Still more immigration

Various news outlets are reporting today the stalled immigration bill is likely to be revived, with the NY Times reporting it could be brought up again as early as next week.

Senate Leader Harry Reid had indicated, when tabling the bill last week, that he would not bring it up again unless some number of Republican votes could be guaranteed in support of it (I have seen both 15 and 25 as the number in question). President Bush was lobbying hard for the bill, including a lunch meeting on the hill with Republican leaders. I have to admit, I didn't expect much to come of it, but apparently I was wrong.

Should the bill be brought to the floor again, it still comes across as a strange alignment of interests to me. While there is opposition to the bill from all sides, the most vocal and vociferous disagreement has come from the right. There are unquestionably some number of voters on the right for whom this is the make-or-break issue, as in "if this bill gets passed I will never vote Republican again". I haven't seen anything like that level of intensity from opposition on the left.

As such, I find it interesting the President seems to feel he can ensure whatever number of votes from his party that Reid thinks he needs. I wouldn't think, given the President's low popularity numbers and the level of dissent that seems to exist amongst some Republican supporters, that Republicans would have much incentive to change their positions from the first vote. Also, as Framer at Arizona 8th has pointed out, why would Democrats be in a hurry to help an exceedingly unpopular President pass legislation he will undoubtedly characterize as a big "win" for his administration?

It's possible Dems feel the legislation is worth it, and any "win" the President might claim would be phyrric at best, given the dissension the bill's passing would cause in right-wing ranks. Who knows? It's become obvious I certainly don't.

In related matters, news is getting out the Department of Defense has requested, regardless of the fate of the overall immigration bill, that one clause contained with the bill be fast-tracked. The clause in question would provide citizenship to children of illegal immigrants (or undocumented aliens, or whatever term you want to use) who enlist in the military. This is a response to the Army and Marines once again missing their recruitment quotas last month.

Apparently enrolling in a job which, as the recruitment failures make clear, not enough citizens are willing to do, and one in which the perks include the opportunity to get shot at regularly, and have a bomb explode near your vehicle on any given day, still qualifies as "amnesty" to some in the anti-immigration crowd. Maybe if such enlistees are actually killed in combat, this group can be begrudgingly convinced to have them declared citizens posthumously.