NATION/WORLD
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Clinton: Nation needs to fix immigration
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press
LAS
VEGAS
—
Democratic
presidential
candidate Hillary Rodham
Clinton said Tuesday that
any immigration overhaul
must include a path to “full
and equal citizenship,”
drawing a sharp contrast
with Republicans who have
promoted providing a legal
status or blocked efforts
in Congress to address
the nation’s immigration
system.
“This is where I differ
with everybody on the
Republican side. Make
no mistake, not a single
Republican ... is clearly
and consistently supporting
a path to citizenship. Not
one,” Clinton said, adding,
“When they talk about
legal status, that is code for
second-class status.”
Clinton’s remarks during
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in Nevada underscored
Democrats’ efforts
to
box-in Republican presi-
dential candidates who have
opposed a comprehensive
bill including a pathway to
citizenship. Congressional
Republicans have said the
changes must be made
incrementally, beginning
with stronger border secu-
rity.
The issue of immigra-
tion resonates with many
Hispanic Americans, who
backed President Barack
Obama by wide margins
over Republican Mitt
Romney in 2012 and helped
AP Photo/John Locher
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham
Clinton speaks at an event at Rancho High School
Tuesday in Las Vegas.
the president’s re-election
campaign capture several
hard-fought swing states,
including Florida, Colorado
and Nevada.
Clinton’s pitch to Latino
voters came as two of
her potential Republican
rivals, former Florida Gov.
Jeb Bush and Florida Sen.
Marco Rubio, have courted
Hispanics
and
talked
about ways to overhaul
the immigration system
while opposing Obama’s
executive actions last year
to shield millions of immi-
grants from deportation.
Obama’s
executive
actions loom large in the
immigration debate. The
orders included the expan-
sion of a program protecting
young immigrants from
deportation if they were
brought to the U.S. illegally
as children. Another provi-
sion extended deportation
protections to parents of
U.S. citizens and permanent
residents who have been
in the country for several
years.
Twenty-six
states,
including Nevada, have
sued to block the plan, and
a New Orleans-based 5th
Circuit Court of Appeals
panel heard arguments on
the challenges last month. A
ruling is pending.
Clinton, the leading
Democrat in the presidential
race, said she supported
Obama’s executive actions
and said she would “defend”
them against Republican
opposition while seeking
ways to expand them if
elected president. Her
message was aimed at
so-called Dreamers, young
people who have been
protected from deportation
by Obama’s actions.
“I don’t understand how
anyone can look at these
young people and think
that we should break up
more families or turn away
young people with talent,”
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comprehensive immigra-
tion reform and a path to
citizenship.”
Clinton also said she was
worried about the use of
family detention centers to
hold women and children
caught up in the immigra-
tion system, which activists
have said is inhumane.
Her framing of the immi-
gration debate has been
closely watched by Latinos
and immigration advocates
as Obama has struggled
to pass reform legislation
through Congress.
For Clinton, “the $64
million question is will
she continue the executive
actions,” said Marielena
Hincapie, executive director
of the National Immigration
Law Center.
Clinton has been tripped
up by immigration policy
before. During the 2008
primaries, she initially
vacillated on and then
opposed allowing immi-
grants living in the U.S.
illegally to obtain driver’s
licenses. Her campaign said
last month she now supports
state policies that allow
driver’s licenses under
those circumstances. Last
fall, some young Hispanics
heckled her at a few
campaign events, urging her
to pressure Obama to issue
the executive orders.
Republicans
have
sought to portray Clinton as
opportunistic on the issue.
East Oregonian
Page 9A
BRIEFLY
Obama chooses
Marine general
as Joint Chiefs
chairman
WASHINGTON (AP)
— President Barack Obama
tapped a highly respected
combat commander as his
next chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff Tuesday,
signaling that the battles
against al-Qaida and Islamic
State militants threatening
the Middle East and the West
remain top priorities for the
nation’s military despite
years of trying to change the
focus to Asia.
Announcing his selection
of Marine Gen. Joseph
Dunford Jr. during a Rose
Garden ceremony, Obama
said America’s armed forces
must be ready to meet a
broad range of challenges,
and that Dunford has proven
to be one of the military’s
most highly regarded
strategic thinkers.
As the U.S. started to
look beyond the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, the
Pentagon had begun to
increase its focus on the
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the North Korea threat was
escalating and China was
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But that has been eclipsed by
the march of Islamic State
militants across Syria and
Iraq, and the group’s effort
to expand to other regions.
