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Should Immigration Reform Be Piecemeal?

Posted September 29, 2009 by Patrick Young, Esq.

Thomas Saenz, the head of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF), has taken the controversial position that if comprehensive immigration reform is put on the backburner by the Obama administration, immigrant rights groups should push for piecemeal reforms.
The health care reform morass is increasingly seen as charting a conservative roadmap for opposition to immigration reform. With a fired-up conservative base and a Democratic Party showing an appalling lack of command of the instruments of power, what looked like a good chance for immigration reform in 2010 has become a more discouraging picture.
Saenz told the Associated Press that:
if Democratic leaders delay, because of elections and a hostile political climate for immigrants, Congress should take up the issue gradually and in smaller ways, Saenz said. Lawmakers could address the need for foreign agricultural workers, provide legal status to high school graduates brought to the country illegally as children, and create equity for same sex partners who want to come to the U.S. or get green cards.
Saenz says he still believes that comprehensive reform is possible in 2010, but adds; “If that is not possible, then I’m interested in discussing this idea of down payments with a commitment to fulfill the obligation through comprehensive immigration reform that is not postponed indefinitely.”
Moves for piecemeal reform risk breaking up the coalition of labor, employers, civil rights and religious groups, and Latino organizations that have pressed for comprehensive reform. The fracturing of this coalition could spell the end of efforts to legalize a significant portion of the nation’s 12 million undocumented immigrants.
On the other hand, throughout the Bush administration the coalition held tight to the “comprehensive immigration reform or nothing” line—and got nothing.
If the 2010 elections follow the normal pattern of American elections, with the president’s party losing seats, then the pro-immigrant side is likely to be weaker in 2011.
And if the Democrats are seen as not delivering on their immigration pledges to the Latino community, the record Latino turnout in the last election may not be repeated.

Tags : immigration reform

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