Final outcome for immigration reform less than clear, Baker Institute expert says

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David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu

Final outcome for immigration reform less than clear, Baker Institute expert says
Payan: It’s possible that immigration reform may not happen in 2013

HOUSTON – (Oct. 21, 2013) – As President Barack Obama has announced his renewed push for comprehensive immigration reform post-government shutdown, the final legislative outcome is less than clear, according to Tony Payan, a fellow for Mexico studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and director of the Baker Institute’s Mexico Center.

Payan said the key question regarding immigration reform is whether a successful coalition can be put together in the House of Representatives to pass comprehensive reform as the Senate has already done. “The final outcome is less than clear today, and it is entirely possible that immigration reform may not happen in the remainder of the year,” he said.

A key proponent of immigration reform, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., will speak at the Baker Institute from 6 to 7:30 p.m. today. Gutierrez’s talk, “Still Dreaming: My Hopes for the Immigration Reform Bill,” will be in Baker Hall’s Doré Commons, 6100 Main St. For more information about this public event, see http://bakerinstitute.org/events/1541.

In addition to being a Baker Institute fellow, Payan is an associate professor of political science at the University of Texas at El Paso and serves on the graduate faculty of the Universidad Autónoma de Juárez in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. His area of study is international relations, with an emphasis on U.S. and Mexican foreign policy and U.S.-Mexico relations. He is the author of “The Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration and Homeland Security” and other books.

The Baker Institute has a radio and television studio available for media who want to schedule an interview with Payan. For more information, contact Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

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Related materials:

Payan biography: http://bakerinstitute.org/experts/tony-payan/.

Founded in 1993, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston ranks among the top 20 university-affiliated think tanks globally and top 30 think tanks in the United States. As a premier nonpartisan think tank, the institute conducts research on domestic and foreign policy issues with the goal of bridging the gap between the theory and practice of public policy. The institute’s strong track record of achievement reflects the work of its endowed fellows and Rice University scholars. Learn more about the institute at www.bakerinstitute.org or on the institute’s blog, http://blogs.chron.com/bakerblog.