The Possibility of Immigration Reform under President-Elect Obama

Since Barack Obama’s November 5th victory in the presidential election, immigration advocates are optimistic that comprehensive immigration reform will take place under President-Elect Barack Obama. But how optimistic should these advocates be that comprehensive immigration reform will actually happen in the near future?

For a United States president, Obama has a unique perspective on immigration as his father is from Kenya. He is only the fourth known U.S. president ever to have a foreign parent. During his presidential campaign, Obama often hinted that comprehensive immigration reform was on his priority list when he took office. During an appearance on Univision Spanish-language TV network in September 2008, Obama was asked whether he supported stopping immigration raids. Obama responded by calling the raids a “publicity stunt” and added, “They are a tactic to push people away from focusing on the failures of the immigration system as a whole.”

However, Obama may not want to be seen prioritizing immigration with other pressing issues on his To Do List. According to Joel Millman and June Kronholz of the Wall Street Journal, the new administration’s preoccupation with the economic crisis will likely delay sweeping changes to immigration law. According to Millman and Kronholz, “Obama will be focused on the economy and tax policy and isn’t likely to expend political capital on such a divisive issue.”
If Obama is unable to tackle comprehensive immigration reform early in his presidency, he may take a “piecemeal” approach to fixing the immigration system by tackling areas of the law that are particularly troublesome. According to Marcelo Balive of New America Media, areas that need to be immediately addressed include the backlog of visa and citizenship applications, the overwhelmed immigration courts, an inadequate prison system for immigrant detainees, and the Bush administration decision to begin mailing notices to employers of workers with suspect Social Security numbers. Furthermore, based on Obama’s September 2008 remarks, it appears that the stopping of immigration raids may be a top priority for him as president.

The question remains, however, whether comprehensive immigration reform is on the horizon as President-Elect Obama prepares to take office.

“What the election showed is that the conventional wisdom on why immigration reform is too hot to handle is wrong,” said Frank Sharry of America’s Voice, a pro-immigration lobbying group. In fact, according to Sharry, Democrats need to push for an immigration overhaul to satisfy the now crucial Latino voting constituency for Obama’s reelection bid in 2012.

According to Clarissa Martinez, Senior Director of Immigration and National Campaigns for the National Council of La Raza, over the last three years in particular, immigration has been the “driving push factor” influencing the Latino vote. Statistics support Ms. Martinez’s argument. Election results indicate that a candidate’s stance on immigration reform played a pivotal role in who gained the majority vote in certain battleground congressional races and Obama greatly benefited by strong support from the Latino and immigrant communities.

President-Elect Obama has a “historic opportunity to carry out immigration reform, because he received widespread citizen support from voters, and he will have a majority in Congress and House of Representatives that can help him make the changes needed to help undocumented immigrants who work in the United States,” said José Eduardo Borunda, political science professor at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua in Juarez, Mexico. However, according to Frank Sharry, “he is going to have people in one ear who say, ‘Wait wait, it’s too controversial,’ and in the other, people will be saying, ‘But this is why you got elected.’”

Those supporting comprehensive immigration reform hope that their voice is the one that President-Elect Obama chooses to follow early in his presidency.

Keith A. Pabian, Esq. is an Immigration Attorney at Pabian & Russell, LLC. Mr. Pabian can be reached at (617) 951-3100 or by email at kpabian@pabianrussell.com if you would like to schedule a consultation or are in need of immigration assistance or advice.