Frankenstein Immigration Deal Angers Left, Right and Center

By , AlterNet
Posted on May 22, 2007, Printed on May 22, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/52186/

Get set for round two of the Great American Immigration Debate as Congress attempts to reform an immigration system that almost everyone agrees is dysfunctional, regardless of one's ideology or position on the issue.

Building off of last year's Senate proposal -- one that came very close to becoming the law of the land -- Congressional leaders negotiated a new immigration bill. Unfortunately, in trying to craft a proposal that would be acceptable to everyone, they seem to have created an abomination -- an approach in which the most liberal supporter of immigrants' rights and the most dedicated anti-immigration hard-liner will find something to loathe.

The New York Times editorial board weighed in this weekend, condemning the "deal" as a wasted effort and a missed opportunity. The original is here

The Immigration Deal

The immigration deal announced in the Senate last week poses an excruciating choice. It is a good plan wedded to a repugnant one. Its architects seized a once-in-a-generation opportunity to overhaul a broken system and emerged with a deeply flawed compromise. They tried to bridge the chasm between brittle hard-liners who want the country to stop absorbing so many outsiders, and those who want to give immigrants -- illegal ones, too -- a fair and realistic shot at the American dream.