Inaction on immigration reform a travesty

This piece tells the recent history of immigration legislation in this country and points out that without a new reform package, more states will do what Arizona is doing. - - Donna Poisl

By Julian Zelizer, Special to CNN

(CNN) -- Republicans and Democrats in Congress seem to have found one issue on which they agree. Neither party wants to get near immigration reform, the new "third rail" in American politics -- an issue so politically charged that politicians risk their careers by touching it.

Since Congress failed to reach agreement on legislation in 2006 that would have offered undocumented immigrants amnesty and a path toward naturalization, both parties have kept as far away from this issue as they did from health care after President Clinton's reform went down to defeat in 1994.
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