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In this June 13, 2013 photo, U.S. Border Patrol agent Jerry Conlin looks out over Tijuana, Mexico, behind, along the old border wall of the U.S. - Mexico border, where it ends at the base of a hill in San Diego.

Image: Gregory Bull/Associated Press

By Colin Daileda2014-11-03 02:55:09 UTC

In July of this year, a Gallup poll reported that one in six Americans thought immigration was the most important problem facing the United States. Yet, in the lead-up to the 2014 midterm elections, candidates have barely brought immigration reform to the debate table.

Instead, the war of rhetoric between Republicans and Democrats has been waged over other longstanding issues, such as job growth and healthcare reform, as well as issues of the moment, including how to contain Ebola and combat Islamic State extremists who are taking over large swaths of Iraq and Syria.

This reality is odd, given the attention surrounding U.S. President Barack Obama's ever-evolving pledges to reform immigration policy, the country's growing Latino population, the constant political back-and-forth over "border security" and the fact that the Senate passed a major immigration overhaul just last year only to watch the House of Representatives decide to overlook the bill. One would think candidates would at least be holding debates about the issue.

But Democrats have put down their immigration swords for the 2014 midterms, deeming the issue a lost cause this year, according to Elaine Kamarck, senior governance studies fellow at the Brookings Institution, a bipartisan think tank. Voters during midterms tend to be older and whiter, groups that are not commonly associated with being gung-ho about immigration reform, Kamarck told Mashable. The Democratic Party also made a clear decision not to raise the issue after primaries because it "would hurt vulnerable Democrats," she said.

Republicans haven't picked up swords of their own, because doing so might invite criticism no matter what stance they took, Ari Ratner, a fellow at the New America Foundation, told Mashable. If they push for reform, the party's more conservative elements may stop supporting them. If they don't, their voters may lash out at the polls.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, right, reacts to an answer by Republican challenger Scott Brown during a live televised debate hosted by New England Cable News, the Concord Monitor and the University of New Hampshire at the Capitol Center for the Arts, on Oct. 21.

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What happened to the debate over immigration reform?