A sense of optimism about the coming year is starting to settle in among advocates for immigrants who had begun to weary after years of unsuccessfully seeking reform of immigration laws and policies.

Several nominations and appointments by President-elect Barack Obama are being taken as one reason for some hope. Signals also are coming from Congress that leaders may be prepared to tackle immigration sooner rather than later in the 111th Congress.

And resounding support for Obama among Latino, Asian and immigrant voters and a new poll conducted for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are more indicators that the hostility that helped defeat immigration reform several times recently may no longer hold the same sway in Washington.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Obama's nominee to head Homeland Security, which includes immigration-related agencies, is well-respected by those who support comprehensive immigration reform.

As governor, she opposed the construction of a wall along the Mexican border and vetoed legislation that would have required local police to enforce federal immigration policies, saying it would make immigrants reluctant to report crimes to the police. She also brought in the National Guard to help with enforcement along the border, aggressively prosecuted smugglers and worked for comprehensive reform.

Obama's appointee to be director of intergovernmental affairs at the White House, Cecilia Munoz, comes from a career of working to improve the situation of immigrants. She currently is vice president of research, advocacy and legislation at the National Council of La Raza. Earlier in her career, she headed a legalization outreach program run by Catholic Charities in Chicago.

Munoz has long been a key player in forming the coalitions seeking changes in immigration law that would reunite families, pull immigrants without legal papers out of the shadows and simplify the process for immigration in a way that addresses labor shortages and human needs.

Other Obama appointments, including Georgetown Law Center Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff to Obama's immigration transition team, are adding to the immigration advocacy community's hopeful attitude.

Although nobody expects immigration to take precedence over the economy in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has been quoted as saying he would push to move a comprehensive immigration bill through the Senate in 2009.

Exit polls surely will influence Reid and his fellow congressional leaders in that direction. Polls showed Latinos accounted for a record 9 percent of all voters this election, with 67 percent of them backing Obama. In several states, high turnout among Latino voters was credited with pushing the winning margin of votes into Obama's column. Although the economy was the top concern for Latinos as it was for the majority of all voters, 89 percent of Latinos told pollsters that immigration was important to them.

At a Nov. 19 press conference for the release of a report on border policy by the Border Network for Human Rights, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said "the sooner the better" is his recommendation for Congress to tackle border issues. He described the border wall as "symbolism without a purpose," and said it's time for Congress to deliberate and debate immigration.

"We haven't had that debate in Congress and it's high time," Grijalva said. "We're going to face other serious issues: war and peace, the economy, health care and the environment. But let us not put immigration so far on the back burner that we forget about it. We can do more than one thing at a time."

Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the USCCB, said the bishops' conference is encouraging the new administration to quickly re-evaluate some of the policies of the Bush administration. That includes the construction of the wall along the border, ramped-up immigration raids on employers, the prosecution of immigrants picked up in raids under felony identity theft laws, and the policy of pushing local law enforcement agencies to serve as agents of federal immigration laws.

"There are 20 other issues, too," that the administration could address without the involvement of Congress, Appleby said. He ticked off some examples: policies on matching Social Security numbers for employment, temporary protected status for Haitians and detention practices.

He said he's encouraged by Obama's choice of Napolitano and Munoz. "Cecilia will be a great advocate for immigrants," he said. And he's also feeling bolstered by the results of a recent survey of Catholics' attitudes on immigration.

In a congratulatory letter to President-elect Barrack Obama sent the week after the election, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles urged the incoming president to develop a plan "to deal with the imbalance in our economy where so many job sectors rely upon foreign workers, but there is no mechanism to level that imbalance in a legal and orderly manner."

"This is the most opportune time to address this issue since our economy is not expanding now and the numbers of people coming to our country without documents has diminished," the cardinal wrote. "This is the time to put in place a plan that covers all of our needs: safe and secure borders, a just way to permit people living here for many years to regularize their legal status, a mechanism to allow temporary foreign workers to enter as our economy warrants, and a way to keep families intact through family reunification."

A Zogby poll of Catholics commissioned for the USCCB found wide support for the main elements of comprehensive immigration reform, such as a system for legalizing the status of people in the U.S. illegally if they learn English and pay a fine. The poll of 1,000 Catholics nationwide conducted in October found between 60 percent and 64 percent oppose building a wall along the border. The results varied somewhat depending on the phrasing of the question.

In response to a question about whether they agree that it is morally acceptable for people to enter the country illegally to find work to support their families, a slight majority said no, with 52 percent disagreeing and 46 percent agreeing.

Yet 75 percent of the Catholics surveyed said they agree the church has a moral obligation to help meet the humanitarian needs of immigrants regardless of their legal status.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.