“Yesterday we had to get rid of our guns. Today we gotta grant amnesty…
They’re running the no-huddle offense on us. We don’t even have time to
catch our breath. They’re running play after play after play.”

— Rush Limbaugh, on his radio show.

Harry Enten: “The only swing states in which Latinos make up the same or a greater
percentage of the electorate than nationally are Colorado, Florida, and
Nevada. A modest improvement for Republicans in these states could make a
difference in a close election. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but the
majority of swing states like Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
and Virginia are more likely to be determined by African-American and
non-Hispanic white voters.”

Alex Altman: “How long has it been since lawmakers went before the cameras to announce a bipartisan deal — without the hunted look of hostage victims? Perhaps since they launched a similar bid to overhaul the U.S. immigration system. Those efforts, from 2005 to 2007, and again in 2009 and 2010, were led by many of the same Senators spearheading the push that was launched on Monday. The bills produced in those doomed efforts look eerily similar to the new framework released by the Senate’s so-called Gang of Eight. Schumer touted the outline as a ‘major breakthrough,’ and through the prism of Washington’s polarized politics, it was. It also carried a whiff of Groundhog Day.”

“Despite Monday’s rare bipartisan bonhomie, the Gang of Eight will have to navigate a raft of competing interests: House Republicans worried about primary challenges, a tug of war between business and labor, Hispanics unsatisfied by the arduous and murky path to citizenship. Then there are the looming brawls over the budget and gun control, which could poison whatever cross-aisle goodwill exists.”

The Cloakroom: A long way to go on immigration reform.

President Obama will give his much-anticipated immigration speech this afternoon in Nevada, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.

First Read: “So why is the president giving his speech in Las Vegas? There is no state that better epitomizes the power of the Latino vote in American politics than Nevada. In 2010, Harry Reid won 69% of Latinos in his race against Sharron Angle, according to the exit polls, saving his Senate seat from a GOP that was convinced was theirs for the taking. And two years later, Obama won 71% of that vote — matching what he received nationwide. The three states that have moved the most dramatically in presidential contests since 2004 have been Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico, and it’s due primarily to the Latino vote in all three states. (New Mexico is not even remotely a purple state anymore.) In Nevada, in particular, Latinos make up 27% of the state’s population and 19% of the voters in the 2012 election. Translation: The Latino influence in the state has even more room to grow.”

The Obama administration “has developed its own proposals for immigration reform that are more liberal than a separate bipartisan effort in the Senate, including a quicker path to citizenship for illegal immigrants,” the Washington Post reports.

But First Read says “that information is outdated. Had the bipartisan senators NOT acted yesterday, you likely would have seen Obama offer his own plan. But the senators did act, and their plan is the plan. The last thing the White House wants to do is blow up this fragile coalition.”

“That said, the White House insisted last night to reporters that if the
Senate coalition falters and if bill shows signs of dying, the president
will step in with his own legislation.”

The Week: Is the bipartisan push for immigration reform doomed?

“A bipartisan group of senators has agreed on a set of principles for a sweeping overhaul of the immigration system, including a pathway to American citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants that would hinge on progress in securing the borders and ensuring that foreigners leave the country when their visas expire,” the New York Times reports.

“The senators were able to reach a deal by incorporating the Democrats’ insistence on a single comprehensive bill that would not deny eventual citizenship to illegal immigrants, with Republican demands that strong border and interior enforcement had to be clearly in place before Congress could consider legal status for illegal immigrants.”

Politico: “The group is expected to unveil the basics of its proposal at a
Monday news conference on Capitol Hill, essentially laying down a marker
on the issue one day before President Barack Obama heads to Las Vegas
to unveil more details about his own immigration proposal.”

President Obama “plans to launch his second-term push for an immigration overhaul during a visit to Nevada next week in a bid to win congressional approval of a reform package this year,” Reuters reports.

“Obama’s proposals would largely be based on a “blueprint” the president put forth in a policy speech he delivered on the border near El Paso, Texas, in 2011, but which never made it into legislation.”

President Obama “plans to push Congress to move quickly in the coming months on an ambitious overhaul of the immigration system that would include a path to citizenship for most of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country,” the New York Times reports.

Democrats will propose the changes in one comprehensive bill, “resisting efforts by some Republicans to break the overhaul into smaller pieces — separately addressing young illegal immigrants, migrant farmworkers or highly skilled foreigners — which might be easier for reluctant members of their party to accept… The president and Democrats will also oppose measures that do not allow immigrants who gain legal status to become American citizens one day.”

