This week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) spoke with reporters about his thoughts on the immigration reform bill that is being anxiously awaited by millions of undocumented immigrants.

Reid reassured the media that Obama’s campaign promise for comprehensive immigration reform was not an empty one.

“Over the past few weeks, Congressmen have been devoting their efforts to projects to save the national economy. This does not mean, however, that we have forgotten about immigration reform. Democrats and Republicans are currently working on creating a possible bill. I hope that this bill will become the framework for future reform,” he said.

Simply put, politicians do not want to quarrel over the fate of 12 million undocumented immigrants, as they did last year.

The bill is to be completed in the next few months, and then presented to the public. Upon President Obama’s approval, it will most likely be passed thanks to the Democratic majority. In one interview, Reid even expressed confidence that it would only take 14 to 20 business days for the bill to be debated and signed into law.

A number of political experts believe that the best time to advance the bill is in September or October of 2009. However, an announcement regarding the law could take place as early as the end of May.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday a number of Latin American organizations revealed the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in the country to be 13.3 million. It is unclear how this figure was reached.

Early February was also marked by large demonstrations in support of immigration reform, with over 100 held in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas alone.

Curiously, the main participants in these demonstrations were not Mexican laborers, but small business owners. As Lucas McCain, the owner of a slaughterhouse in Payson, AZ, righteously pointed out, “We came out on the streets to save ourselves and our nation’s economy.”

Representatives from a widely varied group of businesses all have interests in immigration reform.

Lawyers want to help former undocumented immigrants gain green cards.

Real estate businesses want to sell houses and apartments.

Bankers want to open millions of new bank accounts.

Travel agencies want to sell international travel packages and plane tickets.

Financial structures want to issue credit.

Supermarkets want to sell items on installment plans.

Automobile companies want yesterday’s undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses, which will result in an increase in automobile sales.

Farmers in the Midwest will gain millions of agricultural workers who are now in short supply.

And colleges and universities will get “fresh” students.

Obviously, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will benefit from the monetary contributions generated with the sale of state licenses, Social Security numbers, green cards and passports. And the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will finally receive hundreds of millions of dollars from workers who have been in the shadows.

When you get down to it, only two categories of U.S. residents would not benefit from immigration reform. First being the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Nobody in the general public has any idea how this organization works, or to whom it reports. This police force is secret and autonomous and its agents have the right to make preventative arrests, or to jailing without judicial decision. After immigration reform, all ICE “fighters” will have to retire.

The second category of those who will resist reform includes recipients of social benefits, meaning people who get everything from the government without giving anything in return (except, naturally, their sincere love for the United States).

I have in mind people who receive assistance from Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Section 8, and other bottomless benefits.

It is entirely possible that after comprehensive immigration reform takes place, those receiving benefits will have to spend the money of hard-working taxpayers more responsibly. In any case, they will not be left without free medical care, food stamps or a roof over their heads. Uncle Sam has always been well disposed to those in need.

To conclude, I want to remind our readers that the entire U.S. economy will triumph from immigration reform. It’s possible that undocumented immigrants are our last chance for salvation.