Amnesty

Obama ~ Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill And Amnesty

A comprehensive immigration reform bill and amnesty for illegal border crossers is in the news, and just like proponents are getting ready to lobby for this bill, opponents of illegal immigration are ready to fight amnesty. Will this issue continue to divide the country?

Immigration Reform as a Campaign Promise
Barack Obama was clear on his campaign promise with respect to immigration reform: securing the borders and changing the current immigration system had to go hand in hand. What is more, his goal was to do away with the vast illegal immigration underground that keeps an entire population under the radar of governmental agencies. In this, his platform and that of then-opponent John McCain was surprisingly similar.

Support for an Immigration Bill is Questionable
Reuters reports that an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants are currently residing in the United States, and a comprehensive amnesty may place these individuals on the path to citizenship. What is more, such an immigration bill would also affect their families, and thereby greatly increase the sudden influx of immigrants.

Even within his own party, Barack Obama might have a hard time selling the immigration reform bill. CNN reports that Joe Biden has been quoted as saying that rising unemployment will make Americans who are losing jobs and homes unsympathetic to legalizing a group of (current) lawbreakers.

Special Interest Groups Confident That the Time for an Immigration Bill is now
California is at the forefront of the amnesty debate, in part because of its proximity to Mexico. Here the illegal immigration discussions inevitably involve Hispanic immigration and rarely focus on Swedes and Canadians. It is apparent that special interest groups have been laying a meticulous groundwork for the cause as early as three years ago.
The 2006 Day without an Immigrant was a national event that saw huge crowds in opposition to a crackdown on illegal immigration and in favor of amnesty. The L.A. Times reported that about 500,000 local marchers staged a peaceful walk

Obama Administration to Tackle Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill and Amnesty combining clergy, civil rights workers, immigrants, and a host of others. The slogan was “Si de Puede.”

Amnesty and the American Citizen
The problem in the immigration reform debate is not just the exposure of the business sub culture that shows employers exploiting immigrants. There is a very real understanding that — once liberated from a life in the shadows — illegal immigrants will no longer be willing to work for exploitative wages. Moreover, a 2006 Zogby poll was quoted as showing that 62% of Americans sought a tightening of immigration policies, not a loosening.

Perhaps Joe Biden hit the nail on the head when he questioned the public’s support for an immigration bill that included amnesty. Then again, perhaps the Obama Administration is aware of the current sentiment on immigration reform and rather than going after it with not holds barred, President Obama may make more of a token effort to appease special interest groups that worked hard to get him elected.

Only future developments will tell.

Author: DJ Boom
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