Immigration Reform Under Obama Likely to be Piecemeal


By Marcelo Ballvé

Grassroots immigrant advocates, emboldened by Latinos’ decisive vote in the presidential elections, already are pushing Barack Obama’s team to act quickly on immigration reform. They also want the new administration to halt workplace immigration raids, something Obama seemed to all but promise in a key campaign appearance on Spanish-language television.

In Washington, D.C., however, longtime participants in the immigration debate say changes to the system may be piecemeal. A real overhaul, they say, is unlikely, at least until 2010. And even tweaks to specific areas such as enforcement will be made in a low-profile manner.

That’s because the new administration won’t want to be seen prioritizing immigration with other issues so clearly taking precedence. The economic downturn and rising unemployment in particular seems to put a chill on the immigration issue. “Immigration reform as we have understood it in recent years is not going to be a first-order issue in the new administration,â€