President Obama's short mention of the need for immigration reform in his State of the Union Address has sparked article after article on the prospects for reform legislation moving in Congress this Spring. On Thursday, Senate Democratic leaders met to declare their continued commitment to taking on immigration this year, but still many reporters flocked to ask the question: is immigration reform dead?
The answer, of course, is no. Immigration reform is still alive. In the coming weeks, we will learn much more about Congress' timeline for reform.
In the meantime, it's our job to make the case for why this is the moment Congress must seize to get immigration reform done. SEIU Executive VP Eliseo Medina makes exactly that case in a piece in Huffington Post today:
As we get to work in the critical months ahead, there is no question that creating quality jobs, restoring economic fairness and ensuring every American has access to affordable healthcare must be our top priorities. But as it becomes increasingly clear, none of these goals can be achieved over the long-term unless we get serious about fixing an outdated, unenforceable, and increasingly costly broken immigration system.
Simply put: we can't build a strong economy on top of a broken immigration system.
"We cannot restore fairness to U.S. workers or build stability in the labor market until we eliminate today's underground economy of undocumented workers. We cannot restore America's greatness until we build an immigration system equipped to deal with the economy of our future.
"Like fiscal reform, healthcare reform and our expansion into a clean energy economy--shortcuts and band-aid approaches to immigration reform bear no real fruit.
"This is our time to, in Obama's words, "overcome the numbing weight of our politics." For the good of our economy, of America's workers, and of our country, it's time to overcome. It's time to get immigration reform done right; to get it done quickly; and to make sure it works for America."
Read the rest of Medina's blog on The Huffington Post here. More on comprehensive immigration reform here.
Tune In: Eliseo Medina on Univision this Sunday
On Sunday, Medina will appear on Univision's Sunday public affairs show, Al Punto, to discuss the President Obama's jobs plan, as well as healthcare reform and immigration. Tune in to watch at 10:00 a.m. EST.
