Thread: Durbin says immigration reform will have to wait until next

Video at the source link.
~~~

Durbin says immigration reform will have to wait until next year

by Adam Doster on October 23, 2009 - 5:11pm

Hoping to add some urgency to the debate in Washington, Rep. Luis Gutierrez recently said he will introduce a comprehensive immigration reform package as early as next month. But Sen. Dick Durbin isn't as optimistic that Congress will approve such a measure in 2009. "We won't do it this year, I don't want to mislead you," he told the crowd assembled for DePaul University's Perspectiveson Immigration conference this afternoon. "We have too much to do with health care reform and so many other things. But Sen. Charles Schumer of New York ... has promised that the bill will come forward next year." And Durbin's DREAM ACT, which would grant undocumented youth conditional permanent residency if they meet a set of education or military service criteria, will be central to that effort. "[W]e can do this," Durbin added. "And I know we can do it in the right way."

Watch this clip of the Senate Majority Whip's remarks, in which he describes his inspiration for the DREAM ACT, emphasizes the importance of a fair and equitable immigration system, and expresses his hope that it will be passed "in the first part of next year":

http://progressillinois.com

Pander, Pander, Panderer!