Thread: Great News: Pro-invasion movement shriveling up

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01205.html

A Movement Deflated
As Immigration Marches Lost Steam, So Did Their Chances of Effecting Change

By Marcela Sanchez
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, September 29, 2006; 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON -- It has been more than nine months since the House of Representatives passed what critics dubbed "the worst immigration bill in a century."

The bill quickly turned its key sponsor, House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., into the best organizer the U.S. immigrant community ever had. In a matter of weeks, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets in cities across the nation in opposition to what they saw as Sensenbrenner's punitive approach to immigration.

Hispanic and immigration activists were feeling triumphant. The legions of marchers surprised many of them and spurred talk of a new civil rights movement. The New York Times declared the rallies a "decisive victory" for the positive image of immigrants and considered the marchers "impossible to ignore." Immigration legislation from that point on would have to take into consideration this new force.

And it did. Just two weeks after the last major marches of May 1, the Senate began floor debate on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, passing it 10 days later. The Senate bill combined border enforcement with provisions to allow immigrants to work in the United States both temporarily and permanently.

Yet with little fanfare, the House returned to the immigration issue this September and passed a series of bills that included many of the enforcement measures from the presumed-dead Sensenbrenner bill, such as requiring the mandatory detention of any foreigner considered a member of a street gang and granting state and local police the authority to enforce immigration laws. Another original provision -- the building of 700 miles of high-tech fencing along the Southwest border -- resurfaced in the Secure Fence Act on Sept. 13. It passed the House with 44 more votes than the original legislation got in December, including 33 coming from Democrats who had voted against it.

Most likely, these House bills will never become law. But the fact that enforcement-only immigration bills still remain in play leads one to wonder what happened with the momentum of the marchers. How could so much energy dissipate so quickly?

For Nativo Lopez, one of the leading organizers of the marches, the House's actions simply demonstrate that the immigrant population in this country does not have a political party on its side. "Many have the illusion that the Democratic Party can serve as the party for immigrants, for workers and for Latinos," he said. And while there are moderate voices on immigration among Republicans and Democrats in the House, without party backing, few have surfaced recently.

In a conversation with Washington Post editors and reporters last week, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez described the persistence of punitive-only measures as a failure -- both on the part of his government and the White House -- in preventing extremists from taking over the agenda of immigration reform.

For President Bush, the marches simply were not enough to keep him committed to the comprehensive approach he has long advocated on immigration. Just as the Senate began its debate in May, Bush was appealing to the enforcement-only voices in his party, calling for a doubling of U.S. Border Patrol agents and deploying 6,000 National Guard troops to the border in the meantime.

Marchers did hit the streets again this September, but the element of surprise and the sheer numbers were gone. Organizers say they are focusing instead on a long-term strategy for changing the way Congress deals with immigration, making good on the marcher's slogan: "Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote."

They say there are 14.25 million potential voters among legal immigrants and that 12.4 million of them could be eligible to participate in the 2008 elections. Some are now permanent residents who can become naturalized citizens and others are among the U.S.-born children of immigrants. So far, however, there has been "no sign of a historic new voter boom," according to a recent Associated Press review of voter registration figures from major urban areas where large rallies took place.

There is no question that the pro-immigrant forces failed to convince politicians that they are strong enough to be courted during this election year. Enforcement-only activists won. Whether the day comes when passing pro-immigrant legislation becomes the politically expedient thing to do remains to be seen. For, what matters in legislation is not how many marchers pack the Mall in front of the Capitol, but how many votes those marchers can influence inside.

The entire article fails to mention the reason why the pro-illegals have failed getting their amnesty passed.

THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE (American citizens) is why you failed! The United States Congress is supposed to be the voice of the people (a fact many seem to have forgotten) and although it has taken alot of letters, phone calls, visits, emails, bricks, etc. we have made our wishes known.

I agree! He seems like sour grapes. American's rule!!!