Many of you have spent the past several weeks calling, writing, and/or faxing your Senator about the Immigration Reform Bill. Most of you opposed the bill, which is why it was stopped; or was that the real reason that it was stopped?

What I am about to propose is not the result of any belief in “secret” conspiracies, but a cynicism born of experience in watching Washington Politics. The Immigration Reform bill failed because no one really wanted it to pass! The authors included features in the bill that ensured it would be opposed by both sides of the Political spectrum. Why? Because both sides have vested interests in maintaining the status quo.

The Republicans, backed by big and small businesses alike, prefer to keep the immigrants illegal, so that Labor costs remain cheap. Currently, illegal immigrants accept less pay than American workers do because employers hold the threat of firing them at will and reporting them to INS. The current law recreates the same labor environment that existed prior to passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Workers were entirely at the mercy of the employer. Little or no safety protections were provided; no increased wage rate for overtime was paid, and no minimum wage existed. Why would employers voluntarily give up such an advantage, especially in the Midwest and Northeast, where labor provided by illegal aliens has become the most successful “scab” Union-busting workforce ever discovered! (Not that I am endorsing Unions, but illegal is still illegal!) Once “regularized” the formerly illegal immigrants can negotiate on equal footing with American workers for better wages and benefits. They can join Unions, petition the EEOC, OSHA, and a host of many other legal avenues to lay claim to rights and benefits previously denied. Only the competition from new immigrants, driven by the law of supply and demand, will provide downward pressure on wages. Employers will no longer be able to hold the threat of arbitrary dismissal or deportation over their heads, as a means to keep wages below what the “legal” market would bear. These are the rather obvious reasons why Republicans oppose the bill.

Democrats also oppose the bill, but for different reasons. Unions provide the single largest block of contributions to Democratic campaign coffers. Supporting Immigration Reform would antagonize this special interest. Even the desire for NEW Democratic Party members that might arise out of such a high volume of newly registered voters is insufficient incentive to risk losing the votes, and more importantly, the cash contributions from the nation’s Unions. (A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!)

In reality, neither political party wants immigration reform. The only question that remains is who to blame for its failure. Political points can still be scored by whichever side can successfully place the blame for failure on the other.

Immigration Reform is doomed, not because Conservatives are holding out for enforcement, or because Liberals want to relax the path to citizenship even further, but because both sides like the current system, just the way it is.

The only game they are really playing is pin the tail on the Donkey (or Elephant).