Source:  Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 4/26/10

The Arizona governor's signature Friday afternoon on a controversial state immigration law launched a weekend of protests, some of them heated, and jet-propelled the issue to the top of the federal agenda.

Arizona's new law, in a nutshell, makes it illegal to be in Arizona illegally — that is, without appropriate immigration documents — and gives local law enforcement the authority to question anyone even suspected of being in the country illegally.

Even before the law was signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, President Obama had criticized it Friday during a naturalization ceremony for 24 active-duty service members in the Rose Garden, as reported by The New York Times. The President reportedly said the law was "misguided" and may undermine "basic notions of fairness."

The front of the line

As emotions around the issue reached a full boil over the weekend, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the Congressional leaders working on a bipartisan immigration reform bill and also a bill on climate change, seemed to pit the two initiatives — both Obama priorities — against one another. He threatened to walk away from the climate legislation altogether, concerned, according to media reports, that the attention now commanded by the immigration issue made it too difficult to get substantive climate change legislation passed this year.

Support for comprehensive immigration reform has been building, slowly, for more than a year. Some members of Congress, such as New York Sen. Charles Schumer, have been laying the groundwork for such a process since last spring. Last December, Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez introduced H.R. 4321, a comprehensive immigration reform proposal, although most observers don't believe it has a chance of surviving the debate to come.

Another polarizing issue

Politics makes the issue of illegal immigration even more divisive than it was three years ago, when the Bush Administration tried to pass reform, or during the presidential election campaigns of 2008. This year is the mid-term elections, and Arizona Sen. John McCain faces a strong, anti-immigration challenger. Gov. Brewer, who took office when Janet Napolitano became Secretary of Homeland Security, also faces re-election in November and is seen as courting votes in immigration-weary Arizona.

In other states less directly affected by immigration, the issue still is likely to have a role in the campaigns. Some candidates wish to court Hispanic voters, who are more likely to be in favor of immigration reform that would make it easier to become a citizen, while others want the support of white voters, who may be more receptive to a hard-line approach.

"It'll be a roller-coaster ride," warns Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a business coalition supporting immigration reform. "It's a critical three weeks to a month to see which direction this is going to go," she told Meatingplace.

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