Will Immigration Refom be Enacted by the End of the Summer?

The politicking surrounding immigration reform continues. According to the L.A. Times last week (here), President Bush “[b]y leading with a stricter enforcement component, Bush has made it possible for comprehensive immigration reform to happen.” On his recent trip to to Mexico and Central America, the president set August as the unofficial deadline for an immigration overhaul to get through Congress. Congress must tackleg immigration reform sooner rather than later because, by late summer, Congress will be too caught up in the 2008 presidential primaries to get close to a hot-button issue like immigration.

And business and labor seem ready on reform. A Washington Post article today (here) entitled “Uneasy Alliance Over Legalizing Workers Business, Labor Groups Lobby for Immigration Law” by Krissah Williams reports that

business and labor groups are fighting to shape a bill overhauling immigration law that could be introduced as early as this week. . . . . Although they all want Congress to legalize the nation’s 12 million illegal immigrants, they differ on how it should be done. The result is a tug of war that is pulling negotiations in various directions as legislators prepare to restart debate on comprehensive immigration legislation. Advocates ranging from flower wholesalers to computer programmers from India are bombarding legislators on the run-up to the bill’s introduction, hoping their proposals will be included.

Along similar lines, as blogged by Bill Hing, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates (here) said  on Tuesday that the United States should reform its immigration laws and give more flexibility to higher-skilled foreign workers. Gates said reforms “would be helpful so we are predictable, so we are clear.”

KJ