Half a Loaf of Immigration Reform

by Angelo Paparelli, ABIL Immediate Past President
Nation of Immigrators

"At the beach when the tide is going out, the waves recede and it seems that nothing is happening in the sea. But the truth is that the great swells are gathering strength beneath the waters, building energy for the time the tide will return."

~ Dean Walley, “The Tides of Life”

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These words aptly describe what's happening in Washington.  The contours of a deal on comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) are taking shape.  An underclass will be created of undocumented people who will be given no path to citizenship. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, drops the veil on the deal with starkly prescient insights:

You know there is a deal when polar opposites, Republican Bob Goodlatte and Democrat Juan Vargas, agree on CIR without a pathway to citizenship.  

This form of Juan Cuervo immigration is not good for the country and will ultimately sound the death knell for the Republican Party in future elections as Hispanic and Asian voters, incensed by the blatant racism that the no-pathway GOP represents, go ABR (Anybody but Republicans).

So for now, Democrats reluctantly shed crocodile tears over CIR-with-no-pathway.  But they know what is made in piecemeal fashion today, can be reconstituted through future amendments as a path to citizenship tomorrow.