Immigration Law

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Dead Again

Thursday, June 28, 2007
Contributed by: Charles A. Mallard

 

Despite continued discussion and debate over the past two weeks about reviving a plan for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, the revised Bill (S 1639) met the same fate as the first - failure on the Senate floor. With today's vote, it is likely that President Bush's efforts to move immigration reform to the top of his domestic political agenda are now dead. It is equally unlikely that any major immigration reform will again be revisited until after the 2008 election cycle.

While faring slightly better than the previous effort, today's Cloture vote of 46 to 53 was 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and move forward. As with the efforts of last month, the bitter pill votes against the President's Plan did not come from Democrats, but from the President's own party, who are hailing their efforts as a victory for conservatives who oppose amnesty. The tally in the final voting was: 33 Democrats, 12 Republicans and independent Joe Lieberman, voting in favor of the bill; 37 Republicans, 15 Democrats and independent Bernard Sanders, voting against the bill; and one Senator, Tim Johnson of South Dakota not voting.

Discussing the perceived victory, Senator DeMint, commented "I think the only victory here is for the American people and, symbolically, a government of the people and for the people. The people responded to this issue in a very emotional and just a very engaged way, which changed the minds of many people here in the Senate." Noting his disappointment after the vote, Senator Kennedy, said, "we will be back. This issue is not going away." With that said, Senator Feinstein, put the timetable in perspective when she noted that the political climate would not likely allow for serious reconsideration of Comprehensive Immigration Reform until 2009 or later.

This column is published for informational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to create an attorney client relationship. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author's law firm or its individual partners.