Coming into 2013, immigration reform looked promising — Obama and Democrats were pushing ahead, and Republicans wanted to move on after losing the Hispanic vote. But the legislation remains stalled in the House, where Speaker John Boehner has claimed immigration reform is “absolutely not” dead but has yet to say when it would come to the floor.

That the public may be more skeptical of the federal government’s capacity to run big programs effectively and efficiently is something conservatives will surely hold up as a reason not to expand the government’s footprint well into the future — setting up another hurdle for reform advocates to clear.

“There’s a loss of confidence in the government’s ability,” former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat who backs the immigration bill, said at an event sponsored by the public relations firm Edelman this month. “Clearly, the last few months, our experience with Affordable Care Act does not help when you look at other big things like immigration reform.”…

“It’s going to make it harder to sell big deals,” Graham said. “People are now saying, ‘So you’re gonna do immigration. You’re gonna let the same people manage the immigration system that’s managed Obamacare?’”