It takes away the Republicans' opportunity to claim they already addressed immigration reform and that any further action is the President "going too far." The

It takes away the Republicans' opportunity to claim they already addressed immigration reform and that any further action is the President "going too far." The Republicans are between a rock and a hard place politically on immigration. Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic in the country, and Republican hostility toward immigration reform is starting to cost them in elections. e.g., Obama pummeled Romney among Latino voters in Florida by an over 2-to-1 margin. [1] The Republicans have essentially painted themselves into a corner on the issue and are in a no-win situation. If they continue to aggressively oppose immigration reform, it's going to hurt them with an increasingly-important demographic. If they concede and compromise, Obama and the Democrats get to claim themselves as the champions of immigration reform, which still hurts the Republicans, though to a lesser degree. Obama knows he has major leverage over the Republicans on this issue; it doesn't make political sense to make concessions they can paint as wins if it's not the reform he's actually after. [1] http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/11/07/latino-voters-in-the-2012-election/ http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/11/07/latino-voters-in-the-2...