18 Feb 2011

Florida Businesses, Law Enforcement Question Need for AZ-Style Bill

Florida’s bid to pass legislation similar to Arizona’s S.B. 1070 appears to be running into resistance, according to an editorial in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. (See Immigration Reform Hits Snag in Tallahassee, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial, 14.Feb.2011.) As the editorial points out, the original proposal...

14 Feb 2011

Schumer-Graham Redux?

In the run-up to last year's midterm elections, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) were the last hope for a bipartisan immigration reform bill, as they worked to hammer out compromise legislation that never materialized. Senator Graham quit the partnership in April, and...

11 Feb 2011

S.B. 1070 as National Legislation?

Arizona's S.B. 1070 has been a mixed blessing - at best - triggering legal challenges, boycotts and other unpleasantness, and leaving only a handful of state politicians as the apparent beneficiaries of the measure. As our readers have noted in previous MurthyBlog entries, several states...

10 Feb 2011

Ronald Reagan and Immigration Reform

In recent days, we have seen countless tributes to our 40th President, Ronald Reagan, who would have been 100 years old last week. Amid all the celebration, some commentators are wondering whether certain aspects of President Reagan's legacy have been airbrushed - perhaps Photoshopped? -...

08 Feb 2011

George W. Bush Cautions Against Nativism

It was not for want of presidential leadership that immigration reform failed to make it through Congress during the George W. Bush administration. President Bush clearly recognized that America's immigration system had become dysfunctional, and needed substantial overhaul to make it run smoothly again -...

04 Feb 2011

Immigration and the State of the Union

As expected, President Obama's annual State of the Union message focused on jobs and the economy, and the steps he believes the government should take to regain our national preeminence as inventors, creators, and technical innovators. (See Remarks by the President in State of Union...

03 Feb 2011

Arizona-Copycat Bills Losing Favor?

Here in Baltimore, as winter rages on, one begins to look for hopeful signs: the first green shoots poking through the snow, the start of spring training for the coming baseball season, anything to take the edge off an austere, demanding time of year. In...