Shikha Dalmia in the Washington Examiner On Democratic Obstructionism On Immigration Reform

On immigration reform, Democrats are supposed to be the good guys and Republicans the bad guys. The part about Republicans is certainly true, notes Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia this morning, but the part about Democrats could use some rethinking. The prospects for reform would increase greatly if Democrats would stop looking at unauthorized Latinos as a new vote bank. She notes:

Democrats' insistence on comprehensive reform makes sense to the extent that fixing the high-skilled component piecemeal would leave Republicans little incentive to return to the table to tackle the problem of unauthorized Latinos. However, this doesn't mean that citizenship for illegals can't be deferred if they are given a path to legalization now…

[F]rom the standpoint of the illegals themselves, "green-cards-now-citizenship-later" would be an acceptable compromise. They want to come out of the shadows and build a life in broad daylight. They really want to be able to drive cars legally, and not necessarily to hit the polling booths.

Go here for the full piece.