Two Pressure Points on Immigration Reform

First Read: “It’s been quite a revealing past 48 hours in the still-evolving debate over immigration, with Monday’s bipartisan Senate framework and Tuesday’s speech by President Obama. So what have we learned? There are two pressure points that either could create enough force to ensure legislation gets through Congress, or that could scuttle any chance for a deal. One, Marco Rubio and Republicans considering any comprehensive immigration reform want a ‘trigger’ to make sure that border enforcement comes before legalization… Two, Obama yesterday vowed to bring his own legislation if Congress doesn’t quickly act. Translation: He’ll blame Republicans for this failure.”

“But here’s something this debate IS NOT about: whether Obama wants to use immigration as a way to club Republicans. It’s not even a question. The idea that anyone outside of political partisans — or those looking for a reason to be against reform (but don’t want to look anti-Hispanic) — believes that Obama doesn’t want to sign historic immigration legislation to fulfill a campaign promise is a bit naïve.”