The Waiting Game

Unfortunately for Democrats and immigration reform activists, it looks as if the wait for reform is going to be a lot longer than hoped for. Fueled y the recent talks prompted by Arizona state passing a toothy illegal immigration bill, protesters and advocates of illegal immigration reform are outraged by the lack of response from the federal government to place reform as the top priority on the national to-do list. What makes their plight even worse is that Arizona's bill has begun to prompt other states to pursue their own immigration reform bills. The video linked here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw4Thm6RpS4 talks about the recent reform in Arizona, and how Utah is now considering passing a similar immigration law. But why is the federal government waiting to press forward on this issue if its so pertinent to millions of Americans and illegals alike?

According to a recent article in Reuters, it seems the reason why is because there is so much more going on right now that immigration reform has to take the back burner. Much of the aggression of protesters and advocates alike have is focused on the president, who made campaign promises to try to pass a reform bill sometime in his first year of office. However, between the financial crisis overhaul of Wall St., the nomination of two new Supreme Court Judges by the end of this year, dealing with a climate change bill coupled with a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the economic failure and jobless rate increase, as well as an impending arms treaty between Russia and the U.S., it seems as if the president doesn't quite have the time to deal with the reform bill at the present time.

Not only does the president not seem to have time, but Congress also looks to be at a stand-still on this issue. The Washington Post's recent article on the Congressional effort towards this bill speaks of how the only Republican that was working with Democrats to pass a bill by the end of this year, has recently backed off of the issue. Sole Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, has stated that at the present time, pushing an immigration reform bill against the current opposition would stall the process "for years to come." When speaking to the secretary of Homeland Security, Graham stated that "I believe we can do it by 2012, if we're smart and we address the big elephant in the room, and that is that our borders are broken."

For those Democrats relying on the paltry Republican support, Sen. Graham's digression is quite the blow for their movement to pass a reform bill this year. Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the number three Democrat, explained that the federal government (under such a bill as could be passed) would enhance border control and create a new fraud resistant Social Security card for current citizens. If illegal immigrants wanted to stay in the U.S., they would have to admit to breaking the law, pay back taxes and fees, and pass a criminal background check after living in the U.S. for eight years.

In short, it looks like regardless of what side of the fence you're on its going to be a long wait. With staunch opposition to a reform bill by Republicans and crisis after crisis facing the Whitehouse at the present time, any form of a bill won't be seen anytime in the near future.