Texas Representative Ted Poe might just have found reassurance that he and his conservative stable mates would not be committing political suicide by supporting immigration reform via a roundtable discussion at a restaurant with five business executives, who made it clear that they are in favor of a robust guest worker program since there are few Americans willing to repair sidewalks, cook fajitas and perform many other unglamorous jobs.
Poe reportedly informed the executives that an immigration bill to deal with the problem was in the process of being worked on and that the coming months would see an overhaul of the current US immigration system with the support of Republicans. “Just doing nothing is a vote for the status quo, which is broken,” Poe claims.
With lawmakers having headed back to their home districts during the summer, hundreds of businesses in the United States have been quietly mobilizing their forces in order to persuade Republicans such as Poe that their constituents broadly support immigration reform, despite the loud objections from some conservative activists. The low-key strategy seems to be lowering the temperature of the heated debate over the issue, with public town hall meetings also being surprisingly moderate and calm.
Because of this many supporters are now becoming quietly confident that immigration reform could finally become a reality in the United States within the next 12 to 18 months, even despite the seemingly huge obstacle to overcome in the form of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.