More on the future of immigration reform

Following up on KRJ’s most recent post, several wire stories — here and here for example — suggest that Congress is not eager to take action toward comprehensive immigration reform this year.

The recent arrests in connection with an alleged plot to attack Fort Dix will further complicate discussions of immigration reform, since the plot involved at least three noncitizens who were unlawfully present in the U.S.  Ideally, this fact would fuel a rational immigration bill that would bring a large population out of the shadows and allow investigators in all government agencies (including ICE) to focus their energies on genuine security risks.  The more likely outcome is that the incident will be used to justify even more resource expenditures to achieve the removal of all noncitizens, particularly the undocumented, regardless of whether they pose any sort of a risk to our security.

-jmc