It’s worth noting that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer will head the Senate Judiciary panel’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security, now that Sen. Ted Kennedy is focusing on health care policy.

Schumer’s record on the issue is very much in line with Kennedy’s, with his support of the two (failed) reform proposals in the Senate. Numbers USA, which lobbies for reduced immigration, gives him an “F” on recent votes and a “D-” for his career. (Pro-immigrant positions earn the group’s red graphics showing a man jumping over a fence, and the nation looking like it’s about to explode.)

Ali Noorani, executive director of the advocacy group National Immigration Forum, said Schumer’s top priorities should be to press anew to overhaul the immigration laws, and to work with Homeland Security and the Justice Department in their review of enforcement policies.

If anyone can get immigration reform unstuck, it may just be a person with a commitment as strong as Senator Schumer’s.

Until we see definitive movement forward on immigration, the politics of every other agenda item that the President or Congress tries to move will get mired in immigration squabbling. Although far weaker now after several election seasons of losing, the opponents of immigration reform are still willing to make everything from the stimulus package, to the budget, to health care devolve into a debate about immigration.

Politically it’s going to be tough. It’s probably tougher now than it was, partly because of the fact that the economy has gotten worse. So what I’ve got to do is I’ve got to focus on the economy, I’ve got to focus on housing, and make sure that people feel a little bit more secure; at the same time, get the various immigrant rights groups together and have them start providing some advice in terms of what strategies we’re going to pursue in Congress.