Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Weekly Debate: The immigration compromise

Last Thursday, a bipartisan compromise was reached that would bring much-needed reform to the immigration debate in the U.S. The deal has several points including creating a guest worker program, increased border enforcement, and a special visa plan for some illegal immigrants.

However, passing the compromise in the Senate will be very difficult due to harsh opposition from both the political left and right; the former call it an undue burden on illegal immigrants while the latter consider it as an “amnesty.” Wrangling and disagreements over the bill amongst senators have already delayed work on the bill.

Depending on which source you read, immigrants are either deeply disappointed or ecstatic with the immigration agreement.

So what do you think? Is the deal on immigration fair or problematic? Did politicians opt for a Solomon-like solution that will backfire? If the bill is passed, will it be drastically different form the initial agreement? Which political party would be more at fault if immigration reform is not realized?

Express your opinion via the comments to this post and/or the poll located on the sidebar. (Poll closes on May 28th).

(Previous debates on rock en espaƱol, Latin American leaders, and presidential candidates).

Sources- Bloomberg, MSNBC, BBC News, Guardian UK, Christian Science Monitor, The Latin Americanist, PollDaddy

Image- Christian Science Monitor (According to the caption “Margarita Medina, a resident alien in Phoenix, gets assistance filling out U.S. citizenship forms”)

2 comments:

Miguel Centellas said...

Honestly, the problem is that there's no "vocal" moderates out there. It's hard to get people who favor pragmatic, practical solutions to get fired up to write letters, protest, etc. So it's usually the fringe (on left and right) that get the attention. Hopefully, this'll change. Because there's no way a non-compromise bill could ever work. I actually take the fact that *BOTH* extremes are unhappy w/ the bill as a sure sign that it's a pretty decent one (as decent as a congressional boondogle can look, anyhow).

Erwin C. said...

I agree with you though I wonder if the real "vocal"moderates are those trying to encourage passage of the proposal.

Despite possible problems with the deal
1 - it sure as hell is better than the status quo
2 - it will not be a panacea and will require follow-up from future congressmen & presidents
3 - it's the most practical option currently on the table now