Monday Immigration Bulletin: Dreamer Documentary, LatAm Delegation, Registry, Eagle, Midterm

Hey fam! Happy Monday. I’m working on some magazine pieces this afternoon so I am putting out today's bulletin a lil' earlier than usual ... FOR TODAY — filmmaker Daniela Cantillo has a new documentary focused on documented dreamers; advocates tell me Gillibrand has declined to cosponsor registry; Dem lawmakers hold press call to recap Latin America trip; Eagle Act’s vote count remains elusive; and polling shows midterm momentum swinging back toward Senate Dems. Thanks for reading! 

Cantillo Releases Documented Dreamer Documentary (WATCH)

Filmmaker Daniela Cantillo has a new documentary that takes an intimate look at the uncertain lives of documented dreamers and policies impacting them in the United States.

Humble Brag: Cantillo interviewed me for the film when  when she came to the Capitol last year with advocates for Improve The Dream, an immigrant-youth-led organization featured prominently in “LIMBO - the struggle of documented dreamers in the United States”.

WATCH ON YOUTUBE ... and consider linking and leaving a comment on Cantillo's film project.

Gillibrand Won't Cosponsor Registry Bill, say advocates

Advocates for Movement for Justice in el Barrio told me  this morning that, after weeks of meetings with staffers for Kristen Gillibrand (D), the junior senator from New York's team said she will not cosponsor the immigration registry bill introduced last month by fellow Democratic Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA).

Movement is an East Harlem-based community organization run by Gillibrand's constituents, mostly immigrant women, who tell me Gillibrand's staff cited her support for the stalled U.S. Citizenship Act introduced by Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) as her reason for declining to support the registry bill.

What remains unclear is how the registry and citizenship bills (neither of which being likely to pass the Senate this year) are somehow mutually exclusive. Gillibrand's staff did not immediately reply to my request for comment, but I will continue to track this and other immigrant relief bills here in Pablo Reports...

Dem Lawmakers Return From Latin America

Senator Tim Kaine (VA) and Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY), newly returned from delegation travel to Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic, held a press call this morning to talk about the trip.

Kaine said he was struck by China’s influence in the region, telling reporters that while the U.S. attention on the allies like Costa Rica has been fleeting, the Chinese have never lost focus on the region.

Immigration came up briefly in the context of scanners used to detect drug trafficking shipments at ports of entry along the U.S. - Mexico border. Also, Kaine and Espaillat both noted concerns expressed in the Dominican Republic about Haitians fleeing political instability to DR.

The Hill reporter Rafael Bernal asked the lawmakers about Sunday’s runoff election in Brazil between incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro and challenger Luis Lula de Silva. Both lawmakers said they join President Joe Biden in congratulating Lula on his victory and hope Bolsonaro concedes.

Eagle Act Vote Counts Remain Elusive

What is the House and Senate vote count for the Eagle Act in the 117th Congress? It’s a question I’ve been asking for months as we head toward the lame duck session on Capitol Hill.

Advocates have long-said that removing country-caps on employment-based visas has enough support to pass the House and Senate, if brought to the floor. As evidence, they cite the hugely successful bipartisan effort around the Eagle Act during the last Congress.

Hill aides during this Congress disagree about Eagle Act’s prospects in the House, citing two factors:

• Eagle Act has only eight House GOP cosponsors and only 75 Dems. This is considerably less than the ubiquitous support some advocates have suggested the bill enjoys; and
• No GOP member voted for the bill during its House Judiciary Committee markup.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could bring the bill to the House floor for a messaging vote during the lame duck. It would certainly put to the test the lip service dozens of members of both parties have given backlog immigrants during this Congress.

Senate-side, Eagle Act has been all-but-forgotten by most rank-in-file members of both caucuses, even those who voted on the bill last term. For some members, even clarifying the bill as “Senator Lee’s bill on per-country caps” isn’t enough to jog their memory.

Like Pelosi in the House, leadership in the Senate could bring the bill to the floor; but that seems unlikely given Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin’s stated opposition to the bill text he has ostensibly helped negotiate over the years.

Even if, by some miracle, Senate leadership brought the Eagle Act to the floor during the lame duck, Chuck Grassley (D-IA) has reportedly told Senate GOP colleagues that he wants to wait until the next Congress to do anything on immigration.

Meanwhile, no new cosponsors have joined Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) (who introduced the Eagle Act in this Congress) and the current bill cosponsors, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and John Hickenlooper (D-CO).

If the votes aren’t there, the bill obviously will not pass. That doesn’t mean per-country caps won’t get a messaging vote in either (or both) chamber, but don’t be surprised if the House Judiciary markup is the only vote Eagle Act gets during this Congress...

Poll: Momentum Swings Back to Senate Dems

New polling suggests that momentum has shifted back to Democrats in four tight Senate races: Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada.

We are now only a week away from a midterm election that could have a tremendous impact on immigration policy … especially if Republicans take either or both chambers of Congress, as polls predicted they would just last week. 

Like the rest of the political press…I’ll keep watching with bated breath this rollercoaster election to determine the makeup of the 118th Congress of the United States...

News Clips

• “Poll finds broad support in battleground states for legalizing unauthorized immigrants” - CBS NEWS
• “Big Tech Cites National Security in Push for Immigration Changes” - ROLL CALL
• “Afghan Evacuees in Limbo While Seeking Permanent Legal Status in the U.S.” - WSJ
• “Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plan to Police Disinformation” - THE INTERCEPT
• “GPS Tagging Migrants ‘Psyochological Torture’, says report” - THE GUARDIAN

THANKS FOR READING … PLEASE LIKE AND SHARE … HAPPY MONDAY … KEEP SENDING YOUR NEWS TIPS … CONGRESS IS SCHEDULED TO RETURN TO CAPITOL HILL ON NOVEMBER 14th!