Immigration Policy

— Baltimore is one of two cities selected to test an immigration policy adopted by the Obama administration that could freeze deportations of illegal immigrants who have no criminal records, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday. The elderly, children who have been in the country more than five years, students who came to the U.S. under the age of 16 and are enrolled in a college degree program, and victims of domestic violence are among those whose deportations could be put on hold under the test program, which begins Dec. 4 and could be broadened in January.

Even as the Senate takes up the issue of immigration reform this week, Republicans are increasingly giving indications that the effort isn't likely to go very far. First, it was Sen. Marco Rubio's dance around the issue - repeatedly speaking out against the very bill he helped craft - and then it was the defection of another key Latino GOP member, Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, who removed himself from the bipartisan group that was writing the House's version...

Most Marylanders who oppose the Dream Act, which grants undocumented immigrants the resident tuition discount on a state college education, probably never met the likes of Onan Marroquin. If they did, they might have a change of heart and mind about the Dream Act. They might come to see it as the fair and smart way for the state to support the bright and highly motivated young people who come through our schools and who, with more education, might join the ranks of the state's innovative and future-thinking professional class.

In Annapolis, some conservative Republicans - having apparently not taken notice of the 2012 election and the conundrum facing their party over its hard-line immigration stance at the national level - are lambasting a proposal to expand and make permanent a two-tier driver's license system in Maryland. One even warned that Maryland could soon become a "Disneyland" for illegal immigrants. But it is opponents who are living in a Disney-like fantasy land if they can't see who the chief beneficiary would be of any system that seeks to ensure all Maryland drivers meet minimum standards of knowledge and competency and are eligible for insurance.

Under a new federal directive, millions of workers whose Social Security numbers differ from government records will be threatened with dismissal, and employers who don't act within 90 days against those workers will face penalties, including heavy fines and possible prosecution. That sounds good for those of us who believe in secure borders and respect for the law. But this enforcement-only focus on Social Security "no-matches" is an unrealistic approach that will severely disrupt our economy, hurting employers and workers.

WASHINGTON -- Harvard University, sponsor of the 1992 International AIDS Conference, will move the prestigious scientific meeting from Boston to a location outside the United States to protest U.S. AIDS immigration policy, university officials announced yesterday.Harvard's decision, made after months of agonizing, calls into question whether the conference will ever be held in the United ** States again."I think it's important that this meeting be in the United States," said Dr. Paul Volberding, president of the International AIDS Society, which oversees the conference.

WASHINGTON - Despite the partisan bickering for which Washington is known these days, there were nothing but smiles and warm and cheery bipartisanship as Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John McCain announced the Senate version of a bill to overhaul the nation's battered immigration policy. Let's hope it works this time. I've lost count of how many other comprehensive overhauls of immigration policy we have had since the 1965 reform of which Mr. Kennedy was a principal sponsor. Controlled and orderly immigration is enriching for our country.

AS THE NATION braces for one of its toughest crackdowns ever on illegal immigrants and on the benefits available to legal aliens, court challenges are predictably under way. One of the first erupted with an April 1 deadline, as organizations seeking to protect would-be newcomers convinced a federal judge that the government had goofed in not giving 30-days notice of new procedures for summary deportations. But he was quickly reversed by an appeals court apparently influenced by government warnings of "chaos."

Newt Gingrich is the standard bearer for traditional family values within the Republican party? As unlikely as that might seem given the former House Speaker's history of marital infidelities and messy divorce, it's apparent he may be the only GOP candidate willing to use the word "humane" when discussing immigration policy — even at risk of suffering a conservative backlash for doing so. What Mr. Gingrich said in a recent debate was hardly an...

The sight of the bus pulling off in the snowy, Baltimore night was enough to trigger a flood of sobs and despair in Esther Armstrong. Consumed by two jobs, night school and raising a daughter alone, Armstrong wanted desperately to return to the familiarity, not to mention the weather, of her native Ghana and abandon her dreams of starting a business. Today, she laughs at the bus-stop episode and rattles off a list of accomplishments. She became a homeowner and corporate recruiter for FedEx, and watched her daughter graduate from Vassar College.