An Obama administration official tells the Huffington Post that the president “plans to push for immigration reform this January. The official, who spoke about legislative plans only on condition of anonymity, said that coming standoffs over deficit reduction are unlikely to drain momentum from other priorities. The White House plans to push forward quickly, not just on immigration reform but gun control laws as well.”

“The timeframe is likely to be cheered by Democrats and immigration reform advocates alike, who have privately expressed fears that Obama’s second term will be drowned out in seemingly unending showdowns between parties. The just-completed fiscal cliff deal is giving way to a two-month deadline to resolve delayed sequestration cuts, an expiring continuing resolution to fund the government and a debt ceiling that will soon be hit.”

Walter Shapiro: “House Republicans probably worry far more about a 2014 primary challenge on their own right flank than they do about the party winning the White House in 2016. So all the talk about the Republican Party recasting itself to appeal to Latino voters runs up against that very personal Capitol Hill question: ‘What about my reelection campaign?'”

“The gap between national parties and the parochial concerns of individual legislators is as old as the republic. But political polarization and the proliferation of one-party congressional districts make things far more acute. That is why the number of Republican volunteers–particularly in the House–willing to take personal political risks to help the party deal with its problems with Hispanic voters is probably limited.”

Wonk Wire: Republicans push alternative to the Dream Act.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds most Americans support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, 57% to 39%, an issue that may be gaining traction in Congress in the aftermath of the elections.

Meanwhile, 51% support gay marriage, slightly more than half for the fifth time straight in ABC/Post polls since March 2011.

Although Mitt Romney released a statement earlier stressing the right of states to enact immigration policies, he never commented directly on the Supreme Court decision gutting large parts of Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

Politico has a remarkable exchange with traveling spokesman Rick Gorka, in which he did everything he could to avoid answering despite being asked 20 times.

The Supreme Court gutted the majority of Arizona’s controversial immigration law today, leaving in place only the “show your papers” provision that says police officers may check the status of those they stop, the Arizona Republic reports.

Interestingly, Mitt Romney is in Arizona today for a fundraiser. The decision seriously complicates his efforts to reach out to Latino voters.

Mark Halperin: “At first blush, there isn’t a lot in the Supreme Court immigration decision that is good politically for Mitt Romney. It is a muddy ruling that doesn’t really let him make hay. On the other hand, the mixed decision means this case isn’t likely to dominate the news beyond today’s cycle, letting Romney go back to the economy and — later in the week — health care, where he is on stronger footing.”

Wonk Wire has more.

Mitt Romney “offered what he called a strategy for ‘bipartisan and long-term immigration reform’ in an address to a convention of Latino elected officials in Florida,” the New York Times reports.

“In the speech, which also touched on the economy, Mr. Romney dropped the confrontational tone he took on immigration during the Republican primary. Instead, he promised to work in a series of areas to help immigrants and their families while discouraging people from coming to the country illegally.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he’s waiting for Mitt Romney “to announce a position on whether he supports deporting young illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children,” Roll Call reports.

Said McConnell: “He is the leader of our party from now until November.”

Romney has repeatedly avoided taking a position on the issue.

Roger Simon: “Bypassing the sucking, hopeless, sinkhole that is the U.S. Congress, Obama announced a new immigration policy, one that invokes an old, and therefore legal, power: He is taking ‘deferred action’ on whether to proceed against hundreds of thousands of people who came to this country illegally.”

“It is not permanent. He, or any other president, can revoke it. And therein lies part of the brilliance…”

“The choice for Hispanic voters is now simple: Vote for Obama and you are guaranteed a humane immigration policy for your children, relatives, friends, neighbors and fellow Hispanics for the next four years. Vote for Romney and you get the uncertainty of which ‘setting’ he chooses to take.”

A new Bloomberg poll finds 64% of Americans agree with President Obama’s decision to end the deportations of some illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, while 30% say they disagreed.

Independents backed the decision by better than a two-to-one margin.

“The results underscore the challenge facing Mitt Romney and Republicans as they try to woo Hispanic voters, who are the nation’s largest ethnic minority and made up 9 percent of the 2008 electorate.”

A forthcoming biography of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) says that Rubio’s Cuban-born maternal grandfather “was ordered deported from Florida because he flew in from Cuba without a visa, a decade before Rubio’s birth,” Politico reports.

The book says the grandfather “did not leave the U.S. as ordered, but remained in Miami, possibly on retroactive refugee status.”

“The episode could draw renewed scrutiny of the personal narrative of Rubio, a possible running mate for Republican nominee Mitt Romney.”

The Rise of Marco Rubio by Manuel Roig-Franzia will be out June 19.