Having perhaps learned the lesson that trying to gut an extremely popular program like social security will fail to garner any political support, the president is putting immigration reform right back on the front burner.
The problem the president has right now is a little bit different than the one he faced with his social security punt. That proposal was popular with a large segment of his political base and just about nobody else. Comprehensive immigration reform, on the other hand is wildly unpopular with his base but popular with everybody else. His base rejects amnesty altogether.
But comprehensive reform (or at least the idea of comprehensive reform) isn't just saleable to the broader public. It's also popular with immigrants--a group Republicans have identified as a good source of potential swing votes. So, the president is--yes, again--trying to walk an impossibly thin tightrope:
As spelled out in the presentation, which White House aides describe as ideas for debate, undocumented workers could apply for three-year work visas, renewable indefinitely at a cost of $3,500 each time. To get a green card that would make them legal permanent residents, they would have to return to their home countries, apply for reentry at a U.S. embassy or consulate, and pay a $10,000 fine.
In a new twist, more green cards would be made available to skilled workers by limiting visas for parents, children and siblings of U.S. citizens. Temporary workers could not bring their families into the country.
Key Democrats have said the plan would unacceptably split families while creating a permanent underclass of temporary workers with no prospects of fully participating in U.S. society. Their competing vision is the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act -- or Strive Act, newly introduced in the House by Reps. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).
The bill would make illegal immigrants who were in the country before June 1, 2006, eligible for legalization after a $500 fine, a security clearance and proof that they had been actively employed before that date. After six years, immigrants who learn English, stay crime-free and pay an additional $1,500 would be eligible for permanent residency and eventually citizenship. Under the bill, hundreds of thousands of guest workers could enter the United States each year to fill jobs that Americans do not want.
Despite the fact that she probably could build a pretty strong coalition in favor of the president's plan, Nancy Pelosi has said that she intends to do no such thing. (And, before I started blogging here, Democratic aides made it pretty clear to me that immigration was the last thing they wanted back in the headlines.) That might be a shrewd way for her to avoid fracturing her caucus and to avoid aligning her party in any way with the president, but, simply put, it's wrong for the Democratic leadership to avoid taking a substantive position on any issue, even when (or perhaps especially if) the goal is to avoid political strife.
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Posted by: Sten81557 | June 23, 2007 at 07:16 PM