With comprehensive immigration reform off the table for now, immigration advocates have turned to the issue of deportations, particularly of family members. The Obama administration has reached 2 million deportations and advocates are urging the President to change his policies and consider the welfare of children and families:
UT students were among those protesting deportations both Wednesday afternoon and Thursday during the Civil Rights Summit, with a large march from the UT Tower to the LBJ Library:
House Speaker John Boehner surprised many analysts last week, saying that passing immigration reform was unlikely before the 2014 midterm elections. The rationale behind this is complicated as noted in this article from the New York Times:
"The quandary for Mr. Obama is clear: He has vowed to overhaul immigration in two presidential campaigns, but to make good on the promise, he may have to agree to conditions from House Republicans that will be hard for many Democrats to accept. Mr. Boehner is facing pressure of his own to come up with a plan that will appeal to Hispanic voters."
Immigration Texas has been on hiatus for the last month, but immigration legislation has moved forward, starting with the passage of the Senate bill, amended to appease Senators who felt the border security measures needed to be more stringent. However, GOP members of the House of Representatives voiced their displeasure with the Senate bill, even before the final vote: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/26/us-usa-immigration-idUSBRE95P0ZX20130626
Final passage came on June 27th with a vote of 68 to 32, with 14 Republicans backing the bill:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/27/politics/immigration
In the last few weeks, House Speaker John Boehner has repeatedly said that the House would not take up the Senate bill, and would come up with it's own, and today, GOP House members met to discuss how they would move forward. Some media outlets have gone so far as to say that immigration reform is dead in the House, but that seems to be hyperbole for now as argued by John Ward of the Huffington Post "Immigration Doom And Gloom Is Giving John Boehner Some Room To Operate ": http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/10/immigration-john-boehner_n_3573669.html
My own expectation is that the House will work towards passing legislation to give a path to citizenship for DREAMers, a STEM bill that will increase visas for skilled immigrants and allow those who earned advanced degrees to stay in the U.S., and of course, border security. Of course, the House has already voted to stop Obama's DACA executive order: http://www.thonline.com/news/national_world/article_86eea608-45fa-562f-84a7-66e5414dfb6e.html and a DREAM act was supposed to be introduced by democrats in the House earlier this year: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/dream-act_n_2639187.html (apparently this did not happen) but this legislation would give House Republicans a way to deal with one of the more sympathetic groups of undocumented immigrants, without having to deal with a broader "amnesty."
