Homeland Security

Comprehensive immigration reform could go down as one of the most overlooked, overdue priorities Washington has ever let slide.

There has been much discussion recently about the welcome prospect of pending immigration reform legislation. This is a propitious moment for our Nation to be having this important debate. Unfortunately, many people are narrowly framing this discussion through the lens of political expediency. The truth is that most conservatives - and most progressives for that matter - actually do want to find a solution to our nation's immigration crisis. Unfortunately, the traditional opponents of immigration reform and immigration in general, are doing their best to mitigate against the coming political winds that favor a bipartisan reform of our immigration laws. These anti-immigration advocates, who are in fact paid lobbyists, are encouraging Republicans to blindly follow them as they continue to bury their heads in the sand, and continue to spout their "anti-immigrant agenda" talking points.

Today, 28 NATO defense ministers will meet to discuss bringing the war in Afghanistan to a responsible close. They will talk strategy, troop deployments and continued training of Afghanistan’s forces. They will not, however, be talking to America’s next Defense secretary.

That’s because the likely next secretary of Defense, former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), will not be at the summit. He did not miss a plane; he was not called to a last-minute national security briefing; he was not urgently required to attend to developments in the Middle East. Instead, a vote to confirm him was sidelined due to political obstructionism by a small group of Republican senators. The 66,000 U.S. troops that remain on the ground in Afghanistan — along with the rest of our Armed Forces and the Americans they protect — deserve a secretary of Defense, not political theater.

While dozens of U.S. banks are in the midst of reviewing their information security policies after falling victim to recent successful network intrusions resulting from cyber-attacks, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and even Twitter have joined the ranks of other high-value companies to have been targeted by hackers, most notably from China and Iran. It should come as no surprise to anyone following U.S. Internet vulnerabilities that China has been named as principal culprit behind a massive, sustained cyber-espionage campaign that threatens the nation’s economic competitiveness, according to a report released today by The National Intelligence Estimate.

The Department of Defense (DoD) is scheduled to announce the winner of the $336 million Light Air Support (LAS) aircraft contract competition within the next couple of weeks. This aircraft will eventually help the Afghanistan military patrol the varied regions of their country and root out Taliban and similar terrorists hiding out and training in their midst. As the U.S. pulls out of the country and hands over operational control to Afghanis there is a lot at stake – not only for the country itself – but also for the stability of the region and our own homeland security.

One of the most important impacts of last November’s elections is that freedom is again under attack. This time, the assault on our freedom is not being led by our enemies abroad, but rather by Republicans and Democrats alike in Washington, buoyed by an increasingly complacent American public all too willing to sacrifice our liberty under the false guise of security.

In recent days, we have learned that the Obama administration has approved the use of drone warfare – often referred to as remote control assassination – to hunt down and kill terrorists, including American citizens.

Immigration policy comes down to two questions: "Who gets in?" and "How many get in?" In the end, Washington has to decide the numbers. One hundred and fifty million adults worldwide want to permanently immigrate to the U.S. today, according to a Gallup poll. The United States government is going to say "no" to most them. But the Senate and the White House refuse to acknowledge reality. They have presented Utopian proposals where anyone in the world can get a U.S. work permit except terrorists and ax murderers.

A plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty famously reads “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Emma Lazarus was so moved by the plight of immigrants in New York City that she penned these immortal words, which have come to represent America’s promise as a beacon of hope ever since. 130 years since she penned those words, our nation still finds itself wrestling with the question of how best to treat those who would join our ranks as Americans. I say we should all embrace Comprehensive Immigration Reform because immigration has helped make our nation the complex, wonderful and prosperous land it is today.

When Woodrow Wilson established the annual State of the Union address a hundred years ago, the United States had a strict policy forbidding Asian immigrants from even setting foot on our shores. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the law of the land, and it remains the only federal law to ever exclude an entire group of people from immigration solely because of their race.

Tonight, President Obama will step to the same podium and chart a new course for our nation – one that will hopefully result in a common sense immigration process. Moving forward, it is crucial that we also recognize the impact of our broken immigration system on Asian Pacific Americans, a community that is often overlooked in this debate.

Since President Obama nominated Senator Chuck Hagel as the next secretary of defense in early January, an ugly barrage of mudslinging and name-calling has ensued on Capitol Hill. While every presidential nominee should be thoroughly vetted by the Senate, tarnishing the name of a decorated Vietnam veteran to score political points is disgraceful. The misrepresentation of Hagel's sound foreign policy positions has now given way to ceaseless tactics to delay a confirmation vote. On Sunday, Senator Lindsay Graham threatened to hold up the confirmation vote unless the administration provided additional details on Benghazi. Sen. Graham should remember the Senate is in session, not the circus — this sideshow must end. Sen. Hagel should be promptly confirmed as secretary of defense.