Immigration reform in 2017? Good luck after this campaign

[rangerrebew]

Immigration reform in 2017? Good luck after this campaign

    The GOP's harsh immigration rhetoric was on stark display in Cleveland, while Democrats are sprinting in the other direction

    By Seung Min Kim
    07/23/16 08:09 AM EDT


    CLEVELAND — Three years after legislation to overhaul the nation's immigration laws passed the Senate, Democrats and Republicans could hardly be farther apart on the issue — a chasm brought into sharp relief by the parties' competing presidential platforms and by the rhetoric at the GOP convention here this week.

    Donald Trump took pains to spotlight the parents of children killed by immigrants in the country illegally, who were given coveted speaking time before a national audience. The candidate's signature border wall permeated the GOP platform.

    And in his formal convention address, Trump's tough, security-focused approach was punctuated by rowdy crowd chants of "Build the wall!"
 

    http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...-reform-226058

[MACVSOG68]

From the article:

Polling on immigration paints a public that appears to favor a comprehensive approach that mirrors legislation written by the "Gang of Eight" senators more than three years ago.

A Gallup Poll released Thursday underscores the divide. It showed 84 percent of U.S. adults favor a pathway to citizenship for immigrants here illegally as long as they met a series of requirements. Just a third support building a wall along the southern U.S. border.

Even among Republicans, the pathway to citizenship is more popular than a border wall.

With Hillary moving even farther to the left than Obama on the issue of immigration reform, someone is going to have to take a leadership role in bringing both sides together to put a comprehensive plan on the president's desk.  A plan similar to the Gang of Eight or to the two plans Reid handed the Republicans ten years ago would go a long way toward resolving both the border security and the legal status of those here illegally. 

Until both sides express a willingness to sit down and work through this large but solvable problem, the status quo will continue, and the status quo benefits the Democrats with respect to the Hispanic vote.