A few weeks ago, we posted an article on our Facebook page that said Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsay Graham are testing ‘political will’ on a possible push for comprehensive immigration reform. Of course, we were immediately skeptical. If immigration reform didn’t happen when Democrats had a supermajority in Congress, can it really happen during an election cycle over the next two years?
A few weeks ago, we posted an article on our Facebook page that said Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsay Graham are testing ‘political will’ on a possible push for comprehensive immigration reform. Of course, we were immediately skeptical. If immigration reform didn’t happen when Democrats had a supermajority in Congress, can it really happen during an election cycle over the next two years?
Summing up the argument on both sides of the debate, Ray Suarez writes the following in an article in the Huffington Post:
The symbolic argument is strong and holds tremendous appeal for millions of Americans. It goes something like, “What part of ‘illegal’ don’t you understand?” People who did not follow the law, gain proper documents, and enter the American job market with the permission of the immigration authorities, goes the argument, should get no consideration at all from the system. Those people are right. The eleven million or so illegal residents in the country have no legal claim to long term legal residence in the United States.
But hold on a minute… the other side quickly pipes in, “What part of collapsing industries don’t you understand?” Immigrant labor is the pillar upon which many industries leans. Immigrant labor creates profits that spin out into real estate markets, department stores, auto dealerships, and keep the country’s food the cheapest in the developed world. In the near term, it’s interesting to speculate on whether sending the 11 million home would reduce the unemployment rate among native-born citizens, or explode it. The effects would no longer be confined to the Northeast, Border Southwest and the West Coast. Wait until you see the Census figures from all kinds of places that never thought of themselves as Latino kind of places.
It would be in the best interests of both political parties, and our country, to put differences aside and pass a fair immigration reform bill that balances enforcement with our country’s immigration needs. But in an election cycle, political will is likely to be absent on this issue, and as Mr. Suarez correctly points out – it’s complicated.
Tags: Huffington Post, immigration law, immigration news, immigration reform