The road to meaningful U.S. immigration reform will no doubt prove rocky and difficult, but at least Washington has taken its first big step on the most critical part of the route - down the so-called "path to citizenship" that now has bipartisan support in the Senate. That's quite a change since 2010 when so many in the GOP invoked the term "amnesty" as a dirty word. That's not to suggest that the findings of an eight-person work group have provided the definitive answer for the nation's dysfunctional immigration policy, but getting four prominent Republican senators to sign off on a path to citizenship is a notable accomplishment.

- Four years after he rode into the White House on a message of change, President Barack Obama is set to begin his second term Monday amid lowered expectations and a sense that his re-election has done little to alter the nation's fractured political landscape. Despite talk about a major overhaul of immigration policy and a comprehensive plan to deal with gun violence, the Obama administration will immediately shift from the celebratory mood of the inaugural to another bitter, pressing fight with congressional Republicans over spending, taxes and budget deficits.

WASHINGTON -- Hoping to build on their success in Maryland, about 200 immigration advocates rallied in front of the White House on Thursday in support of a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration policy. The effort to revive a national conversation about immigration follows an election in which Latino voters helped pushed Obama to victory in battleground states like Colorado and Nevada. Exit polling shows Hispanics were the only large demographic group to back President Obama with bigger numbers in 2012 than they did in 2008.

We love presidential debates: the theatrics, the clearly rehearsed talking points, moderator Jim Lehrer! But we also love the chance it provides to drink (we're talking about watching politicians talk for 90 minutes, here). So here's b's official 2012 Presidential Debate Drinking Game ™. Because sometimes you need a little booze when listening to politicians talk about domestic issues back and forth. Drink if: Osama bin Laden is mentioned (even though the debate will focus on domestic policy)

As I read the recent editorial addressing President Barack Obama's order that will add at least 1.7 million children of illegal immigrants to the already-bleak job market ("Growing up American," Aug. 19), I was certain The Sun would comment on the calamitous effect this election-year tactic will have on American black youth, U.S. citizens all, whose unemployment rate rose from 14.4 percent in June to 15 percent in July, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Silly me. Despite the nearly 50 percent unemployment rate among black teenagers (16-19)

On Wednesday, one of the most sweeping changes in U.S. immigration policy in decades went into effect when an estimated 1.7 million children of undocumented immigrants became eligible to apply for the temporary right to work and go to school in this country without fear of being deported. Under an executive order issued by President Barack Obama in June, the federal government will no longer deport undocumented immigrants under the age of 31 who came to this country as children if they meet certain conditions.

Even as the Senate takes up the issue of immigration reform this week, Republicans are increasingly giving indications that the effort isn't likely to go very far. First, it was Sen. Marco Rubio's dance around the issue - repeatedly speaking out against the very bill he helped craft - and then it was the defection of another key Latino GOP member, Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, who removed himself from the bipartisan group that was writing the House's version...

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was a frequent guest on national television news programs in July.  The mayor was featured three times nationally -- twice on CNN and once on the CBS Evening News -- and one time internationally -- on BBC -- during the month.  Her first appearance came July 2 on CNN after the fast-moving derecho storm rocked Baltimore, leaving many powerless during a week of blistering heat.  "We're going to...

Regarding Susan Reimer 's recent column about Hugh Hefner's Canadian girlfriend, when the creator of "Frisky Friday," a Twitter meme featuring women in naughty poses, can be granted an O-1 visa for her "extraordinary ability," it demonstrates just what a disaster our immigration policy really is ("Hef's playmate hops across border," July 9). Considering today's high unemployment, it's shameful theU.S. State Departmentcontinues to create so many ways for outsiders to take American jobs.