4/18/2007

We have been witnessing introduction of various immigration bills in the both houses of the Congress. On the Democrats front, there are two bills that have been put forward in the Congress: 

• Rep. Gutierrez STRIVE Act of 2007, a comprenhensive immigration reform legislative bill, and 

• Sen. Durbin bill to restrict H-1B and L-1 immigration which has been introduced in the Senate. 

The Senate version of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislative proposal has gone through a rocky road during the past three months, but eventually be introduced in the Senate soon, probably not too different from Rep. Gutierrez bill. On the Republicans front, there are two bills introduced: 

• One is Sen. Hagel High-Tech Worker Relief bill introduced in the Senate, and 

• the other is Sen. Cornyn SKIL Act in the Senate. 

Republicans have yet to put forward a comprehensive immigration reform legislative bill in both houses. Underlying the foregoing summary of the legislative movement in the Congress is a deep division and valley between the Democrats and the Republicans. Despite the Bush's recent push for the comprehensive immigration reform legislation, the Republicans appear to remain strongly in opposition to comprehensive immigration reform legislation. 

Meanwhile, the Democrats appear to remain united and firm in their resolution to enact the immigration legislation not in a piecemeal fashion but in a comprehensive immigration reform approach. Obviously, underlying the Democrats' comprehensive approach are the powerful forces of labor unions and the Hispanic community which form the backbone of the Democrats' political base. 

No one will wonder why Senator Durbin has introduced the H-1B and L-1 restriction bill. Republicans, however, are taking a completely different stance. Regardless of the comprehensive immigration reform legislation by Bush, majority of the Republicans oppose the comprehensive immigration reform as they will have to lean on the conservative political bases. The situation was deteriorated on the Republican front because of Sen. McCain's presidential candidacy and his need for the conservative political base in the South to win in the primary. 

This changed the landscape and brought into scene a political drama of break-up of comprehensive immigration reform partnership between him and Senator Kennedy. The delay in the Senate version of the comprehensive immigration reform legislative bill is related to the politics. From the broad perspectives of the immigration legislation, whether in piecemeal or comprehensive, the key remains whether the proponents and the opponents of the comprehensive immigration reform legislation can move more toward the center with their willingness to negotiate and compromise. Without such change, the future of any immigration legislations, whether piecemeal or comprehensive, will be indeed grim.