WASHINGTON — For most of this year, immigration reform looked like an issue whose time had finally come, with the unusual confluence of a Republican president, a Democratic Congress and the public all demanding a solution.
But the spectacular collapse of the Senate's bipartisan immigration legislation last week demonstrated that the seemingly auspicious political environment was no match for an issue that was just too hot to handle.
The bill's demise relegates illegal immigration to a backlog of national problems -- such as Social Security's impending insolvency and the federal budget deficit -- that the president and Congress have not been able to solve.
"It smells an awful lot like Social Security," said former Rep. Leon E. Panetta, a California Democrat who had a big hand in the last overhaul of immigration law, in 1986. "People are hesitant to touch a solution, because it is going to aggravate some very powerful constituencies who are going to come after them."
The obstacles to reaching a consensus on immigration speak volumes about the nation's politics and culture -- and how much they have changed in the two decades since Congress last dealt with the problem.
Since President Reagan signed the landmark legislation, which legalized some 3 million undocumented immigrants, the media environment has been transformed by talk radio and a 24/7 cable news cycle that fuels emotions on the political extremes. An influx of illegal immigrants has altered the population across the nation, not just in a handful of border states. And the political system has become so polarized that lawmakers' compromise-building skills seem to have atrophied.
In the wake of those changes, the Senate battle over immigration showed how hard it now is for Congress and the president to confront emotional issues when an incensed minority tries to derail the efforts.
Polls have shown that most Americans favor allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens if they learn English, pay fines and meet other requirements. But the opinions expressed on senatorial phones and in e-mails were overwhelmingly those of the politically agitated opposition.
Proponents of legalization contend the problem of illegal immigrants will only get harder to solve as the number grows -- and as public anger intensifies.
"The divisions get deeper and wider with the passage of time," said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), a presidential candidate.
