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| 5/23 |
| 2009/8/29-9/9 [Politics/Domestic/Immigration, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:53308 Activity:nil |
8/29 'For immigrants, Kennedy remained tireless advocate'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090829/ap_on_re_us/us_kennedy_immigrants
'Kennedy remained an ally for immigrants and minorities, even though
Massachusetts didn't have a sizable Latino or Asian population.
"He had no constituency he was trying to serve, other than what he saw
was fair and just," Mindiola said."'
Now this was a real pro-immigrant senator, not like those so-called
"pro-immigrant" vote-buying politicians. I didn't know I benefited
from him so much until after he passed away. May he RIP.
-- Asian immigrant
\_ Is he pro H1B? We need more H1Bs so that tech companies can be
more competitive, by hiring cheap skilled PhDs.
\_ He's now pro annelid.
\_ "All Immigration Votes of Senator Edward Kennedy"
http://www.csua.org/u/oyr (profiles.numbersusa.com)
I'm not sure. At a first glance he seems to be anti-H1B, but
maybe he actually cast his vote according to the specific details
of the bills and the then-current situation, rather than adopting
a simple for/against position. -- OP
I'm not sure. At a first glance he seemed to be anti-H1B, but
maybe he actually casted his vote according to the specific
details of the bills and the then-current situations, rather than
adopting a simple for/against position. -- OP |
| 5/23 |
|
| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090829/ap_on_re_us/us_kennedy_immigrants ABC News By RUSSELL CONTRERAS, Associated Press Writer Russell Contreras, Associated Press Writer - Sat Aug 29, 9:34 am ET BOSTON - Before 1965, Leticia Hermosa had little chance of crossing the Pacific to the US from the Philippines. Hermosa, a nurse, and others like her just couldn't get through the strict US immigration quota system, which favored Western Europeans and essentially excluded those from Asia and Latin America. Edward Kennedy pushed through the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the door opened for her to immigrate in 1973 to Boston, where she eventually finished school, got a law degree and became a US citizen. On Thursday, Hermosa stood in line with thousands of others at the John F Kennedy Library and Museum to pay her respects to the late senator. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today," said the 55-year-old Hermosa, who now lives in Westwood, Mass. As the nation mourns Kennedy, who died this week of a brain tumor at age 77, historians and immigrant advocates are remembering the senator -- perhaps more than any other -- as championing legislation that directly benefited immigrants, their children and their grandchildren. The 1965 law that he sponsored fundamentally changed the demographics of the country and transformed many urban enclaves into majority-minority cities. But they say Kennedy also remained a "point man" in the Senate for immigrant advocates and minorities throughout his career, even supporting recent proposals to overhaul immigration laws aimed at undocumented workers. Kennedy was always committed to us and also tried to do what he could on our behalf," said Arturo S Rodriguez, president of the California-based United Farm Workers, a group co-founded by the late Cesar Chavez. Kennedy advocated for the children of immigrants and minorities by pushing legislation on voting rights and health care for uninsured children, Rodriguez said. Tatcho Mindiola, the director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston, said Kennedy remained an ally for immigrants and minorities, even though Massachusetts didn't have a sizable Latino or Asian population. "He had no constituency he was trying to serve, other than what he saw was fair and just," Mindiola said. Ignacio M Garcia, author of "Viva Kennedy: Mexican Americans in search of Camelot" and a history professor at Utah's Brigham Young University, said Kennedy developed strong ties with advocates during his brother's 1960 presidential campaign. While campaigning as the point person for "Viva Kennedy" clubs in the American Southwest, the youngest Kennedy brother saw firsthand the effects of Latino segregation, Garcia said. "He established relationships even before his brothers did, and in a more direct way," Garcia said. "John F Kennedy would disappoint, Robert Kennedy never really got the chance, but Ted would become the go-to guy." William Bonilla, 79, a lawyer in Corpus Christi, Texas, and former national president for the League of United Latin American Citizens, said that whenever Latino groups invited Kennedy to speak, the room was packed. "He spoke more for us than our own senators we elected from Texas," Bonilla said. Political observers say Kennedy's most lasting legacy may be the rarely mentioned 1965 immigration law. Before its passage, a national origins quota system was in place to mirror the largely white-ancestral makeup of the US Rep. Charles A Gonzalez, D-Texas, whose late father, Henry, served in Congress and worked with Kennedy on the legislation, said the bill would not have passed without Kennedy. "There's no way you can describe the importance of his involvement. In 1965, the US was around 85 percent white, according to various estimates. Today, a third of the country is minority, and nonwhites are on track to become the majority sometime in the 2040s. Minority populations have grown by leaps and bounds because of high birth rates among those first generations of immigrants and a steady flow from Latin America, Asian and Africa since. Some political observers even credit the election of President Barack Obama to the political maturation of those populations. Syndicated editorial cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz said Kennedy's death has "reawakened" interests in Kennedy among the children and grandchildren of immigrants. He said that when his wife, Victoria Landeros-Lopez, heard of Kennedy's passing, she pulled out an old "Viva Kennedy" button her mother wore during the 1960 campaign. That gave Alcaraz the idea this week to draw a cartoon of a young Sen. "When my wife left to take the kids to the orthodontist, I kissed her and said 'Viva Kennedy,'" Alcaraz said. