A solution for the comprehensive reform of the immigration system in the United States seems as far away as ever after a month of the Republican Party controlling Congress. Last year a number of Republicans suggested that it might be easier to take on the thorny issue of immigration reform if their party controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate, with the optimum time for reform being prior to the 2016 presidential election; however, there now appears to be very little chance of this taking place.
There has been a lot of noise over the attempts by the Republicans to block the executive action taken by President Obama over immigration reform and there is a great deal of doubt about whether these efforts are likely to reach the president’s desk.
Advocates for immigration reform now believe that the best chance for real legislation offering undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship lies with next year’s elections. The Democrats will get the chance to take back the Senate and a new president will be installed in the White House.
“Bottom line is, probably the next window of opportunity for immigration reform is 2017,” says the executive director of immigration advocacy group America’s Voice, Frank Sharry. “It’s a remarkable turn of events. You have the idea that they [Capitol Hill Republicans] are lurching so far to the right given the 2016 electoral map that they’re bordering on political suicide.”
