Immigration Reform on Hold?
From the Wash Times:
Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, an architect of the Democratic campaign that regained control of the House last year, says his party will not attempt comprehensive immigration reform until at least the second term of a prospective Democratic president.
The congressman's statement was reported by a Hispanic activist and confirmed by Mr. Emanuel. "Congressman Rahm Emanuel said to me two weeks ago, there is no way this legislation is happening in the Democratic House, in the Democratic Senate, in the Democratic presidency, in the first term," Juan Salgado, board chairman of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) at its annual convention last weekend.
For those of us who believe in open borders (or as close to open as you might get), I think this is good news. However rotten the immigration status quo is, the reform bills passing around seem worse, larded with all sorts of employer regulations and restrictions and a committment to some sort of beefed-up, sure-to-be-useless wall and enforcement efforts. And Emanuel's statement strikes me as politically savvy, too. Despite the clamor about the immigration issue, it really isn't the electoral motivator observers claim it to be (that's one of the great unlearned lessons from the 2006 midterms) but it certainly appeals to the worst in candidates and voters.
reason on immigration here.
