Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to Be Relocated to Houston’s TIRR Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital

At ABC News, "Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Stands on Both Feet, Looks Out Window: Giffords to Be Moved to Houston Rehab Facility":

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords stood on both feet with assistance and looked out a window, another milestone in her recovery after a gunman fired a bullet through her brain during an attack in Tucson, Ariz., 11 days ago, according to University Medical Center officials.

She soon will be moved to a hospital in Houston.

Giffords is expected to be transported Friday to the Institute for Rehabilitation and Research at Houston's Memorial Hermann hospital, which specializes in brain injuries, her office said today. The exact day of the move could change, depending on Giffords' condition.

The institute, also known as TIRR Memorial Hermann, is part of the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world. Giffords' office said in a statement that facilities across the country had been considered for her rehabilitation but TIRR was chosen because of its reputation and proximity to Tucson.

Her husband, astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly, lives in Houston, where he trains at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

More at the link.

Birthright Citizenship Looms as Next Immigration Battle

At NYT:

NOGALES, Ariz. — Of the 50 or so women bused to this border town on a recent morning to be deported back to Mexico, Inez Vasquez stood out. Eight months pregnant, she had tried to trudge north in her fragile state, even carrying scissors with her in case she gave birth in the desert and had to cut the umbilical cord.

“All I want is a better life,” she said after the Border Patrol found her hiding in bushes on the Arizona side of the border with her husband, her young son and her very pronounced abdomen.

The next big immigration battle centers on illegal immigrants’ offspring, who are granted automatic citizenship like all other babies born on American soil. Arguing for an end to the policy, which is rooted in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, immigration hard-liners describe a wave of migrants like Ms. Vasquez stepping across the border in the advanced stages of pregnancy to have what are dismissively called “anchor babies.”

The reality at this stretch of the border is more complex, with hospitals reporting some immigrants arriving to give birth in the United States but many of them frequent border crossers with valid visas who have crossed the border legally to take advantage of better medical care. Some are even attracted by an electronic billboard on the Mexican side that advertises the services of an American doctor and says bluntly, “Do you want to have your baby in the U.S.?”

Women like Ms. Vasquez, who was preparing for a desert delivery, are rare.

That's an amazing introduction (and more at the link).

There was more on this with Megyn Kelly this morning, and I'll update with that video later if it becomes available.

After Census, Texas Leads Way on Immigration Politics

Census numbers are out today and Texas will pick up four seats in the House of Representatives.

The Texas Tribune has the numbers, "Apportionment Nets Texas Four New Congressional Seats." And Bloomberg reports on how the state's Latino population is responding, "Texas Hispanics to Challenge Status Quo in Reapportionment."

And see New York Times, "After Dream Act Setback, Eyeing a Sleeping Giant":

HOUSTON — About 37 percent of Texas residents are of Hispanic origin, and the state has a long history of welcoming newcomers who work hard and obey the law. So the state would seem likely to support a bill to grant citizenship to thousands of foreign-born college students.

Yet the two Republican Senators from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, both voted to block the bill, known as the Dream Act, from coming up for a vote on Saturday.

Neither senator was moved by protests and hunger strikes in San Antonio, nor by calls from religious leaders to pass the bill, nor by newspaper articles about the children of undocumented immigrants who had made it to college, only to be picked up for traffic violations and threatened with deportation.

Their votes are another sign of how strong the reaction to illegal immigration has grown among Republicans in Texas, a state where Mexicans, with visas or without, have always been an integral part of the society.

Beyond anger about Washington’s spending, immigration policy was also on the agenda of many of the conservatives who came out in droves to vote in the November midterm elections.

The question now is whether the failure of the Dream Act will create a backlash among Hispanic voters against the Republicans in power.

It has already become a cause for some young Hispanics in Texas. One group of hunger strikers in San Antonio has vowed to use the defeat as a rallying cry to build a broad movement for an immigration overhaul.

“There is a lot of anger, disillusionment,” said Arturo Chavez, the president of a Catholic organization in San Antonio who lobbied for the bill. “But all the young people I talk to are even more determined than ever.”

The political winds seem against them, however. Since the election, Texas lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills intended to discourage illegal immigration, chief among them an Arizona-style law making it a crime to be in the state without a visa.

The Republican tide in November gave the party a two-thirds majority in the State House, prompting one Hispanic Democrat to switch parties recently.

What is more, the Dream Act was supposed to be the easy part of the immigration overhaul to pass, a law that taps into notions of meritocracy. Proponents say they are dismayed that such a moderate measure could not win passage even with a Democratic president and Democratic majorities in both chambers.

The Texas GOP risks a backlash, although the Bloomberg report cites Republican Blake Farenthold from Brownsville, on the Mexican border, who is optimistic:

"South Texans are mainly Catholics with traditional values and people who value a hard day’s work ... We’ve done a poor job until this election of getting that message across."

The GOP majority in the legislature, which will control the redistricting process, will likely pack Latino voters into key districts, hence diluting that bloc's impact on state politics.

This story is developing. Republicans will gain power at the national level. Expect updates, but see National Journal, "An Embarrassment of GOP Riches," and Politico, "The Reapportionment Rundown." Plus, at NYT, "Census Data Show 308 Million People and a Regional Shift."