The Hill News

It seems that many Comprehensive Immigration Reform “pundits” have looked at the first decade of this century as a lost opportunity, or more accurately as a decade of failure to enact CIR. They would be correct. However, while it would be productive to examine exactly how and where CIR advocates fell short in our quest for a reform of our immigration system, it will be much more productive to plan ahead. Therefore, we must now look to see what will be achievable going forward into the new Congress, and how we can achieve it.

Most, if not almost all of these same pundits are predicting that CIR will be impossible to achieve in the next Congress. They point to the Republican takeover in the House, and their gains in the Senate, and lament that “it can’t be done.” They would be incorrect. It can be done. However, we must first look to our definition of what constitutes a win in terms of CIR. In other words, can we pass the same old CIR that’s been tried and has failed again and again? I don’t think so. Can we pass a CIR that at least effectively solves the most pressing problems comprehensively? I am certain that we are about to enter a period of time in which we can accomplish exactly that.

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