Climate Change and Politics

   When thinking about immigration, we can see that there are so many other issues that are wrapped into it. For example, when discussing immigration reform, opponents and proponents can mention economics, national security, morality and race. An often ignored sub-category of immigration however, is its role in climate change.

   In a recent article, Bill McKibbens of the LA Times discusses how climate change relates to immigration. Opponents of immigration reform often declare that more people in the United States only means more carbon in the atmosphere. Clearly, when one becomes more industrialized (which will surely happen when the United States absorbs immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, etc) more carbon will be produced because of the prevalence of First World amenities. 

  Recent studies show that while this is true, it cannot be used by immigration reform opponents. Why? Because when women become industrialized, they have fewer children. So, the statement that it will be more harmful for the environment is unfounded and erroneous. 

  Why is this significant? Even though this blog is not concerned with the environment, it shows that in the politics of immigration, anything is ammunition- even things that are not true. Yet, this very fact can, and may one day be used to further the push for immigration reform.

Boehner's/Rubio's Role in Immigration

   Immigration reform developments certainly has been heating up in recent weeks. As the gun-control issue cools significantly and the economy shows solid gains, attention is once again focusing on immigration reform.

   An article published yesterday shows why this is happening. The article points to 5 definitive reasons why immigration reform could be passed this year when it only a couple of weeks ago that seemed highly unlikely .

   The first is that the House is finally getting things done. House Speaker John Boehner is getting things done. 3 months ago, it looked like the convention was that unless the GOP was unified, any bill would not be passed. Since then, the House has passed notable bills including Sandy Relief and a new tax deal. I believe that this change is a recognition that immigration reform will make it to the floor and it is in the best interests of the GOP to find some sort of compromise of the immigration reform issue.

   Secondly, the bill that Obama recently created and was leaked was skewered by Republicans. This seems like a bad thing to immigration reform advocates but in reality it isn't. Senator Marco Rubio was an outspoken critic yet introduced his own views and it was not significantly different than President Obama's.

   Going off point two, Marco Rubio is inadvertently (or intentionally) engaging conservatives and Republicans in the immigration debate. And this time, the outspoken critics are not as loud, and some are even jumping on the
bandwagon calling for reform. Clearly, it is politically correct this go around to favor reform.

   In 2007, immigration reform went down in flames. While there were other hot-topic issues that are not as prominent this go around,


Senator Marco Rubio with wife Jeanette

(War in Iraq, looming elections) one of the main problems is that labor industries and big-business were at odds. This time, they are seeing the same goals and finding a compromise that supports reform.

   And lastly, when considering the highly-controversial topic of a pathway to citizenship, there seems to at least be a push, especially under Republican leadership, to have a bipartisan compromise. This bodes well for supporters of immigration reform.

Sequestration and Immigration

This blog post will discuss sequestration's role in the politics of immigration. A lot has been discussed concerning sequestration and fiscal cliffs over the last few months. The majority of those discussions has related to military cuts and other entitlements.

There is another side however. In the United States, there are droves of illegal immigrants that are detained in US prisons for a variety of reasons. Currently, the president is trying to use immigrants as a prop in the sequestration fight. Even though it is interesting that he is the one that signed the sequestration law into practice, he is using the sequestration to cause a rift in the republican party.

Typically, military cuts are used as props because it is such an important industry but President Obama recently found that the immigration issue can easily be used in politics.



 http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-sequester-nears-immigration-detainees-are-released/2013/02/26/bc00ffba-8038-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html