Obama pushes immigration overhaul

REPUBLICAN SOUL-SEARCHING

Obama's re-election and Republican challenger Mitt Romney's loss also sparked a period of soul searching among the fractured Republican party. The party is now struggling to revamp its brand and appeal to the country's minorities who have not been associated with it typically.

The US demographic landscape is undergoing a major shift as the current minority communities continue to grow while the whites could become minority in next three decades, according to US census.

Hispanics, a fast-growing group in particular, is a huge target group that Democrats hope to secure and Republicans aspire to win back in future elections. Latino-Americans voted for Obama over Romney 71 percent to 27 percent in the 2012 presidential race.

Advocates for immigration reform now see a decent chance for legislation to pass Congress this year.

"Asian-Americans are the fastest growing population in the country and Hispanic-Americans make up the largest ethnic group of the non-white population. Immigration played an important role in the debate of the last general election and that has gotten the attention of Republican politicians who ignored the need for comprehensive immigration reform, but are now willing to consider passing the legislation," said Adrian Pedroza, executive director of Partnership for Community Action and member of the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

He told Xinhua that by allowing undocumented immigrants to earn a path to citizenship would help them to be "fully contributing members of this country."

About 63 percent of Americans agree that the immigration system should deal with immigrants who are currently living in the country by allowing them a way to become citizens, according to a survey released last Thursday by the Public Religion Research and the Brookings Institution.

However, a bad news for supporters of immigration reform is that among the seven issues with political priority for the White House and Congress, immigration only ranked sixth, far behind economic issues.

It remains to be seen whether the spring has sprung for a comprehensive immigration reform on Capitol Hill.