Question

Immigration is a pressing issue in American politics. It has always been (think about waves of immigration in the past) and certainly is today. The problem today is what to do with the millions of undocumented immigrants currently living and working in the United States. Some of them have children (who are full citizens because they were born in the US) and some have nowhere to return to. In 2013, the Senate passed (68-32) a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill (Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, S.744). The House Speaker John Boehner and House leadership refused to bring the bill up for a vote. This is not the first time that such bipartisan attempt failed to pass.

You are asked to analyze the bill from the following perspective:

1. What is the bill proposing? What are the views of Americans on these proposals (use Roper iPoll)

2. Who led the bill? Where was it stalled? (use Thomas)

3. Assess the bill from a leadership standpoint. Who demonstrated strong leadership on this issue? What were the opportunities and limitations they were facing?

4. Given the issue and its recent history, what do you think about the current stalemate in American government on this issue and how do you think this can be changed, if at all?

Readings

▪ Jones (2005),The Presidency in a Separated System, Ch. 6 & 7

▪ Price (2006)

▪ Huang & Theriault (2012)

Guidelines

1. The assignment requires no additional readings beyond the class lectures and assigned readings. Make sure you put to use, class lectures and readings.

2. The length of the assignment should not exceed 3-5 pages (conventional fonts/margins).