Immigration reform tough during crisis, Biden says

The Vice President gives his opinion on immigration reform.

President Obama will make the final decision on whether his Administration will pursue immigration reform this year. They do not speak with one voice, and while they agree on the agenda, the Vice President often takes a different strategic view as is the case with health care of which, he was overruled by the President:

Speaking Freely, Biden finds Influential Role

I think it is also all in the spin put on the article. His actual quote doesn't seem to say that Biden is against immigration reform -- it just states that this is a difficult time to push for this because of the economic situation.

That negative can become a positive if people understand why immigration reform would help with the economy ( more taxes coming in, fine payments, license fees, decreased social service costs, etc. etc.)

I totally agree with you. There are some people who are on the fence and maybe can be swayed by the positive economic impact that we will have once Dream is passed.

Gregg's take on this.

Quote:

"We need some forbearance as we try to put together a comprehensive approach to deal with this." I've never heard the term "forbearance" used in the immigration context before. Dictionary.com says it means "an abstaining from the enforcement of a right". I know banks use the term when they allow a borrower to put off making payments on a loan. Perhaps Biden is talking about ending work site raids for a while, something that many observers think will happen. But does this really do much other than end some of the disturbing images we've seen on television? Unless we get in to a Great Depression situation (where the unemployment rate was about triple the current rate), we're not likely going to be in a situation where nearly enough Americans are available to replace the millions of immigrants currently working around the US without proper documentation. And G-d help us if that becomes the case since the jobs filled by these folks are bottom rung positions and this would certainly not bode well for the long term prospects of an economic superpower. But perhaps the Vice President also means looking at a policy that offers a very limited form of relief to those millions of workers beyond a raid moratorium until the economic situation in the country is better. Former House Immigration Subcommittee Minority Counsel Nolan Rappaport and I wrote an article recently calling for a relief similar to Temporary Protected Status for those workers that would provide a short term employment card that would also allow for travel in and out of the country. And that's it. No path to a green card or citizenship. No right to bring over relatives. Just some interim relief until economic times are better and Congress is ready to deal with something more comprehensive. This might also explain why the DREAM Act was just reintroduced. Is the AgJobs bill and maybe an employment immigration reform measure benefiting STEM workers coming as well? Perhaps the plan is to do something short of full scale reform that will include some of the key reforms on the table for the last few years. Perhaps these proposals would be bundled with some key reforms that the enforcement advocates want to see such as permanently reauthorizing e-Verify and requiring its use by US employers and getting a social security no-match system in place. US employers are more likely to be able to handle massive changes like these if workers have employment documents as noted above.

http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/

that's a lot of guesses about what his words mean. what I've come to learn about politicians since Hatch's inital DA is: always take their words with a heavy dose of skepticism, and with a tinge of cynicism.
I personally don't think Obama is remotely interested in touching anything immigration, and Rahm Emanuel would make sure of it. Mind you, not only did this guy (along with Schummer) derail CIR the last time it came up, he's already stated immigration won't be addressed until Obama's 2nd term. Biden was probably merely passing that message along. I won't trust anyone until I see a real effort to help our cause. Put your efforts and faith in what you're doing and rely less on what politicians say- even those who endorse the DA. It's the only way some of us have managed some sanity since 2001.
After 8 years of heart breaking teases, action is the only thing I pay attention to... words don't mean jack any more.

your right friend, second term my ass... if we wait till 2nd term, i rather vote for Palin

Earned Immigration can help the Obama budget
I have a suggestion for OBama Govt to generate revenue
Pass a bill that allows for earned legal status:
If 10 million illegal immigrants , who have no criminal record were to come out of the shadows and pay 5,000 fine over 5 years to earn legal status
first say mid this year 10 ,000,000 illegal immigrants paid $2000 each as the first installment of the 5K penalty that would immediately inject 2 billion dollars into the USA economy. If in another two years they paid another 2 billion, and then by the 5th year they pay the last 1K .
Over the next 5 years these people would gain their citizenship and the ecomony get the boost it needs

Ditto to what you just said.Plus all the newly legalized people would pay back taxes,buy a new car,maybe a home,buy insurance and apply for credit cards.There you have it a perfect boost to the currently sagging economy.the point that CBO made around last time was that the new citizens would be a burden on programs like social security and such in the future.But I say they will contribute to it first which makes them perfectly eligible for long term benefits.
Only if somebody would bring out the good Economics of Immigration reform on the forefront.
Sigh!!