Imigration

This is what President Obama said in 2010 when the Democrats controlled both houses of congress So the politics of who is and who is not allowed to enter this country, and on what terms, has always been contentious. And that remains true today. And it’s made worse by a failure of those of us in Washington to fix a broken immigration system. To begin with, our borders have been porous for decades. Obviously, the problem is greatest along our Southern border, but it’s not restricted to that part of the country. In fact, because we don’t do a very good job of tracking who comes in and out of the country as visitors, large numbers avoid immigration laws simply by overstaying their visas. In sum, the system is broken. And everybody knows it. Unfortunately, reform has been held hostage to political posturing and special-interest wrangling -– and to the pervasive sentiment in Washington that tackling such a thorny and emotional issue is inherently bad politics. The bill he wants to pass today could have easily passed in 2010 but immigration is a strong political issue for democrats and remains so today but today it is also held up by some Republicans in congress who fear re-election if they pass reform before the borders are secured. They all realize that they could give amnesty to the 11 million illegals who are here today but unless they close the border there will soon be millions more. Once the borders are secure the bill will pass but then the issue goes away.