On the Complex Issues Posed by the Immigration Bill for 2 Parties

On April 27, 2010, The New York Times article “Immigration Issue Poses a Complex Test for 2 Parties”, reported how the issue of the immigration reform bill has been stirring trouble in Capitol Hill. Both Democratic and Republican parties are sure to face challenges in the upcoming fall election. If the Democrats choose to push forward with immigration reform they are sure to have a fall out with voters who view illegal immigrants as competitors, especially in this time of recession, and while some Republicans who may see to benefit by opposing the Democrats the fact is that they are not looking at the long-term risks of not choosing to deal with immigration reform. This owing to the fact that Hispanics have become a sizable population as well as an electoral force and many Hispanic groups have came to view acts like the Arizona law giving the police the authority to detain people they suspect are illegal immigrants, as racial profiling. Not to mention that many Civil Liberties groups are against these kinds of actions as well. However that is not to say that some Republicans have not advocated the immigration reform bill, such as Senator John McCain (noticeable, however, they do come from states with a great Hispanic population). The true problem with the immigration reform bill, however, is not just that one party completely disagrees with the immigration reform bill, both Democrats and Republicans agree that we need better border control they just can’t decide on how to deal with illegal immigrants already in the country. Some voters do not want illegal immigrants to be able to start a path towards legalization. The only way to move ahead with the immigration reform is for bipartisan cooperation, which currently seems unlikely. For example the recent debacle in the senate when Senator Harry Reid suggested that immigration reform would be more important than the climate control and energy bill. Noticeably this bill was a significant bipartisan effort between Senator Schumer (Democrat) and Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican). When Senator Reid’s suggested that he was putting the legislation on climate control and energy aside this angered Senator Graham, who suddenly stopped supporting the legislation. There is a need for this riff to be mended if we want to move forward.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/us/politics/28immig.html?hp

Side note: In the same article it is reported that even Mexican authorities found it necessary to warn Mexican citizens living or traveling to Arizona that they could be harassed.