Arizona’s US Rep. Ed Pastor believes immigration reform unlikely anytime soon

PHOENIX — An Arizona congressional Democrat said immigration reform appears unlikely until the end of the year at the earliest.

The Senate passed immigration reform last year, but the legislation has been stalled in the house for months. U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor said congressional members are in re-election mode but there may be a window for immigration reform after midterm elections.

“There’s always a lame-duck session with people who come back for November and December. Maybe then we’ll have the votes and the courage to do it,” he said.

During last month’s State of the Union Address President Obama called on House Democrats and Republicans to fix the broken immigration system. Pastor said he expected advocates and DREAMers to make a push for reform.

Some congressional members will address the issue but their minds are on their upcoming races. Pastor doesn’t expect these races to be as wide open as experts believed.

“The reality is that there will be very few competitive seats and the probability of major changes may not occur,” he said.