The Audacity of Hope for Immigration Reform

The Audacity of Hope – the title of a great book and vision by Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois (and a probable 2008 presidential candidate), and the way I feel waking up this morning with the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives having tipped in favor of the Democrats. I feel tremendous hope for the United States in terms of starting the process of restoring our reputation around the world as the greatest nation, full of compassionate people who welcome others to come and pursue the American dream in a safe, legal and orderly manner. I feel a tremendous hope for the immigrants here in the U.S., both legal and illegal, that Congress will now pick back up the issue of immigration reform and that both sides of the aisle will work together to pass comprehensive immigration legislation that will benefit out great country for generations to come.

We were at the brink of seeing this accomplished this past year. The Senate passed a less than perfect, but reasonable, comprehensive immigration reform bill only to see any hope of it becoming law by the political plays of the House Republicans who were able to use their majority to derail CIR. But now with the Democrats in control of the House and able to steer the agenda, we have a great chance of seeing comprehensive immigration reform legislation passed by both the House and Senate, and then signed into law by President Bush, who has been pushing for this since 2000.

Yes – we now can boldly hope for Comprehensive Immigration Reform!