White house offers few details on meeting today

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Just a brief statement from Secretary Napolitano: Today’s meeting on comprehensive immigration reform was an important opportunity to hear from stakeholders and build on the significant time I’ve spent on the Hill meeting with members of Congress on this critical subject. I look forward to working with President Obama, my colleagues in Congress and representatives from law enforcement, business, labor organizations, the interfaith community, advocacy groups and others as we work on this important issue.

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[HV000]

Statement by Secretary Napolitano About Today's White House Meeting on Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Release Date: August 20, 2009

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

“Today’s meeting on comprehensive immigration reform was an important opportunity to hear from stakeholders and build on the significant time I’ve spent on the Hill meeting with members of Congress on this critical subject. I look forward to working with President Obama, my colleagues in Congress and representatives from law enforcement, business, labor organizations, the interfaith community, advocacy groups and others as we work on this important issue.”

Declaraciones De La Secretaria De Seguridad Nacional Janet Napolitano Sobre La Reunión Sobre La Reforma Integral De La Inmigración

“La reunión de hoy sobre la reforma integral de la inmigración fue una oportunidad importante para escuchar a las partes interesadas y sumar al tiempo significativo que he pasado en el Capitolio reunida con miembros del Congreso sobre este importante tema. Anticipo con entusiasmo trabajar con el Presidente Obama, mis colegas del Congreso y los representantes de las agencias de la ley, empresas, sindicatos, grupos religiosos, grupos que abogan por la comunidad, y otros a medida que trabajamos sobre este importante asunto.”

Participants in Today’s Meeting:

AFL CIO, Paul Almeida
AFL CIO, Ana Avendano
AFL CIO, Arlene Baker
Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, Monte Lake
American Civil Liberties Union, Chris Calabrese
America’s Voice, Frank Sharry
American Farm Bureau, Ron Gaskill
American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, T.J. Bonner
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Paul Booth
American Immigration Lawyers Association, Crystal Williams
American Jewish Committee, Chelsea Hanson
American Meat Institute, J. Patrick Boyle
Arizona Latino Commission, Eve Nunez
Asian American Justice Center, Karen Narasaki
Associated General Contractors, Katherine Knott
Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Robert Pleasure
Casa de Maryland, Gustavo Andrade
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Mark Franken
Cato Institute, Dan Griswold
Center for American Progress, Angela Kelley
Center for Community Change, Gabe Gonzalez
Change to Win, Anna Burger
Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Allison Johnson
Church World Service, Jen Smyers
Citigroup, Paul Thornell
Compete America, Rebecca Peters
Compete America, Bo Cooper
Esperanza USA, Mary Clark
Essential Worker Coalition, Laura Reiff
Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, Jon Adler
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society/Interfaith Immigration Coalition, Mark Hetfield
Hewlett Packard, Gina Bancroft
Immigration Equality, Julie Kruse
Immigration Policy Center, Mary Giovagnoli
Information Technology Industry Council, Dean Garfield
Intel, Ryan Triplette
Interfaith Worker Justice, Kristin Kumpf
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Terry Yellig
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, John Coli
International Chiefs of Police, Russell Laine
International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, Paul Shearon
International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craft workers, James Boland
Irish Apostolate, Geri Garvey
Jesuit Refugee Service, Shaina Aber
Laborers' International Union of North America, Bevin Albertani
League of United Latin American Citizens, Rosa Rosales
Legal Momentum, Lisalyn Raquel Jacobs
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Leslie Velez
Major City Chiefs, Dean Keuter
McDonalds, Bo Bryant
Mennonite Central Committee, Tammy Alexander
Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, Dini Karasik
Microsoft, Bill Kamela
Migration Policy Institute, Marc Rosenblum
National Association of Asian Law Enforcement Commanders, John Lee
National Association of Evangelicals, Galen Carey
National Association of Homebuilders, Jenna Hamilton
National Association of Police Organizations, Andrea Mournighan
National Baptist Convention, Rev. L.B. West
National Council of Jewish Women, Elissa Froman
National Council of La Raza, Clarissa Martinez
National Day Laborers Network, Chris Newman
National Electrical Contractors of America, John Grau
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Rev. Dr. Angel Nunez
National Immigration Forum, Jeanne Butterfield
National Immigration Forum, Ali Noorani
National Immigration Law Center, Marielena Hincapie
National Korean American Service & Educational Consortium, Eun Sook Lee
National Latino Peace Officers Association, Arturo Venegas
National League of Cities, Ricardo Gambetta
National Restaurant Association, Beth Johnson
National Sheriffs Association, Ann Yom
National Urban League, Valerie Wilson
New Democratic Network, Simon Rosenberg
Oracle, Dejan Pavlovic
PICO National Network, Jared Rivera
Police Executive Research Foundation, Chuck Wexler
Police Foundation, Hubert Williams
Presbyterian Church USA, Julia Thorne
Rights Working Group, Jumana Musa
Service Employees International Union, Eliseo Medina
Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Marc Norberg
Sisters of Mercy, Regina McKillip
Society for Human Resource Management, Mike Aitken
Sojourners, Rev. Jim Wallis
South Asian American Leading Together, Deepa Iyer
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, Helly Lee
Tech America, Jeff Lande
Tyson, Nora Venegas
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Angelo Amador
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ryan Dwyer
U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, David Ferreira
UNITE HERE, Brenda Carter
United Farm Workers, Arturo Rodriguez
United Food and Commercial Workers, Joe Hansen
University of Texas, Dr. Ray Marshall
Wal-Mart, Adam Hemphill
World Relief, Jenny Hwang
Moderators

