Potential Immigration Legislation

For the most part, I disagree with what Anjana says in her post. I do agree that this year probably isn't the best time to embark on immigration reform, but the system has problems and needs to be fixed at some point. This may involve the kind of legislation that she argues against. The bill has not been written yet, but will be discussed over the summer and perhaps drafted this fall. It would make it possible for illegal immigrants to gain legal status, and also strengthen border security and crack down on employers that hire illegal immigrants.
Even if this legislation was drafted and passed, it probably would not drastically increase competition for citizens' employment. For one thing, the immigrants would not "automatically" get jobs in place of other Americans. They would have to apply for jobs like everyone else, and many are already working illegally - that's why they came to the U.S. in the first place. Also, revenue resulting from the bill would include not only fines, but taxes collected from newly-legal immigrants.
Anjana makes a good point about the current economy, though. A group of potentially millions of new citizens, qualified for government assistance, is the last thing our government (already heavily in debt) needs right now. The immigration system must not come before more urgent priorities such as the economy, and should wait until the country is more stable.