Democrats on Capitol Hill know that passing an immigration reform bill this year is unlikely now that they are already bogged down with energy and health care reform, two of President Barack Obama’s top agenda items.
But Obama may have thrown the Democratic leadership a lifeline to Hispanic voters with the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
The daughter of Puerto Ricans, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic on the bench if confirmed by the Senate, and some see her nomination as a strategic move by Obama to placate those who believed that immigration reform would happen this year.
“It buys him some time,” said University of Maryland political scientist Jim Gimpel, who studies immigration policy and politics. “He can say that this is an important step,” in promoting the needs of the Hispanic community.
But members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who met with Obama in March to find out why immigration reform had stalled, said Wednesday that putting Sotomayor on the Supreme Court will not distract them.
“These are two completely distinct tracks,” Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said Wednesday. “Judge Sotomayor’s nomination is based on her extensive legal experience and her excellent record as a jurist.
Regardless of who would have been nominated by President Obama, our immigration system remains broken, and we must address that by passing comprehensive immigration reform.”
Hispanic voters picked Obama over Republican John McCain by a margin of 2 to 1 last year and helped Obama win swing states including New Mexico, Florida, and Colorado.
Hispanic voters are expecting to see some movement on immigration reform in return for their support, but Congress has historically struggled with the issue, primarily because lawmakers cannot agree over whether to provide citizenship to illegal immigrants who are already in the country.
Congress will almost certainly run out of time this year to tackle the issue, and next year the midterm election cycle will be well under way, making it nearly impossible for Congress to tackle such a divisive issue.
Obama is planning a June 8 summit at the White House to discuss immigration reform, but there is no expectation that the meeting will result in legislation anytime soon.
“I would be surprised if anything other than a few hearings went forward,” Gimpel said. “Democrats are probably not going to get anything passed until the next Congress. If then.”
But in the meantime, said University of Wisconsin political scientist Benjamin Marquez, who studies Latinos and American politics, “this is truly a way that he can symbolically reach out to the Latino voter and Latino population, so in that sense this was a very savvy thing for him to do.”
