Immigration Reform?

The President is talking about serious, comprehensive immigration reform. On Tuesday he invited a small group of people to the White House to talk about it. Problem is – of the people he invited, very few have anything to do with immigration or its consequences. And the list was missing some very important people who deal with it every day.

President Obama sat down Tuesday with a group that included New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Rev. Al Sharpton, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.). The guest list didn’t include any current governors or members of Congress, though it did include some business leaders, including the CO of Facebook and former Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), who now works for JPMorgan Chase.

Now, I can understand former Senator Martinez, being Hispanic and representing the interests of other Hispanics. I can also understand Governor Schwarzenegger, since he was the governor of California, which also has an illegal immigration problem and he’s a legal immigrant himself. But I’m having trouble understanding the Roles of Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL/CIO, Obama’s newest BFF, the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg, Al Sharpton and Michael Bloomburg. Huh?

Somehow it seems those last four are out of place in a discussion concerning illegal immigration and a change in immigration policy. OK, maybe, just maybe Trumka is wanting to organize the illegals into a bargaining unit. Given his background and current position I can almost see that. But what have Al Sharpton, Michael Bloomburg and Mark Zuckerburg got to do with immigration, legal or otherwise?

Blatantly missing from the group were the governors of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the three states on the most dangerous part of the border. Does anyone think they may have had some really good information to share at this meeting? Or is the White House off limits to Jan Brewer since the Obama administration is suing her over her anti-illegal immigration law?

Only President Obama knows why he chose those particular people for the meeting. And I’m sure, in this so very “transparent” White House, he’ll make the reasoning public one day… (OK, I’m not holding my breath and neither should you.) There is one thing of which you can be certain – if any changes are made to the immigration laws they will be done at a time and in a manner to help President Obama get as many votes as possible in the 2012 election. After all, you can hope for a lot more change with 12 million new votes for your side.