Thread: GA Editorial: Expect only rhetoric on immigration

Winders: Expect only rhetoric on immigration


By Jason Winders | Executive editor | Story

updated at 6:15 PM on Saturday, November 3, 2007


Pardon me if I've been a bit preoccupied. War. Drought. Georgia beating Florida. We're dealing with some serious End Times stuff here; so forgive me if I haven't had time to panic over who works the late shift at the Comfort Inn.

But that's the nice thing about this nation's immigration debate: You can turn your attention from it for a few months only to return and discover that you've missed absolutely nothing. Forget hanging a "Mission Accomplished" banner across this issue; most of our folks in D.C. couldn't justify claiming "Mission Attempted."

And the strain on the rest of us is starting to show.

Simply stated, as a country, we have no clue what to do with 12 million or so illegal immigrants. Or their children. Or their children's children. Or their health care, education and social service needs.

On top of that, we sport a broken legal immigration system that couldn't handle processing these folks even if we could find them. As soon as immigration slid under Homeland Security after 9/11, the wheels came off an already broken car.

For all, our immigration system is a wasteland of bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake.

But that isn't news.

We've been facing this same issue for years, and nothing will change until the feds draft a workable immigration policy. We know that.

But it seems our folks inside the Beltway have convinced themselves it's not so bad out there. Or worse, they know it's a nightmare and still turn their backs on us.

Seems this issue has a way of maximizing cowardice. Congress abdicated its responsibility again this summer by killing a comprehensive immigration-reform compromise with no Plan B on the horizon. None. And while they duck a solution, the strain on state and local infrastructures increases daily.

As of today, this national-level paralysis has lead to 43 states enacting 182 immigration-related laws this year alone. Add to that more than two dozen cities and counties introducing their own measures and you create a confusing patchwork of laws playing out in our courts and on our streets.

And it's all because our national leaders lack the courage to stand up to interest groups - on both sides of this issue - and hammer out a reasonable deal.

Not one year ago, I said there was no sinister malice as to why the system hasn't been fixed. I thought it was the fact that nobody knew how to fix it balancing politics and reality - polar opposites in this debate. But I now see it for what it is: A matter of raw contempt, malice and fear on the part of our leaders.

Maybe I lost faith after watching U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson tuck tail in the face of crazed fringers and back away from their efforts to negotiate a compromise on reform this summer. Statesmanship lost to political survival. Sad.

Georgia's illegal immigrant population is exploding. Since 2000, we've added nearly 45,000 illegal immigrants per year. Homeland Security puts our illegal population at 490,000. That would be the state's second-biggest city.

So Saxby, Johnny and Co. know the harm being done by refusing to acknowledge these people, but they have made their choice: Keep their seats while we lose our minds. Unacceptable.

Today, all this is playing out under the intense spotlight of a presidential campaign. That's not helping matters much.

As 2008 dawns, I promise you immigration will become the new black. Or, more precisely, immigration will be the new gay. For it was keeping boys who kiss boys from marrying those boys they may kiss that managed to squeeze this administration back into office in 2004. Not Iraq. Not the economy. Not mass corruption.

And certainly not immigration.

Gay marriage provided the rally point for true-believers to cast a ballot for the GOP and then, once used to secure a bid for office, the Republicans went back to ignoring the issue. Same goes for immigration, only both parties will play the game.

We know immigration will be a top-tier issue come next presidential election. It will boast hefty rhetoric on both sides. We'll see a see-saw struggle between compassion and an iron fist. And that's just the Clinton campaign.

Seriously, get ready for a year filled with insane top-this talk; a debate not based on reality but on who can build the highest wall and round up the most aliens and ship them back home.

And then, when the lights of the election cycle shut down for two more years, expect nothing to happen. Because that's been the plan all along and we keep letting them get away with it.
Mission accomplished. • Jason Winders is executive editor of the Athens Banner-Herald. He can be contacted at jason.winders@onlineathens.com.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 110407

http://www.onlineathens.com/cgi-bin/printme2005.pl

This guy almost sounds like he wan't "comprehensive reform".