EthnicMajority

(Bradenton.com) With growing signs that Hispanic voters are turned off by GOP positions on immigration, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is using his national profile to deliver a message to his party: Tone it down.

(US News) Illegal immigrants made up 3.7 percent of the U.S. population and 5.2 percent of the nation’s workforce in 2010, according to Pew’s Hispanic Center. Pew’s study also indicates that births to immigrants in the country without permission account for about 8 percent of total births in the United States. But the overall number of illegal immigrants in the United States may be meandering slowly downward. The estimated number of illegal immigrants saw a two-year drop to 11.1 million from its 2007 peak at an estimated 12 million, followed by a slight bump up to 11.2 million in 2010. According to Pew, this number is still more than triple what it was in 20 years ago in 1990, when the estimated illegal population was 3.5 million. Meanwhile, the nation continues to wait for politicians in Washington to affect meaningful nationwide immigration reform, and several states, including Oklahoma, Virginia, Texas, and Colorado, are following Arizona’s lead in pursuing anti-illegal immigration legislation.

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(CBS News) Among the many initiatives Democrats are trying to get passed in the lame-duck session is an immigration bill known as the DREAM Act that would allow certain young undocumented immigrants to apply for citizenship.

The DREAM Act is a major priority of Hispanic groups, who represent a growing and crucial voting bloc. Without them Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, among other western Democrats, would now be preparing for retirement.

What these groups want is comprehensive immigration reform, something Reid promised to get done this year back in April, vowing “no excuses” for failure. They aren’t getting it, but they view the DREAM Act as a start: The bill would allow illegal immigrants who entered the United States as children (before age 16), have lived in America for five consecutive years, have no serious criminal record and who have a high-school degree or GED certificate to apply for citizenship on the condition that they attend college or serve in the military for two or more years.

Republicans have hammered the DREAM Act as amounting to “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.

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(Seattle Times) A new University of Washington poll suggests tea party supporters are not just angry about government spending and the new national health care law.

“The data tells us this opposition and frustration with government is going hand in hand with a frustration and opposition to racial and ethnic minorities and gays and lesbians,” said Matt Barreto, a political science professor and director of UW’s Washington Poll.

The poll, released on Tuesday, surveyed 1,695 voters in May by phone and has a 2.3 percent margin of error. It found that 35 percent of the voters surveyed “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of the tea party movement, 37 percent dissaprove and 28 percent had no opinion or had not heard of the tea party.

The survey asked several questions related to race, immigration and gay rights.

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Latino groups are preparing to take action in the courtroom and the ballot box against Arizona’s controversial new law that permits police to demand identification from persons suspected of being illegal immigrants.

“The intent of the law is clear: to dehumanize and demonize Latinos,” said Clarissa Martinez of the National Council of La Raza. “Latino voters will remember.”

The Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, joined by other civil rights groups, plans a conference call for reporters Monday to discuss the filing of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law.

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