-- by Ted Hesson, ABC News/Univision:

On Capitol Hill this Thursday, a group of Democrats and Republicans showcased their new immigration bill to a slew of reporters and backers.

-- by Marcela Garcia, for The Boston Globe:

-- from the New York Times editorial board:

Huge news from the scorched desert of immigration reform: germination

At last there is a bill, the product of a bipartisan group of senators who have been working on it for months, that promises at least the hope of citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. It is complicated, full of mechanisms and formulas meant to tackle border security, the allocation of visas, methods of employment verification and the much-debated citizenship path.

Twitter analysts spent all day Tuesday parsing just the 17-page outline that was unveiled ahead of the actual bill. There will be much to chew on in coming weeks, but it is worth a moment to marvel at the bill’s mere existence, and at the delicate balancing of competing interests that coaxed this broad set of compromises into being.

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-- by David Nakamura, The Washington Post:

A bipartisan group of lawmakers formally filed an 844-page immigration bill on the Senate floor early Wednesday morning, setting the stage for months of public debate over the proposal.

Leading Capitol Hill opponents of the proposal to overhaul the nation’s immigration system are coalescing around a strategy to kill the bill by delaying the legislative process as long as possible, providing time to offer “poison pill” amendments aimed at breaking apart the fragile bipartisan group that developed the plan, according to lawmakers and legislative aides.

The tactics, used successfully by opponents of an immigration bill during a 2007 debate in the Senate, are part of an effort to exploit public fissures over core components of the comprehensive legislation introduced Tuesday by eight lawmakers who spent months negotiating the details.

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-- by Benjy Sarlin, TPM.com:

After months of vague talking points about creating a “path to citizenship” versus a “special path to citizenship” versus “amnesty,” the Senate’s “Gang of 8” finally has an immigration bill ready. And, much to the relief of immigration advocates, there is a relatively clear and reliable process for today’s 11 million undocumented residents to eventually become citizens.

-- by Peter Walker, the Guardian (UK):

The aftermath of many public disasters sees the swift emergence of a public hero to counterpoint the tragedy. With the Boston Marathon attack, this person is even more extraordinary than usual: the cowboy-hatted peace campaigner and bereaved father Carlos Arredondo.

-- by Anthony Salvanto, CBS News:

As the Senate's "gang of eight" announces its proposed immigration bill, the political calculus behind any bipartisan push seems clear. Immigration affects many groups but after winning a whopping seven in 10 Hispanic votes last year, Democrats will particularly want to fulfill a promise to tackle it, while Republicans need to start winning some of those voters back. Many will see this as a chance for the GOP to re-engage after finding themselves on the wrong side of a demographic wave that could hinder them in elections for years.

Last cycle it seemed Republicans couldn't get a hearing from Hispanics after the strident talk of fences and deportation that had surfaced during the primaries. The party's own post-election review lamented that - and Mitt Romney's "self-deportation" comment in particular: "If Hispanic Americans perceive that a GOP nominee or candidate does not want them in the United States they will not pay attention to our next sentence."

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-- by Ashley Parker, The New York Times:

The introduction of sweeping immigration legislation on Tuesday is likely to ignite a months-long battle between those who want citizenship for the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants and opponents who view such an approach as amnesty. 

-- by Anna Palmer, Politico.com:

The business community has long supported the idea of immigration reform — particularly the high-tech sector and the construction industry, which badly need the workers.

What they don’t support are some of the specifics leaking out on a new immigration reform proposal expected Tuesday from the Gang of Eight.

-- by Josh Marshall, TPM.com:

Everybody is focused on the centrality of immigration reform as a driver of Hispanic vote. And that’s an accurate perception to a significant degree. But over recent months we’ve seen more and more polling which shows that Hispanics aren’t voting for Democrats because of the immigration issue. They’re voting for Democrats because they turn out disproportionately to be Democrats.

That might sound like word play but here’s what I mean. On issue after issue, Hispanics appear to either overwhelmingly or more than the public at large support the Democratic position. Today we had a poll showing that Hispanics overwhelmingly support tighter gun control. This comes after numerous polls showing that Hispanics support ‘Obamacare’ much more than the population at large.

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