Antis point to polls showing more Americans support the Arizona bill than oppose it. But other polls - including new ones from ImmigrationWorks USA and Immigration Voice, show these same voters also support - by wide margins - comprehensive immigration reform proposals that contain legalization programs. Is this really a contradictory result? Maybe not. Americans want ACTION on immigration reform rather than maintaining the status quo. Action can mean an SB1070 or something on a broader scale - even if it is called "amnesty."

Here are slides outlining the ImmigrationWorks poll. Keep an eye on polling of Republican voters who surprisingly are out of step with their representatives in Congress who are really misreading the situation.

ImmigrationWorks poll -

Despite having a strongly anti-immigrant governor, the state's House speaker has rebuffed his efforts to bring SB1070 to New England.

Keep an eye on the military appropriations bill Congress is working on for a potential immigration piece. The AP reports that Republicans want some serious money and personnel commitments for the southern border. And my own sources are telling me that some Democrats are looking at trying to get the DREAM Act in that same piece of legislation. Remember, DREAM allows for some who join the military to pursue permanent residency so it would be a germane part of the bill.

A down payment on comprehensive immigration reform? Or the end of that effort and the return to piecemeal legislating? And if so, is that bad? What do you think?

An ad agency in Miami has a unique product offering for the people of Arizona.

 
  

The National Law Journal reported this week on an immigration lawyer in Chicago who advertised on Craiglist for a legal assistant/sex partner. 

And it's not in the way the bill's supporters probably have hoped. From Public Policy Polling:

There's no doubt that the new Arizona immigration law is popular nationally, but that still doesn't mean the issue's going to work to the GOP's advantage this fall.

When we polled Colorado in early March Michael Bennet and Jane Norton were tied. Last week we found Bennet with a 3 point lead. One of the biggest reasons for that shift? Bennet went from leading Norton by 12 points with Hispanic voters to a 21 point advantage. That large shift in a Democratic direction among Hispanics mirrors what we saw in our Arizona Senate polling last month- Rodney Glassman went from trailing John McCain by 17 points with them in September to now holding a 17 point lead.

Hispanics in the Mountain West are leaning much more strongly toward the Democrats since the Arizona law was passed. The big question then becomes whether there are white voters who are going to go Republican this fall who wouldn't have if that bill hadn't been passed. We don't see any evidence of that happening yet- Bennet and Glassman are both doing better with white voters than they were before as well, although not to the same degree that they've improved with Hispanics.

A majority of Americans may support the bill but it could still end up working to Democrats' benefit this fall if most of the voters who care enough about it for it be a determining factor in how they vote- or whether they vote- go in their direction.

I've been hearing reports behind the scenes over the last few days about a growing rift in the pro-immigration movement between whether it is better to hold out for comprehensive immigration reform or switch to a strategy of pursuing significant lesser immigration measures like the DREAM Act or AgJobs. As I've indicated before, strong arguments can be made for either. Now some of those arguments are making there way in to the media such as this nugget from today's HuffPost Hill email alert:

TOMORROW'S PAPERS TODAY - The Hill's Alexander Bolton on how immigration reform is straining Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin's already complicated relationship: "Schumer is spearheading the effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform this year. But Durbin has long championed a scaled-down version of reform, called the Dream Act, that activists believe has a better chance of passing. Durbin has had to tread lightly to avoid the appearance that he is endangering Schumer's effort to pass comprehensive reform."