Comprehensive immigration reform failed to pass congress in 2006 and 2007, and the prospect of change at the state level is also grim. Last week an Indiana immigration bill to penalize businesses who knowingly hire illegal immigrants died after a legislative conference committee could not agree on a final version that would have yanked the license of offending employers.  

With immigration reform at a veritable stalemate nationwide, the onus will be upon the next President to institute real change. Hence, a critical look at where the leading candidates stand and what they have done on the issue is of paramount importance.

The primary debate drivers on immigration are:

• How to secure the borders?
• What to do with the illegal aliens already in the country?
• How to improve the bureaucracy and red tape surrounding visa and green card processing?

How to secure the borders?

Border Security is a top priority for John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama; all three voted in favor of the Southwest Border fence, which is currently under construction. Additionally, they support increasing the number of border patrol agents and electronic surveillance equipment, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is in the process of implementing.

All three candidates stress the need for cooperation with our neighbors (Mexico and Canada), but Clinton emphasizes improving the ways we share intelligence and information with them whereas McCain and Obama focus on strengthening their economies to reduce the incentive to come here illegally.  

Increased border security is the only area of immigration reform where definitive action is taking place.


What to do with the illegal aliens already in the country?

At present, there are an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in our country. McCain, Clinton, and Obama all recognize that it is not feasible or practical to deport this entire population and that an alternative is needed.

All three Presidential candidates support an earned path to legal citizenship and have either crafted or supported legislation that would accomplish that. This path would include paying a fine, learning English, obeying the law and going to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.

All three candidates supported the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which would have strengthened enforcement and granted millions of aspiring Americans a path to U.S. citizenship.  The bill failed to garner to necessary votes to pass the House of Representatives.  

All candidates also co-sponsored the DREAM act, which would have provided undocumented children the opportunity to pursue higher education or serve in our military and eventually become legalized citizens.  Once again, the bill failed to garner enough bipartisan support to pass through Congress.

Clinton and McCain also co-led failed efforts to pass the Immigrant Children's Health Act - which would have given States the option to cover legal immigrants under the Medicaid and the State children's health insurance programs - and championed the Access to Employment and English Acquisition Act, which would have expanded English language courses and job skills training for immigrants.

It is important to note that McCain is at odds with many other Republicans for supporting a pathway to citizenship over deportation.


How to improve the bureaucracy and red tape surrounding visa and green card processing?

All three candidates agree that the bureaucracy of immigration is in very bad shape. Delays in processing applications and a lack of an efficient tracking system for immigrants comprise the biggest problems.  To combat those problems, the candidates have and will propose the following:

Barak Obama joined Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) to introduce the Citizenship Promotion Act to ensure that immigration application fees are both reasonable and fair. He also offered three amendments to the comprehensive immigration bill. The first amendment would strengthen the requirement that a job be offered at a prevailing wage to American workers before it is offered to a guest worker. The second amendment would make it simple, but mandatory, for employers to verify that their employees are legally eligible to work in the United States. And the third amendment would authorize $3 million a year for the FBI to improve the speed and accuracy of the background checks required for immigrants seeking to become citizens. This bill, introduced in March 2007, has yet to make it to the House floor.

Hillary Clinton led efforts to expedite citizenship applications and cosponsored the Agricultural Job Opportunity Benefits and Security Act of 2003, legislation that is essential to establishing an effective, legal workforce for the agricultural sector in New York State and throughout the country.  The bill did not pass.

John McCain remains a strong advocate of a guest-worker program, which gives employers a means of hiring temporary foreign workers quickly and easily.  Like Obama and Clinton, McCain believe changes must occur that encourage undocumented workers to come out of the shadows and legally obtain a right to work and live in America.

From a macro perspective, all three candidates have very similar positions on immigration. The differences among them are more visible with respect to their philosophy on the issue.  Clinton and Obama feel strongly that uniting families should be a guiding principle to immigration reform whereas McCain emphasizes security and economics.

The real question is: Who has the greatest potential to incite immigration reform as President? So far, each candidate has had little to no success in this arena, leaving immigration a political battleground for them to prove how he or she will create change we can believe in and actually legislate.