Is immigration reform primed for a big comeback?
John Boehner says he's hopeful immigration reform can get done, but his restive caucus may have other plans
In June, the Senate passed a sweeping bipartisan bill that, if signed into law, would represent the largest overhaul of the nation's immigration system in a generation.
However, the House has sat on the bill since, with many Republicans resistant to broad reforms they view as tantamount to "amnesty for illegals." Though President Obama has tried to pivot to immigration since the conclusion of the government shutdown, Republicans remain as noncommittal as ever, leaving the prospect of enacting meaningful immigration reform in doubt.
In a speech Thursday morning, Obama again framed immigration reform as a bipartisan issue, and he knocked the GOP for being obstructionists, saying Republicans operate from the position that "if Obama's for it, then I'm against it."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Anyone still standing in the way of this bipartisan reform should at least have to explain why," he said. "A clear majority of the American people think it's the right thing to do."
Indeed, polls have found Americans overwhelmingly in favor of comprehensive immigration reform. Two-thirds of voters support the Senate bill; eight in ten Americans favor a "pathway to citizenship"; and by wide margins, more Americans say they would blame Republicans (44 percent) than Democrats (14 percent) or Obama (21 percent) should Congress fail to reach an immigration deal, according to a July NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey.
Republicans acknowledged in their 2012 post-mortem report that they needed to make inroads with minority voters. The combination of public opinion and electoral necessity, it would seem, should offer plenty of incentive for them to get on board with an issue dear to Latino voters.
But as the shutdown showed, hard-line Republicans — and even the GOP leadership — aren't always swayed by a bevy of unfavorable polling data. Even when the GOP's approval rating hit an all-time low, the House stood firm on the shutdown and debt ceiling fight until the very last minute.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
That raises perhaps the most pressing question for immigration reform: Will Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) go along with it if it means burning the right wing of his caucus?
Boehner said this week he was "hopeful" immigration reform could get done. And with the GOP badly bruised by the shutdown fight, he could aim to repair the damage by embracing a popular bipartisan issue like immigration.
The "political imperative is arguably even stronger" for Boehner, wrote the Washington Post's Sean Sullivan, now that he's seen how badly the shutdown played out. The speaker's need to do some major damage control offers ample reason to "believe he will at least entertain the possibility of tuning the hard-liners out a bit more this time around."
Voters don't have much faith in the GOP's ability to lead, making it much easier for Democrats to press for concessions, as Obama did Thursday. If Republicans balk, Democrats will wind up with even more campaign fodder to label the GOP as the "party of no."
Then again, some conservatives, still sore over the shutdown defeat, are now even more reluctant to negotiate. Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), a prominent conservative backer of immigration reform, said "it would be crazy" and a "mistake" for the GOP to work with Obama on immigration after losing the shutdown fight.
Even Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has backed off the bill he helped draft, blaming Obama for having "undermined" its odds of passing by refusing to negotiate with the GOP this month. (It should be noted that Rubio's support for reform has made him persona non grata with the base.)
All of that spells trouble for Republican lawmakers who could be vulnerable to a primary fight.
Still, immigration is at least on the House's radar. Though the GOP leadership hasn't embraced the Senate's single sweeping bill, lawmakers are already drafting piecemeal approaches to tackle their preferred aspects of immigration reform. And House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the House GOP's point person on immigration, said the chamber should take up the issue, "the sooner the better."
Whether a piece by piece approach will go over with Democrats, though, will depend on what those pieces look like as a whole. Democrats have said they're open to such an approach, but only if the cumulative effect of the bills amounts to sweeping reforms — most crucially, the pathway to citizenship.
Assuming the furor over ObamaCare's glitchy website dies down in short order, immigration should emerge as the top issue in Washington, for no other reason than that the Democrats see it as a winning issue as the 2014 elections approach. How the GOP will respond depends, once again, on the party's intraparty feuding.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
-
'A direct, protracted war with Israel is not something Iran is equipped to fight'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 17, 2024
Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - political anxiety, jury sorting hat, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Arid Gulf states hit with year's worth of rain
Speed Read The historic flooding in Dubai is tied to climate change
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published