This week’s immigration roundup will cover the Obama Administration’s decision to get immigration measures passed in 2010 instead of this year.
ImmigrationProf Blog reader Julia Koehler sees the positive in President Obama’s putting comprehensive immigration reform on a timeline for 2010. Arguing that the misinformation tactics around health care reform could also be deployed to derail immigration reform, she writes:
It seems more useful to work for piecemeal reforms, in incremental pieces. Starting with a moratorium on raids, ending all 287g programs, and closing down the detention center network. The Obama administration must be questioned about the fact that the President himself is saying, he can’t predict whether immigration reform can pass, yet he is stepping up 287g programs. I think stopping the increased unjust "enforcement" that is part of the Obama administration vision has to be the most urgent goal, not "CIR."
The revised timeline comes in light of an increase in arrests and deportations. According to the New York Times, 181,000 illegal immigrants have been arrested and 215,000 immigrants have been deported so far in 2009—double the figures from two years ago. Immigration advocate, Ali Noorani, asks, "How many more millions if not billions of dollars are we going to put into the border without fixing the immigration system?" Although similarly disappointed, Representative Gutierrez also credits Obama for committing to the process.
Advocates are also concerned about the impact of health care reform on immigration reform. Of the 47 million uninsured in the United States, about 7 million are undocumented immigrants. Advocates like Jennifer Ng’andu of the National Council of La Raza’s Health Policy Project believe that health care reform cannot pass if it doesn’t include undocumented immigrants.
In the meantime, Republicans’ approval rating among Latinos has dropped to 3 percent in the wake of Republican opposition to the Sotomayor nomination. In addition, with the retirement of Senator Mel Martinez, the GOP has no Latino Senators in office.
Read more at The Opportunity Agenda website.