'Foolhardy' to push amnesty during recession
Chad Groening and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 12/4/2008 8:30:00 AM

An immigration reform activist thinks it will be tough for Democrats to push through an amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants when the new Congress and new president take the reins next year.





Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has indicated that he wants to pass amnesty legislation early in the next congressional session, even though many analysts believe the economic recession has pushed the immigration issue to the back burner.

In a recent action alert, Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) says Reid, Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), and president-elect Barack Obama want to demonstrate the bipartisan "accomplishment" -- even as millions of Americans are losing their jobs.

CAPS spokesman Rick Oltman says an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose amnesty. "We know that the public does not support an amnesty. [And] we know that talk radio and a lot of cable news [programs] would make this [story] front and center every single day they broadcast," he says.



"And so while Harry Reid may think it's easy, I don't think it's going to be that easy," Oltman suggests. "[I]t's just possible that the new administration may not want to squander any goodwill that it has on something as foolhardy as an amnesty."

Oltman believes that this latest amnesty proposal will spark the same outrage that killed the last bill.

Senator Reid himself noted just before Thanksgiving that his own state, where unemployment has jumped to 7.6 percent, has been hit harder than most by the downturn in the national economy. His statement came the day after the Senate had approved legislation extending benefits to 20 weeks in states where unemployment exceeds six percent.


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