NBC Latino - AP drops “illegal immigrant,” means a person will no longer be described as illegal
The Associated Press, a news cooperative which licenses its stories to organizations across the country, is changing its long-standing style entry concerning undocumented immigrants, which it has referred to as “illegal immigrants” up until now. Read more here…
NBC Latino - Senate and House immigration reform plans: Who goes first?
For immigration reform advocates, it's countdown time. As the clock ticks, there are some key questions. Will an immigration bill be introduced next week? Are both the Senate and House on track to introduce legislation at least in the next few weeks? And does it matter who is first? Read more here…
McClatchy - In shift on immigration, GOP takes cues from California
As Republican leaders nationwide rethink their positions on immigration to bring Latino voters into the party, they might look to California, where years of hard-line immigration rhetoric put the GOP on the losing side of the state's fastest-growing group of voters. Read more here…
ABC News - 4 Arguments Against a Long Wait for Citizenship
So far, three separate immigration reform bills being drafted in Washington feature a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. And the path in each is a long one. Read more here…
McClatchy - Senators apply brakes to fast-moving immigration talks
The bipartisan group of senators who last week proclaimed the imminent release of the most sweeping immigration overhaul in decades may have hit some political snags. Senators and aides have backed off the confident pronouncements that the bill would be introduced this week. Read more here…
ABC News - An ICE Home Raid Explainer
Home raids are a powerful tactic used by federal immigration authorities to enforce immigration law, where agents round up individuals with deportation orders and find additional undocumented immigrants who may otherwise fit the agency's criteria for deportation. Read more here…
Contra Coast Times - California lawmakers to consider legislation to curb payday lending
California has long permitted payday lending and its triple-digit interest rates -- which many states consider predatory. But the Legislature this week will consider a bill to rein in payday loans, which critics say suck the financially vulnerable into a downward spiral of crushing debt. Read more here…
McClatchy - Immigration overhaul has 'something for everybody to hate'
The introduction of the most far-reaching immigration overhaul in decades marks only the first chapter in a long battle that will test emotions and political wits. Supporters of a comprehensive overhaul on each side of the immigration debate have spent the past several months pressing a small bipartisan group senators to introduce legislation, but those same activists now must wrestle with the reality of what they must relinquish to accomplish their ultimate goals _ whether those are a path to citizenship, securing the border or improving a political party's future electoral prospects. Read more here…
AP - Criticism of the immigration bill from left to right
To some conservatives, it's amnesty. To some immigration advocates, it's unnecessarily punitive. The Senate's new bipartisan immigration bill drew criticism from the right and from the left Tuesday – convincing members of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” that wrote it that they're on the right track. Read more here…
Voxxi - Immigration reform receives wide support
The immigration reform legislation that was put together by the so-called “Gang of Eight” is receiving wide support after new details of the bill were released Tuesday and the bill was introduced very early on Wednesday. Read more here…
AP - Immigration measure unveiled by senators
Four Democratic and four Republican senators formally unveiled a sweeping immigration bill Thursday at a news conference attended by traditional opponents from big business and labor, conservative groups and liberal ones. The lawmakers argued that this time, thanks to that broad-based support, immigration overhaul legislation can succeed in Congress. Read more here…
Voxxi - President Obama's cabinet inaction frustrates hispanic leadership
With the exception of first-term holdover Attorney General Eric Holder, African-Americans and
Mexican-Americans have been zeroed out of Obama's second-term Cabinet. While the nation's first black president has yet to announce his last two picks— for the departments of Transportation and Commerce — to complete the 16-member body, key black and brown leaders have informed Hispanic Link News Service that he has ignored repeated requests to address the slight. Read more here…
Cronkite News Service - Immigration-reform bill criticized for going too far – or not going far enough
The man behind Arizona's SB 1070 immigration crackdown law told a Senate committee Monday that border-security provisions in the comprehensive immigration reform bill filed last week are “not serious.” Read more here…
ABC News - Sequester Cuts Impact Housing Assistance for Most Vulnerable
Housing agencies charged with helping the country's most vulnerable people find places to live are facing budget cuts due to sequestration. The automatic budget cuts are set to reduce federal housing assistance by more than $2 billion this year alone, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Read more here…
Vida en el Valle - Latinos gather at Capitol for advocacy
