It's Democrats' turn to alienate Hispanics

Now the burden of handling the immigration-reform question falls on Democrats rather than Republicans. In calmer times, the party could be expected to push precisely the kind of immigration reform that Mr. Bush tried to get through Congress early this year — a reform that would include a larger legal immigrant work force and a path toward citizenship for some illegal immigrants.

But that was before the economy went into the tank and unemployment started rising. Pushing any kind of immigration reform, particularly one that includes a path toward legalization, is a lot harder in an environment in which Americans are losing jobs.