Opinion
Some progress
Opinion of The Palm Beach
Published: June 23, 2012
In discussing President Barack Obama's mini-Dream Act, let's get the political out of the way first. Yes, the president wanted to change the message from the economy. Yes, the president wanted to pre-empt Republicans, notably Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who might offer election-year immigration legislation aimed at Hispanic voters. Yes, the president wanted to put Mitt Romney in a box on the immigration issue. Yes, the plan is just temporary.Published: June 23, 2012
Yet even in criticizing the president, Rubio — whose bill remains a work in progress two months after he touted it — acknowledged that there is "broad support for the idea that we should figure out a way to help kids who are undocumented through no fault of their own …" Indeed, there was broad enough support for the original Development Relief and Education of Minors Act in the lame-duck congressional session of 2010 to get majorities in the House and Senate. Yet the 55 votes in the Senate weren't enough to overcome an anti-DREAM filibuster.
Despite Rubio's claim that Democrats killed the Dream Act two years ago, Republicans deserve more of the blame for the decade-plus of congressional intransigence on immigration reform.
Upon taking office, Obama's plan for immigration was to step up deportation when proper, to deal with the "Secure the borders first" politics, then move on to wider legislation. No administration has carried out more deportations. Given today's dysfunctional politics, though, compromise on such a key issue seems impossible. Rubio, like others, criticized the move as a "short-term solution to a long-term problem." But given the long-term political failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform, short-term is progress.