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""What said before the Democrats produced the framework is that we need to see the paper," says Frank Sharry, director of America's Voice, an immigration advocacy group. "Now that they've seen the paper they seem to be finding other reasons not to sign on."
Last year saw the highest number of people ever deported: 387,790 up from 116,782 in 2001 and 349,041 in 2008. Thus far this year some 185,887 people have been deported, a record pace that, if maintained, will nearly double the number of deportations in 2010 to 604,133. The Administration has also doubled the number of agents assigned to the Border Enforcement Security Task Forces and tripled intelligence analysts along the southwest border. In fact, the Obama Administration has gone so far to the right on enforcement that some immigrant rights groups, already peeved at the lack of action on comprehensive immigration reform, are calling for a boycott the 2010 elections.
Which means that Schumer and his colleagues will have risked unveiling a premature bill a year before actual legislative action, giving opponents a year to rip the compromise apart. Already that's happening with groups on both sides expressing outrage: immigrant groups hate the idea of worker ID cards and conservatives have pinned the label "amnesty" on provisions that give the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country a pathway to citizenship.
But if the immediate danger is to Democrats seeking Hispanic votes this November, the longer-term danger is to Republicans if they're perceived as blocking the legislation. The Arizona law, authored and passed by a Republican-controlled legislature and a Republican governor — means that the GOP starts this cycle with a black eye with the Hispanic community.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1988149,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
Why should republicans want comprehensive immigration reform? They seem convinced that crying "amnesty" and "secure the borders" often enough ("I hear it all the time so it must be true!") creates enough fear and a wonderful wedge issue to use in November. The fact that illegal immigration is way down, deportations are way up, and Obama has strengthened border security more than Bush ever did should not get in the way of a good wedge issue that appeals to fear.
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