Awhile back, immigration-focused blog The Sanctuary (now at a new URL) sent a detailed questionnaire to John McCain and Barack Obama to ask them about their stances on immigration issues. What kind of a response did they get?

With a little under 100 days left in the campaign, John McCain has yet to tell the American people exactly where he stands on the volatile issue of immigration and immigration reform.

Since securing his party's nomination back in March, McCain has toned down some of the more strident rhetoric that marked his noticeable shift towards the right on the issue during the primary contests, yet he still remains firmly planted on the fence when it comes to discussing the specifics of what his presidency would mean in terms of immigration reform.

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In June, the editors of The Sanctuary, a multi-ethnic community of on-line activists concerned about migrant rights, human-rights, and immigration reform, asked the major presidential candidates to respond to a detailed questionnaire concerning their positions on the specific aspects of immigration policy.

After more than a month, the Obama campaign responded with a detailed response to the lengthy survey ...The McCain campaign has remained mum. ...Well not exactly mum:

"The first phone call I placed was answered cordially. I was told that someone would get back to me. I never heard back from anyone," said The Sanctuary editor Kety Esquivel of CrossLeft.org who has appeared on CNN to discuss the questionnaire. "The second time I called, the person I was speaking with hung up and the third time I called the line was disconnected."

Obviously McCain wants to stonewall as long as possible before being held accountable for his various positions on this issue.

While those of us on the left, or representing the broader Latino community, deserve to know McCain's real stance on immigration prior to Election Day, so too do those on the opposite side of this debate. He can no longer continue to talk out of one side of his mouth to one important constituency while saying, or implying, the opposite position to another.