• ABC - This Week .   Among the guests appearing on the May 16, 2010, edition of  ABC's "This Week" will be Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Republican Jeff Sessions (R-AL).  While the questioning is likely to focus on the nomination of Elena Kagan to be Associated Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, immigration also is ikely to come up during that segment of the program.  Appearing on the program during this week's roundtable segment will be George F. Will, Helene Cooper, Glenn Greenwald, Gregory Craig and Ed Gillespie .

• CBS - Face the Nation.   Among the guests appearing on the May 16, 2010, edition of CBS's "Face the Nation" will be will be Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Assistant Senate Minority Leader Jon Kyl (R-AZ) .   While the questioning is expected to focus on the pending nomination of Elena Kagan to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and the aftermath of the Times Square attempted bombing in New York City, immigration also is likely to come up during the program.

• CNN - State of the Union.   Among the guests appearing on the May 16, 2010, edition of CNN's "State of the Union" will be Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) and his primary challenger, Representative Joe Sestak (D-PA).  The two senators will be interviewed separately.  Also appearing on the program will Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT), who recently was defeated in his bid for renomination.  Immigration is not likely to be a big issue of discussion during the program.

• FOX - Fox News Sunday.   Among the guests appearing on the May 16, 2010, edition of FOX's "Fox News Sunday" are former First Lady Laura Bush and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA).   Given that lineup, immigration is not likely to be a big issue during the interview portion of this week's program.  Appearing this week during the roundtable segment will be Brit Hume, Fox News Senior Political Analyst; Nina Easton, Fortune Magazine & Fox News; Stephen Hayes, Weekly Standard & Fox News; and Juan Williams, National Public Radio & Fox News.

• NBC - Meet the Press.   Among the guests appearing on the May 16, 2010, edition of  NBC's "Meet the Press" will be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security Chairman Charles Schumer (D-NY).  While questioning is likely to focus on issues such as the pending nomination of Elena Kagan to be an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, immigration also is likely to come up during that segment of the program.  Appearing on the program this week during the rountable segment will be Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, Author of the new book "The Promise: President Obama, Year One"; The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan; Republican Strategist Mike Murphy; and Democratic Strategist Bob Shrum.
  
  

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) made an attempt to attach his border fencing proposal to another pending amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill on Thursday, May 13.  However, the DeMint attempt failed when the author of the amendment that he sought to attach his proposal to withdrew it from consideration.  Despite Thursday's failure, Senator DeMint has promised to continue attempting to get a vote on his amendment in connection with the financial regulatory reform bill.

Yesterday's action began around 5:00 pm EDT, when Senator DeMint offered his border fencing amendment to a proposal of Senator Ron Wyden's (D-OR) to curtail the use of secret holds on legislation and nominations.  The Wyden proposal had gained widespread, bipartisan popularity in the Senate, and it had appeared up to that point that it would sail through the Senate with as many as 80 votes.  Senator DeMint surprised the Senate (and Senator Wyden) by offering his "second degree" amendment to the Wyden proposal without notice.  After an hour of heated behind-the-scenes discussion, Senator Wyden agreed to withdraw his proposal rather than accept a vote on the DeMint fencing amendment.

Senator DeMint originally filed his border fencing amendment to S. 3217 , the "Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 ", on Wednesday, May 5.  At the time, it was filed as Senate Amendment 3852 .   The amendment would require the Department of Homeland Security to complete the construction of 700 miles of double-layered fencing along the U.S. border with Mexico.

In announcing his plan to offer his fencing amendment, Senator DeMint said doing so would "follow through on the four-year-old promise made by Congress to secure the border under the Secure Fence Act of 2006."  Senator DeMint quoted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staff as saying that to date, only 34.3 miles of the mandated 700 miles of double layer fencing has been built.  He says that 11.8 of that fencing has been built in California, 9.1 in Arizona, and 13.4 in Texas.

The South Carolina Senator offered a similar amendment last year in the Senate to H.R. 2892 , the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act.  The Senate approved the amendment at that time by a vote of 54-44 , with 21 Democrats and 33 Republicans voting in favor of it.  However, the DeMint amendment was one of several immigration and border enforcement amendments that were dropped from the Homeland Security Appropriations measure in conference.

“We’ve now had two administrations fail to keep their promise to the American people to secure our border and Americans are tired of excuses,” said Senator DeMint. “Americans have demanded a real fence to combat the very real problems of illegal immigration that have led to human trafficking, drug trafficking, kidnapping and violence on our border. Congress will never be able to achieve long-term reform to create a legal immigration system that works until we secure our borders.

“We’ve had rhetoric and promises for four years without results. It’s time we completed the fence and secured our borders to protect American citizens.”

If Senator DeMint’s amendment is signed into law, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano would be required to submit a report to Congress within six months (or 180 days) after enactment of the law on the progress made and her plans for completing the fence within twelve months.