White House Domestic Policy Council, Melody Barnes
White House Domestic Policy Council, Heather Higginbottom
White House National Economic Council, James Kvaal
White House Office of Public Engagement, Tina Tchen
White House Office of Public Engagement, Buffy Wicks
Department of Homeland Security, Marco Lopez
Department of Homeland Security, David Martin
Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas
Department of Homeland Security, John Morton
Department of Homeland Security, Esther Olavarria
Department of Justice, Juan Osuna

[HV000]

Posted on Cato Institue website -

The President Drops by to Tout Immigration Reform
Posted by Daniel Griswold

I’m back at my desk after a meeting this afternoon at the White House on comprehensive immigration reform. [For small fish like me, "the White House" never means the Oval Office or the West Wing but the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door.] The meeting was presided over by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and included about 100 representatives of groups interested in reforming the current system. It also featured a surprise guest speaker.

The meeting began with Secretary Napolitano expressing the administration’s commitment to comprehensive immigration reform, a goal that I have been advocating for several years. The phrase has come to mean legalization of low-skilled immigrants, both those already living here illegally and future inflows of workers, with the promise of more vigorous enforcement against remaining illegal immigrants and those who hire them.

After the secretary’s opening remarks we broke up into smaller roundtable discussions of about 15 people each moderated by DHS officials. In our group I made the point that any reform worthy of the name must include a temporary worker program with a sufficient number of visas to meet the future labor-force needs of our economy. I invited those around the table to read our latest study, “Restriction or Legalization?: Measuring the Benefits of Immigration Reform,” that finds significant income gains ($180 billion, anyone?) for U.S. households from legalization.

After the roundtables, we reconvened in the auditorium where the secretary began to summarize the main points discussed in the breakouts groups. Then, with the usual bodyguard of Secret Service agents, President Obama entered the auditorium and strode to the podium about 20 feet from where I was sitting.

Speaking in generalities, the president said his administration is committed to an immigration policy that is true to “our history as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.” He said he had attended a “terrific bipartisan meeting” on immigration reform that included Republican Senators John McCain (AZ), Lindsey Graham (SC) and Jeff Sessions (AL). The president said we need “a legislative solution to a broken immigrant system,” which I interpreted hopefully to be an acknowledgment that ramped up enforcement alone will not solve illegal immigration. He concluded by saying, “Immigration is a problem begging to be fixed.”

For those of us who want to legalize low-skilled immigrant labor, President Obama’s words were short on specifics but they were mostly pointing in the right direction. According to other people at the meeting, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, has said the committee will mark up and vote on an immigration reform bill sometime after returning from the August recess, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he will schedule a floor debate and vote before the end of the year. Perhaps the third attempt at passing comprehensive immigration reform will be a success after failed efforts in 2006 and 2007.

Stay tuned.

The President Drops by to Tout Immigration Reform | Cato @ Liberty

[mps]

Thats' nice try "eastindia" but question is really genuine why is IV not at the table?

(Note # ...and don't start donor crap....seems IV has some amount of unfairness towards past donors ...I have contributed in past, before some bright guy came with exclusive donor forum. I have sent request to be included in donor forum to admins to no avail which is really depressing.

I'm volunteering to do all the data processing work to include anyone who has donated in past in donor forums )

Originally Posted by eastindia

Because all IV members are busy discussing SRK, Vonage phone or tracking.

[dontcareanymore]

Originally Posted by khodalmd

It is really frustrating me why IV is not in such a important meeting?
IV is representing High tech legal immigrants who are contributing to economy? Are they neglecting us or it is just miss the flight?

I guess you are around long enough to know the answer ;-)

[GCScrewed]

Originally Posted by khodalmd

It is really frustrating me why IV is not in such a important meeting?
IV is representing High tech legal immigrants who are contributing to economy? Are they neglecting us or it is just miss the flight?

