By ThinkProgress War Room

The Economic Case for Immigration Reform

After months of negotiations, 8 key senators today proposed a sweeping and historic reform of our nation’s broken immigration system. The plan, which was previewed today in news reports, will be officially unveiled soon by the so-called “Gang of 8″ Republican and Democratic senators.

The proposal comes on the same day as a new poll that found that an overwhelming 84 percent of Americans — including 79 percent of Republicans — favor the kind of pathway to earned citizenship detailed in the proposal.

Nevertheless, some of the most anti-immigrant conservatives are already trying to kill the plan. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who has a troubled past on race issues, said today that he was unhappy with the proposal because it will allow immigrants to improve the quality of their lives. FAIR, a racist hate group, is bringing activists to Washington this week to lobby against the bill and the Tea Party Patriots are also mobilizing against it. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) even tried to take advantage of the Boston bomb attacks to argue against reform.

Reforming our broken system and bringing 11 MILLION people out of the shadows is the morally correct thing to do, but it’s also the economically smart thing to do:

BOTTOM LINE: No matter how much spin and vitriol conservatives throw at the immigration reform bill over the next few months, it’s still the right thing to do for our country and for our economy.

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