Simple Immigration Reform: What Could Go Wrong?

A bipartisan group of eight senators—including some conservative Wunderkinder—has met and put together a large bill for immigration reform. Rumors are that both Democrats and Republicans understand the immigration system is broken and could be easily fixed with some common sense measures.

It calls for a means to identify and naturalize millions of illegal immigrants here who want to work and live (Democrats) while removing threats to our safety (Republicans); it creates a new agricultural guest worker program (Democrats) but streamlines the green card process for non-Hispanics as well (Republicans). The plan is comprehensive reform (Democrats) but is so straightforward the entire bill fits on four sheets of letter-sized paper (Republicans).

One thing it does not do is award blanket amnesty. All in all, it sounds like a pretty good deal.

So here is our prediction: the President will hate it, argue that it makes too many conservative concessions, and threaten to veto it where it stands. He will then proceed to blame Republicans for failing to get anything done.

After all, it awards no amnesty.