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Tuesday, May 24, 2005

By ROGER HERNANDEZ



Finally, sanity in the debate about illegal immigration.

Last week Sens. John McCain and Edward Kennedy introduced a comprehensive immigration-reform bill that recognizes realities all around.

The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (the similarly bipartisan House version is being sponsored by Illinois Democrat Luis V. Gutiérrez along with Arizona Republicans Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe) recognizes that the 11 million illegal immigrants who live in the United States are not about to go away, that businesses need them to do jobs Americans will not do, that they cannot be deported en masse for reasons that have to do with morality as well as logistics.

It also recognizes - almost - that in a post-Sept. 11 world, the national security of the United States requires that law enforcement regulate which foreigners come in and keep track of foreigners already here - the latter of which is obviously impossible if 11 million people live in the shadows.

The basics:

More visas for foreigners who want jobs Americans do not take. Employers would advertise jobs for two weeks; if no Americans took them up, the jobs would go into a database available at U.S. consulates. Applicants there would pay a $500 processing fee, undergo a background check and, if qualified, receive a tamper-proof biometric visa. Up to 400,000 such visas may be granted each year. The figure is based on an estimate of the illegal labor market - if it is correct, it would mean an opportunity for that many people to come through legal channels rather than sneak in. Vetted by the background check, to boot.

Amnesty. Yep, that. It's become such a buzzword that you won't hear too many supporters of the bill admit it offers amnesty. But it does. People who are in the United States illegally would pay back taxes plus $2,000 (call it a "fee" or call it a "fine," whatever) to undergo a background check and be permitted to stay and work for six years. At the end of that term, they would either have to return to their country of origin or apply for permanent residence. To become legal residents, illegal immigrants would have to have a job and show they are learning English. In short, people who are here illegally will get to be here legally. Linguistic honesty compels me to call that what it is: amnesty. But - and here I brace for the barrage of e-mails - so what.

For one thing, it is logistically impossible to root out and expel 11 million individuals. Who is going to do it, and at what cost to security, national and otherwise? Local cops who should be working on real crimes in the neighborhood? Federal officials who should be preventing the next terrorist attacks? Then there is the moral dimension: What kind of nation drags kicking and screaming out of their homes children who only know life in America? A woman who has lived here for a decade, working hard and staying out of trouble? The reality is that mass deportations are not going to happen. This legislation offers an alternative that is compassionate to hardworking immigrants and at the same time makes it more difficult for terrorists to hide.

Security at the border. McCain-Kennedy toughens up surveillance at the border with its call for unmanned airplanes and tighter coordination among U.S. agencies as well as Mexican and Canadian law enforcement.

It does not, however, directly fund more boots on the ground - more border patrolmen. This is a mistake. I'm all for the carrots, but this is one stick that is missing. Increasing the number of visas will surely cut back illegal immigration in the future, and the amnesty provision will make it easier to distinguish hardworking illegal immigrant from terrorists hard at work.

But there will still be those who won't want to bother with the system, even if it's much more immigrant-friendly. It's important for there to be more border patrolmen to stop them from coming in. And that is not just good immigration policy. It's also good national-security policy.

Roger Hernandez is a syndicated columnist and writer-in-residence at New Jersey Institute |of Technology. Reach him |at rogereh@optonline.net