Don’t Believe the Detractors: We Can Fix Immigration Now

You’ve undoubtedly heard by now about the president’s plan to push for immigration reform in the first year of his second term.  This is a fast-moving train, to be sure, but members of both political parties have already indicated that they are ready to bring something forward.  For the first time in more than a decade, it looks like we might pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Detractors of reform, however, have recently started claiming that Congress must “get its priorities straight” and focus instead on shoring up the U.S. economy.  The idea is that the immigration fight (and a host of other issues that the president has prioritized) is not one we can afford to wage at this point.  It should be put on hold…again.

Naturally, we disagree.  If American families can focus on more than one issue at a time, so can Congress.  We sent our very own Clarissa Martínez-De Castro to Thom Hartmann’s The Big Picture to drive this point home.  Representing the opposition was conservative columnist David Selig.  The interview is tense at times but well worth watching.  The segment in question begins at 15:00 and lasts about ten minutes.