The Immigration Pony in Eric Cantor’s Defeat: Angelo A. Paparelli

"Immigration reform is not dead because Americans, by an overwhelming margin of 62% in recent polling, favor enacting a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people in our country.  It is not dead because the following problems will not go away merely because 7,200 or so Republicans in Virginia tossed out Eric Cantor (who — unlike steadfast reformer Lindsey Graham, a victor in his GOP primary — blew hot and cold on amnesty versus reform):

• The economy is impaired when jobs that H-1B workers could create for American workers never materialize because of a skimpy quota enacted without economic justification in 1990 and when years-long green card quotas dissuade highly-coveted STEM workers from casting their lot with the U.S.;
• Immigration crimes (largely by those seeking reunification with family members) form the bulk of all federal prosecutions;
• U.S. citizen children are separated in ever larger numbers from their devoted, albeit undocumented, parents because of a removal policy meant to show Republicans that President Obama can be trusted to enforce current immigration laws — a strategy that hasn’t succeeded in winning Republican hearts and minds;
• The immigration detention apparatus, outsourced largely to for-profit companies, reveals shocking human rights abuses;
• A flood of immigrant children appear at our Southern border, creating a humanitarian crisis, because our foreign policy does not address the “push” factors in their countries of origin that compel their northern migration.

These problems will only fester until our politicians realize that the American people have had enough.  Meantime, advocates for reform will continue pushing, while opponents use the techniques of distortion and diversion to forestall the inevitable.  Leaders will emerge.  As Steve Case reminded us with the words of Nelson Mandela, “it always seems impossible, until it’s done.” " - Angelo A. Paparelli, June 14, 2014.