[miami_fan]

FWIW, I don't think this is necessarily broken down as a battle between both parties. History tells us that despite what is proclaimed on the Statue of Liberty, Americans as a whole are not really here for accepting your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, he wretched refuse of your teeming shore. or these, the homeless, tempest-tossed. I mean we will take those that fit those descriptors and those that fit the opposite of those descriptors at some point but historically we have consistently taken steps to ensure that is not the case. I am not saying this thinking is exclusive to any particular race, ethnicity, etc in this country. I am not saying that other countries don't act in a similar fashion. I say all that to say I don't see either party as necessarily exclusively pro or exclusively anti immigration.

With that I'm going to pick on the anti-Dreamers side now just because I think they provide the most stark illustration of what I am saying. Let's not inject all those other sticks of dynamite like Ukraine, Isreal etc. into this conversation. We have enough explosive trading chips within the immigration debate. I think it is safe to assume that people who don't want legalization of Dreamers are the same people who would want increased Border Security funding, E-Verify, etc. Not saying it is absolute across the board or not desired on the other side, just saying so for the sake of this discussion. Let's also assume that the people who do want the legalization of Dreamers are against increased Border Security funding, E-Verify, etc.

Now let's give both sides what they want. We are going to legalize the Dreamers and we are also going to get increased Border Security funding, E-Verify, etc. Why would anyone among the 60% that need to be convinced who don't want legalization of the Dreamers be accepting of that trade? I don't get the impression that the desire to get increased Border Security funding, E-Verify, etc. is more important to them than preventing the legalization of the Dreamers. I believe if it were, we would already have the reform completed. I also don't think anyone who among the 20% who wholeheartedly supports that trade has the gumption to convince/force them to accept that trade. I think that is the same for most of the issues on both sides. Until such time as that changes on both sides, I don't see how immigration reform happens because I don't think there is enough political capital in the world to make that happen. IMO, the only way it happens is if one side gets control of the White House and both houses of Congress, holds a super-majority in both AND have members unwilling to cross to the other side under any circumstances.