The Senate Judiciary Committee began to take up the first group of amendments to the immigration reform bill (S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act) submitted by the Gang of 8. Thankfully, the group struck a few of the most idiotic and punitive amendments, including a Ted Cruz amendment that would make reform unattainable, with a call for operational control of the border of “over 100 percent” and tripling the number of Border Patrol agents to over 60,000.
(For perspective, the peak number of troops in Iraq was around 150,000–and that was a war zone, not a border crossing.)
I’m sure there are more bad amendments to be considered, as well as a few good ones. To check out the entire list of submitted amendments, one can visit here.
In DosCentavos news, today I shared the stage with attorney and sister Toni Medellin at the Harris County Democratic Party’s Brown Bag. Together, we discussed the legal and political aspects of the immigration bill and the process. It was a great discussion with Democratic activists–a discussion that will need to continue as we increase support for immigration reform.
I found some of the best play-by-play on the amendments done on the Facebook page of Reform Immigration For America. Keep checking it out for the latest.
doscentavos.net 