Jenny Gutiérrez vaguely remembers the country where she was born. She arrived in the United States at the age of four and grew up calling it home. Her family -- which includes five brothers and sisters -- jumped from job to job to make ends meet and put food on the table. Read more here…
Tennessean - Perez will keep up good work in Cabinet
Last week, one Latino braced himself for a battle in Congress that has nothing to do with immigration reform. The confirmation hearings began April 18 for Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, who has been nominated by President Obama to join his Cabinet as secretary of labor. Read more here…
Associated Press - Including gay partners in immigration bill holds political risk
Frustrated at being left out of an immigration overhaul, gay rights groups are pushing to adjust a bipartisan Senate bill to include gay couples. But Democrats are treading carefully, wary of adding another divisive issue that could lose Republican support and jeopardize the entire bill. Read more here…
The Hill - Regulators propose guidelines for short-term loans
Financial regulators want to place limits on banks' short-term lending schemes that some worry can take advantage of borrowers. On Thursday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued proposed guidance on deposit advance loans, which are considered similar to payday loans. Read more here…
Florida Times Union - Democrats also took a role in Florida redistricting battle
Though Democrats supported a 2010 initiative to take politics out of the process of redrawing Florida’s political lines, emails show some of the party’s biggest political players were involved in drawing maps. The conversations included whether or not they needed to continue to draw the controversial seat represented by Jacksonville Democrat Corrine Brown in compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Read more here…
Huffington Post - How Undocumented Immigrants Need To Prepare In Case Immigration Reform Passes
It's not clear whether Congress will approve recently introduced immigration reform legislation, but undocumented immigrants who could qualify for the bill are already being advised to start preparing in case it is approved. Read more here…
Fox News Latino - Supreme Court Rejects Alabama Immigration Case
U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday decided not to revive parts of Alabama's strict anti-illegal immigration law. The law, described as the strictest state-level measure on immigration, makes it a crime to harbor or transport undocumented immigrants, among other things. Read more here…
USA Today - Tech companies driving the lobbying on immigration
Seven technology companies and a software association – all with interests in shaping the immigration debate now underway in Congress -- each spent more than $1 million on their federal lobbying efforts during the first three months of this year, new reports shows. Read more here…
NBC Latino - Obama administration announces simpler health insurance application form
Today the Obama administration announced it had streamlined and shortened the forms needed to apply for insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Read more here…
The Hill - Consumer watchdog backs off money transfer rule
The federal government's consumer finance watchdog is relaxing a rule on international money transfers that was seen to be overly restrictive. On Tuesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a change to its regulation of the tens of billions of dollars that Americans send abroad each year. Read more here…
New America Media - Will Aspiring U.S. Citizens Be Caught in Healthcare Limbo?
Teresa Ramirez learned to live with the pain of ovarian cysts after she was diagnosed a year ago. As an undocumented immigrant, she doesn't qualify for Medicaid, which would cover an operation, and she can't afford private insurance. Read more here…
Salon - Evangelicals take leap of faith into immigration debate
As Congress prepares to debate an overhaul of a dysfunctional immigration system, pro-reform Democrats may have new allies in Christian Evangelicals. A coalition of Evangelical leaders has begun a political push for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, making a name for conservative Christians outside of the issues of marriage equality and abortion. Read more here…
Politic365 - Latino Advocacy Organizations Applaud Introduction of Immigration Reform Bill
After the unveiling of the much anticipated Senate gang of eight immigration bill, Latino issue organizations praised the introduction of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 on Wednesday. Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and Margaret Moran of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) both expressed that the legislation was not perfect but that it was an important first step. Read more here…
Texas Insider - Healthcare Law's Insurance Tax Could Cost States $15 Billion
Supporters and opponents of the Obamacare Health Law have begun lobbying Congress to scale back a tax in the President's program which could end up costing participating states billions of dollars. Read more here…
Voxxi - The potential behind Latino consumers and Hispanic organizations
In a not so distant past, corporate sponsorship and Latino advocacy groups were like oil and water. It wasn't until the mid 1980′s when companies realized the potential behind Mexican and Latino consumers. Read more here…