By Melissa del Bosque
I know Ive said it before. But geez I cant wait until mid-term elections are over. My fear is that Democrats will lose the majority in Congress in November and then well really have a political deep freeze. Im hoping after November this nation can have a more civil & sane conversation on immigration reform.
Politico reports yet again that neither Democrats or Republicans have the intestinal fortitude to bring up immigration reform until probably January of 2011 when the next legislative session begins.
Well be stuck in another congressional quagmire over immigration reform and the poisonous type of SB 1070 legislation passed in Arizona will fill the vacuum.
Eventually well have immigration checkpoints at the entrance of every state. Ill have to carry my passport and apply for a visa to drive through Arizona.
Okay I digress but you get the picture.
Call me nave. A month or two ago I didnt think legislation like SB 1070 would go far in other states including Texas. Sure wed have a few of the usual suspects: Republicans Debbie Riddle and Leo Berman who trot out divisive legislation every session that goes nowhere. Oh but those were the good ol days.
Republican Senator Russell Pearce was Arizonas Leo Berman and look at him now.
The problem is immigration is an irresistible hot button issue that politicians cant resist (the Texas GOP just recently adopted immigrant-bashing as part of its 
platform). Its a single emotional wedge issue that drives voters nuts and brings them out in droves.
Folks dont worry about the Gulf of Mexico the bank foreclosures and that states are going bankrupt see that guy over there with the leaf blower its his fault! Go get him!
Arizona Republican Senator John Kyl is using this tactic nicely to his advantage. Just listen to the gasps and moans in this video of tea partiers in Phoenix as Kyl tells them that Obama is holding border security hostage until Republicans like Kyl get behind comprehensive immigration reform.
Amnesty" oh amnesty" moan the tea partiers in dismay at Obamas treachery.
Only the White House said Obama never told Kyl such a thing.
Its hard to imagine Obama giving Kyl that kind of pitch perfect ammunition to roil Kyls conservative voting base. And its not like Obama is soft on securing the border.
This current administration has installed checkpoints to look for guns and money heading south continued recruiting BP agents and DHS personnel sent 1200 National Guard soldiers and is going to throw another $500 million down the border security tubes. Not to mention the Obama Administration is on target to deport more people than Bush ever did which is alarming to many immigrant advocates.
What I really want is for Kyl to explain what a secure border looks like in his world? Are we talking Berlin Wall or Gaza Strip? Are we talking mass deportations?
He proposes to expand Operation Streamline which would jail every person who crosses the border without documents. The program has cost taxpayers millions and bogged down the judicial system so that judges spend less time prosecuting drug trafficking and organized crime.
Its also never been definitively shown to reduce illegal immigration.
And if you are going to secure the border" whats wrong with fixing the broken immigration system at the same time? More than half of the undocumented people living in the United States overstayed their visas for instance. They didnt come here illegally. But its hard to reduce fixing the complicated and Byzantine immigration system down into a 30 or 60-second sound bite for a TV campaign pitch.
It just doesnt have that same John Wayne appeal that Predator drones and National Guard soldiers will give you when youre trying to win the hearts and minds of fickle voters.
But wouldnt it be nice if all of the politicking stopped and we really had a genuine in depth discussion on how to fix this mess?
A discussion that didnt involve empty rhetoric and race-baiting.
Naive indeed.
Melissa del Bosque writes for the Texas Observer and spent five years in the Texas Senate as a communications director. Her work has been published in Time magazine and the NACLA Report on the Americas.
platform). Its a single emotional wedge issue that drives voters nuts and brings them out in droves.
Folks dont worry about the Gulf of Mexico the bank foreclosures and that states are going bankrupt see that guy over there with the leaf blower its his fault! Go get him!
Arizona Republican Senator John Kyl is using this tactic nicely to his advantage. Just listen to the gasps and moans in this video of tea partiers in Phoenix as Kyl tells them that Obama is holding border security hostage until Republicans like Kyl get behind comprehensive immigration reform.
Amnesty" oh amnesty" moan the tea partiers in dismay at Obamas treachery.
Only the White House said Obama never told Kyl such a thing.
Its hard to imagine Obama giving Kyl that kind of pitch perfect ammunition to roil Kyls conservative voting base. And its not like Obama is soft on securing the border.
This current administration has installed checkpoints to look for guns and money heading south continued recruiting BP agents and DHS personnel sent 1200 National Guard soldiers and is going to throw another $500 million down the border security tubes. Not to mention the Obama Administration is on target to deport more people than Bush ever did which is alarming to many immigrant advocates.
What I really want is for Kyl to explain what a secure border looks like in his world? Are we talking Berlin Wall or Gaza Strip? Are we talking mass deportations?
He proposes to expand Operation Streamline which would jail every person who crosses the border without documents. The program has cost taxpayers millions and bogged down the judicial system so that judges spend less time prosecuting drug trafficking and organized crime.
Its also never been definitively shown to reduce illegal immigration.
And if you are going to secure the border" whats wrong with fixing the broken immigration system at the same time? More than half of the undocumented people living in the United States overstayed their visas for instance. They didnt come here illegally. But its hard to reduce fixing the complicated and Byzantine immigration system down into a 30 or 60-second sound bite for a TV campaign pitch.
It just doesnt have that same John Wayne appeal that Predator drones and National Guard soldiers will give you when youre trying to win the hearts and minds of fickle voters.
But wouldnt it be nice if all of the politicking stopped and we really had a genuine in depth discussion on how to fix this mess?
A discussion that didnt involve empty rhetoric and race-baiting.
Naive indeed.
Melissa del Bosque writes for the Texas Observer and spent five years in the Texas Senate as a communications director. Her work has been published in Time magazine and the NACLA Report on the Americas.
