There's been a lot of commentary in the few days since Thursday's pivotal White House meeting to discuss reforming our nation's broken immigration system. Right before the meeting, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel made statements indicating a bleak outlook for the possibility of reform this year. But luckily the post-meeting outlook has been more positive. Following are some of the highlights from the last few days.

Today, this editorial appeared in the New York Times. It provides a very optimistic viewpoint, as indicated by the following key excerpts:

      "It led to a persuasive show of unity among Republicans and Democrats. Both sides made the case for getting a  comprehensive reform bill written and passed this year, or early next. Mr. Obama announced that the homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, would lead a working group of both parties and houses of Congress to do that."

Participants were able to rally around some tough-sounding principles, outlined in a speech by Senator Charles Schumer of New York, who heads the immigration subcommittee:

     "The borders and workplace need tighter enforcement. Illegal immigrants must be required to register, learn English and pay taxes — or face deportation. But they should also be allowed to seek citizenship. The path back to a lawful system is through legalization and an improved, well-managed immigration flow."

America's Voice also provided detailed commentary on the issue, saying that the prospects of achieving immigration reform this year look better than ever.

And I particularly enjoyed reading Citizen Orange's analysis, which looks at the human side of the debate:

      "...migrant advocates are doing an excellent job of creating a sense of urgency and hope around migration reform which we need.  Migration reform needs to be tackled sooner rather than later.  We cannot wait another year, or two, or three, or four, while people are dying and families are being torn apart."

I agree, we can't keep waiting for reform. And the good news is that Congress pretty much agrees on the points outlined by Schumer, and the majority of Americans want to see reform too. What is tougher to reach a consensus on is how to manage the flow of future immigrants.The big fear seems to be that if extra visas are granted to meet the workforce demand, Americans will lose jobs. But history has shown that this really in not the case. Even now, in the midst of a recession and record-high unemployment, there are huge labor shortages in agriculture and other industries.

Hopefully, this point won't delay passage of comprehensive legisltation.

For more immigration highlights, click here.

• Share 
•     
•     
•     
•     
•     
•     
•     
•     
•     
•     
•     
•     
•