NAPOLITANO'S STRONG STATEMENT

On Friday November 13th, Secretary Janet Napolitano delivered an important address on Immigration Reform http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/speeches/sp_1258123461050.shtm. It's worth reading the entire text. In it, she reiterated the Administration’s commitment to Comprehensive Immigration Reform. “So even as we press to end this recession and get America back to work, we are determined to deal with long lingering problems that cloud our future. And another problem that has been punted from year to year, from Congress to Congress, from Administration to Administration, is the clear need for immigration reform.”

The Secretary went on to explain, “Over the past ten months, we’ve worked to improve immigration enforcement and border security within the current legal framework. But the more work we do, the more it becomes clear that the laws themselves need to be reformed.” Napolitano's approach to ‘immigration reform’ includes a “three-legged stool”:

• a serious commitment to effective enforcement,
• improved legal flows for families and workers,
• and a "firm but fair" way to deal with those who are already here.

Napolitano's speech notwithstanding, any attempt to put her ideas into law is certain to face a political firestorm. Walter Shapiro, of the New York Times, describes the political climate in Washington D.C. in his November 17th article, Immigration, Yet Another Issue: How Many Hard Votes Can Congress Take?
As Shapiro observes, “The President may be ‘fully committed,’ but so is Congress, which is already up to its neck with health care and climate change legislation, financial regulation and a stomach-wrenching recession.” Simon Rosenberg, the president of NDN, a D.C. think tank, stated that “Unlike health-care, this will be more of a political debate than a legislative debate, since we know the contours legislatively.”

The fact remains that Comprehensive Immigration Reform will be won or lost outside the confines of Washington D.C. It will be won or lost in congregations, neighborhoods, businesses and labor unions. That is why it is our responsibility to become as informed as possible on this issue and engage others. Our call is to continue to move the debate forward.