Despite a Quieter Stance About CIR, Hispanics Will Move It Forward for 2010

Added: (Thu Feb 25 2010)

Pressbox (Press Release) - 2009 was a busy year and not a whole lot got done relating to comprehensive immigration reform. For 2010 the Hispanic caucus is raring to go forward.

While it appears that the current Administration is lining up to tackle health care and the economy for 2010, the Hispanic caucus is planning on making some moves to put comprehensive immigration reform back at the top of the heap of things to do.

Comprehensive immigration reform was last mentioned by the President in a September 2009 speech on health care. It wasn’t a memorable moment in terms of making a point as it riled some Republican feathers. “Since then, not much has been said about it and many hope it will be back at the top of the list for 2010. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has plans to make this a major 2010 issue, as they are tired of waiting,” indicated Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

In fact, it was the Hispanic Caucus led by Luis Guiterrez that put forth a bill that would allow undocumented workers to be become citizens by paying a $500 fine, learning English and submitting themselves to a criminal background check. This bill would also see to it that border guards got more training and that conditions at immigration detention centers were substantially improved. “Improving detention centers would certainly be a good start to address basic human rights issues that always seem to be swept under the carpet, added Odell.

Unfortunately, not much of anything got accomplished with regards to comprehensive immigration reform in 2009 and in fact, anything that was proposed seemed to implode. “This isn’t a good sign for this year, as issues like this could certainly be used to blame the country’s ills on immigrants. It’s happened before and is likely to happen again. And again, the basic human rights issues so very fundamental to a healthy comprehensive immigration reform system have not been mentioned; not an encouraging sign,” said Sally Odell of Rifkin Fox-Isicoff, P.A., in Miami and Orlando, Florida.

There is another way to view this issue, and it has to do with the lousy economy. Call it an economic reality. In the US today there is close to a 10 percent unemployment rate, where it was once hovering at a low 4.6 percent. Those who don’t want to condone making millions of undocumented immigrants citizens insist that right now there are at least 8 million jobs currently being held by illegal immigrants, and they don’t want to make that figure any higher.

Put another way, there are vociferous advocates that wholeheartedly support a border lockdown; want to make sure employers verify people their hire are US citizens and vehemently oppose amnesty of any kind. “This may be a big of a tempest in a teapot since the high unemployment rate has actually slowed down the number of illegal immigrants that want to come to the US to work. It is also a fact that border security has been stepped up and this too has contributed to a drop in the number of illegal immigrants trying to cross the border,” outlined Odell.

Even with all this strife and confusion reigning in the House, the Senate and the Hispanic Congressional Congress, it is hoped there will be some positive movement toward actually implementing comprehensive immigration reform instead of just talking about it.