2010 could see changes in immigration policy

Three major parts of immigration have to be discussed and decided: enforcement, path to legalization for people already here and immigration reform for people wanting to come. It has to start soon, it will take time. - - Donna Poisl

By Antonio Olivo, Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO -- Having waited patiently in the wings, immigration advocates are anxious to take President Barack Obama at his word when he said immigration reform would soon follow health care on the nation's agenda.

With several initiatives gearing up to put the issue before Congress in 2010, the advocates are all too aware they haven't had much cause for celebration in recent years. Their last big push in Washington, in 2007, failed to settle the status of the nation's estimated 11.9 million undocumented immigrants.

Deportations have continued, with nearly 370,000 immigrants detained during the fiscal year that ended in October. That's more than twice the number in 1999, according to a report last week by Transactional Records Clearing House at Syracuse University.
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