Yesterday, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), a key congressional champion for sensible immigration policy, introduced real immigration reform legislation in the House of Representatives. It's called "Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity" (CIR ASAP).
This is the long-awaited legislative kick-off to repair our nation's broken immigration system, which is in crisis.
Already, the bill has nearly 90 U.S. House sponsors, including members of the Congressional Hispanic, Black, Asian Pacific American, and Progressive Caucuses.
But won't the first round of this debate take place in the Senate in early 2010? Yes, it will. But by coming out early and strong, Rep. Gutierrez and his colleagues in the House achieve three important objectives: 1) they have created a template for good policy that will influence future bills; 2) they are putting pressure on the White House and leaders in both the House and the Senate to keep their promise of moving on immigration reform in this Congress; and 3) they are ensuring a place for themselves at the final negotiations over what a final bill will look like.
The fact is that Gutierrez, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Rep. Xavier Becerra and others in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have taken on the responsibility of representing the voices of millions of Latinos who turned out in 2008 to cast votes for change, for their loved ones without legal status, and for national recognition of their contributions to America - in the workplace, in local communities, and on the battlefield.
In case anyone missed it, Latino voters were a huge factor in powering Obama's victories in the formerly red states of Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Nevada in 2008. And in the mid-terms in 2010 and presidential race of 2012 these same states may well spell the difference between victory and defeat for both parties.
Thus, the politics of this issue are crystal clear. So clear that we predict a small but significant number of Republicans will support comprehensive immigration reform and do something almost unheard of these days - make immigration reform a bipartisan breakthrough. How so? Smart Republicans get the political reality that to be competitive nationally as well as in a growing number of states and districts they have to stop driving themselves over the cliff by driving the fastest growing demographic in the country into the arms of their opponents.
Even if many in the D.C. chattering class haven't figured it out yet, the fear that this issue will be a wedge that benefits Republican hard liners over Democratic reformers has turned out to be as big a myth as death panels. In the last election, in 20 of the 22 congressional races where immigration reform was an issue, voters picked candidates who chose comprehensive reform over anti-immigration extremism. Republican candidates who tried to use immigration as a wedge issue to divide voters failed. In addition, we know that the American people as a whole expect Congress to solve problems like immigration.
Look, we already know that the opposition will be fierce and noisy.
We've seen it all before - and this time we're much better prepared, and much better organized. Nevertheless, anti-immigrant extremists like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Minutemen, and the designated hate group FAIR are going to do everything they can to maintain the awful status quo. Broken borders, broken families, broken system - all in hopes of driving 12 million undocumented immigrants out of their jobs, out of their communities, and out of the country.
There's a better way. And the legislation crafted by Rep. Gutierrez points the way forward.
We look forward to working with Rep. Gutierrez and others in the House, as well as with leaders in the Senate, including Sen. Menendez and the Senate sponsor, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), to ensure that 2010 is the year we see real, comprehensive immigration reform enacted. While adherents to the conventional wisdom are busy writing otherwise, I predict immigration reform will be the biggest legislative surprise of 2010.
Cross-Posted at America's Voice.