Immigration Blog Round Up: May 19, 2011

photo by longislandwins

Immigration Reform Progress

Sen. Henry Reid and other Senate Democrats will be reintroducing the DREAM Act this week, which – had it passed in December 2010 – would have aided the children of undocumented immigrants to attend college, enlist in the military, and attain citizenship. 

As noted in previous blog posts, there has been some progress on immigration reform on a state level, but not at the federal level. Last year the DREAM Act failed to pass in the Senate, and since that time there has not been any legislation proposing a solution to the broken immigration system.

The fact that federal legislation has been reintroduced is a sign of progress. By reintroducing the DREAM Act, this will hopefully put the issue of immigration back into the forefront of the national agenda.

The reintroduction of this bill does not guarantee that that reform will occur. Many of the same roadblocks that prevented this bill from passing the first time have not disappeared. The majority of federal legislators who opposed the bill then are still in office. Many of them come from states that are passing local anti-immigrant legislation that would allow racial discrimination. 

Even though this bill will be difficult to pass, the political environment is different this time around. When Democrats were trying to pass the 2010 version of the DREAM Act, President Obama’s approval was rapidly declining. Approval ratings have gone up since then, particularly among pro-military conservatives who, due to recent events, may be more likely to support President Obama’s policies.

President Obama has intentions to make immigration a major part of his reelection campaign and supports comprehensive reform. That may be enough of a catalyst to pass major federal legislation that will take steps to fix the broken immigration system in this country.

Considering that 2012 is an election year, both Democrats and Republicans may be eager to court the Latino community. Neither party will gain that support unless it comes up with comprehensive, commonsense solutions that address the problems within our immigration system. Introducing federal legislation is a step in the right direction, one that will hopefully be a continuing trend in the near future.