Webb Catching Heat On Immigration From Left and Right

by: Lowell
Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 23:05:35 PM EDT

Tomorrow's edition of The Hill reports that Senator Webb is facing a "backlash" from Virginia pro- AND anti-immigration groups.
The pro-immigration groups are critical of Webb for proposing an amendment that would "add criteria for 12 million illegal immigrants trying to qualify for 'Z visas' by requiring the visas be made available to those in the country for longer than four years and those who have 'strong roots' in their communities."

According to Claire Guthrie Gastañaga of the Virginia Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, "Senator Webb's amendment essentially leaves millions and millions of people in the shadow." Mukit Hossain, president of the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee, says that "It's premature to say that the community has given up on Jim Webb, but there are a lot of questions on what is it he is trying to achieve and [whether] our trust [was] well founded."

Meanwhile, the article reports that Webb "also is facing a groundswell of pressure from the right," specifically the "anti-illegal immigration group NumbersUSA."

Does the fact that Senator Webb is being attacked from both the left AND the right on immigration mean that he's right in the middle of American public opinion on this issue? And wouldn't that be a good thing? Or, is the old quote by former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower correct, that "[t]here's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos?" I guess we'll find out soon. Personally, I hope that the center holds on this issue, and we get some sort of reasonable immigration reform. If not, something tells me we won't be revisiting this issue for a loooooong time to come.

Source: http://www.raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9039