27 April 2010 NYT: Immigration Poses Complex Test For Democrats And Republicans

The NYT recently published a great article on immigration reform! Check it out at the NYT website or read our summary below!

The Arizona immigration bill has caused quite a stir on Capitol Hill and in the home states of the Favorite Sons who compose Congress. Both Republicans and Democrats have strategic political motivations for supporting or eschewing the bill. Elections pending throughout 2010 have successfully pressured many Republican incumbents into supporting this legislation in order to score political points against opponents within their own party. For example, Senator John McCain shocked many by voting for the bill because of his longstanding moderate stance on immigration. However, his opponent in the primaries this summer is far more conservative than he is, and McCain needs the votes of right wing Arizona constituents, many of whom are worried about border violence and immigrants draining social service coffers. In a 27 April 2010 NYT article, Mark McKinnon, a senior advisor to both George W Bush and Senator McCain cautions, “This is an issue on which Republicans salivate over short-term gains without much thought to the longer-term damage it will do the party.” As Hispanics become a more mobilized part of the electorate, the Republicans’ hard-line stance on immigration could play badly with this key demographic in the future.
Aboard Air Force One Wednesday night, President Barack Obama revealed to reporters that immigration reform has been dropped from his agenda of priorities for the year. But in light of the recent events in Arizona, is this really a wise move? With a reported 10.8 million illegal aliens in the United States as of Jan., 2009, it’s obvious that the current system needs serious change; but Obama’s plan is to push back the entire concept until he seeks re-election in 2012.

We at the H.I.I. believe that immigration reform is in desperate need of new legislation at the federal level. If the government is not swift in introducing an acceptable bill, then other states with high concentrations of Latinos will start to follow the example of Arizona, passing similarly strict, right-wing bills that carry the potential to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens-and the frightening part is, 60% of Arizonans are completely satisfied with this bill, and would hate to see it go; we can only speculate how other state populations may react to similar legislation.

It is also most unfortunate that this postponement carries the power to keep Democratic-leaning Latino voters home in the next presidential election; at this point, we can only hope that President Obama will reconsider.