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Tamar Jacoby's business-oriented pro-amnesty lobbying group ImmigrationWorks held a conference call for members last week to report on the state of play on an immigration bill. A little birdie sent me his/her notes on what was said, and much of it was interesting but not surprising:
* Business demands increased future immigration as part of any bill, not just amnesty (because, you know, 10% unemployment isn't high enough, I guess). Also, Napolitano has told the activist groups that Schumer's bill would indeed have a "guestworker" component, despite union opposition;
* The legislation will be "framed as a law and order bill";
* The White House and DHS have not yet decided to pursue a piecemeal approach, sticking instead with the "comprehensive" idea, because if word got out that the White House had decided to pick off separate bits of the immigration issue, the push for comprehensive would fall apart;
* DHS has made clear that continued enforcement is necessary to build credibility for a future amnesty.
Two more things of note. Tamar explicitly drew the connection between the fate of Obamacare and the prospects for amnesty; as my note-taker related her comments, "If the GOP 'just says no' on health care reform and finds that's ok with the public, they may become emboldened."
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