That's a good question. I guess America does not really care about us. If you pay attention to the whole immigration debate, you will notice few voices from EB immigrants. Illegals get Americans' sympathy as well as support from Mexco. Meanwhile, EB immigrants are treated as "3rd class" (behind illegals) even though we contribute to America first day when we arrive (or within a couple of years of arrival). This administration has certainly not lived up to their promise (or maybe the perception they were giving to the public when they were compagning). Typical politicians! Outrageous!

[dummgelauft]

Look people, IV has limited funds and very very divided member base. Forget about getting a seat on the table in such meetings.
Now, with that said, if you look at the list of participating organizations in Thursday's meeting, you will see:
(1) Citigroup
(2) Hewlett Packard
(3) Microsoft
(4) Intel
I don't think either of these 4 giants hire illegals. They were there for EB reform.

[txh1b]

Originally Posted by dummgelauft

Look people, IV has limited funds and very very divided member base. Forget about getting a seat on the table in such meetings.
Now, with that said, if you look at the list of participating organizations in Thursday's meeting, you will see:
(1) Citigroup
(2) Hewlett Packard
(3) Microsoft
(4) Intel
I don't think either of these 4 giants hire illegals. They were there for EB reform.

Thinking about it, I feel these companies have no benefit either if they reform EB. They really benefit with the EB backlog as employees stay put and remain in the job, work their ass off day and night to keep the job. The more one has to wait, the companies can use them by giving nominal raise, make them slog.

They might have been there for H1b reform so that they can hire any fresh grad out of school anytime and make them slog too.

[go_guy123]

Originally Posted by khodalmd

There were so many participating organization. Why they are not inviting Immigration Voice? Why IV is such a neglected group?

All these organizations are financially big and/or politically big like La Raza (which is also financially big).

Compete America and other IT companies were there. However their main interest is H1B
and not EB reform. They sometimes do talk of SKIL bill and that is it. EB is not their main focus

This is the reason why IV needs to work with partners like Compete America even though
all our interests dont overlap completely.

Its a reality and fact that people in this forum need to be aware of.

[meetpravee]

Pappu - Do you have any comments on this? We nearly do not have as much money or organisation base as some of the other participants. But did we try getting into the meeting. Were we given any specific reason for excluding IV from these meetings.

[senthil1]

They cannot call every organisation for the all the meetings. It does not mean that IV is not having importance. Also IV is just fighting for EB reform. EB reform is small fraction compared to CIR.

Originally Posted by meetpravee

Pappu - Do you have any comments on this? We nearly do not have as much money or organisation base as some of the other participants. But did we try getting into the meeting. Were we given any specific reason for excluding IV from these meetings.

[conundrum]

I have more or less kept out of IV for quite sometime, but I do drop in once in a while. The reasons for staying out are many. Coming to the point, it is kinda disappointing to see that IV was not included and it would be nice for someone at IV to explain if ever an effort was made to be included.

Since I am into a raving and ranting mood let me go on... There was this FOIA campaign that took place sometime back and since I felt that it was a worthy cause I contributed and was active on that thread. But then suddenly it was moved to the Donor Forum and since I didnt contribute after that I was promptly kicked out after a couple of months!! So now I have no clue as to what is going on to a cause I contributed for......

Going back to the situation at hand if IV can let us know what it would take for them to have a seat at the table that will be great. Now if it is just money, then I wouldnt mind contributing to that cause and I am sure a lot of people at IV would do the same

Originally Posted by senthil1

They cannot call every organisation for the all the meetings. It does not mean that IV is not having importance. Also IV is just fighting for EB reform. EB reform is small fraction compared to CIR.

[dummgelauft]

Originally Posted by txh1b

Thinking about it, I feel these companies have no benefit either if they reform EB. They really benefit with the EB backlog as employees stay put and remain in the job, work their ass off day and night to keep the job. The more one has to wait, the companies can use them by giving nominal raise, make them slog.

They might have been there for H1b reform so that they can hire any fresh grad out of school anytime and make them slog too.

Hey, I work for a giant corporation, who not only got my H1b, but psonsored by GC, in EB2. And NO, they do not pay me in rice and beans. Also, the DO NOT make me slog. I get treated just like all other employees. So, keep your desi consultant type views to yourself.

[vxg]

sorry to put it here but can someone explain how i start a new forum or thread.

[meetpravee]

dummgelauft, I am glad things worked out well for you. But that doesnt mean all the big corporataions are saints. I personally know a lot of people who studied in United States, who work for big corporations, but have been pushed to EB3 instead of EB2 and have been told that they cannot provide pay rise as they are processing green cards. You can make your point without being judgemental on what the mentality of other perosn is.

Note - I dont work for a desi consultant.