Last week, White House adviser David Axelrod noted that immigration reform would not happen in the near term unless there was bipartisan support. That's really always been the case, but the comment seems consistent with something said this week by Senate Democratic leaders (as noted in an email alert sent by America's Voice today):

During a news conference held by Senate Democratic leaders yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) both made clear their unequivocal support for comprehensive immigration reform and outlined their efforts to move forward with a legislative solution this year. Sen. Reid (D-NV) disagreed with critiques that the State of the Union remarks dimmed the prospects for immigration reform, saying, “The President, I don't think, dropped the ball. He talked about immigration reform last night. He has spoken with us about immigration reform. It is something we need to do… It is something we're committed to do. And we’ll do it as soon as we can.” Said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who is leading efforts to develop reform legislation: “We are making good progress.” He noted the bi-partisan nature of his approach, saying, “I’ve said all along, even before last Tuesday with the Massachusetts election, that we have to have this bill be a bipartisan bill, two Democrats, two Republicans to introduce it. We’re not there yet. We’re still working on getting our Republicans. But we’re talking to people . . . who have a lot of interest and enthusiasm. And our intention is to move forward.”

A number of pro-immigration advocates have assumed that at least a few Republicans will support immigration reform simply because they have in the past. But Schumer's words should be a warning. Pro-immigration Republicans tend to be pro-business immigration. Those in the pro-immigration camp who think you can torpedo a guest worker program, slap protectionist measures targeting legitimate H-1B employers, and otherwise ignore the needs of America's businesses (I'm talking about you, labor unions) will hopefully read this as a reality check and start to clamp down on the impulses to legalize illegally present immigrants only and forget about the future flow needs or the massive problems with legal immigration (as frequently noted by readers of this blog).