Editorial:
What will the effect of the Boston marathon bombing have on immigration reform? Our initial response is that it should not have any impact what’s so ever, but of course this is not reality.
On Monday during the second week of hearings with the Senate Judiciary Committee, while Dzhokhar Tsamaev was being charged by federal prosecutors, there was a heated exchange between Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Schumer suggested that some of his colleagues were exploiting the bombings, carried out by two ethnic Chechen immigrant brothers; both arrived legally and one was a naturalized U.S. citizen, to sabotage the bill.
Grassley denied the accusations, and with that, the bickering ensued between politicians. Several others joined in.
It is not so important what they were squabbling over, just because the bombing was apparently done by immigrants is, and will be, a part of the conversation. The anti-Hispanic, anti-immigrant, xenophobes will latch on to this issue and use it to change the course of immigration reform.
This is the kind of issue that Republican Texas Congressman Ted Cruz, who is a darling of the Tea Party movement, is considering. Cruz is the face of the opposition to reform push. Cruz can use this bombing as a way to drive a wedge in the reform effort and splinter away enough votes to stall at best and/or gut the legislation.
Congressman Cruz has already come out against the path to legalization for 11 million immigrants residing in the U.S. and wants to focus on border security. Congressman Cruz, who is considering a run for President, sees this as an opportunity to enhance his conservative credentials.
For the past two weeks, the Senate Judiciary Committee has held hearings. On May 9, it will start the process of marking up the immigration bill, which is the beginning of amending, or changing, the bill. The bill will then go before the full Senate and the process will start over again, with more changes to come.
The Boston marathon bombings should have no impact on immigration reform, but this is politics and in politics, all emotional events will play a role. The question will be how much of an impact will it have. If the Senators want to move forward with a common sense proposal, Boston should only be a side note. But, if the conservative segment wants to derail the package, they will make this bombing their symbol to defeat or water down the proposal to nothing more than a workforce/security proposal.
Only time will tell.