Immigration reforms may be delayed

BY A STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON, DC — Legal immigrants’ hopes and aspirations for securing work permits and Green Cards sooner may be dashed as President Barack Obama has indicated that he is rethinking on his earlier proposed move of bringing in immigration reforms next month which would have led to more number of H-1B visas for skilled workers, work permits for H-4 visa holders and Green Cards for workers who have been waiting for years on end.

The delay is under pressure from nervous Democratic Senate candidates in tight races in the upcoming November polls, which may swing out of their control over the issue of executive action on immigration reforms by Obama. He may now delay some or all of his most controversial proposals until after the midterm elections in November, according to people familiar with White House deliberations.

According to Josh Earnest, White House press secretary, the President was “as determined as ever to take that kind of action on his own.” But he and other White House officials declined to repeat the Obama’s earlier pledge of an announcement by the end of this summer, or to say whether the President was considering delaying some of his decisions until later this year.

Inside the White House, the timing of an announcement on immigration reforms has become the subject of a fierce debate.

Some of Obama’s advisers are urging him to postpone it, fearful of the political ramifications of a sweeping action to protect millions of illegal immigrants from deportation and provide many of them official work papers. Some also say such a move by the President could set off a pitched fight with Republicans and dash hopes for Democrats running in conservative states.

But others inside the White House are pushing Obama to stick to his promised schedule, regardless of the immediate political consequences. They argue that Republicans will criticize the president and attack Democratic candidates even if he delays parts of his announcement until after the election.

While the delay by Obama has been because of the surge in illegal immigration, there is a sliver of hope that Obama might go ahead and announce reforms for legal immigrants, on which subject his staff has held some 20 meetings with business and industry groups and advocates, who urge increasing the number of work visas and giving more Green Cards.