Q&O points to a Rasmussen article discussing why the all-but-dead immigration reform bill died:
There is no mystery to why the public opposed the bill. In the minds of most Americans, immigration means reducing illegal immigration and enforcing the border. Only 16% believed the Senate bill would accomplish that goal.
It wasn’t amnesty or guest-worker programs or paths to citizenship that doomed the bill. Each of those provisions made it more difficult for some segments of the population to accept. However, most voters were willing to accept them as part of a true compromise that accomplished the primary goal of reducing illegal immigration.[...]
From the beginning, the Senate approached the issue with top priority of addressing the legal status of the illegal aliens. They addressed concerns about guest-worker programs and questions about whether family or skill level should be more important when determining who could enter the country.
All of those are important questions, but they are not the most important question. Rasmussen Reports polling found that 72% of Americans believe it’s Very Important to reduce illegal immigration and enforce the borders. Just 29% said it was Very Important to legalize the status of those illegally living in the country today.
I can, for the most part, agree with that stance. The immigration bill was a bloated piece of legislation that I cannot imagine would have done anything about security or the the growing population of undocumented immigrants.
True, I think in tandem with that, the questions of how to address the demand for immigrant labor and what realistically can be done with the immigrants already here need to be addressed… and I’m willing to believe that my views on those questions could be in the minority.
However, is there anyone other than perhaps a couple of congresscritters and bureaucrats that actually believed that the proposed legislation would have been effective in any fashion?