Thread: GOP win in Mass. clouds immigration debate

This is from a blog so put under General Discussion.
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GOP win in Mass. clouds immigration debate

While Scott Brown's election could derail President Obama's hope of passing health care reform, it is less clear how the Republican victory in the Massachusetts Senate race on Tuesday will impact another one of Obama's domestic priorities: immigration reform.

As a state senator, Brown took a conservative stance toward undocumented immigrants, according to Paul Watanabe, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.

Brown opposed a proposal to let undocumented immigrants obtain state driver's licenses and a proposal to let undocumented students pay in-state tuition for college, Watanabe said.

While campaigning for the Senate seat left open by the late Edward Kennedy, Brown also opposed a legalization program allowing undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship. His opponent, state Attorney General Martha Coakley, supported comprehensive immigration reform favored by Obama, including a program that creates a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

“I think he is definitely perceived as someone who is not an immigration reformer,â€

[quote]Unlike health care, comprehensive immigration reform has received bipartisan support in the past, and supporters are confident they will find other Republicans in the Senate to support a future bill, even if Brown won't.

“It needed bipartisan support on Monday (before Brown was elected) and it needed bipartisan support on Wednesday (after Brown was elected),â€