Immigration Reform in the Mist

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While the administration has been taking its lumps on the healthcare debate raging across the United States, last week the administration took a quiet breather in the form of immigration reform. On August 20, 2009, the administration invited approximately 130 stakeholders invovlved in the immigration debate to a white house meeting.

The meeting was originally seen as an attempt for the administration to reaffirm its commitment to immigration reform after sputtering out and apparently turning blindly to an enforcement only approach adopted and hailed by the radical right.

Immigration reform is a serene escape from the jarring debate on healthcare. As many of you know this is a comical reference, as the immigration debate was once just as loud and vocal as the healthcare debate. However, given that, the administration wasted no time in seeking a domestic policy agenda salvation in the form of immigration reform.

DHS Secretary Napolitano was to be the pointperson at the meeting, however in a show of support and perhaps looking for a kinder, more gentle debate, President Obama also spoke at the meeting.

The administration heard from all "rational" spectrums of the immigration debate. High-tech corporations, low-tech corporations, labor unions, non-partisan immigration reform groups, and government associations. The administration listened to the concerns of many, including the skepticism that many shared entering ther meeting. Chief of the concerns was a fear that the immigration debate was getting lost in the shuffle. Namely that the administration was going to continue the enforcement only approach of its predecessor.

Based on commentary and press releases after the debate it appears that the administration is committed to passing a sensible immigration reform policy. The hope of the administration is that a bill could be drafted through the fall and put forwad on a vote in early 2010.

The administration has consistently supported immigration reform publicly, however, behind the scenes the administration had thrown its weight behind enforcement only measures. The fear of many was that the possibility of passing immigration reform had, once again, fallen to the wayside. However, with the politcal heat generated by the Healthcare debate, it appears the administration is seeking cover from the storm in the form of a passable domestic policy agenda item (immigration reform). Immigration Reform is a policy initiative that is sure to win goodwill for a battered administration in the healthcare debate.

The adminsitration will be able to lock in a large voting block, gain the trust of the business community and quite possibly use the political capital gained from immigration reform to achieve its goals in the healthcare debate.