As the state of the US-Mexico border moves front and center in the national debate over immigration, a little perspective is needed.  

What is apparently driving Republican efforts to alter the border security provisions of the Senate immigration bill is a distrust of the Obama Administration and DHS’s commitment to the effective management of the US-Mexico border.   At the core, this concern is misplaced, and Republicans are simply going to have to find a better argument for their proposed changes to the Senate immigration bill. Read more...

The truth about late-term abortions, like those committed in Kermit Gosnell's House of Horrors, is that pro-choice leaders don't know how to respond to one simple question: When is innocent human life deserving of protection?



It's no secret that President Obama doesn't believe in limits -- he opposed legal protections for infants born alive after failed abortions; he wants more taxpayer funding of abortion; he mandated insurance for abortifacients in Obamacare; he opposes limits on sex selection abortions; and much more. Read more...

There’s not much agreement these days among Republicans, Democrats, members of the House and members of the Senate.  So, when bipartisan members of both chambers express shared sentiments about the future of an important federal healthcare program, it’s a notable event, to say the least.

Recently, the Republican chair and ranking Democrat of the House Ways and Means health subcommittee joined forces in a letter to the government agency that manages the Medicare program – the Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services (CMS) -- to act cautiously regarding fiscal-cliff related cuts for Medicare’s End Stage Renal Care (ESRD) benefit, on which the overwhelming majority of Americans with kidney failure rely for their dialysis care.

You know the summer has started when the restaurant industry fires up its annual campaign to blame the minimum wage for the lack of summer job opportunities for teens looking to make some side money.

This year’s effort includes a new highlight: a billboard on West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, featuring a jarring image of former child actress Amanda Bynes, suggesting that the distress visible on the celebrity’s face may be a reaction to minimum wage laws that are preventing teens from finding a job this summer. Read more...

When people ask me why someone fleeing persecution can’t necessarily manage to file an application for asylum within one year of arriving in the United States, I tell them about my pro bono client, whom I will call “Dina” to protect her privacy.  And I ask them to try, just try, to put themselves in her shoes. Read more...

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons - Fyodor Dostoevsky
 
Americans would be surprised to learn that thousands of the prisoners in our massive system are immigration detainees, wasting away in jail while awaiting their deportation hearings.
 
In many cases, immigrants in detention cannot be deported from the U.S because we lack diplomatic relations with their home country (as with Cuba) or because of long delays in travel document processing. With immigration reform a real possibility, one would think that everyone would be on board with decreasing, not maintaining or even increasing, the number of such detainees in federal immigration custody, especially those with no violent criminal record. 
 
Guess again.  A pending amendment to the immigration reform bill, Amendment 1203, proposed by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), would radically expand our immigration prison system. Read more...

Washington’s lack of action in support of common sense immigration reform has bred a broken system that undermines our national security, economic growth, and American competitiveness on the world stage.  As reform legislation is drafted and debated during the weeks ahead on Capitol Hill, it is essential that Democrats and Republicans place the needs of their constituents and the economy, and most importantly the country, before their next campaign.

Nearly half of all Americans in the private sector workforce have a firsthand appreciation of the value of small businesses to our economy. Why? Because they work for one. Read more...

Politicians sometimes use word games and bureaucratic trickery to stop initiatives they disagree with. The most recent example: Sen. Carl Levin’s (D-Mich.) June 6 letter to the head of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Read more...