Administration reigniting immigration debate.

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Brief article

Renewing the push for immigration reform during an economic recession may be an uphill--but not impossible-battle for Pres. Barack Obama, notes an immigration specialist from Duke University, Durham, N.C. "It's been clear for some time that the President was not going to neglect this topic. It's nonetheless surprising that he wants to launch the conversation now, given everything else on his plate and given the current economic conditions.

"The problem he'll run into is that he'll be trying to sell some form of legalization--keeping illegal immigrants here and in their jobs--at a time when American citizens are losing their own jobs," indicates Noah Pickus, who co-directs the Immigration Policy Roundtable, a joint project of Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics and the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. The roundtable will issue a comprehensive immigration report later this year. He also is author of True...