President Obama held a special, closed door immigration meeting yesterday at the White House. The immigration meeting included about sixty leaders from throughout the country, including Mayor Bloomberg, former Governor Schwarzenegger, top police chiefs, business executives, and religious leaders. The meeting did not include Congressional leaders.
The specifics of the meeting have yet to come out, but the general tone reemphasized two topics:
- the need for immigration reform, and
- the general difficulty that any immigration reform legislation will have with this Congress.
There seems to be debate about whether to push for comprehensive immigration reform, or to focus on specific, target legislation. Although target legislation would be easier to enact, it is feared that passage of such legislation would derail any chance of comprehensive immigration reform in the near future.
Much talk, little action (so far).