Click on the Play button, above to see video of Senator Wyden's angry speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, May 13, denouncing Senator DeMint's tactics.

• ABC - This Week .   Among the guests appearing on the May 9, 2010, edition of  ABC's "This Week" will be Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., who addressed the Arizona immigration law during his segment:

• FOX - Fox News Sunday.   Among the guests appearing on the May 9, 2010, edition of FOX's "Fox News Sunday" are Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-CT).  Senator Lieberman recently introduced a bill to make it easier to strip suspected terrorists of their U.S. citzenship, and he was asked about the bill during his appearance on the program this week:

• NBC - Meet the Press.   Among the guests appearing on the May 9, 2010, edition of  NBC's "Meet the Press" will be Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., who answered questions about the recently enacted Arizona immigration enforcement law:

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) announced on Wednesday, May 5, that he plans to offer an amendment to pending financial regulatory reform legislation that would require the completion within a year of 700 miles of double-layered fencing along the United States border with Mexico.  However, at the time of this writing, it is looking increasingly unlikely that the Senate will actually take up the DeMint fencing amendment to the financial regulatory reform measure. 

The Senator filed the amendment to S. 3217 , the "Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 ", on Wednesday, May 5, and he could seek to offer it on the Senate floor at any time.  Senator DeMint's amendment, Senate Amendment 3852 , is one of more than one hundred that have been filed to the financial regulatory reform bill.  Unlike most of the others, however, it is neither germane nor related to the subject matter of the underlying bill.  As such, it is unclear whether the Senate will ever take it up.  There will be no votes in the Senate on amendments to the financial regulatory reform bill on Friday, May 7, or Monday, May 10.

In announcing his plan to offer his fencing amendment, Senator DeMint said doing so would "follow through on the four-year-old promise made by Congress to secure the border under the Secure Fence Act of 2006."  Senator DeMint quoted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staff as saying that to date, only 34.3 miles of the mandated 700 miles of double layer fencing has been built.  He says that 11.8 of that fencing has been built in California, 9.1 in Arizona, and 13.4 in Texas.

The South Carolina Senator offered a similar amendment last year in the Senate to H.R. 2892 , the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act.  The Senate approved the amendment at that time by a vote of 54-44 , with 21 Democrats and 33 Republicans voting in favor of it.  However, the DeMint amendment was one of several immigration and border enforcement amendments that were dropped from the Homeland Security Appropriations measure in conference.

“We’ve now had two administrations fail to keep their promise to the American people to secure our border and Americans are tired of excuses,” said Senator DeMint. “Americans have demanded a real fence to combat the very real problems of illegal immigration that have led to human trafficking, drug trafficking, kidnapping and violence on our border. Congress will never be able to achieve long-term reform to create a legal immigration system that works until we secure our borders.

“We’ve had rhetoric and promises for four years without results. It’s time we completed the fence and secured our borders to protect American citizens.”

If Senator DeMint’s amendment is signed into law, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano would be required to submit a report to Congress within six months (or 180 days) after enactment of the law on the progress made and her plans for completing the fence within twelve months.

In her weekly press conference on Thursday. May 6, the Speaker said that while she appreciates “the spirit” of the proposal, she is concerned and that Congress should be very, very careful about such proposals.  Minority Leader Boehner was less diplomatic in his criticisms, saying during his weekly press conference, “it would be pretty difficult, under the U.S. constitution” to strip someone of their citizenship."  He added, "If they’re a U.S. citizen, until they’re convicted of some crime, I don’t know how you would attempt to take their citizenship away.”

In explaining the rationale of his bill, Senator Lieberman said, "our enemies today are stateless actors who don’t wear uniforms."  He went on to say, "it has become a strategy of al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorist groups over the past couple of years to recruit U.S. citizens who can train overseas and then use their American passports to re-enter the U.S. for the purposes of planning and carrying out attacks against us."

Under current law, the citizenship of American citizens can be legally taken away from any adult who, among other actions, obtains naturalization in a foreign state, makes a formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state, serves in the armed forces of a foreign state if engaged in hostilities against the United States, makes a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the US in a foreign state, or commits any act of treason.


CLick on the play button, above to see video of remarks by House Speaker Pelosi on the Lieberman proposal.

• CNN - State of the Union.   Among the guests appearing on the May 2, 2010, edition of  CNN's "State of the Union" were Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar. CNN also interviewed f ormer Florida Speaker of the House Marco Rubio (R-FL), a Cuban-American who is a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator George Lemieux (R-FL), and Florida Governor Charlie Crist (I-FL), also a candidate for that seat.  Rubio, who is favored by the "Tea Party" movement,  has been an opponent of comprehensive immigration reform legislation.  However, he has come out in recent days against the Arizona immigration enforcement law.  He commented on the controversial Arizona immigration enforcement law during his appearnce on "State of the Union":