Reply #31: Agree about helping Obama push reform now, but republicans will oppose it 100%, as well as

[pampango]

enough Blue Dogs to make it very difficult. My guess would be that those folks who are most supportive of this Arizona law and fearful/resentful of illegal immigrants are not going to be supportive of Obama's reform framework that includes, among other things, a path to citizenship for some of them.

The frustration with the federal government's inability to do anything about immigration seems to come from both sides of the political spectrum. The frustration of the republicans has been expressed in Arizona with the passage of this immigration law. They believe (or at least pretend to) that an "enforcement only" solution is possible. Make the wall bigger, send in more border guards/troops, sanction employers, and now empower local police to enforce immigration laws. It doesn't matter to them that billions have been spent on the wall, border patrol reinforcement, etc. They have to keep repeating the mantra that the federal government (coincidentally controlled by Democrats now) has failed to "secure the border", so we can't talk about anything more comprehensive.

The frustration of Democrats is that we can't combat this type of state action with any overriding federal action. While Democrats have majorities in both houses, republicans will oppose this even more than they did health care this year and the last attempt at immigration reform in 2007. It will be loud and messy. My impression is that national Democrats think that financial reform and, maybe, climate/energy reform are winners politically, while immigration reform is much dicier politically in an election year. They know republicans will oppose it and use it to fire up tea baggers and the rest of their base and they know that many Democratic politicians that also like the "enforcement only" style of immigration control.