It's Now or Never

After six years of promising to fix the Nation's broken immigration law, President George W. Bush is finally oh so close to an immigration reform bill landing on his desk and making good on that promise. Our Nation stands at a critical crossroad.

If a bill is passed millions will be plucked out of the shadows and be allowed to contribute freely to the American experience; employers will have a labor bonanza that will continue fueling the Nation's surging economy; and the President would be pleased that a new generation of grateful Hispanics will be voting Republican candidates into office for years to come.

Regrettably, if enforcement-only Republican and Democrat members in the House and the Senate successfully derail passage of a bill they stubbornly believe to be amnesty they will assure years of status quo that will damage us all socially and economically; spoil the President's second term signature legislation which he badly needs; and drive the Hispanic voter away from the Republican party for a long time to come.

This is lamentable when you consider that no three people have done more to ensure passage of an immigration bill than Republican President Bush, Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Republican Senator John McCain. Yet ironically, it is the Republicans who are going to get beaten up if a bill is not passed.

Why? Well you see, while the debate on immigration reform rages on in every corner of our country, negotiators from both chambers will work feverishly to reconcile the differences and agree on a compromise to the opposing immigration reform bills approved in both Republican-controlled chambers of the Capitol. A majority of Senators are hoping House Republicans (and a few Democrat members) will be reasonable enough to consider expanding their enforcement-only bill passed several months ago and consider offering citizenship to millions of immigrants currently undocumented in the U.S.

But when questioned whether he would accept any legislation that would put undocumented immigrants on a path to citizenship, Congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner, R-WI, answered a flat "no" on NBC's "Meet the Press".
The Senate's insistence to offer undocumented immigrants an opportunity at citizenship looks to be a deal-breaker that will prevent passage of a compromise on immigration reform, he added. This is important because the man chairs the critically important committee that is leading the immigration reform effort on the House side.

So who can save the day for the Republicans? Well believe it or not, Democrats! Just as the NAFTA Bill needed the Republicans to save the day during the Clinton Administration, the immigration reform bill is most likely going to be a bill passed with help of Democrats in the House and the Senate over the objections of many enforcement-only Republicans (even though Democrats are having their own challenges fending off admonitions from labor unions to resist backing any immigration bill that includes a temporary worker program). And that is the beauty of our legislative system; sometimes our parties need each other.

I think this is defining legislation for the Hispanic community as well because this issue is personal to us; it's about family, culture and recognition of our desire for policy that is reflective of a collective Hispanic agenda.

Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the electorate, and Hispanics are going to vote in large numbers in the next Presidential election. Their votes are the all-important swing votes in many states. Thousands of Hispanic-Americans joined non-citizens in street protests to denounce the House bill and call for broader legislation. The question of whom they will vote for is up for grabs, and I believe the bill's outcome will weigh heavily in that decision.

And while politics has been an undercurrent the entire time that the Senate has tried to write this legislation Republican party leaders continue to steadfastly resist granting "amnesty", polls show that voters back the proposal by an overwhelming 63-29 percent. Even Republican voters say yes by 63-30 percent.

Given the political storm unleashed by this latest round of immigration legislation debate I fear that if Congress fails to get a bill during this session, the President may not be able to revive an immigration effort next year, and we will have lost all opportunity to address our Nation's broken immigration policy.