Thread: S.D.U.T.: WILL DEMOCRATS REFORM IMMIGRATION ?

UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL

Surprise

Will Democrats reform immigration?

November 12, 2008

This was a bad year for conventional wisdom in politics. Some things that were supposed to happen didn't. And some things that no one expected would ever happen did.

What if next year isn't any better? What if some of the things that people think are sure to happen as a result of Barack Obama being elected president are more unlikely to happen precisely because Obama was elected.

For instance, we can assume there are many Obama supporters who – whether they are Democrats, Republicans or Independents – also support the idea of comprehensive immigration reform. These aren't just Latino voters that we're talking about, although that's a big part of his constituency. Two-thirds of Latino voters supported Obama, according to exit polls. And, according to other surveys, roughly the same percentage of Latinos supports comprehensive immigration reform.

Some may even assume that electing Obama will somehow make it more likely to get through Congress a fair and thorough immigration reform package that will accomplish all three of the essential goals: strengthening enforcement on the border, creating a new guest-worker plan to fill jobs that Americans don't want, and laying out a path to earned legalization for some illegal immigrants.

But if you believe that, then you must also believe that the problem last time – in the failed attempts of 2006 and 2007 – was that there was a Republican president or that Republicans in Congress were the main stumbling block, and that, now with fewer of them, comprehensive reform should breeze through both houses.

But wait. Making history is one thing, and rewriting it is another. President Bush was a champion of immigration reform. In fact, it was his idea in the first place. And Republican opponents in Congress may have been vocal but, in the overall, they were a minor annoyance.

Remember, for the last two years, Democrats have controlled Congress. And yet they still have this bad habit of blaming Republicans when things go wrong. As we've said on many occasions, the record shows that it was Senate Democrats who killed immigration reform at the behest of organized labor because unions remain vehemently opposed to guest worker programs. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called the concept of importing labor “a bad idea that harms all workers.â€

Add all these things up, and it's hard to feel optimistic about the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform anytime soon. That is all the more reason not to assume anything, and to keep the pressure on both the Democratic Congress and the Obama White House until they deliver the kind of reform the country demands and deserves

The only thing illegal invaders 'deserve' is a one-way ticket back to were they came from. That is what the majority of this country is 'demanding" and that's why Bush could not ram his beloved amnesty for illegals through Congress!

the kind of reform the country demands and deserves

Which "country" demands this reform? Mexico?