7. Washington Watch:

Lawmakers expect DHS to cancel troubled border security program

NextGov reports that GOP members on the House Homeland Security Committee expect Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to cancel the $1.1 billion Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet) contract with Boeing Co.  As the presumed committee chairman, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) says he intends to pressure the Obama administration to implement an aggressive timetable for securing the border.  Republicans are concerned that the government could lose investments in research and development if Boeing is pulled of the project. 

SBInet’s original designs included a virtual fence and other technological programs including high-tech cameras and vibrations sensors that would curb human and drug trafficking along the Southwest border.  However, after an investment of over $1 billion the fence only covers only 53 miles of the 2,000 mile border with Mexico and the high-tech surveillance equipment operates with little reliability.

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20101112_2680.php?oref=topstory

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House OKs proxy marriage bill for service members

The Navy Times reports that the House of Representatives passed HR 6397, a bill creating an exception to recognize marriages for military members who married while deployed.  The legislation does not eliminate the requirement for consummation of marriage for immigration purposes, but offers a narrow exception when physical separation due to active-duty military service abroad prevents consummation.

The bill was drafted by Rep. Jim Duncan (R-TN) and is called the Marine Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr. Memorial Act, named for a sergeant who discovered that his Japanese girlfriend was pregnant just after he was deployed to Iraq.  The couple married in a ceremony conducted over the phone but Ferschke was killed in action shortly thereafter.  Although the Defense Department recognized the marriage and paid death benefits to the widow, her petition to immigrate to the United States and raise her child in Tennessee was denied.  Next, the bill must pass through the Senate and it is not clear whether the bill will be taken up before the lame duck session ends at the end of this month.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/11/military-proxy-marriages-immigration-111610w/

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Alabama senator stalls Ferschke bill

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) blocked a bill that would allow Ferschke’s widow, Hotaru Ferschke, to move to Tennessee with her infant son.  Sessions raised concern that the bill is too broad and would apply to any service member’s proxy marriage, even when residency and citizenship are available through existing law.  Hotaru traveled to Mobile, AL to meet with Sessions and discuss the legislation.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/nov/22/alabama-senator-stalls-ferschke-bill

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Texas Rep. elected leader of Democratic Hispanic Caucus

The Associated Press reports that Representative Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX) has been elected to lead the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the next Congress.  Gonzalez was elected unanimously by the 22 members of the all-Democratic caucus.  Five new Hispanic Republicans were voted to the House and one to the Senate in the November elections and in 2003, Hispanic Republicans formed their own group.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?

f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2010%2F11%2F18%2Fnational%2Fw134448S32.DTL

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Steve King: ‘birthright citizenship’ bill could be soon

CBS News reports that Representative Steve King (R-IA) plans to introduce a bill in the next Congress to challenge the practice of giving U.S. citizenship to the children of illegally present immigrants.  King will likely head the immigration subcommittee and expects hearings in the months after this legislation is introduced.  Defenders say ‘birthright citizenship’ is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, but King argues that the amendment was put in place in 1868 for the specific purpose of ensuring citizenship for the children of newly freed slaves and should not extend to the children of illegally present immigrants.  King says if the law is struck down in the courts, he would push for a constitutional amendment to address the issue.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20023606-503544.html

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