The Immigration Reform Campaign Continues
Written by Bruce Goldstein Wednesday, 20 January 2010 22:47
Janet Murguia, President of the National Council of La Raza, and some pundits are seeking to overcome the glum predictions about the prospects for immigration reform this Congress after the election of Scott Brown, a Republican, to replace Sen. Kennedy, a long-time champion of immigrants, immigration reform and the AgJOBS farmworker immigration bill. As thinkprogress points out, relying partly on Ms. Murguia's views, both political parties know that immigration reform is important to many components of the Latino community. In fact, it is important to many business interests, particularly in agriculture. Immigration reform has always been a campaign based on the recognition of the need for a bipartisan coalition. The AgJOBS legislation is a compromise between labor and management in agriculture, and has always been a bipartisan effort. One vote has changed in the Senate, and the Democrats, who support immigration reform in far greater numbers than Republicans, still hold 59 Senate votes (including 2 independents). There is no doubt that some legislators -- Democrats as well as Republicans -- would like to walk away from immigration because it is perceived as a hot-button issue. But the urgency of addressing our broken immigration system and responding to the political and policy interests of the constituencies that demand immigration reform could result in Congressional action.
The outcome is unpredictable, unless proponents of comprehensive immigration reform give up.
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