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| www.csua.org/u/oyr -> profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=MA&VIPID=358 Kennedy's immigration related congressional votes, cosponsorships, and other immigration actions during his career in Congress. Immigration Profiles is the only exhaustive source for this information available in one place. This bill would have exempted children of Filipino World War II veterans naturalized pursuant to the Immigration Act of 1990 from numerical limits on worldwide immigration. cosposnring A S 703, a bill that would expand chain migration by expanding the definition of immediate relative for purposes of exemptions from the numerical cap to include children of US citizens parents accompanying or following to join the parent. The Clinton Amendment would significantly increase legal immigration by adding an unlimited number of spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents to the uncapped immediate relative category that currently is for the spouses, minor children and parents of US citizens only. The spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents currently are allocated some 87,000 visas each year. The Menedez Amendment would not only increase near-term legal immigration by more than 100,000 each year, it would remove even the faade that the bill would end chain migration. Specifically, it would change the cut-off date for reducing the backlog of family-sponsored immigration applicants from May 1, 2005, to January 1, 2007, the same date by which illegal aliens must have been unlawfully present in the United States in order to receive amnesty under this bill. It also adds 110,000 green cards a year for adult children and sibling backlog reduction. Akaka Amendment (SA 1186) to S 1387 The Akaka Amendment would exempt children of Filipino World War II veterans naturalized pursuant to the Immigration Act of 1990 from numerical limits on worldwide immigration. Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996. S 1664 was a large omnibus bill designed to reform the entire immigration system. The legal immigration reforms it included were based on the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission's recommendations for cutting the major links of family-chain migration and protecting American workers from further wage depression. The bill would have eliminated the categories for adult children and siblings and limited that for parents of adults. S 1664 also included dozens of provisions aimed at reducing illegal immigration, including a 10-year ban on legal re-entry for illegal aliens, additional border patrol agents and equipment, and worksite verification programs. S 1664 was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 13-4. Kennedy in 1996 voted against the Simpson Amendment to S1664. It was a vote in favor of a chain migration system that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million. Kennedy supported provisions that allow immigrants to send for their adult relatives. Then each of those relatives can send for their and their spouse's adult relatives, creating a never-ending and ever-growing chain. The bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. Simpson Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. Kennedy helped kill the reform by voting with the 80-20 majority against the amendment. Kennedy's vote helped continue a level of immigration that the Census Bureau projects will result in a doubled US population in the next century. Kennedy helped defeat legal immigration reform when he voted for Senator Spencer Abraham's amendment to remove the legal immigration reforms from S1664, the Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996. This vote effectively killed any chance of Congress considering the Jordon Commission recommendations on easing legal immigration levels. Kennedy voted in 1996 against the Feinstein Amendment to S1664. The Feinstein Amendment would have reduced annual admission of spouses and minor children of citizens to 480,000 and significantly reduced annual limits other categories of chain migration such as parents of citizens and adult unmarried children of citizens. Kennedy voted in favor of a system of chain migration that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million today. In 1996 the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Feinstein Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. S 729 would grant amnesty to illegal aliens under the age of 35 who have been in the United States for five consecutive years and came (illegally) to the United States before the age of 16. Such a reward for illegal immigration serves as an incentive for more illegal immigration. Voted on Senate floor in favor of guestworker-amnesty bill by voting in favor of cloture motion to end debate and bring bill to a vote in 2007 Sen. Kennedy voted in favor of a motion to invoke cloture and limit debate on S 1639, thereby preventing it from moving toward a final vote. S 1639 is the corrected and updated version of S 1348, the guestworker-amnesty bill that would: grant an amnesty; authorize the importation of millions of new foreign workers; Two days prior to this vote, the Senate had voted to invoke cloture and move forward with the debate on S 1639, outside normal channels and bypassing the committee process. Two weeks prior to this vote, the Senate rejected cloture on the grand bargain substitute amendment to S 1348 by a 45-50 margin, thus halting for the time being the bills progress toward final passage. President Bush then stepped in to plead with Senate Republicans to give the compromise another look. Senate Majority Leader Reid chose to bring the proposal back to the Senate as a new bill, S 1369. Voted on Senate floor in favor of guestworker-amnesty bill by voting in favor of a motion to bring bill to the Senate floor for a debate and a vote in 2007 Sen. Kennedy voted in favor of a motion to invoke cloture and bring S 1639, the corrected and updated version of S 1348, the guestworker-amnesty bill that would grant an amnesty, would authorize the importation of millions of new foreign workers, and would do little to curb our illegal immigration crisis, to the Senate floor. Two weeks prior to this vote, the Senate rejected cloture on the grand bargain substitute amendment to S 1348 by a 45-50 margin, thus halting for the time being the bills progress toward final passage. President Bush then stepped in to plead with Senate Republicans to give the compromise another look and Senate Majority Leader Reid then brought the proposal back to the Senate as a new bill, S 1369. Voted on Senate floor in favor of guestworker-amnesty bill by voting in favor of motion to limit debate and move to vote in 2007 Sen. Kennedy voted in favor of the second cloture motion on the "grand bargain" substitute amendment (SA 1150) to S 1348, the guestworker-amnesty bill that would grant an amnesty, would authorize the importation of millions of new foreign workers, and would do little to curb our illegal immigration crisis. The motion to invoke cloture would have ended the debate on the "compromise" proposal and limited further discussion of amendments to a previously-agreed upon set of proposals -- thus a vote against cloture was effectively a vote in favor of killing the amnesty-guestworker bill. The motion to invoke cloture was a procedural vote on whether or not to bring S 1348 to the floor for debate without going through a committee process. Therefore, a vote in favor of cloture reflected not only a willingness to pass the amnesty but also to bring it up outside normal channels, ie, without committee debate and amendments conducted in the public light. Additionally, the Congressional Budget Office had not estimated its cost. A vote against cloture can be seen as a vote against the amnesty, or at least against the procedure Majority Leader Reid tried to u... |