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COLUMBIA Jose Antonio Vargas is calling for major immigration change on a national level, and he's including MU. It's the incremental progressions that really count, he said during his speech Thursday night in Jesse Hall.

The nationally recognized filmmaker and immigration activist has put himself at the forefront of the immigration-reform movement by launching campaigns, speaking to crowds and attending political events. On Thursday, he made his way to Jesse Hall to speak about his journey and what it means to fight his battle.

Vargas came to America when he was 12 years old. He grew up here, went toschool here, attended college here and has worked as a journalist here with nationally recognized publications.

But his life in America was an undocumented one, and that took a toll on him, he said Thursday. So about five years ago, he said he decided to "liberate himself from his own fears."

"Against the advice of about 27 lawyers, I wrote in journalistic detail everything I had to do to stay here in this country as an undocumented immigrant," he said. "And then I waited."

"I heard from Stephen Colbert and Bill O'Reilly but nothing from the government."

Vargas said he knows his public declaration was a taunt: "Come and get me." But so far, no one has.

"I spent my entire 20s and teenage years being so scared of this government," he said. "Now I find that maybe they're even more scared of me than I am of them."

That fear Vargas talked about is what he said drove his decision to stop living under the burden of his own identity and to create an unavoidable obstacle in the way of America's immigration avoidance.

Vargas said he's forcing difficult conversations about immigration and revealing that undocumented Americans are within the country and a part of it.

"More than ever, we need you to be allies," Vargas told the crowd.

"If we don't acknowledge that respect is not something that is happening here on our campus on a daily basis, we cannot get past that," Head said. "There are so many students, like myself, who are uncomfortable on this campus every single day."

"Those of us with privilege have to speak up," Head said.

In bridging the conversations about immigration and racism, both Head and Vargas said people must engage outsiders in the conversation or nothing will ever change Americans must preach beyond the choir.

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Immigration reform activist Vargas calls for allies at MU ...

Sen. Marco Rubio, elaborating on his immigration stance, says he still supports comprehensive reform, but believes it will have to be accomplished through individual bills instead of a larger legislative package.

I still believe we need to do immigration reform, Rubio said on Fox News Sunday. The problem is we cant do it in one big piece of legislation - the votes arent there.

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One of many Republicans eyeing the GOP presidential nomination, the Florida senator said he has not changed his stance on the need to address who the country allows to become citizens, but believes Americans want reassurances from the federal government that illegal immigration will be halted before addressing reform.

The first thing we are going to do is prove to the American people that future illegal immigration is under control, he said.

Rubio was also asked by Fox host Chris Wallace about George W. Bushs decision to invade Iraq in 2003, which has become a bit of a hot potato for Republican hopefuls after Jeb Bush said last week he would have invaded given todays knowledge of the situation, then spent several days backtracking.

Rubio attempted to differentiate between the decision President Bush made at the time, when intelligence reports claimed there were weapons of mass destruction, and whether he believes the Iraq War was a good decision today.

It was not a mistake for the president to go into Iraq, based on the information he was provided as president, Rubio said. Weve learned subsequently that the information was wrong.

Now, Rubio said, he believes Iraq and the world are better off without Saddam Hussein.

Originally posted here:
Politico: Rubio still favors piece-by-piece immigration reform

Threatened and harassed by local gangs after their mother died, 23-year-old Rocio Martinez fled from Honduras with two sisters in search of a safer place to call home.

But she said she encountered a new kind of fear when she arrived in New Orleans two years ago as she began the underground life of an undocumented immigrant constantly worried about deportation.

Martinez has come out of the shadows to share her story. She is part of a group of 100 immigrant woman from around the country in the midst of a 100-mile walk from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., in attempt to humanize the contentious debate over immigration reform in the United States.

"I hope this sends a message to all people who don't know what it likes to be an immigrant," Martinez said.

They timed their 100 Women 100 Mile pilgrimage organized by the group We Belong Together to coincide with the much-anticipated trip of Pope Francis to several U.S. cities this week. They are trying to echo his call for countries to have more compassion for and open arms to immigrants. The first pope from Latin America is expected to make it a major point during his visit.

"This is about positively echoing the pope's moral message on immigration," said Rosie Brown, a 25-year-old who has helped coordinate the walk.

The women started their journey at a detention center in York, Pa., where many undocumented immigrants end up as they await deportation hearings. They plan to arrive at the White House on Tuesday.

They wore T-shirts with the message "dignity for immigrants" and sang spiritual songs in Spanish as they walked. One donned the shoes she wore across the border. Another pushed her daughter in a stroller. The women walk 9 to 14 miles a day, taking breaks along the way and staying the night in hotels, hostels or churches.

On Saturday the fifth day of their 10-day trek the women ambled from Goucher College in Towson, heading down Dulaney Valley and York roads until they reached downtown Baltimore. Residents in an apartment complex blew kisses and shouted support. Cars honked in solidarity.

Local community groups, including the immigrant advocacy group CASA and students from the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Fells Point, joined the women for the Baltimore leg of the trip.

Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, a community organizer with CASA, said she frequently hears stories of families split or worried about getting separated because of deportation.

"We are here to support these woman because what they have experienced we hear about everyday," she said.

The woman get sweaty and tired in the day's heat. Many have developed blisters. But they keep on moving.

"We have a lot of hope," said Maria Morales, who came to the United States 25 years ago from Mexico and now lives in Oakland, Calif. "That is what keeps us going."

Rosario Reyes thought about the son she left behind in El Salvador, whom she hasn't seen since she came to the United States to join her husband in 2004. She lives undocumented in Gaithersburg, where she works as a nanny.

