Immigration Reality and Politics: The defeat of the Dream Act and our lost decade on immigration reform

Roberto Suro, a professor of journalism and public policy at the University of Southern California, looks at the immigration facts and the political failure to resolve them. He then presents some policy proposals for trying to address the issues.

The defeat of the Dream Act and our lost decade on immigration reform: "The United States is in the midst of a wave of immigration as substantial as any ever experienced. Millions of people from abroad have settled here peacefully and prosperously, a boon to the nation. Nonetheless, frustration with policy sours the mood. More than a quarter of the foreign-born are here without authorization. Meanwhile, getting here legally can be a long, costly wrangle. And communities feel that they have little say over sudden changes in their populations.

People know that their world is being transformed, yet Washington has not enacted a major overhaul of immigration law since 1965. To move forward, we need at least three fundamental changes in the way the issue is handled." Dec. 23, 2010, Washington Post