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Immigration Must Reads: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

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First the good—Some of us already knew this, but the fact that good immigration policy also boosts the middle class is a myth-buster that bears repeating, as well as a new report by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI). Immigration Impact argues:

The myth that immigration is bad for U.S. workers has sullied the immigration debate for far too long. A new report by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI), “Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class: 2009 Edition,” sets the record straight. In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and in anticipation of a new round of legislative debates on comprehensive immigration reform, DMI’s report makes a rational, concise argument for why comprehensive immigration reform is needed to improve the conditions for middle class Americans.

Next up, some good, some bad— We’ve got a few takes on urgency and timing of reform. Conservative Latino columnist Ruben Navarette argues, on CNN,  that the President is not setting a clear enough timetable for how and when reform will happen—going so far as to state that Obama has thrown immigrant advocates under the bus. Then, in the AP Friday, Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), said, “he fully expects work on rewriting immigration law to begin in Congress next year.” He argues:

“Part of President Obama’s mandate coming in, particularly in the high levels of support that he received from Latino voters in critical states, I think a significant part of his mandate was about comprehensive immigration reform,” Saenz said.