House Speaker John Boehner would like nothing more than to get the immigration reform issue dealt with, believing that the United States will be a lot better off when it is. However, the fact remains that seven years after a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants was urged by former President George W Bush, the Republican Party in the House of Representatives are still no closer to agreeing to terms.
“I would say we’re in the pause mode,” Boehner revealed last week. “Our members don’t feel they can trust the President to implement the law the way we would design it.” Lawmakers in the Republican Party, many of whom are against offering what they see as amnesty to around 11 million immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally, have steered away from passing any kind of bill, but Boehner and many other strategists in the party fear that their continuing antagonizing of the Latino community over the issue could end up costing them yet another election.
“The system is irretrievably broken and most people, whey they look at irretrievably broken systems, try to make them better,” notes Republican consultant Whit Ayres. “That’s what the Senate did with their bill – a far from a perfect bill, but a good-faith effort to solve the problem.”
Ayres says that Boehner is absolutely correct that the House of Representatives needs to take its turn at creating an immigration bill, while many Democrats almost hope they do not – as Latino anger would likely cement a Democrat candidate in the White House again in 2016.