The Morning Blend
Welcome
Complete Media Kit
Herald/Review
PHOENIX — It doesn’t appear the Democrats will make immigration reform a top priority when they take over the Congress in January.
And if a package of reforms is not started within six to eight months of the 110th Congress’ start, the issue will be dead until after the 2008 presidential election.
Those disquieting comments were the consensus of a National Symposium on Immigration panel on Thursday in a hearing room of the Arizona State Senate. More than 100 people gathered for the daylong symposium, hosted by The Communications Institute.
|
|
While immigration is on the mind of many Americans, it was not a “wedge issue” that will bring it to the top of the Democrats’ agenda, said Doris Meissner, who once headed the Arizona’s immigration services.
The House of Representatives may end up moving more slowly on immigration, even though it took the lead in the 109th Congress, said Meissner, who is now part of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
She expects the soon-to-be Democratic-controlled Senate “to move more quickly.”
But without the support of the Democratic-controlled House, it will be similar to this year when the Republican-controlled House moved toward reform and the GOP-majority Senate did not. Michael Sandler, a staff writer for the Congressional Quarterly, said if both congressional chambers do not step out and address immigration reform “in the next six months or eight at the most, the issue is dead.”
The Democrats are promising they will work with Republicans, but that may not happen, said Daniel Tichenor, a professor of political science at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Although the Democrats won both congressional chambers, the party, along with the losing Republicans, have divisions within their groups, Tichenor said. Those divisions are profound.
William Beach, the Heritage Foundation’s director of the Center for Data Analysis, said both parties are facing a quandary as to what to do because there are mixed signals to both parties, especially from Hispanic voters.
Panel member Ron Mazzoli, a retired Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky who once chaired the immigration committee, listened to the discussion.
Nancy Pelosi of California, the new Speaker of the House, has listed a number of issues she wants discussed during the first 100 hours.
“Immigration is not one of the 100-hour issues,” Mazzoli said.
He was part of the immigration reform fight in 1986 that ended up with a decision to allow illegal immigrants to remain and seek citizenship.
It was a bitter, brutal fight, with the business community coming out on top, Mazzoli said.
The rolling amnesty was not what really was needed, but the business community forced it, for there would have been no reform without their support.
Meissner predicted that there will be a “collision course” between business and enforcement in whatever actions are taken next year on the immigration issue.
In 1986, a piecemeal approach was taken, which Mazzoli warned must not be done again. To ensure this doesn’t happen, Congress must look at the entire immigration reform issue and develop interlocking packages, he said.
Beach said that while many voters indicated immigration reform is a high priority, Iraq is the main issue Congress will review.
Meissner said with states becoming more involved in passing immigration laws, it could help Congress from addressing those issues. But she said propositions approved by Arizona voters on immigration issues were a cry for help to Washington, D.C.
“They were strong shots across the bow to do something,” she said.
BILL HESS can be reached at 515-4615 or bill.hess@svherald.com.
TheSilverRose wrote on Jun 27, 2009 10:22 PM:
Thank You! "