Immigration was a central theme of the 7th Republican presidential debate, with Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Jeb Bush exchanging fire over their inconsistencies and evolutions on the subject over time. Bush stood out for expressing support for the goals of the “Gang of Eight,” the Rubio-supported effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform that the Florida senator fled after it fizzled. Bush acknowledged that he supported the Gang of 8’s work, despite having himself moved off that path ahead of this primary season. “I think it’s important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems,” Bush said. “There’s never going to be a perfect bill.” 

The debate was also notable for the absence of the GOP’s primary progenitor of anti-immigrant vitriol; Mr. Trump, having added Fox News to his enemies list, was off site, hosting a fundraiser for veterans. Grantee America’s Voice publicized its “Trump Hate Map,” a running tally of incidents of harassment against immigrants, Muslims and Latinos at the candidate’s rallies.

The GOP candidates also spent a significant amount of time denouncing ISIS and the Obama administration’s approach to the threat, without doing much to elaborate on what they would do differently.

Grantees heralded a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showing a majority of those surveyed support the president’s immigration executive actions, which face a legal test at the Supreme Court in April. Sixty-one percent of Americans support the Obama immigration plan, according to the sounding, including 42 percent of Republicans surveyed.  At the same time, advocates helped organize protests in Los Angeles and San Francisco against the administration’s ICE raids. 

OSPC colleagues were tracking an upcoming House Homeland Security Committee hearing exploring ways of “preventing terrorist infiltration through U.S. refugee and visa programs,” as the committee billed it, and a Senate hearing on the child migrant crisis showcasing the results of a six-month investigation which faulted the Dept. of Homeland Security for failing to protect child migrants in their care, leading to an uptick in human trafficking. 

In Florida, mothers, students and community leaders visited legislative leaders and mayors of major cities to protest House Bill 675, which would require local government and law enforcement officials to engage in federal immigration agent enforcement efforts.

A South Carolina measure mandating that state law enforcement track refugees in state and hold their sponsors liable for any terrorist acts moved to the state Senate floor, over opposition from local Democrats.

 Among other grantee activities:

--United We Dream and Make the Road publicized stories of families living in fear of ICE raids, with titles like “Don’t Deport Our Dad.”

--Human Rights Watch released a 700-page report on the rise of the “politics of fear” around the world, documenting how governments have responded to terrorism and refugee crises. “Fear of terrorist attacks and mass refugee flows are driving many Western governments to roll back human rights protections, ED Kenneth Roth wrote. “These backward steps threaten the rights of all without demonstrated effectiveness in protecting ordinary people.”

 --Grantees condemned a statement by an Alabama pastor who said “God gave us specific instructions to destroy” Syrian refugees.