BY TONY BEST

TO ANY BAJAN either living illegally in the United States or hoping to be joined by a close relative, President Barack Obama's words were like sweet music to the ears.

"I think the American people want fairness. And we can create a system in which you have strong border security and an orderly process for people to come in," was the way Obama put it at a news conference attended by the leaders of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper.

"But we're also giving an opportunity for those who are already in the United Sates to be able to achieve a pathway to citizenship so they don't have to live in the shadows," he added.

One such Bajan in the "shadows" came for a vacation a decade ago, but never left. He has kept his nose clean, meaning he has worked hard, didn't break the law and supports his family.

"I do hope his promise becomes a reality," said the father who requested anonymity for obvious reasons.

He is among an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants and the president's statement about a "pathway to citizenship" was the strongest indication that he favours a form of amnesty for people who have either overstayed their allotted time or who entered the country scrumptiously by air or sea.

Strong opposition

Obama's timetable is 2010 for the House of Representatives and the Senate to approve the measure and for him to sign the reforms into law.

But before any Bajan or Caribbean immigrant starts to count the days before the proposed changes become the law of the land, a bit of reality must set in. Any immigration initiative is going to run into strong opposition from conservative Republicans and other critics, a development which Obama anticipated when he warned it would bring "the demagogues out there who try to suggest that any form of a pathway to legalisation for those who are already in the United States is unacceptable".

However, his statement is sure to find support among a large pro-immigrant constituency in and out of Washington, especially Democrats in the House and Senate with large Caribbean and other immigrant voters in their constituencies. They have been calling for years for a "humane" and "workable approach to the illegal immigration problem. United States Congressmen Charles Rangel, chairman of the powerful Ways And Means Committee, Ed Towns, Gregory Meeks, Donald Payne as well as Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, have all called for comprehensive reform. So too have United States Senators Chuck Schumer and Edward Kennedy. All of these elected officials have Caribbean voters in their constituencies.

Just last week Congresswoman Clarke, a woman of Jamaican parents, told hundreds of guests at a gala to celebrate the 47th anniversary of Jamaica's Independence, that Caribbean immigrants should join forces with Hispanics to lobby aggressively for a comprehensive immigration reform package.

In favour

New York's Governor David Paterson, the grandson of a Grenadian and Jamaican, has also come out strongly for such a plan, calling it a desirable and humane approach to the issue. At different times too the New York Immigration Coalition, State Senator John Sampson, Chairman of the Senate's Democratic Conference and Assemblyman Nick Perry, along with State Senator Kevin Parker, and Dr Kendal Stewart, chairman of the New York City Council's Immigration Committee, Council members Mathieu Eugene, a Haitian, and Bill de Blasio, an American who is married to a Barbadian, have all joined the chorus demanding comprehensive reform.

A few days ago William "Bill" Thompson, the city's comptroller and the Democratic party's candidate in the November mayoral race in the city, told the WEEKEND NATION that immigration reform was essential. His grandparents came from St Kitts-Nevis.

The president has acknowledged that immigration would simply be joining an already crowded agenda. "I've got a lot on my plate," he said, but he has started to overhaul the country's immigration detention system, which has been under vigorous attacks from civil libertarians, human rights advocates and families.

With as many as 400 000 immigrants - more than the combined populations of Barbados and St Kitts-Nevis - now being held in centres pending the outcome of a judicial review of their status, the overhaul of the detention policy is also welcome news.

It has come more than two years after a Bajan grandmother died in a Virginia detention centre under circumstances that have never been fully explained.

But what is it that the sages say: better late than never.