Economy to shape immigration debate

Is the fading economy going to have a chilling effect on the push for comprehensive immigration reform and the tone of the immigration debate among candidates for the White House? Not much chance existed anyway for comprehensive reform in 2008, but my gut instinct tells the quivering economy will make the "pathway to legalization" for illegals harder yet to sell, as Americans are strapped for cash amid rising fuel and food bills at the same time the economy slows. Sounds like stagflation all over again.

I searched the Web for stories that might pick up on this angle and it wasn't hard. Here is one. From that piece:

`It's very good to talk about immigration, be tough on immigration while the economy's doing well," said Dawn McLaren with the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, adding that immigration remains in the spotlight ``because we have not gone into that territory yet where it says, okay, we are just in very bad shape. Everybody's losing jobs and we're in a terrible recession."

McLaren said the bottom line is that the economy will play a critical role in the immigration issue.

``The immigration problem is solved if you don't have the jobs for people to come here, and if the economy is doing badly, you don't have the jobs," she said.

TK: I kind of get mixed messages from McLaren; is he saying that it is easier to be tough on immigration in a strong economy or a struggling economy? My instinct would tell me it is easier to be tougher on immigration enforcement in a struggling economy. Here is another piece about the economy and politics, and another about what is doable in Congress next year.