Minuteman Project co-founder Chris Simcox announced last month that he will run against Arizona Senator John McCain, arguing that the senator and former presidential candidate has abandoned the conservative values he claims to represent. According to The Associated Press, undocumented immigration will be one of the central themes of Simcox’s campaign against McCain, who in 2006 launched and effort to reform immigration laws, a move panned by critics such as the Minuteman Project as “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants currently in the US.
“No one is willing to challenge John McCain on this issue. I am,” Simcox said at his April 22 press conference to announce his candidacy. Top aides for Simcox’s campaign argue that he is not a single-issue candidate and will show voters he represents core Republican ideals. “(Simcox) is a true conservative Republican. His platform is what it should be,” said Eric Johnson, one of Simcox’s campaign advisors.
In addition to the immigration issue, Simcox also criticized McCain for his attempts to reform federal immigration laws, sponsoring campaign finance laws, and limiting sales of firearms at gun shows.
Simcox said during his announcement that he has already started getting donations from across the country through his website. But Arizona’s other Senator, Jon Kyl, dismissed the seriousness of Simcox’s challenge to McCain. Kyl laughed off the idea that Simcox could be a threat to the senator. “For you all that don’t know, that’s not necessarily tough news for Sen. McCain,” Kyl said.
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The US’ first Hispanic Secretary of Labor announced last week that among her top priorities in office are ensuring undocumented workers receive fair payment and that improvements are made in worker safety. The Associated Press reports that Secretary Hilda Solis, acknowledged that while stabilizing the economy and health care reform must come first for the Obama administration, she stressed the plight of American day workers, who are often denied payment and are afraid to press for wages when they’re unauthorized to work in the country. “We’re going to have people going out in the field and investigating,” Solis said. “We’re going to be more robust in this area and also with respect to OSHA.”
Her latest comments on the topic came in April when she visited with to a group of Hispanic leaders in the northern New Jersey area, where they discussed workplace safety. “In terms of Latinos in the work force, we’re probably the ones that are faced with the most fatalities and injuries.” Solis said, citing the many Hispanics in the US construction industry.
Solis said the discussion of comprehensive immigration reform will begin this summer. She said goals for reform include the elimination of the underground economy that has sprung up around undocumented workers, as well as the prevention of separating families which include children who are US citizens.
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For the first time in three years, CIS saw fewer than the maximum amount of H1-B visa applications requested, receiving only 45,000 of the 65,000 maximum spots allotted, USA Today reports. In the past two years, all 65,000 spots were snatched within two days of the April 1 application period. For 2009, almost 1/3 of the FY 2009 H1-B visas were still available by the beginning of May.
CIS spokeswoman Chris Rhatigan says the slower pace reflects normal fluctuations in the visa application. Specifically, she cites 2006, when it took 56 days to meet the 65,000 cap, an increase that almost doubled from the previous year. Before the economic downturn beginning last year, she indicated that there had been a steady increase in H1-B requests from 2000 to 2008, particularly in emerging industries such as biotechnology and renewable energy.
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Congress may be revisiting the issue of Real ID, the federal program that requires all states to issue more secure driver’s licenses and has remained at a standstill due to rule disputes between the federal government and state lawmakers. Stateline.org reports that proposed legislation is currently making the rounds on Capitol Hill, aiming to give states more time, flexibility and funding to meet federal Real ID requirements.
Under the plan currently being discussed in Congress, federal funding and other key state concerns would be addressed, according to a draft of the latest bill. The bill, known as the Pass ID Act, aims to give states more time to comply with Real ID by creating a new-rule making process by which states would be able to shape the rules during a public comment period.
The Real ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, was created to bolster nationwide security standards for driver’s licenses to prevent circumvention by undocumented immigrants and terrorists. The Act originated from a 9/11 Commission recommendation, after the panel learned that the Sept. 11 hijackers had obtained 30 pieces of state identification. The Act has faced a barrage of criticism from individual states, calling it an “unfunded federal mandate” that infringes on the core state responsibility of driver’s license issuance. “A lot of us believe that Real ID is a slap in the face of (state) legislative prerogative,” said Oregon state Sen. Bruce Starr, who this month voted for a bill that would prevent the state from spending any more money on Real ID unless the federal government steps up funding.
