Major Surgery for our Current Immigration Policy

Friday, May 20: "...this latest and most comprehensive package has already started earning support from Republicans and Democrats, business groups and unions, and several key Hispanic organizations. President Bush, who has been promising action on immigration for years, should quickly join them, " - New York Times.

The arrival last week of a sweeping, bipartisan immigration proposal in Congress brought forth the usual conflict between those who want a solution and those who just want an emotional issue to howl about. But this latest and most comprehensive package has already started earning support from Republicans and Democrats, business groups and unions, and several key Hispanic organizations. President Bush, who has been promising action on immigration for years, should quickly join them.

The long-awaited legislation comes from Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy and Representatives Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe, both Republicans from Arizona, and Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat from Illinois. Senator McCain said as he introduced the bill that it embraced the goals set down by Mr. Bush: making the borders more secure, filling jobs no American will take and finding a route to legality for workers who are already here illegally.

It is worth noting that three of the prime movers on this effort are from Arizona, a border state. They know firsthand about the hundreds who die each year trying to cross the desert from Mexico and about the many locals who are frantic about being overrun in this tragic human stampede.

Given the political tides, Senator McCain and others have focused on how their package could improve security at the borders. More than a million undocumented people are caught trying to cross into the country each year. Many make it: an estimated 11 million people are in the country illegally.

The goal is to get as many of these workers as possible to come out of their shadowy world. If that happened as planned, the strained government agencies that now deal with border issues could focus on immigrants with more sinister motives than the need for better wages.

At the center of this bill is a new temporary visa program that would allow foreign workers to fill jobs that no Americans will take. Undocumented immigrants already in the country would be eligible for these visas, which could last up to six years. To apply for permanent status, these workers would have to clear a number of hurdles, including security checks and requirements to pay back taxes and fines of $2,000 or more, and be proficient in English. Even then, they would go to the back of the immigration line. That process should be difficult enough to keep this from being an amnesty program, but not be so daunting that nobody would bother to try.

As Congressman Kolbe put it last week, this legislation "doesn't try to solve the hemorrhaging immigration problem with simply a Band-Aid. This is major surgery." The patient is definitely ready.