4 thoughts on “We need immigration reform now

  1. I agree. I once cooked up a plan to raise the immigration rate to 1.5% of the population per year. But the public generally wants less immigration, even less legal immigration.

    The term “immigration reform” stinks of euphemism, given that it always means “loosening the immigration rules”. “Comprehensive immigration reform” is even more so, as it always means “and giving amnesty to unauthorized immigrants who’ve been here a long time”.

    Which leads to the sour fact of how anti-immigrant the country has become. The last “comprehensive immigration reform” was done under President Reagan.

    • I have to disagree that immigration reform is always “loosening the immigration rules.” There has to be compromise to get anything passed. The 1986 immigration reform under Reagan not only legalized millions of undocumented aliens, it also enhanced border security. In 1996, Congress passed significant “tightening” of the immigration rules (to put it mildly). It would not surprise me if Democrats gave Republicans Trump’s border wall in exchange for some sort of legalization. I would also expect the diversity lottery to be eliminated as part of package.

  2. Certainly the quoted article headlines seem to equate “immigration reform” with making it easier for a certain class of people to immigrate.

    • But, as Emerson said, “Nothing is gotten for nothing.” That’s especially true given the Democrat’s razor thin majorities in both houses. Plus, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that reconciliation can’t be used for immigration reform. So the Democrats need, not only to satisfy Manchin and Sinema, but to get ten Republicans on board. That won’t be done without compromise.

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