Last week was a big week for immigration for two very different people: Justin Bieber and House Speaker John Boehner.
Apparently we here at the ACLU aren’t the only ones with questions about how differently Bieber would be treated if he were a random immigrant facing similar legal problems. More than 224,000 people have signed an official petition asking the Department of Homeland Security to deport the pop prince back to his native land of Canada as of late last week.
Unfortunately for the Biebs, the Administration is required to respond to any petition with more than 200,000 signature, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed that we can expect a response “relatively soon.”
Even though it didn’t make quite as big a splash as the Bieber drama, House Republicans also released their party’s outline to guide immigration reform last Thursday. We have mixed feelings on their outline but are eager to see what the next steps are.
Here’s what we’re going to keep our eyes on this week (aside from the Bieber drama!):
Tuesday, February 4th
NSA Surveillance
The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Examining Recommendations to Reform FISA Authorities,” where Peter Swire of the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology, and PCLOB Chairman David Medine will testify on their groups’ respective reports.
National Security
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will hold its annual hearing on worldwide threats.
Data Breach
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing on “Privacy in the Digital Age: Preventing Data Breaches and Combating Cybercrime”
Wednesday, February 5th
Data Breach
The Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing titled “Protecting Consumer Information: Can Data Breaches Be Prevented?”
IRS Oversight
The Oversight Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on oversight at the Internal Revenue Service. New IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will testify.
Happening This Week
Voting Rights
On Thursday, February 6 through Friday, February 7, the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights will hold a conference, Moving Voting Rights Forward: A Conference on Strategy for 2014 and Beyond, serving, in part, as the launch of the advocacy campaign for the legislative response to the Shelby decision, the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014. Senior Legislative Counsel Deborah Vagins will be speaking at the event.
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