I have much in common with my home state’s junior senator, Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
 
Like Cruz, I was not born in the U.S.
 
Like Cruz, I moved to Texas at the age of 4 and grew up pledging allegiance to the American flag.
 
Like Cruz, I graduated as valedictorian of my high school class and then attended college at an Ivy League university. As a law student, the senator undoubtedly walked the same Harvard Yard that I cross as a rising undergraduate senior. In fact, like Cruz, I hope to also embark on a career in public service.   
 
Also like Cruz, I am in Washington, D.C., this week at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup of immigration reform legislation. Why am I choosing to miss Harvard’s senior week and celebrating my friends’ graduations in favor of a bill markup? Because of a major, troubling difference I have with Cruz.

Throughout our respective political careers, we have seen the damaging effects of partisan gridlock. Oftentimes when politicians engage in fierce debate on a contentious issue, they fail to recognize that it is ordinary citizens who suffer most from this counterproductive quarreling.

But we are also aware of the momentous breakthroughs made possible due to lawmakers’ willingness to come together and achieve results on historically divisive issues. Whether it was the passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 during Marty’s tenure on the Ways and Means Committee or the enactment of the welfare reform law of 1996 while Tom was serving in the House, we understand that it is possible to overcome major challenges in a bipartisan fashion.

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Puerto Rico’s governor recently wrote about the results of the U.S. territory’s November status referendum (“Moving forward together,” May 20), painting a picture that bears little resemblance to what actually transpired.    
 
The governor supports Puerto Rico’s current territory status, while I support statehood. I cannot comprehend how one can defend a status that deprives the 3.7 million U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico of voting representation in their national government, denies them equal treatment under federal law, and is the root cause of the significant economic and security problems on the island that the governor bemoans.
 
Pro-status quo leaders are entitled to their beliefs. But they are not entitled to distort the referendum results simply because those results are not to their liking. 

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“Go West young man, go West.”

These words by author Horace Greeley in the mid-1800s helped spur the American westward movement that ultimately created the state of California. Tomorrow marks National Maritime Day, and Greeley’s words resonate all the more strongly for the citizens of our maritime state as we embark upon the American Pacific century. We need only look West once more to find golden opportunities on our Pacific doorstep.

With the revelation that the Department of Justice secretly obtained two months of The Associated Press’ telephone records and used security badge access records to track James Rosen’s visits to the State Department, along with a warrant to search Rosen’s personal emails, there has been a rush in the mainstream media to declare the DOJ’s actions to be part of what they claim to be President Obama’s aggressive pursuit of those who would leak secret information to the press.

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The cozy relationship between politicians and big business has been a fact of life in America since the days of the robber barons. Today, this affiliation is especially strong between certain governors and the oil and gas industry. And, the consequences could include drastic impacts on the health and safety of their constituents. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of Colorado’s Gov. John Hickenlooper.
 
Given that Colorado is the epicenter of both the gas boom and the controversy over its impacts, the governor has become a leading national figure on oil and gas. Earlier this year, Hickenlooper appeared in front of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee during a hearing and stated that he drank fracking fluid, implying that it’s safe. Shortly after, he was forced to clarify that what he drank isn’t actually used commercially, stating that: “I don’t think there’s any frack fluid right now that I’m aware of that people are using commercially that you want to drink.”
 
It turns out that this wasn’t the last time that the governor would go to bat for the oil-and-gas industry.

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Legislative efforts to shield the media from disclosing sources of classified information often follow perceived incidents of prosecutorial overreach. Following the Valerie Plame investigation, media shield legislation received consideration in both houses. The Free Flow of Information Act curtailed investigate authority to compel disclosure of media sources who disclose national security and other law enforcement sensitive information.

As Congress begins debating immigration reform measures, prosecutors across the country are striving to pursue justice and provide for safer communities. We strive for case outcomes that reflect a balance of punishment, compassion and concern for victims and community, including for offenders who are not citizens of the United States. Individuals who are not citizens oftentimes face immigration penalties that are not conducive to these outcomes.

The current immigration system fails to provide clear guidelines for prosecutors and judges who are attempting to provide a holistic approach to law enforcement. The criminal justice system, when applied to immigrants, often leads to mandatory no-bond detention and deportation sentences.

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I arrived in America as a refugee from Cambodia when I was only one year old. This country is the only place I know.
 
But during my first year of college at George Mason University in 2000, I made a mistake that could have led to me being banished me from my home and sent back to Cambodia. I was arrested with friends for having ecstasy on me after going to a party. I know, a stupid thing to do, but perhaps made more understandable because I was only 19 at the time.
 
But if an amendment proposed by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is included in the final immigration reform bill that is currently being marked up in the Senate, immigrants who are convicted of similarly minor crimes, and even those who are not convicted of any crime, could be detained indefinitely, even for life.

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