Granted, Rahm is one of Hillary’s boys and the Glacier conspicuously refused to promise anything beyond her “best efforts” if she’s elected. (Obama, by contrast, promised them el sol, la luna, y las estrellas.) But even so, why rule out amnesty to a key voting bloc before you absolutely have to? All I can assume is that Rahm, as DCCC chair, knows better than anyone what the numbers on amnesty by district look like.

And those numbers ain’t good for La Raza.

The congressman’s statement was reported by a Hispanic activist and confirmed by Mr. Emanuel. “Congressman Rahm Emanuel said to me two weeks ago, there is no way this legislation is happening in the Democratic House, in the Democratic Senate, in the Democratic presidency, in the first term,” Juan Salgado, board chairman of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) at its annual convention last weekend.

Through a spokesman, Mr. Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, blamed Republicans for botching this year’s debate and said that makes it tougher for Democrats to return to the issue…

“I was caught off-guard by the statement,” Mr. Salgado said in an interview. “I interpret his comments as a lack of courage on what they know is right. Listen, we’re here at the NCLR conference, and what it’s going to take is not the attitude of Rahm Emanuel, if this is a second-term issue. What it’s going to take is boldness by the president.”…

Immigration advocates privately identified Mr. Emanuel as an obstacle, criticizing his judgment that the issue would be painful for Democrats. Several such advocates tried to prevent his speaking last year at a march in Chicago. CounterPunch, a newsletter, reported that Mr. Salgado, an organizer of the march, argued for Mr. Emanuel to speak.