Guest Column
Immigration Reform Must Be Comprehensive
National Immigration Forum
“Leave a couple of pieces off and you will not have solved anything at all.”
That is the warning the Chicago Tribune editorial page offers to those engaged in the immigration reform debate.
The editorial, which appeared on Sunday, October 9th, praises President Bush for continuing efforts to find a solution to fix our broken immigration system. It notes that true reform must address the following key components:
The first is the scope of the problem: What does the U.S. do with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already here, assuming we are not going to put them in freight trains and run them out of the country? Second is the demand by some business sectors--the agricultural industry comes to mind--for low-wage workers. Third is congressional concern with law enforcement. The presence of so many illegal immigrants demonstrates to some that laws are either unenforced or unenforceable. Fourth is fear of a terrorist attack carried out by foreigners on our soil. (Editorial, Chicago Tribune, “Back to immigration reform,” October 9, 2005.)
With these issues facing all Americans, the editorial notes the White House is proactively working on assembling a proposal open to the input of key leaders in Congress.
In another related editorial, the Lufkin Daily News, part of the Cox Newspapers chain in Texas, expresses its disappointment in Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) for proposing legislation that would force local law enforcement to act as immigration agents. It points out that:
If Sen. Hutchison is serious about solving the immigration problem, pushing to pass the president's guest-worker plan is a solid step in that direction. Deputizing local police to enforce immigration laws is hardly the solution. (Editorial, Lufkin Daily News, “Deputizing local cops to enforce laws not the answer,” October 7, 2005.)
Red state editorials and blue state editorials agree, the solution to our broken immigration system does not lie in cops chasing nannies and landscapers, but rather in finding a comprehensive solution. The President’s and Congress can and should come to an agreement and truly fix our broken system sooner rather than later.
Read below for the complete editorials.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE (Editorial): Back to immigration reform
Sunday, October 9, 2005
Even with a policy plate filled to overflowing--the
Iraq war, two catastrophic hurricanes and costly rebuilding efforts, plus
stalled legislative initiatives, such as Social Security reform--the Bush
administration has revived, for at least the third time, its push to
overhaul the American immigration system. Top White House advisers,
including Karl Rove, have been meeting with legislative leaders over this
difficult issue. Give Bush credit for the tenacity and the guts to keep
wrestling with such an intractable problem.
Immigration reform is like a puzzle with five extraordinarily difficult
pieces to fit.
The first is the scope of the problem: What does the U.S. do with the
estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already here, assuming we are not
going to put them in freight trains and run them out of the country? Second
is the demand by some business sectors--the agricultural industry comes to
mind--for low-wage workers. Third is congressional concern with law
enforcement. The presence of so many illegal immigrants demonstrates to some
that laws are either unenforced or unenforceable. Fourth is fear of a
terrorist attack carried out by foreigners on our soil.
The toughest one, though, is the fifth: politics. A top-to-bottom reform of
immigration faces strong headwinds both in Congress, particularly in the
president's own party, and among voters, who have no patience for anything
that smacks of "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.
Comprehensive reform was near the top of the agenda at the beginning of
Bush's first term, but got pushed aside by the terrorist attacks of Sept.
11, 2001. Last year the administration brought up the topic again, but so
loud was the opposition from Republican constituencies that the plans
quickly went back in the drawer.
The bipartisan proposal getting a hearing at the White House now could break
the impasse over reform. In the Senate the package is sponsored by Sens.
John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) Mirror legislation is
sponsored in the House by Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)
and Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.)
It recognizes the obvious--there are millions of immigrants in the U.S. who
are illegal and living beyond any scrutiny or control.
Illegal immigrants would get work visas good for six years, but would have
to prove they have a work history in this country, no criminal record, and
that there is nothing in their background that makes them a security risk.
Applicants would have to pay penalties and fees as high as $2,000 per adult,
and any back taxes owed. After the first six years of work here--and proof
of some English proficiency, additional security and criminal record checks,
medical exam and registration in the armed forces--temporary workers could
apply for permanent residency. At no point during this process would the
formerly illegal immigrants be allowed to "jump the line" ahead of those
immigrants who have waited to enter the country through legal channels.
If this all falls into place--a huge if--businesses would get their workers,
undocumented workers would gain legal status, and the nation would get
better border security
A solution could yet be assembled by the White House and Congress. "The most
positive thing to me is [the White House] seems deeply committed to a
comprehensive approach," Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) told the Los Angeles
Times. Rove also said the administration is open to ideas from Congress.
That is positive indeed, because for it to work, immigration reform needs to
be comprehensive. Leave a couple of pieces off, and you will not have solved
anything at all
LUFKIN (TX) DAILY NEWS (Editorial): Deputizing local cops to enforce laws not the answer
The Lufkin Daily News
Thursday, October 06, 2005
We were disappointed to learn that U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, has proposed legislation that would expand the authority of local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants for immigration violations. As if local cops don't have enough to do; now they're being recruited to ferret out those living here illegally.
Demagogues and cranks somehow think that this country would be better off if every illegal immigrant was tossed out of the country. The hard truth is that our economy would come to a screeching halt if that happened. Construction, landscaping, restaurants, poultry workers and other classes of laborers would be in short supply.
President Bush understands that. Last year he proposed a reasonable guest worker program that would allow those here illegally, if they have jobs or the promise of a job, to pay a one-time fee to get a permit to work and live here for three years. The permit is renewable, as long as the worker has a job and doesn't commit a crime.
Sadly, his proposal, also backed by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, has gone nowhere. Instead, anti-immigrationists have backed vigilante groups such as the Minutemen, who are voluntarily patrolling our borders to turn back people entering illegally. They've introduced legislation to bar citizenship to children born here, even though that's been a American tradition for more than a century.
As columnist Cynthia Tucker pointed out recently, anti-immigrationists rarely attack those who hire illegal immigrants. If they were truly serious about stopping illegal immigration, then they ought to pass laws and start prosecuting folks who hire undocumented workers.
Our failed drug war offers an analogy. If there were no demand, there would be no drug problem. If there were no demand for undocumented workers performing jobs that American citizens are unwilling to do — hotel maids, poultry workers, landscapers, bricklayers — then people wouldn't be streaming across the border to fill those jobs.
If Sen. Hutchison is serious about solving the immigration problem, pushing to pass the president's guest-worker plan is a solid step in that direction. Deputizing local police to enforce immigration laws is hardly the solution.
Note: This editorial also appeared in the Nacogdoches (TX) Daily Sentinel.
- ______________________________________________
- Analysis, Information and article provided by: Douglas G. Rivlin, Director of Communication, National Immigration Forum - http://www.immigrationforum.org/
- Contact at: rivlin@immigrationforum.org
- Policy: Christina DeConcini cdeconcini@immigrationforum.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed by HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com) without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)