The time for immigration reform is now
By The Bakersfield Californian
Barack Obama's second order of business, right after he negotiates a new, cliff-averting budget deal with House Republicans, must be immigration reform. It's the biggest unfulfilled promise of his first term and the most politically urgent issue of the many that now face Republican leaders.
Republican Mitt Romney won less than 30 percent of the Latino vote in Tuesday's election, which is less than what John McCain won in 2008, which is less than what George W. Bush won in 2004 and 2000. Somehow the GOP has failed to grasp, or chosen to ignore, the meaning of that trend. Bush recognized it but was slapped down by his own party. He knew that we can't and won't deport 12 million illegal immigrants, and that the consequences of leaving them in limbo because "they broke the law" are substantial, just in economic terms.
Sara Taylor Fagen, White House political director during Bush's second term, said as much in an interview with the Chicago Tribune: "Had President Bush gone after immigration, we may be sitting in a very different position as a party."
Instead, the GOP listened to the wrong people -- people whose empty, self-defeating cries of "first secure the borders" have gotten us nowhere. Sure, secure the borders in as complete and fiscally responsible a way as possible, but in the meantime don't wait to move ahead on other, more crucial elements of reform, including a path to citizenship.
Immigration reform serves Obama's agenda and halts Republicans' political free-fall toward irrelevancy. But it is also the sane, logical and humane thing to do for immigrants who are contributing to our economy.
Most CommentedMost Popular
A forceful Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood announced at a tense press conference Thursday that David Sal Silva, whose death earlier this month raised questions about use of force by deputies, died as a result of hypertensive heart disease and was not only intoxicated but had methamphetamine...
The death of a man in custody following a prolonged struggle with Kern County Sheriff's deputies and CHP officers and the subsequent fracas over confiscated witness cellphones have gained international attention and raised concerns here that the incidents could tarnish the county's emerging...
The Kern County Sheriff's Office is out of control. That's one conclusion many people will draw based on the events of the past two weeks and in the context of recent years.
A draft city ordinance that would have restricted abortion in Bakersfield was placed on hold Monday when the Bakersfield City Council's Legislative and Litigation Committee voted 3-0 to table its discussion indefinitely, and instead, ordered the drafting of a resolution that could be less...
Blood stains are still visible on the sidewalk at the corner of Flower Street and Palm Drive, where a Bakersfield man struggled with as many as nine officers and later died this week.
A forceful Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood announced at a tense press conference Thursday that David Sal Silva, whose death earlier this month raised questions about use of force by deputies, died as a result of hypertensive heart disease and was not only intoxicated but had methamphetamine and other drugs in his system at the time of his death.
Classes were canceled at Bakersfield High School Monday after three small bottle bomb explosions struck campus, authorities said.
David Sal Silva’s screams seem like they will never stop.