The Heartbreak of Immigration Reform, with Esther Olavarria
Everyone knows that our immigration system is broken, so why hasn’t Congress fixed it for over 35 years? What you may not know is how close we came to comprehensive immigration reform – not once, not twice, but four times.
Esther Olavarria was one of the foremost people working behind the scenes to make it happen, first as a staffer to Senator Ted Kennedy and later as a senior official under President Obama.
This is her eyewitness account – of hope and despair, war rooms and whip counts, and honest answers on why it’s so hard for Congress to get the job done.
In This Episode
- Intro
- Esther Olavarria, American hero
- The “four-legged stool” of comprehensive immigration reform
- High hopes in 2001
- Tuesday, Sept. 11
- Senator Ted Kennedy’s commitment
- Reviving the work with Senator John McCain
- House Republicans strike back
- High hopes in 2006
- Tough votes and the Laken Riley Act
- Popular support and victory in the Senate
- Failure in the House
- High hopes in 2007
- The bait and switch of “points-based” immigration
- The death of the Grand Bargain
- Obama and deportations
- High hopes in 2013
- What is a War Room?
- Senator Corker and the Yahoos
- Victory in the Senate (again)
- Floundering in the House (again)
- The primary race that crushed all hope
- How bleak is the future?
- How the right got what it wanted all along
- A note of hope?
- The filibuster is why we can’t have nice things
- Esther on screen!
- Conclusion
Learn More
Amanda, Claire, and Doug express their own personal opinions on The Melting Pod. This episode was produced by Michael Palmer (palmer.media). Read more about the topics in this episode:
White House Offers Stealth Campaign to Support Immigration Bill
Summary of the “four-legged stool”
How Democracy Works Now
Free to watch with a library card
Senator Kennedy Floor Speech on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007
Senator Ted Kennedy’s Remarks at Immigration Rally in Washington
Unions Split on Immigrant Workers
Give More
Want to help build a more sane and humane immigration system? Support hardworking organizations like these:
National
Working to ensure the U.S. keeps its promise to our Afghan allies
The country’s largest membership organization of asylum seekers, working together for change
Organizing and advocating for racial, social and economic justice
Providing humanitarian, legal, and social services
Strategic litigation and advocacy to uphold the rights of people seeking safety
Immigrant justice through litigation and storytelling
Local
Legal and humanitarian support to refugees, deportees, and other migrants in the U.S. and Tijuana
Providing assistance to the poor and most vulnerable populations in the Rio Grande Valley community
Free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and refugees in West Texas, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico