The Immigration Debate

It looks like the Republicans in Congress are about to try and destroy their party with immigration reform. CNN:

The Senate tackles the hot-button election issue of what to do with the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants this week, with President Bush coming down on the side of letting many of them stay if they have jobs.

The House-passed measures would make being an undocumented immigrant a felony and erect a 700-mile fence along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, faced a midnight deadline for completing a similar bill.

I'm not going to post the whole article here, but it makes clear the kinds of contortions Republicans are going through in order to make it appear that they're anti-immigrant to their base, and to make it appear that they're not to everyone else. They're facing a serious problem in that passions are so high that if either side feels betrayed, they're not likely to forgive the Republicans any time soon.

Normally I'd say following the "let Republicans destroy themselves" strategy instead of being more proactive is folly. But on this specific issue, I'm not so sure it isn't best. Democrats are fairly split between labor groups and minorities on immigration. But since we control nothing at the federal level, and aren't the ones moving the debate, the anger will probably, hopefully, be more directed to Republicans, while we keep our coalition together. At least, I'm crossing my fingers.