Thread: Migrant reform: 9/11's role debated

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Migrant reform: 9/11's role debated

Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 13, 2006 12:00 AM

President Bush visited Mexico just a month into his fledgling presidency in 2001 and declared immigration reform a top priority.

A binational commission headed by top-level U.S. and Mexican officials feverishly hammered out details of a guest-worker program and the framework for legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants.

And new Mexican President Vicente Fox, months later during a visit to Washington on Sept. 5, publicly prodded Bush to reach an immigration accord by the end of the year.

It looked like the United States was tantalizingly close to reaching a solution to the mushrooming problem of illegal immigration. Then on Sept. 11, the terrorists struck. But what if they hadn't?

Would immigration reforms have stayed on track to stem the flow of illegal immigration into Arizona and the rest of the country?

Yes, said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a leading proponent in Congress of guest-worker legislation. "Without that setback, I think we would have been there by now."

Others aren't so sure.

Some experts say it is doubtful immigration legislation would have already passed. A guest-worker program and attempts to legalize undocumented immigrants would have run into stiff opposition in Congress even without the attacks, they say.

There is no question, however, that the terrorist attacks complicated the debate and delayed action. The federal government's inability to act heightened frustration over illegal immigration, leading state and local governments to pass a series of anti-illegal immigration measures.

Now, Congress, which failed to reach an agreement over immigration this year after heated debate, will have to start over next year. And the longer Congress delays, the bigger the problem gets.


A solid start


By the summer of 2001, illegal immigration already was out of control. Drawn by jobs in the expanding U.S. economy, undocumented immigrants were flooding across the Southwestern border and settling in states where illegal immigration hadn't been a problem before. Record numbers of migrants also were dying in the Arizona desert.

Bush seemed determined to do something about the problem. The former border governor from Texas was well versed in the subject.

He flew to Mexico on his first trip to foreign soil as president. Bush and Fox, inaugurated in December 2000, agreed to launch formal negotiations to address immigration. The talks headed by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, then-Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda and other top-level officials led to an agreement on principles for expanding a guest-worker program to include workers employed in service-sector jobs and on a framework for legalizing some unlawful residents.

Immigration reform took on even more urgency the first week of September when Fox went to Washington for a summit with Bush. During an elaborate welcoming ceremony, Fox surprised Bush by publicly prodding him to come up with an immigration agreement by the end of 2001.

Six days later, 19 foreign hijackers crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. Immigration reform flew off the front burner.

The attacks derailed immigration reform for several reasons, said Deborah Meyers, senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington.

For one, the country's priorities shifted overnight. The Bush administration understandably became consumed with national security. The possibility of a guest-worker program also became a much harder sell, Meyers said. That's because the terrorists had managed to enter the country legally by exploiting the U.S. visa system. Some had lied on their visa applications; others had stayed after their visas had expired or violated other terms.

Suddenly, national security, terrorism and immigration all became intertwined. The country was not in any mood to open the doors to more legal immigration, Meyers said.

Instead, calls by Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo and other conservatives for securing the border with Mexico and cracking down on illegal immigration took on far greater weight after the attacks.

Meyers believes Mexico and the U.S. would have reached an immigration agreement by now if the attacks hadn't happened, leading to more reforms. But Audrey Singer, immigration fellow at the Brookings Institution, isn't so sure. Previous reforms have moved slowly in Congress, she said. It took Congress more than six years of wrangling to pass the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the last overhaul of the immigration system. The legislation granted amnesty to about 3 million undocumented immigrants.

Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, also has doubts. Any guest-worker agreement between Bush and Fox would have faced stiff opposition from members of Bush's own party regardless of the attacks, she said.

It's true the terrorism attacks heightened fears about border security, but public opposition to illegal immigration stems just as much from concerns over law and order and assimilation, she said. Polls indicate most Americans make a distinction between foreign terrorists trying to harm the U.S. and immigrants entering illegally to work.

"It's all a mix, and terrorism plays into it, but it's not terrorism driving it," Jacoby said.

Maybe so, but immigrants such as Alfredo Vega, 38, of Tolleson, still feel under attack.

"The Hispanic people are very, very hard workers. We are not terrorists. We aren't criminals," the Mexico native said at a Labor Day rally.


Reforms bubble up


Although the terrorism attacks took immigration reform off the political agenda, the problem of illegal immigration didn't go away.

Arizona and other border states were affected the most. But states such as Georgia and North Carolina also complained they were being flooded with undocumented immigrants, putting strains on hospitals and schools.

In July 2004, three Arizona Republicans - Flake, Rep. Jim Kolbe and Sen. John McCain - responded to the public's mounting frustration. They introduced a bill calling for broad reforms that included a guest-worker program. More measures followed.

Finally in January 2004, Bush put immigration reform back on the agenda. In a prime-time address, he called for a major overhaul of the nation's immigration system and outlined principles for a guest-worker program that matches willing workers with willing employers.

In December, the House acted. It passed a tough bill that called for more border enforcement but ignored the president's request for a guest-worker program.

In May, the Senate passed a more comprehensive version that calls for a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for the undocumented in addition to enhanced border security. House Republican leaders, however, rejected the Senate version, saying it amounted to amnesty. The issue is now dead until after the midterm elections on Nov. 7.

Whether the new Congress passes reform next year depends on the outcome of the elections in which immigration is expected to play a key role in several races, experts say.

But with the problem getting bigger and the public growing more frustrated, it's hard to imagine Congress won't act.

"I think it has to happen. The question is: When?" Meyers said. "There is almost universal agreement that the current system is broken, that it doesn't work."

As horrible as it was 911 was a wakeup call to millions of Americans who were lulled to sleep by the false sense of financial security of the Clinton era. For many of those who vote based on party lines (especially the bible thumpers holier than thou crowd) it was just their turn to showcase their faith based initiatives . . . .so much for voting "morals and integrity" back in the White House.

Adding insult to injury, if the millions of illegals had not taken to our streets demanding rights, waiving Mexican flags and chanting in Spanish, there would have been another mass amnesty, and the American people would have slept through the next 8 years while those in power sold this country out from under us.