Immigration Reform Reform
One of the major pieces of legislation to surface in the Senate in 2007 was known as the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. It was sponsored by John McCain as well as Ted Kennedy, and took a multi-faceted approach to fixing immigration. This included a clearer path to citizenship for the illegal immigrants in the country, as well as additional physical border security, and more.
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Senator McCain made a real effort to try and fix what is essentially a broken system, including co-sponsoring the bill with one of the most outspoken liberal Senators, Ted Kennedy. Early on, a number of analysts praised the bill for its well-rounded approach. Any optimism was short-lived, however.
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As it turns out, the bill that was designed to try and create real solutions in a bipartisan way ended up generating ire from the entire ideological spectrum. Conservatives ended up blasting it for giving "amnesty" to illegals. Perhaps not coincidentally, the timing of this bill corresponded to the low-point of McCain's primary run.
He not only abandoned this legislation, but also remarked that he would vote against the bill as he introduced it, noting that "[We] know what the situation is today. The people want the border secured first." This does not take into account that a huge segment of illegal aliens cross the border legally with a temporary visa. It's clear that comprehensive legislation is the only way to really address the problem. We give Senator McCain credit for realizing that when drafting the legislation, but it is disappointing he so easily abandoned the vision.
