With Cantor Gone, Immigration Reform Is All On John Boehner Now | Sojourners

With Cantor Gone, Immigration Reform Is All On John Boehner Now

Sign above John Boehner's Capitol office, Katherine Welles / Shutterstock.com
Sign above John Boehner's Capitol office, Katherine Welles / Shutterstock.com

The stunning primary defeat of Eric Cantor could be a blessing for passing immigration reform. Cantor, as Majority Leader in the House and the number two Republican, was no ally of immigration reform and was likely an obstacle to crucial bi-partisan action. Always lurking in the shadows and clearly hoping to be the next Speaker of the House, Cantor was a threat to John Boehner. Apparently, continually working the inside game to become the Speaker, instead of being a member of Congress who represented his district was one of the biggest reasons Cantor lost his election.

But now that Cantor is gone and with him, his threat, we hope that John Boehner will be free to act, to do what his head and heart tells him is the right thing to do on immigration reform. “Bibles, Badges, and Business” have all been pressing Republicans to pass comprehensive immigration reform as both a moral and economic issue, one in the true spirit of America’s embrace of immigrants, and one in which the gospel is at stake in how we “welcome the stranger.”

Read the full piece on Time.com.

Image: Sign above John Boehner's Capitol office, Katherine Welles / Shutterstock.com