EckerNet.Com

Yesterday, I reviewed the immigration reform proposal put forth by Senator Reid, and basically dismissed it as insufficient to truly reform immigration, and a disingenuous effort to disguise the real motives of Reid and his allies.  However, what I didn\’t mention yesterday, because I was saving that for today, is that there are silver linings to his proposal and comments made by a number of other Senators lately.

Remember that back in the big immigration debates of 2007 and 2008, amnesty was the default position.  Enforcement was treated as a dirty word and consideration was soundly rejected by the Democrats.  Eventually, watered down versions of it were added, by Republicans, to amnesty bills as an effort to gain more votes for an amnesty for illegal aliens.

Fast forward to today…where enforcement is now the default position.  Oh sure amnesty is still being proposed, as I pointed out yesterday, but only wrapped in a pseudo-enforcement bill.  First, things like more agents on the border, stricter employer penalties and tighter border crossings are the attempted focus of bills being proposed by pro-amnesty Democrats.

The momentum has visibly shifted to the border enforcement side.  We\’re not on the outside looking in.  Our opponents are adopting some of our positions and trying to piggyback some of their onto it.  Enforcement is no longer a dirty word, despite the wishes of violent illegal alien criminals protesting in the streets.

Moreover, supporting enforcement is no longer a political risk, not that I\’m sure it ever really was.  The Arizona immigration bill definitely took the wind out of that sail.  Country wide, a large majority of the public either supports the bill or thinks it doesn\’t go far enough. Even more important, this is especially true in the Midwest and the Southwest, where most of the vulnerable incumbents are this election.

There is reason for cautious optimism people, as long as we keep fighting the good fight.