The DREAM Act is dead. It may be resurrected after the 2008 elections, but it is clear that Congress is unwilling to do anything to provide relief for ANY undocumented immigrants in this congressional session. Today’s Daily News opines that the vote was “cruel.” Cruel maybe, but expected. When activists turned away from mass action to focus on lobbying and letter writing, they conceded to Democratic leader’s concerns that pro-immigration demonstrations was putting the party in an awkward position. The demos had forced leading Democrats, including presidential candidates, to come out for a “path to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants. That played well in immigrant communities, but was a risky posture as the 2008 elections approached. Latinos in particular are already leaning Democratic. Why risk a controversial position that might alienate other voters?

I am not suggesting that any approach, including mass demonstrations, would have led to positive reform this year. But at least the mass action pushed elected officials to speak out for immigrants. The write and talk strategy let them provide “support” with little public scrutiny. In essence, write and talk was about putting the election of Democrats first with the hope that once elected, they will support reform. We’ll see.