The Obama Adimn has decide to tackle yet another controversial issue in its first 100 days, but is it a wise move?  He has the political capital and he already has much on his plate, but this move could be a bit premature.

Obama plans to speak publicly about the issue in May, administration officials said, and over the summer he will convene working groups, including lawmakers from both parties and a range of immigration groups, to begin discussing possible legislation for as early as this fall.

But with the economy seriously ailing, advocates on different sides of the debate said that immigration could become a polarizing issue for Mr. Obama in a year when he has many other major battles to fight.

Opponents, mainly Republicans, say they will seek to mobilize popular outrage against any effort to legalize unauthorized immigrant workers while so many Americans are out of jobs.

Administration officials said that Mr. Obama’s plan would not add new workers to the American work force, but that it would recognize millions of illegal immigrants who have already been working here. Despite the deep recession, there is no evidence of any wholesale exodus of illegal immigrant workers, independent studies of census data show.

The Obama administration favors legislation that would bring illegal immigrants into the legal system by recognizing that they violated the law, and imposing fines and other penalties to fit the offense. The legislation would seek to prevent future illegal immigration by strengthening border enforcement and cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, while creating a national system for verifying the status of new employees.

In my opinion, this subject should be approached very carefully, this could become a hot button issue, the one that the Repubs have been waiting for.  I realize that the Hispanic community feels betrayed by the President for the lack of Latinos in his cabinet and he wants to try and settle them down before the next election cycle.  But this could be a shot in the foot.  The GOP is  RUDDERLESS….do not help them find their way.