Carrie Budoff Brown of Politico offers "Lamar Smith avoids hard line on immigration" [1]. Because we're dealing with definitions of those who aren't trustworthy (such as Brown), it's difficult to tell whether Smith will be weak on immigration matters or whether he just won't support nonsensical "boob bait for Bubba" policies. Smith's first two hearings as head of the House Judiciary Committee will be about eVerify. However: At the same time, he downplayed the key planks in the conservative immigration agenda... He won’t say when his committee plans to tackle birthright citizenship, the policy...

Frank Sharry of America's Voice offers "Latinos Poised to Shake Up 2010 Census, Politicians Beware" at the Huffington Post [1] in which he discusses a study showing how massive immigration by Latinos will affect congressional apportionment; more on that here. The piece is basically just a celebration of race-based "raw political power", and later on he quotes from a Washington Post blog post written by Ed OKeefe in which Sharry - someone who's apparently Irish-Italian [2] - says the following: "This is going to set up a very interesting dynamic, because right now, the kind of bleached...

Teresa Watanabe of the Los Angeles Times offers "Immigration-overhaul supporters hope their hour has come/With Obama in office, a sympathetic Cabinet and more Democrats in Congress, supporters hope to revive a reform package next year. But the economic downturn sparks worry about protecting U.S. workers" (link). She quotes various "immigrant advocates" who think that the Obama win will mean that comprehensive immigration reform is more likely. In fact: In a national teleconference Thursday, Rep. (Luis Gutierrez) (D-Ill.), said Obama had asked him to relay that he remains committed to a...