The Democrats Lay Down The Immigration Hammer. Will It Hit The Nail?

Try stoop labor for an hour.

Now think of it as the rest of your life.

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"Wall Street Journal: It's Bad News For The Economy When Immigrants Stop Coming"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-05-22T10:19:00-04:00&max-results=7&start=14&by-date=false

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The Dems to Republicans: Pass immigration reform, or else. "Senate Democratic leaders say President Obama will act unilaterally to reform the nation's immigration system if House Republicans fail to pass legislation by the end of July. 'They have about a six-week window, from June 10 after the last Republican primary until the August recess....' said Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking Senate Democratic leader and author of the comprehensive Senate immigration reform proposal....Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Democrats' highest priority for reform is to reunify the families of illegal immigrants that have been split by deportations." Alexander Bolton in The Hill.

The clock is ticking, starting now. "The issue for Reid, as it is for other Democrats, is timing. Senate Democrats believe there is a narrow window of about six weeks this summer -- from mid-June to the end of July -- for the GOP-led House to move immigration bills, and they want the focus during that period to be on Republican lawmakers, not the administration....He endorsed an idea first floated by one of his top deputies, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.): Pass a bill this year, but have it take effect in January 2017 when a new president moves into the White House. That is meant to take aim at a chief criticism from House Republicans: They don't trust President Barack Obama to implement an immigration bill." Seung Min Kim in Politico.

Why the plan probably won't get Republicans to move. "Schumer has previously brought up the idea of changing the Senate bill so that it doesn't take effect until Obama is out of office. Now, Reid has formalized it and packaged it as a 'compromise.' It's unclear how exactly that would happen. And House Republican leadership immediately shot the plan down....House Republicans haven't ruled out implementing immigration reform this year....But the growing sense on the Hill is that the window for any sort of immigration-related bill is rapidly closing." Elahe Izadi in National Journal.

Obama's relationship with Latinos hinges on the GOP. "By March in the face of increasing pressure from Latino activists, the president asked his director of homeland security to review deportation enforcements. Last week, on PBS, Jay Johnson said the administration has discretion when it comes to deportations....Although the president hasn't been shy about preempting Congress in other areas, on immigration, the strategy is to give John Boehner some space to see if the House Speaker can finally convince his own party to pass immigration reform this summer. In the meantime, the president is trying something else, identity politics." Mara Liasson in NPR.

One way Obama hopes to keep appealing to Latinos: The Julian Castro nomination. "President Obama is scheduled to announce Friday that he will nominate San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro as the next secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Castro will replace Shaun Donovan, who Obama will name as head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, a White House official said. Castro, 39, is serving his third term as mayor of San Antonio. He is considered a rising star in Democratic politics and delivered the keynote speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention." Katie Zezima in The Washington Post.

Other immigration reads:

Senate Democrats may block military DREAMers measure from defense bill, too. Kate Nocera in BuzzFeed.

Skilled foreign workers seen as a boost to pay. Josh Zumbrun and Matt Stiles in The Wall Street Journal.