Congressman Luis Gutierrez, one of the leaders among Hispanics in Congress, says that the deportation review initiated by the Obama Administration is an excellent start to executive action on immigration, but that advocates must “remain vigilant,” and that there are other steps the Administration can take. Gutierrez, who has been speaking out against the President’s [...]

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Obama Administration has engaged in multiple behind-the-scenes and public efforts on comprehensive immigration reform this week. But it remains to be seen whether this will yield any results. On Monday, the White House hastily called a meeting between the President and immigration reform advocates – it wasn’t on the initial [...]

Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership projected confidence last night that they could finish off their health care bill, claiming progress on key issues and even procedural hurdles. For instance, there is more talk about a “self-executing rule,” allowing the House to take on the Senate bill and the fixes within the same vote, although [...]

TPM reports that immigrants rights advocates and their allies in Congress will not block health care legislation that could include harsh anti-immigrant provisions, so long as they extract a promise on comprehensive immigration reform. Democratic leadership aides believe that a firm White House promise of a comprehensive immigration bill will be enough to quell any [...]

Jon Walker made a list this week of 35 ways to improve the Senate health care bill. This was #30: Make all legal immigrants eligible for all public health care programs right away, instead of creating a five year wait. Under current law, legal immigrants are subject to a 5-year waiting period before accessing programs [...]