At this point, I no longer think that immigration reform is going to pass Congress. Rubio's decision to vote against his own bill, plus the House Republicans insistence that immigrants should not be allowed to get health care supported by the tax dollars they will pay, have convinced me that my earlier cautious optimism was too optimistic.
What I thought was the bottom line--that the business community that funds both parties' campaigns really wants immigration reform, and that the GOP really needs to prove they aren't rabid immigrant haters if they want to win national elections in a country with a growing Hispanic population--did not take into account the bottomer line: that the GOP is currently being steered by a bunch of ideological lunatics who aren't able or inclined to make such political calculations.
Maybe I'm wrong. There could still be a last-minute deal that saves immigration reform in some form or another. But given how it has played out so far, I just don't see how the same anti-immigrant forces that have prevented GOP leaders from agreeing to an immigration deal until now won't sink that hypothetical last-minute deal as well.
What I thought was the bottom line--that the business community that funds both parties' campaigns really wants immigration reform, and that the GOP really needs to prove they aren't rabid immigrant haters if they want to win national elections in a country with a growing Hispanic population--did not take into account the bottomer line: that the GOP is currently being steered by a bunch of ideological lunatics who aren't able or inclined to make such political calculations.
Maybe I'm wrong. There could still be a last-minute deal that saves immigration reform in some form or another. But given how it has played out so far, I just don't see how the same anti-immigrant forces that have prevented GOP leaders from agreeing to an immigration deal until now won't sink that hypothetical last-minute deal as well.
