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Articles by Stephen Dinan

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is deporting fewer illegal immigrants this fiscal year, but a larger percentage of them have no criminal records. The numbers suggest that the Obama administration is struggling to meet its stated goals. (ICE via Associated Press)**FILE**

Numbers don’t add up on Obama’s pledge to deport more illegal immigrants

The Obama administration is deporting fewer people than it did in 2011 or 2012, but has ousted more than 110,000 illegal immigrants this year who didn't have criminal records, according to statistics that call into question the Obama administration's public statements about its deportation policies.

July 8, 2013
**FILE** From left: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, and Vice President Joseph R. Biden participate in a ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 19, 2013. (Associated Press)

Reid tells House to pass Senate immigration bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid challenged House Republicans to forgo their own debate and pass the Senate's immigration bill instead, telling Speaker John A. Boehner to ignore his Republican colleagues in order to get a bill done.

July 8, 2013
President Obama, center, and and Gov. Chris Christie meet with local residents as they tour neighborhood effected by superstorm Sandy, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012 in Brigantine, N.J. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Bad weather changes congressional environment voting: Study

Lawmakers are more likely to vote for climate change legislation after freak storms hit their home states or districts, according to a new Harvard University study announced Tuesday that looks at how specific weather events affect the public debate.

July 2, 2013
** FILE ** In this Feb. 28, 2013, file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada (right) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, meet with reporters on Capitol Hill. (Associated Press)

Senators’ votes on immigration were linked to personal experiences

With the fates of their political parties — and in many cases their own re-elections — hanging on their votes, senators stood, one after the other, to say "Aye" or "No" on the most significant piece of legislation since health care. Most of them had their personal immigration experiences on their minds.

June 27, 2013
**FILE** Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, updates reporters on the pace of the immigration reform bill following a Democratic strategy session at the Capitol in Washington on June 25, 2013. (Associated Press)

Immigration bill clears final filibuster

Senators beat back a final filibuster of the immigration bill Thursday afternoon, clearing the way for the measure to pass in a final vote at 4 p.m. — intact and almost exactly as the Gang of Eight wrote it.

June 27, 2013
People wait under a tree after they were detained by Border Patrol agents Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at a field in Edinburg, Texas. Agents took into custody 69 people suspected of entering the country illegally. (AP Photo/The Monitor, Gabe Hernandez)

Senate speeds toward immigration bill passage

The Senate is headed for its final immigration votes, with the last filibuster test slated for noon Thursday — a vote all sides expect will signal easy passage by the end of the week — and lawmakers are facing furious last-minute lobbying from both sides.

June 27, 2013
**FILE** People wait under a tree after they were detained by Border Patrol agents on June 25, 2013, at a field in Edinburg, Texas. Agents took into custody 69 people suspected of entering the country illegally. (Associated Press/The Monitor)

Immigration bill survives filibuster, speeds toward passage

The immigration bill survived a major filibuster test Wednesday in a 67-31 vote that signals the measure is on a speedy path out of the Senate this week while underscoring just how far the bill has come since the last debate in 2007.

June 26, 2013
Supporters of gay marriage embrace outside the Supreme Court in Washington on June 26, 2013, after the court cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California by holding that defenders of California's gay marriage ban did not have the right to appeal lower court rulings striking down the ban. (Associated Press)

Gay couples can immigrate under DOMA ruling

The Supreme Court's ruling that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional should immediately open up immigration benefits to same-sex partners in states where their unions are recognized as marriages.

June 26, 2013
"We're working on this, we can still do it. We have to  make sure everyone's going to give a little," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says Tuesday afternoon of progress on the immigration bill.

Slow-going on immigration in Senate

With the immigration bill's passage in the Senate now a forgone conclusion, the only question is whether the lawmakers will get the chance to vote on any other amendments before signing off and sending the measure to an uncertain future in the House.

June 25, 2013
"We have made some technical fixes and clarifying edits to the legislative language, but that's it. This is a routine step."

As Democrats call on Congress to fix Voting Rights Act, GOP goes quiet

The Supreme Court didn't overturn the entire Voting Rights Act in its Tuesday ruling, but it did say that if lawmakers want to keep using it, Congress will have to update it for the 21st century. But that throws the problem over to a legislature that has had trouble passing the most basic spending bills to keep the government open.

June 25, 2013