Guest Post: Is Immigration Reform Dead?

America's Voice Blog

Posted 02/01/10 at 12:42pm

By Guest Blogger Patrick Young, Esq., Long Island Wins.

Following the President's brief mention of immigration reform in the State of the Union Address, bloggers and pundits have begun the postmortems. But advocates in D.C. say that while the election of Scott Brown last month, coupled with the continuing poor economy, have made the job of reforming immigration laws tougher, there may still be an opening for legislation to pass, says the Washington Post.

Angela Kelley of the Center for American Progress says that gridlock in the Senate last year may still argue for immigration reform this year:"They're going to have to show an accomplishment. There's not many branches left to hang from, and I think [immigration] is going to become low-hanging fruit." Concerns among some Republicans about permanently alienating Latino voters also weighs into the mix.

"We're not ready to stick a fork in it. I think we still have a long shot, but a decent shot", Frank Sharry, of America's Voice, a pro-immigrant group, told the Washington Post.

Immigrant advocates are likely to increasingly call out the Democrats on their promises of reform in 2008. Raising the pressure on liberals to deliver on the promise of immigration reform will demonstrate that there is as much of a downside in stalling immigration reform as some Democrats fear there is in pushing it this year.

Check out more immigration news and views with a Long Island focus here.