In choosing Dunford,
Obama picked a battle
commander who led forces
in the initial invasion into
Iraq.
California fell far
short of water-
saving target
SACRAMENTO,
Calif. (AP) — Californians
conserved little water in
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were not aggressive in
cracking down on waste,
state regulators reported
Tuesday as they considered
tough measures to force
savings amid a continuing
drought.
The State Water
Resources Control Board
received the update as
it considers sweeping
mandatory emergency
regulations to protect water
supplies in the parched state.
Gov. Jerry Brown has
argued that the voluntary
targets in place since early
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that Californians needed
a jolt to take conservation
seriously.
A survey of local water
departments released at the
start of the two-day meeting
shows water use fell less
than 4 percent in March
compared with the same
month in 2013. Overall
savings have been only
about 9 percent since last
summer, even though Brown
set a voluntary 20 percent
target.
Those conservation
targets are among the most
contentious provisions of the
proposed rules. The board
plans to order each city to
cut water use by as much
as 36 percent compared to
2013, the year before the
governor declared a drought.
Doubts raised about Islamic State’s
claims in Texas cartoonist attack
PHOENIX (AP) — The
Islamic State group claimed
responsibility Tuesday for
the assault on a Texas cartoon
contest that featured images
of the Prophet Muhammad,
but counterterrorism experts
said IS has a history of
asserting involvement in
attacks in which it had no
operational role.
That suggests the two
gunmen could have carried
out their own lone wolf-style
strike before they were shot
and killed at the scene of
Sunday’s shooting in the
Dallas suburb of Garland.
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the pair as Elton Simpson and
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who lived in Phoenix.
Rep. Michael McCaul,
chairman of the House Home-
land Security Committee,
said a Twitter account linked
to Simpson included images
of Anwar Awlaki, a radical
cleric killed in a CIA drone
strike in Yemen.
Among the hashtags
used by the account was
“#texasattack.” And one of
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Allah accept us as mujahi-
deen,” or holy warriors.
“Was he on the radar?
Sure he was,” McCaul said
from Turkey, where he was
leading a congressional
delegation. “The FBI has
got a pretty good program to
monitor public social media.”
But McCaul said he is not
ready to say law enforcement
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The evidence does not
indicate the attack was
directed by the Islamic State
group, “but rather inspired
by them,” said McCaul, who
was briefed on the investiga-
tion by federal law enforce-
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textbook case of what we’re
most concerned about.”
White
House
press
secretary Josh Earnest said
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to counter terrorist efforts to
use social media to radicalize
individuals in the United
States.
IS recently urged those
in the United States, Europe
and Australia who cannot
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and Iraq to carry out jihad
in the countries where they
live. An audio statement
on the extremist group’s Al
Bayan radio station called
the men “two soldiers of the
caliphate.”
The shooting appeared
to be another example of
a “do-it-yourself” jihadist
whose plots are often hard
for law enforcement and
intelligence agencies to stop,
said Mitchell Silber, exec-
utive managing director for
K2 Intelligence and former
director of intelligence anal-
ysis for the New York City
police department.
“It’s very tough to detect
in advance, which means
we are and will continue to
be susceptible to lone actors
who don’t give us much
warning to thwart them,” he
said.
The cartoon contest
had been expected to draw
outrage from the Muslim
community. According to
mainstream Islamic tradition,
any physical depiction of
the Prophet Muhammad —
even a respectful one — is
considered
blasphemous,
and drawings similar to
those featured at the Texas
event have sparked violence
around the world.
The 31-year-old Simpson
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wearing body armor, and one
of the men shot a security
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After his initial shots, nearby
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authorities said.
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treated at a hospital and
released.
Simpson was arrested in
2010 after being the focus of a
four-year terror investigation.
But despite amassing more
than 1,500 hours of recorded
conversations,
including
Simpson’s discussions about
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STUDENT
OF THE
WEEK
Enid Miller
N IXYAAWII H IGH S CHOOL
Enid Miller has been working studiously towards
her graduation requirements while also being a
parent. She has raised the bar for all our students
by demonstrating her strong work ethic and
ability to focus completely on the goal before
her. She has also completed several classes this
year via Acellus, which requires persistence and
dedication. Enid is a positive young woman who
is a mature role model for her peers. We are
fortunate to have her as a student.
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