Immigration reform advocates face the threat of another year without a bill

According to advocates of an immigration overhaul bill, the American people won’t take kindly to a Congress that fails to act on the issue.

“I don’t think it’s going to bode well for people who are currently in Congress to have yet another notch on their belt for problems they haven’t solved.” said Clarissa Martinez, immigration and national campaign manager for the National Council of La Raza. “The reaction from the whole country is not going to be a good one.”

In April, Illinois Democrat Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, a staunch supporter of immigration reform, threatened that members of Congress could pay for their unwillingness to act at the polls if they continued to push immigration reform to the wayside.

“We can stay home,” Gutierrez told The Hill newspaper. “We can say, ‘You know what? There is a third option: We can refuse to participate.’ ”

Gutierrez, who introduced his own comprehensive immigration reform bill in December, said he disagreed with the premise that Congress would not take up the issue this year.

“I think once we get past the Arizona GOP primary that sparked the most recent anti-immigration reform eruption, we will have a chance of getting some of the Republicans in the Senate to also come forward and work with Democrats to get a bill passed,” he said.

Regardless of the signs that point against a bill making it through Congress this year, immigration reform advocates say they will continue to push for a change in policy.

“We are not naïve to the fact that this is an uphill battle,” Martinez said. “But we believe that there is still an opportunity to do it and we’re definitely going to continue working on that front.”

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