The timing of the rally was an unfortunate coincidence.

But rally organizers decided to gamble on the march anyway, to remind Obama of his repeated promises to introduce an immigration bill in Congress early this year.

Under pressure by labor unions that blame illegal immigrants for the loss of US jobs, the Obama administration last year deported 380,000 undocumented workers, 60 percent more than during the Bush presidency.

In the partisan rancor of the healthcare battle, Obama used up whatever political capital he was holding for another knockdown, drag-out contest of wills over immigration reform, which the Republicans have continually depicted as an "amnesty" bill.

It now appears impossible for Obama to push an immigration bill through Congress this year, guaranteeing that undocumented workers will continue to live in fear of a knock on the door in the middle of the night.

The only glimmer of hope was the "framework" for immigration reform outlined by New York Senator Charles Schumer, head of the Senate's Immigration Subcommittee, and southern Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

HTheir plan to mend America's broken borders emphasizes beefed-up border patrols and high-tech ID cards to verify that US employers are hiring fully legal workers.

But the framework is also an acknowledgment that legal immigration is essential to ensuring America's future economic prosperity.

Their plan would award green cards to immigrants who receive a PhD or master's degree in science, technology, engineering or math from a US university.

"It makes no sense to educate the world's future inventors and entrepreneurs and then force them to leave when they are able to contribute to our economy," they said, a tacit recognition that immigrant scholars from China and elsewhere are the backbone of most US graduate schools.

This shift in attitude could help China's haigui (sea turtles), Chinese professionals who are educated and trained overseas and then bring their technical know-how back to China.

But the US brain drain could complicate the immigration debate even further, making the outcome of Obama's next battle with Congress anybody's guess.

The author is a copy editor with the Global Times. barrycunningham@glbaltimes.com.cn