Is Immigration Reform like making sausage?
(foto credit: celikins)
Will the pending “Comprehensive Immigration Reforms” be a similar to making sausage? I mean, once immigration reform is done and served to the people, will most of us, especially those of us who have been yearning and hungry for a “comprehensive immigration reform package” be happy with the ingredients it contains.
Will a comprehensive immigration reform package be stuffed with things like, “we might also see a requirement that all workers carry a tamper-proof identification card and new criteria for admitting legal immigrants.” as Ruben Navarrette states and with insight adds that the major problems of immigration are, “three big problems: porous borders; the difficulty in immigrating legally; and the fact that 12 million illegal immigrants are in a state of suspended animation where they work hard, pay taxes, buy homes, and join the PTA, but never achieve full civic participation and the responsibilities that come with it.”
The last part of Navarrette’s commentary is crucial because for the most part the 12 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States are largely absent from the contentious and highly vocal pro and con arguments surrounding immigration reform. The undocumented immigrant for the most part is patiently and attentively waiting in the shadows to emerge with some sort of legal status. They for the most part all just want to work and raise their families and will gladly take whatever Congress ultimately deems to be Comprehensive Immigration Reform. They will be overjoyed at the thought of receiving a valid work permit, legal residency card and the most coveted and prized, a U.S. Citizenship Certificate.
We can fully expect the GOP to raise a ruckus over all manner of details surrounding immigration reform, but in the end a small number of Republicans will join their Democratic counterparts and provide the 60 votes necessary to pass an immigration reform package. The great battle for the hearts and minds of the Latino voter for the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections begins now.
While engaged in the difficult task of passing a sensible immigration reform package the GOP will be asking itself one question, over and over again: “Does the Latino Vote Matter?“. The answer: It only matters if you consider that some 50 thousand children turn 18 each month, young adults who are registering and voting in greater numbers than previous generations, young adults who are likely to have at least one immigrant parent. The GOP can’t ignore the facts, they can’t look at the growing Latino population and concede the math, at least not if they ever want to win another Presidential election in the near future.
