Guest Column

Immigration reform needs brains, heart

El Paso times

By Roger Hernandez

March 4, 2005

            One can’t help but marvel at the rhetorical skills of the anti-immigrant crowd.

            Take Project USA, and advocacy group that never misses a chance to label itself “moderate.”  It advocates “ending illegal immigration,” an unexceptionable, moderate position.  Who is for illegal immigration, anway?

            But Project USA also favors “a 10-year time-out while the country reassesses immigration in terms of the long-term consequences of present policy.”  So, a decade-long ban on legal immigration is presented as a moderate position.

            Also awe-inspiring is Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Colorado Republican who is one of the House’s most vocal critics of illegal immigration.

            Last November he was so “thoroughly impressed” by an essay written by a college kid that he inserted it into the Congressional Record.

            Goes the essay, “The economic, social, and political results of illegal immigration – in particular, the unique issues and problems posed by contemporary Hispanic immigration – are detrimental to the United States.”

            And, “Opponents of Mexican illegal immigration believe that even though the United States was founded by immigrants, immigration of the past is not the same as it is today.  First, Mexican immigrants are not here legally.”

            The insightful reader will note that the first quote starts off warning of problems posed by “illegal immigration” and ends up with hand-wringing about “contemporary Hispanic immigration,” never mind the “Illegal” part.  Note, too, that the second quote clearly states that all Mexican immigrants are illegal.

            Using the brain is not enough, however.  What to do about the millions already here?

            The Bush administration has the right idea, the amnesty that dare not speak its name.  Under the Bush plan, undocumented immigrants who have been here for a long time (the exact number of years surely to be negotiated with Congress) will be able to register with the government and be temporarily allowed to stay in the United States, pending a review of their case that might eventually result in a green card and, later, citizenship.

            Although the idea originates in the compassionate heart, it is not at odds with the logic of the brain.  The more illegal immigrants come to light, the easier to find terrorists lurking among them.

            Besides, the only other option is a forcible mass deportation that would kick out of the country people who entered illegally 20 years ago, worked hard, raised an American family and stayed out of trouble.

Contact Roger Hernandez at – rogereh@optonline.net

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