WHEN MINUTEMEN ARE HAPPY…you know you ought to be dispirited, at the very least. And while the immigration bill required an onerous, anti-family “touch back” and agreed to construct an Orwellian “security fence” between the United States and Mexico, I can’t help but feel disappointed today for the 12 million undocumented Americans who have just learned they’re not going to get adequate medical care, college financial aid for their kids, or the right to report domestic violence without fear of deportation after all. I have little faith that Congress will return to immigration during Bush‘s term. And even less faith that a Democrat will risk political capital on such a divisive issue in 2009.

–Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.