Kansas city seeks to create legislation that will allow undocumented immigrants to fill jobs where employers cannot find local workers. On the eve of the Nevada Republican caucus Ruben Navarrette takes a look at Mitt Romneys woes with the Hispanic Community. Cristina Costantini takes a look at how Congressional legislation in the House which would make English the official language of the United States has created an uproar from border communities in the southwest.
Kansas bill seeks to pair undocumented immigrants, jobs Kansas city seeks to create legislation that will allow undocumented immigrants to fill jobs where employers cannot find local workers. “The Kansas legislature on Thursday introduced a bill that would partner some undocumented immigrants with jobs in industries facing worker shortages. The Kansas Business, Workers, Communities Partnership Act would create a state program that matches two groups — local undocumented immigrants who are low-priority for deportation per federal directives, and employers who have trouble finding and keeping employees. Critics call the bill a nonstarter, arguing that there is no legal way to hire such workers, but the coalition behind the legislation claims they have a creative approach to some of the state’s vexing issues.”
Romney is vulnerable with Hispanics On the eve of the Nevada Republican caucus Ruben Navarrette takes a look at Mitt Romneys woes with the Hispanic Community. “On the eve of the Nevada caucus, here’s some advice to Newt Gingrich: If you still want to draw contrasts with Mitt Romney over immigration, don’t toss in your cards. Double down. Why? Because you’re not in Florida anymore. In the Sunshine State, Gingrich used a controversial and hard-hitting ad to try to paint Mitt Romney as “anti-immigrant.” The goal was to weaken the frontrunner’s support with Hispanic voters. Despite the fact it made some party loyalists nervous, the label fit. Romney got carried away in the GOP primary, railing against anything resembling “amnesty” in an attempt to offer himself as the preferred candidate for the hostile, intolerant, and frightened. There’s a reason that Romney was endorsed by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an opportunistic, anti-illegal immigration zealot who helped write many of the constitutionally challenged pieces of legislation clogging up the federal courts in a half dozen states.”
Bilingual Border Cities Challenge Movement To Make English The Official Language Cristina Costantini takes a look at how Congressional legislation in the House which would make English the official language of the United States has created an uproar from border communities in the southwest. “All government business is done in English here. I don’t need an official law saying that English is the de facto language. Everyone knows that already,” said John Cook, mayor of El Paso, Texas — a border city in which 73 percent of its 800,000 inhabitants say they speak Spanish at home. As the House GOP closes in on making English the official language, some on the front lines of the debate, like Mayor Cook, say they don’t quite see the point. Last week, presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney doubled down on their support for a bill that would require all official government functions to be conducted in English, at the same time as they attempted to appeal to Latino voters on TV and radio en Espanol. Both GOP candidates noted in a Florida debate that they’d like to see English become the official language.
