All the elements are coming together in Washington to give immigration reform its first serious legislative chance in decades.
All the elements are coming together in Washington to give immigration reform its first serious legislative chance in decades.
The enlightened self-interest of politicians chastened by election demographics showing Hispanics tending to vote more for Democrats, and broad agreements between business and labor groups have sufficiently merged to make immigration reforms a possibility.
The final package is still a work in progress, though a bipartisan proposal is expected soon.
America has not seriously revisited the topic since a 1986 amnesty for 3 million people in the country without permission. That number now tops 11 million men, women and children.
Republican politicians were sobered by the Latino vote for candidate Obama and President Obama. GOP rhetoric used for years did not fit the times.
Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found common ground for a new guest worker program for nonagricultural workers. A “W” visa for lesser skilled workers would cover no fewer than 20,000 people in hard economic times, and up to 200,000 in good times.
No more than 15,000 would be admitted annually for construction work under the bartered guidelines. Wages and the number of visas for farm workers are unresolved.
A new Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Research would track all the data.