Democrats should push immigration reform in the new Congress

[bluestateguy]

I'm actually not such a big fan of a guest worker program, though I am open minded to ideas, but Democrats should push the issue and work with Bush to get it done. Why? Because the issue divides Republicans. We control the congressional agenda now, and by putting the issue on the table we will activate an already lingering division between corporatist Republicans (Bush) and Nativist Republicans (Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, etc.). That will be a good thing if we can have Republicans fighting with each other over a polarizing issue going into the 2008 election cycle. Sure, we'd be giving Bush a legislative victory, and a nice Rose Garden signing ceremony, but at this point, who cares? His approval ratings are not really relevant anymore.

[johnfunk]

1. Like taxes (Dems WILL abolish the AMT), immigration CAN work for Dems

It goes beyond merely dividing Republicans and conservatives. If Bush signs a Dem-engineered immigration bill, Democrats take credit.

Talking point: "For six years, George W. Bush talked and talked and about immigration reform. For six years, he and his do-nothing GOP rubber-stamp Congress did nothing. It took Democrats to get the job done."

[NorthernSpy]

2. careful: the Americans who voted us into power do clearly NOT want...

... amnesty, or less enforcement of immigration law. The vote in Arizona tells you as much. Democrats picked up seats there, AND the same voters who brought us those victories approved four illegal immigration crackdown measures by huge margins (over 70% in favor).

Americans -- including all those millions of people who turned out to vote for Democrats -- want their borders and their jobs to be made secure. We absolutely cannot afford to let a handful of activists mislead us into becoming the "party of illegal aliens", or any such nonsense.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Well, we're already baby-murderers, gun-grabbers, and commies.

So, Rush gets to call us "illegal alien enablers"...oh, wait, he already does that.