Monday, June 11, 2007

Weekly Debate: Immigration reform

Note: Originally, our debate was going to look at the finals of the Copa Libertadores soccer tournament. We will post about it later this week.

As we mentioned last week, the bipartisan immigration reform bill was on life-support in Congress. Senators voted against ending debate on the proposal and the House has refused to examine the bill until it possibly gets assed by the Senate. Several key politicos, such as President Bush and leaders for both the Republican and Democrat parties, have vowed to continue working hard for immigration reform.

Still, the failure of the latest proposal has had serious repercussions in Mexico and for local leaders in the border states. Here is what Arizona governor Janet Napolitano had to say in yesterday’s Washington Post:

“If we have no comprehensive immigration reform this year, and if we do not deal rigorously and openly with those already here, silent amnesty will continue. As a border-state governor who has dealt with immigration issues more than any other governor I know of, I am certain that continued inaction by Congress -- silent amnesty -- is the worst of all worlds."

  • So what do you think?
  • Did you support the bipartisan reform bill that was considered by the Senate? Why or why not?
  • Will an immigration reform bill be considered or ignored by Congress before 2008?
  • Is immigration reform that vital a topic to begin with or is the status quo fine as is?
  • Will the consequences of the bill’s failure hurt relations with Mexico and other Latin American countries?

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment to this post and/or voting in our poll located on the sidebar.

Let your opinion be heard!

Image- The Irish Times (Pro-immigration reform protestors gather in front of the U.S. Capitol in March 2006)

Sources- The Latin Americanist, Yahoo! News, Bloomberg, Washington Post, ABC News

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