News Bytes

Monica Goodling, a former liaison between the Department of Justice and the White House, testified last week that she "crossed the line" in questioning applicants for immigrant judgeships and potential members of the Board of Immigration Appeal about their political orientations.  The Washington Post reports that Goodling played a key role in the firing and hiring practices of several U.S. attorneys last year.  

"I do acknowledge that I may have gone too far in asking political questions of applicants for career positions, and I may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account on some occasions," she said.   

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In a California statewide public opinion poll released last month, 80% of California voters support giving legal residence to illegal immigrants, which is up from a year ago. In addition, the Field Poll found, by wide margins, that state voter’s are in favor of creating a temporary worker program to allow future immigrant to enter the U.S. legally, increasing the border patrol and imposing stiff penalties on employers who hire unauthorized immigrants. Certain elements of President Bush’s proposed plans for immigration reform mirror the opinion of the California voters and at a recent appearance in Yuma, Arizona he highlighted, in the context of "tough on security," the success of the new fencing and surveillance at the border, which reduced illegal crossings 68% over the past year.  

Some analysts doubt that Republicans will unify around Bush’s proposal, even though a similar immigration reform bill won bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate last year, the House passed a conflicting bill and both Houses of Congress have shifted since then and there is disagreement within each party on immigration. Nationally, there is mixed support of Bush’s immigration reform, which leads some to believe that the immigration proposal will not pass. Optimists feel that Congress will address immigration, but feel that Congress has to do it before the 2008 presidential election season.  

The Field Poll is available on line at http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2229.pdf  

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According to the Washington Post, House Democrats introduced the "Responsibility to Iraqi Refugees Act," which would increase the number of refugees eligible for resettlement in the U.S. in 2007 and 2008 by at least 20,000. It would also admit 15,000 "special immigrant status" Iraqis and their families for each of the next four years. As a result of the war in Iraq , an estimated 4 million Iraqis have been displaced; 50,000 to 70,000 Iraqis are displaced from their homes each month, according to the Office of U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. House Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Jan Schakowsky express that America has a moral obligation to Iraqi refugees, because they were put at risk to help America .  

The refugee category would include female heads of households, members of religious communities such as Chaldo-Assyrian Christians, Jews, Sabean Mandeans, Yazidis, Bahais and other vulnerable minority groups such as gay Iraqis and Iraqis with family members in the U.S.  

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The New York Times is reporting that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), with the support of 30 other states, is now leading efforts to initiate a bill to repeal the REAL ID Act of 2005. The bill aims to require states to verify the identity of all 245 million licensed drivers and impose a common set of security features on license cards. Twenty five co-sponsors in the House are in support of this bill to repeal the REAL ID and revive a previous state-federal partnership to make licenses more secure. Two states last month have passed un-heard of statutes rejecting the REAL ID Act because of the unfunded mandate, federal pre-emption of state practices, and potential infringement of their resident’s privacy.  

Citizens will not be able to use their current driver’s licenses for federal identification purposes, such as boarding an airplane or entering a federal building, if the states do not conform to the act. Under REAL ID, states will have until 2013 to reissue all driver’s licenses if a state asks for an extension and drivers will be required to renew their licenses in person and show a form of photo identification and documents proving their date of birth, Social Security number and address. The federal homeland security department has estimated that REAL ID will cost states $14 billion dollars and Congress has appropriated $40 million dollars to disperse between the states in grants, but state officials point out that federal homeland security funds are already dedicated.

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