Immigration Debate Takes Forceful Step Forward

April 30, 2009

Washington, DC – On Thursday (4/30, 2:00 p.m. ET), Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will hold his first hearing as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Refugees.  The hearing, “Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009, Can We Do It and How?” has two panels and a great array of witnesses.  The following is a statement by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan pro-immigrant advocacy group in Washington. 

The message to the press and the political pundits is clear: the immigration reform debate is coming and it starts right here, right now.  This is a forceful first step in the legislative process with witnesses that are a microcosm of the broad national coalition coming together to support the President as he makes good on his campaign promise —reiterated at Wednesday’s press conference — to move reform legislation during his first year in office.

Except perhaps Sen. Ted Kennedy, whom he succeeds as Chair of the Subcommittee, Sen. Chuck Schumer understands the politics and policies around immigration reform like no other Member of Congress.  As former chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), Sen. Schumer knows how much damage the hard line position on immigration has done to the GOP over the last several elections.  To young voters, moderate voters, Latino voters, and immigrant voters, the rhetoric of the opponents of immigration reform has sounded harsh and hateful.  By solving a big national problem that has been blocked by gridlock and politics for a decade, Sen. Schumer and the Democrats could score a lot of political points while making our country stronger, more secure, and economically sound.  Obviously, many Republicans are coming around to a more pragmatic position on immigration, too.  People know we have 12,000,000 immigrants here illegally and that we are not going to deport them and their families or otherwise drive them from the country, so the deport-‘em-all rhetoric sounds pretty silly.

On the policy front, the path is straightforward because the Senate has been through similar debates in the past.  Organized labor is unified around a pro-reform position and the President and his Administration are lined up behind reform.  The details matter and we are very early in the process, but the policy options on the table are clear, especially with mass deportation or mass expulsion schemes are being seen as the even more remote fantasy held by an ever decreasing number of lawmakers.

This week, we will see another round of events marking the traditional international labor day on May 1.  Immigrants and workers will again express their hunger for reform.  With the President leaning into the issue and Sen. Schumer and the Senate Subcommittee moving the ball forward, there is a good deal of optimism that we can solve this national problem and move forward on immigration this year.

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