To almost everyone's relief, immigration is no longer the urgent issue that it was last year and in 2006. Unless they are in front of Hispanic crowds, neither Barack Obama nor John McCain says much about the subject. Polls show that people care much more about the economy and national security.rnBut don't be fooled. Immigration has not disappeared as a political issue. It is merely hiding in the swamp. Apart from moral values such as abortion, no topic cuts so deeply into Americans' sense of who they are as a people. And no subject is more difficult or dangerous for politicians to handle. Immigration is to modern politics what violent crime was in the 1980s: an apparently marginal issue that can swiftly overwhelm a campaign.
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