"I have a dream to one day have my family back together," she said.

Martinez was taken into custody and jailed almost immediately after arriving in New Orleans and sat behind bars for nearly two months. She now works cleaning houses, but awaits a deportation hearing scheduled for February. She worries she will be sent back to her homeland. Her sisters already face deportation after court hearings didn't go their way.

Her dream is to go to college and become a dentist. Perhaps, she hopes, the pope will hear her cries and somehow make it easier to reach that milestone.

amcdaniels@baltsun.com

Twitter.com/ankwalker

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One hundred women are walking 100 miles for immigration ...

California Republicans are taking a different tack on undocumented immigrants, softening the party's language to appeal to more voters. The language adopted Saturday does not eliminate the party's opposition to "amnesty" for those in the United States illegally, but it does recognize that Republicans hold diverse views on what to do with the millions of otherwise law-abiding folks who are currently here illegally, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The policy change eliminates a platform plankthat states: Allowing illegal immigrants to remain in California undermines respect for the law.

Immigration has been a major issue in GOP presidential campaign circlesever since Donald Trump launched his campaign and alleged Mexico purposely sends rapists and other criminals across the border. Both those for and against immigration agree the country's current system is broken.

Efforts in Congress to reform U.S. immigration policy have gone nowhere for years despite bipartisan legislation, including the so-called DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) that would have instituted a multiphase process to grant conditional residency to undocumented immigrants who grew up in the United States.

Lack of congressional action pushed President Barack Obama in 2014 to issue a number of executive orders to reduce the number of deportations for about half the more than 11 million immigrants in the country without permission.

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson (second from right) is confronted by pro-immigration protesters in New York, May 7, 2015. Getty Images/Spencer Platt

Pew Research indicated about half the undocumented immigrants are from Mexico, though their numbers are declining. Sixty percent of undocumented immigrants live in six states -- California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois, but the population is growing elsewhere, including in Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Pew said undocumented immigrants make up 5.1 percent of the labor force, the highest proportions in Nevada (10 percent), California (9 percent), Texas (9 percent) and New Jersey (8 percent), and 7 percent of the elementary and secondary school population.

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Immigration Reform 2015: California Republicans Soften ...

'The strong bipartisan vote we took is going to send a message,' Chuck Schumer said. | REUTERS

By Seung Min Kim

06/27/13, 04:25 PM EDT

Updated 06/28/13, 12:19 AM EDT

The Senate on Thursday passed the most monumental overhaul of U.S. immigration laws in a generation, which would clear the way for millions of undocumented residents to have a chance at citizenship, attract workers from all over the world and devote unprecedented resources for security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The vote was 68-32. Fourteen Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with all Democrats in favor. Thursdays vote now puts the onus of immigration reform on the Republican-led House, where leaders have been resistant to the Senate legislation.

The strong bipartisan vote we took is going to send a message across the country, its going to send a message to the other end of the Capitol as well, said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the leader of the so-called Gang of Eight. The bill has generated a level of support that we believe will be impossible for the House to ignore.

( Also on POLITICO: Republicans who voted for the bill)

The bill was a product of not only weeks of floor debate and committee rewrites, but months of private negotiations by the Gang of Eight the group of four Democrats and four Republicans to produce legislation that would give the Senate a shot at passing immigration reform, something it was unable to do just six years ago.

Republicans, shellacked by Mitt Romneys 44-point loss among Latinos in the 2012 presidential election, almost immediately coalesced behind immigration reform as a top priority. The Gang of Eight got together last fall and recruited veterans of the 2007 immigration battle such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), long-time champions of reform such as Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and high-wattage Senate newcomers, like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

If Congress passes immigration reform, it would make good on a promise from President Barack Obama and likely become his most significant policy achievement in his second term. In a statement, Obama emphasized that the bill was collaborative effort.

( PHOTOS: Pols react to immigration deal)

The bipartisan bill that passed today was a compromise, Obama said. By definition, nobody got everything they wanted. Not Democrats. Not Republicans. Not me. But the Senate bill is consistent with the key principles for commonsense reform that I and many others have repeatedly laid out.

He called on the House to act and emphasized to supporters that the fight is not over. Now is the time when opponents will try their hardest to pull this bipartisan effort apart so they can stop commonsense reform from becoming a reality. We cannot let that happen, Obama said.

The Gang of Eight bill would essentially revamp every corner of U.S. immigration law, establishing a 13-year pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, with several security benchmarks that have to be met before they can obtain a green card. The measure would not only increases security along the border, but requires a mandatory workplace verification system for employers, trying to ensure no jobs are given to immigrants who are not authorized to work in the United States.

( PHOTOS: 10 wild immigration quotes)

It also includes a new visa program for lesser-skilled workers the product of negotiations between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and labor unions. And it shifts the countrys immigration policies away from a family-based system to one that is focused on more on work skills.

In another marked change from the failed 2007 effort, no Democrats voted against the immigration bill on Thursday. Six years ago, 15 Senate Democrats did.

This year, all five Senate Republican leaders rejected the bill, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) saying he didnt believe there was sufficient border-security measures to stem future illegal immigration.

The late afternoon vote in the Senate had much pomp and circumstance. Senators voted from their desks, a practice usually saved for historic pieces of legislation. Vice President Joe Biden arrived from the White House to preside. And dozens of young activists wearing shirts that said 11 Million Dreams filled the Senate gallery, watching the last hours of floor debate.

( PHOTOS: 20 quotes on immigration reform)

They broke out in chants of Yes we can, after the final vote count was announced, despite being warned by Biden in advance to stay quiet.

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Immigration reform bill 2013 : Senate passes legislation ...