Both President Obama and the bipartisan Senate’s plans for immigration reform have shown that the policies favored by both the Democrats and the Republicans may not be quite so far apart as politics would sometimes want everyone to believe.
Despite some disagreements between lawmakers as to the ideal path on which to go forward, the momentum for immigration reform in the United States is only continuing to grow and is actually heading in one very clear direction. With President Obama having unveiled his own policy not long after a framework for reform was revealed a few weeks ago by a bipartisan group of Senators, it is expected that a bipartisan bill will soon arrive in the House of Representatives.
The proposals from the Senate and the White House are surprising in how much they have in common, particularly when it comes to the offer of a path to US citizenship for around 11 million illegal immigrants that are currently living in the United States. Although they certainly have some important differences, the united front they establish on proposals for both reasonable and political viable solutions in the inevitable debate over immigration reform is remarkable.
To put it simply, both of the plans demonstrate that policymakers are not as divided as politics would sometimes have us believe on policy, and both show a method in which lawmakers can be brought together, especially when it comes to the crucial issue of offering US citizenship.