Hope for Change on Immigration

With President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, the fate of comprehensive immigration reform hangs in the balance. Judging by comments made by Mexican President Felipe Calderón after he met with Obama, it may not be advisable to hold one’s breath in expectation of a quick fix; during the meeting, he warned Calderón that such reforms face barriers in Washington. And while immigration was a hot topic early in the long race for the White House, the faltering U.S. economy eventually cast a long shadow. A new Pew Hispanic Center survey shows that, for Latinos, the economy overtook immigration as an “extremely” important issue in expectations for a new administration. Out of seven issues covered in the report, immigration took the number six spot.

Still, a Minnesota Public Radio report points out that the Pew Hispanic Center survey came out after the unemployment rate for Latinos hit 9.6 percent in December, higher than the 7.2 percent for the country as a whole. Furthermore, the survey showed that 75 percent of Latinos said immigration remained a “very important” issue. Thus, while concerns about the economy may take precedent, the report found that hope for immigration reform continues to run high.

Immigrant advocacy groups have already begun pressing the new administration for change. In the days after Obama assumed the presidency, demonstrators rallied in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, demanding an end to the immigration raids that have resulted in hundreds of arrests. Some 1,200 advocacy groups submitted a letter to the new president, pushing for a reform that “strengthens our economy, reduces the black market, and gets immigrants and employers playing by one set of enforceable rules.”

Despite concerns that immigration reform will be relegated to the backburner, there are signs the new administration may breathe life into the long-delayed revisions for the immigration system in the near future. Obama has called immigration raids “ineffective” and made pledges to seek reform within his first year in office. As Americas Quarterly Senior Editor Jason Marczak recently blogged, incoming Department of Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano has indicated that immigration reform stands among her chief priorities. Moreover, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has counted immigration among top legislative issues to tackle.

What shape reform should take remains a question. ImmigrationWorks USA’s Tamar Jacoby advises in Americas Quarterly that a revised visa system should take specific U.S. labor needs into account. Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, the New America Foundation’s Tomás R. Jiménez says that Washington needs to adopt “an immigrant policy that stands alongside our immigration policy” as a means to foster integration. He argues that the Office of Citizenship should assist immigrants with learning English, gaining access to jobs that make use of their skills and education, and avoiding scams through legal rights training.

Learn more about AS/COA’s Hispanic Integration Initiative and access the working group’s white paper, U.S. Business and Hispanic Integration: Expanding the Economic Contributions of Immigrants.