Americans are pragmatic people. Sooner or later emotions will subside and there will emerge a climate favorable to a comprehensive immigration reform. Solving the problem of millions of people living in the U.S. illegally without any rights cannot be put off indefinitely.

There has been a slight movement forward in the case of the reform. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the very few Republican, who in the previous term supported the immigration reform, has met with Senator Chuck Schumer to explore prospects of passing the bill in the Congress. The same topic was discussed by former rivals for the presidential seat – Barack Obama and John McCain. Maybe the senator from Arizona, who has another six years in the Congress, will change his mind and support the reform. He already supported it once and then changed his mind. Today he is saying he has nothing against the bill provided that the southern border is sealed.

It may suddenly turn out that the initiative to reform may have the backing of two senators from Arizona—a state which through legislation showed its immigrant-unfriendly face. McCain's partner, Senator Jon Kyl, has announced that he would not run for reelection—meaning he need not worry about the voters' opinion anymore. Moreover, a group of moderate senators of both parties, including Lisa Murkowski from Alaska who voted for the DREAM Act in December, have also demonstrated more compassion towards immigration regulation.

These are naturally only the first fittings in the new Congress, which will look at any solution that resembles amnesty for illegal immigrants less favorably than the previous one. Passing the bill through the Senate may be easier than in the House of Representatives, where the majority is in the Republican hands, and is known for its reluctance towards the "undocumented aliens" due to its Tea Party representatives.

However, paradoxically, such a balance of power may inspire to look for pragmatic solutions. There is no doubt that the American immigration system requires radical changes. There are signs of universal frustration with its ineffectiveness galore. On one hand, there are attempts to regulate the problem of immigration on the state level, and on the other hand, the federal administration is finding loopholes around the existing law.

This does not only concern the future of illegal immigrants already living in the United States, who have no plans of leaving (this would be economically unsound anyway), but also green card granting for workers and a more rapid uniting of families.

There is also a problem of over a million young people – already assimilated children of illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. without having a chance to consent to it. Passing the DREAM Act would help this group, and would make the legislation the capitals token of good intentions.

We need to discuss these issues. One cannot escape the topic and the problem cannot be solved through xenophobia or mass deportations—the latter of which has been ineffective.

Working at full speed, immigration authorities are expelling almost 400,000 people a year (spending 5 billion of taxpayers' money) from the United States, and in spite of that the number of illegal immigrants is not shrinking.

Many illegal immigrants or their children have roots here and deporting them to the countries of their origin makes no sense from a humanitarian standpoint as well as an economic one. It also concerns many Poles living in the United States.

The United States is slowly crawling out of the economic recession. Once the economy improves the job market and the attitudes towards immigrants will improve as well. Then we will be able to sit down to talk about repairing the ailing system.