that's positive.

And that's what some members were concerned about prior to advancing a comprehensive bill. In other words, they said, show me progress on the border, and then we'd be interested in talking about other aspects. Well, there's progress being made on the border in terms of security, and I would hope we can get something done. It's a vital issue. It's an issue that -- there's an issue where I believe we can find some common ground with the Democrats.

Q What are the odds for a guest worker provision?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's got to be an integral part of a comprehensive plan. When you're talking comprehensive immigration reform, one part of it is a guest worker program, where people can come on a temporary basis to do jobs Americans are not doing. I've always felt like that would be an important aspect of securing the border. In other words, if somebody is not trying to sneak in in the first place, it makes -- decreases the work load on our Border Patrol, and lets the Border Patrol focused on drugs and guns and terrorists. But that's a -- I appreciate you bringing that up. I should have remembered it.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 10:31 PM

TANCREDO'S ANTI-IMMIGRATION CAUCUS DECIMATED 

You'll read tomorrow about the Democrats big win in the House (and possible the Senate). You probably won't read about how badly anti-immigrants in the House have done this evening. Between retirements and losses, at least 11 and as many as 20 hardcore anti-immigrant Congressman will be gone in January. They include

Bass (R-NH)
Beauprez (R-CO)
Bradley (R-NH)
Gutknecht (R-MN)
Hayworth (R-AZ)
Heffley (R-CO)
Hyde (R-IL)
Ryun (R-KS)
Taylor (R-NC)
Sweeney (R-NY)

And another several races are too close to call including

Bilbray (R-CA)
Cubin (R-WY)
Doolittle (R-CA)
Drake (R-VA)
Kuhl (R-NY)
Musgrave (R-CO)
Otter (R-ID)
Renzi (R-AZ)
Schmidt (R-OH)

No matter what is said after this election, the American public spoke and made it clear that they do not buy the anti-immigrant rhetoric of some in Congress. Not a single pro-immigrant Congressman lost to an anti-immigrant opponent as far as I can tell.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 12:41 AM

Tuesday, November 07, 2006  

NBC: DEMOCRATS WIN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BY WIDE MARGIN 

NBC News is projecting the Democrats will win the House of Representatives by twice as many seats as needed. The Immigration Subcommittee will now be chaired by a Democrat and the prospects for passage of comprehensive immigration reform will improve dramatically in the next session.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 10:03 PM

ANTI-L VISA REPUBLICAN LOSES IN CONNECTICUT  

Nancy Johnson, a leading opponent of L-1 intracompany visas, has lost her House seat. Johnson had been a vocal critic of the L-1 visa category and had proposed a low cap on the category.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 9:15 PM

HOUSE IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE CHAIR LOSES RACE 

One of the first election results of the evening is the loss by John Hostettler of his House seat in Indiana . Hostettler is the anti-immigration Republican chair of the House Immigration Subcommittee and he ran his race largely on an anti-immigration platform. All of the networks have called the election for Brad Ellsworth. The Democrats appear to be moving toward claiming the majority in the House and that would result in a new chairman anyway. But come January I can now tell readers that there will be a new person in charge of this critical committee.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 8:58 PM