Immigration Reform Tied to Economy

Immigration issues could affect the economy, which is one reason some political candidates shy away from them, according to experts.

``It's very good to talk about immigration, be tough on immigration while the economy's doing well," said Dawn McLaren with the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, adding that immigration remains in the spotlight ``because we have not gone into that territory yet where it says, okay, we are just in very bad shape. Everybody's losing jobs and we're in a terrible recession."

Democratic frontrunners Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama both support a path to legalization for illegal immigrants. Among Republicans, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson hold the strongest positions. Arizona Sen. John McCain told Iowa voters earlier this year that the country must take a comprehensive approach, including a temporary worker program. Now, he stresses border security first.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the debate season was Clinton's meek endorsement of New York Gov. Elliott Spitzer's ill-fated proposal to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants: ``This is where everybody plays gotcha. It makes a lot of sense, what is a governor supposed to do?"

Spitzer subsequently dropped the idea.

Political consultant Fred DuVal said a dysfunctional relationship between the White House and Congress is at least partially to blame for the failure to enact immigration reform.

``You can't move on immigration, you can't move on Social Security, you can't really articulate a plan on the war that both sides can agree upon," DuVal said.

Farmers are caught in the crosshairs of the debate over the economic impact of illegal immigration.

Paul Muthart of Pasquenelli Produce in Yuma, where 90 percent of the nation's winter vegetable crop is grown, said he doesn't think labor costs are the real issue.

``Where you're going to see the increase in costs is not because we have to pay more money and therefore our costs are higher and therefore we have to pass that on," Muthart said. ""I don't think that's what's going to happen. I think what's going to happen instead is we're going to have a restricted supply of labor to harvest crops, which means less crops are going to get harvested, which means there's less supply in the grocery store, which means in turn that what is there is going to be worth more money."

McLaren said the bottom line is that the economy will play a critical role in the immigration issue.

``The immigration problem is solved if you don't have the jobs for people to come here, and if the economy is doing badly, you don't have the jobs," she said.