Tuesday, May 16, 2006

 

Congressional Immigration Debate Restarts

The last few weeks have seen massive demonstrations by immigrants in many parts of the country. It's about time. The only way that the politicians in Washington will be made to see that there is a significant number of people (many of them voters) on the pro-immigrant side is to make themselves heard.

The Restrictionist side has no qualms about flooding Congress and the media with phone calls, emails and personal visits decrying the possibility that illegal immigrants would be rewarded for breaking the law. Some polls show that public opinion was negatively affected by these public displays by large numbers of both legal residents and "illegals"Criticism has been along the lines of "They are hurting their own cause by speaking out and inconveniencing the public and their employers." Much the same criticism was levelled against demonstrators against the Viet Nam War in the late 1960's and the Civil Rights demonstrators of the early 60's. Regardless of what you think of their tactics, the direct effect of their actions or the justice of their cause, they were ultimately successful.

Now that the two week Congressional adjournment is over, Senate leaders have promised to restart debate on pending bills and have legislation passed (at least by the Senate) by May 29th. Last night the President made a heartfelt appeal for a "rational middle ground" between those who favor amnesty for undocumented workers presently in the country on one side, and those who favor mass deportations of illegals on the other. I don't think he has much of an issue with most Democrats or the liberal wing of the Republicans, it is his so called core constituancy of conservative republicans (and some Democrats) that he has to convince. The main purpose of the speech was to reach out to that segment of the Congress and American voter. In the Democratic response to the speech (broadcast on cable channels) Senator Dick Durbin spent most of his time criticizing use of the overburdened national guard to help in guarding the borders. He then agreed with the president on the need for comprehensive immigration reform and rightly pointed to the conservative wing of the Republicans as the segment that will need to be brought around. It will take a massive use of what political capital the President has left to bring his own party around. However, this may be his last chance to leave a positive legacy for his administration.

gcf

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