Thread: Could Obama beat odds by repairing immigration system?

Navarrette: Could Obama beat odds by repairing immigration system?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009

President Obama is either daring or foolhardy — or maybe a little of both.


Case in point: Although he has been criticized, even by supporters, for overloading his agenda, Obama recently signaled that, before the end of his first year in office, he'll take up no less challenging a cause than immigration reform.


That's what the president recently told the 24 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in an hour-long private meeting. It is significant that, according to statements issued by caucus members, immigration was the only item on the agenda. Participants said that Obama mentioned his planned trip to Mexico City next month, where he is scheduled to meet with President Felipe Calder?n to discuss how the neighboring countries can work together to achieve comprehensive immigration reform.


Obama echoed that theme before a crowd of about 1,300 people who recently gathered for a town hall session in Southern California. When asked about immigration, the president said the United States has to beef up its border enforcement but also give undocumented immigrants a path to earned legalization. Obama argued that legalizing such immigrants helps U.S. workers by eliminating a two-tiered system where employers can exploit those without papers and in the process lower wages for everyone.


I'm glad to hear that Obama is planning to address the immigration issue sooner rather than later. I'm just a little surprised. Immigration isn't an issue that Obama has talked much about since the election. Just a few months ago, it looked to many observers as though he would probably put off immigration reform until 2011, or maybe until a second term.


Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Obama has been trying to fix everything else — the economy, education, health care. Why not also try to do something that some political observers say is next to impossible? Fix the immigration system.


Congress has struck out on that before. From 2005 to 2008, it took several swings at the immigration issue — with no luck. Not that we didn't learn a lot in the process about why Congress can't seem to solve this problem.


We learned that business interests would use their clout to force lawmakers to import guest workers for jobs that Americans wouldn't do but that organized labor would consider that concept a deal-killer. We learned that immigrant advocacy groups wanted an unconditional path to legalization for the undocumented but that law and order conservatives would object to what they call amnesty.


Although we need a new round of tougher and easier-to-enforce employer sanctions, it seems only right that they be accompanied by a tamper-proof identification card so employers know who is legally eligible to work. Conservatives fought the sanctions while liberals fought the ID card. In the end, we were back at square one.


It didn't help that congressional leaders on both sides of the issue asked for too much and poisoned the debate with hyperbolic rhetoric. Some conservatives flirted with nativism and wound up trying to keep out legal and illegal immigrants. Some liberals couldn't seem to get behind necessary and legally permissible enforcement measures, which advanced the perception that they favored an open border.


As evidence of the latter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi still won't condone the raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has been telling groups — most recently, the U.S.-Mexico Border Issues Conference — that these operations are "not the American way" because they sometimes separate families.


Correction: Enforcing the law is the American way. Pelosi struck a more inspiring note when she told attendees: "Every person who comes here, and certainly for the Hispanic community, when they come here, they make America more American."


If Americans are really going to take another stab at immigration reform, we need more talk like that. We also need more concessions from both sides and leaders who will settle for half a loaf rather than go for it all and wind up fighting for crumbs


Obama deserves credit for raising the immigration issue. But he doesn't seem the type of leader to compromise on matters he considers important. That's too bad because the key to this debate is compromise.


ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com


http://www.statesman.com/opinion/conten ... _edit.html

Correction: Enforcing the law is the American way. Pelosi struck a more inspiring note when she told attendees: "Every person who comes here, and certainly for the Hispanic community, when they come here, they make America more American."

If Americans are really going to take another stab at immigration reform, we need more talk like that. We also need more concessions from both sides and leaders who will settle for half a loaf rather than go for it all and wind up fighting for crumbs

Correction: Every person who comes here LEGALLY,...makes America more American.

That's my concession, Rubie.

When I saw it was Navarette, I didn't even read it, the guy is an anti-American bigot.

I wonder how many other newspaper readers have the same reaction? How many have canceled their subscriptions because of him, helping to bankrupt the newspaper industry?