Rachel Browning’s Legal Blog

            Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano hosted an informal meeting at the White House, attended by 100-plus immigrant advocates, business and labor leaders, and law enforcement representatives, to reaffirm President Obama’s and his administration’s commitment to fair and reasonable immigration reform.  And while the meeting didn’t garner the level of media attention as, say, a beer summit, it did bring together constituents from many sides of the immigration debate, and gave the President the opportunity to reiterate his personal dedication to the issue.  He stopped short, however, of announcing a precise timeline for reform.

            So far, immigrant advocates have been less than thrilled with the lack of attention they perceive the Obama Administration has paid to the issue of comprehensive immigration reform.  Indeed, the Administration’s focus, under the leadership of Secretary Napolitano, has been on border security and issues surrounding criminal and fugitive aliens, immigration detention centers, and the electronic employee verification system. Immigrant advocates have been frustrated by the administration’s relative silence as to how and when it will begin to embark on its promised overhaul of the entire immigration system and deal specifically with the millions of undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S.

            But it’s not as if the President hasn’t had a few other items on his plate since taking office eight months ago.  The state of the economy, a Supreme Court nomination and confirmation hearing and now health care reform have all taken center stage and seemingly pushed the issue of immigration reform aside.  So the meeting and pep talk over which Secretary Napolitano and President Obama presided yesterday, was most likely reminder to its constituents –  those most immediately implicated by our nation’s immigration laws – that the administration hasn’t forgotten about the issue and that it’s still an important matter that it intends to address.

            The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) issued a statement in response, applauding the “positive message” and “(looking) forward to the President’s and the Secretary’s leadership on this issue in the days ahead.”  Crystal Williams, AILA’s Acting Co-Executive Director who attended the meeting, stated, “I was pleased to hear of the Secretary’s intention to step up her leadership on immigration reform.  There cannot be effective enforcement of immigration laws until those laws are reformed to realistically address the needs of families, workers, and American business, and to promote our long-cherished values of fairness and due process.”

            Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will apparently introduce and hold hearings on a major immigration bill this fall.  Needless to say, the country can look forward to more months of heated debates, town halls and public meetings as we venture from the contentious issue of health care reform to that of immigration.  Thus the madness continues….