As I stated in my prior post, the disagreement among political parties in Congress has once again caused great disappointment among the immigrant community. Being Obamacare a top priority debated in Congress, the idea of passing an immigration reform bill this year is vanishing. With Congress and the House of Representatives meeting for few times in what is left of 2013, community leaders have found themselves running out of time to push Congress to pass an immigration reform that could help more than 12 million undocumented immigrants legalize in this country.
After reading some articles about this issue, I found a very interesting statement by Armando Vázquez-Ramos and Primitivo Rodriguez from Hispanic Link News Service that could not describe better the serious effects of the shutdown on immigration. It says: “The U.S. government shutdown may be the proverbial last nail on the coffin for immigration reform legislation this year.” Even though it sounds like the hopes for a reform are about to be buried, there is something advocates have been doing for the past two weeks to keep their ideas alive.
Immigration reform advocates and the different organization pro-immigrants around the country tried to regain attention just days after the government shutdown. In October 6, thousands of people rallied in Washington and other main cities to support a reform that could grant permanent residency and eventual citizenship to immigrants, which has been passed in the Democrat Senate, but is now stopped by the Republicans. But, why is it stalled by Republicans? Amnesty! President Barack Obama is in favor of amnesty to illegal immigrants that are already here, which means forgiving their crime of entering this country without proper documentation and allowing them to become citizens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHYed6fKV2U
Regardless the political hassle existing nowadays, another important point that needs to be highlighted is the fact that if a reform is not debated or passed this year, in 2014 this battle in favor of immigrants could even be harder to fight. Since the Congressional elections are held in November 4 of next year, any political move could mean serious lost or gained votes for both Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Those supporting the idea of a reform will be more likely to give their votes to those politicians who had struggled with them in the attempt make it a reality.
As presented in this post, the path for an integral immigration reform still faces many obstacles that need to be cleared. The number of detentions and deportations unfortunately has increased, leaving children separated from their parents. Hopefully, one day this scenario will change for the benefit of people who came to this country looking for better days. Action surely needs to be taken soon since the current immigration system is obviously broken and the stability of many families depend on that reform. Putting some more pressure on politicians to move forward on the reform could help enormously to reach the goal.
Credits
Image: http://www.berardiimmigrationlaw.com/immigration-blog/as-the-government-shutdown-continues
Articles: http://www.voxxi.com/government-shutdown-immigration-reform/
1 response so far ↓
Shaik Kamil // Oct 23rd 2013 at 2:12 pm
I think with what has happened with the government shutdown and many immediate crisis in Syria and Egypt and the NSA revelation Congress is happy to delay any votes on the immigration reform put forth by the Obama administration and the senate and House are vehemently opposed to one another far beyond ideology now its just plain tit for tat that’s going on in congress.
The only hope as of now is for the president to ues the bully pulpit and rally support among the public to pressure congress to take on the immigration reform bill