Thread: Leadership lying down

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinio ... 023.column

Guillermo I. Martinez
Columnist




February 8, 2007



There's not much time left for Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill before the onrush of the 2008 presidential election throws a monkey-wrench into any meaningful legislation. Experts say Congress has until the end of summer -- six months -- before agreeing even on the time of day will become difficult.

In theory, this was the year when immigration reform had the best possibility of passage with provisions to allow guest workers and a process that would allow many of those here without papers to legalize their status and eventually become U.S. citizens.

A Republican president favored the bill, as did the new Democratic leaders of Congress. It was clear that last year they had a majority in both chambers of Congress and only the Republican House leadership prevented passage.

But reality has set in and anti-immigrant reform politics appears to be gaining ground throughout the country.

Witness the 50 or so bills proposed in the Virginia House of Delegates in late January. One would ask that parents prove they are legal residents of the United States before their children are allowed in school. Another would grant law-enforcement agents in the state -- even game wardens -- the power to demand identification papers of anyone suspected of being an alien, and to apprehend and turn him or her over to federal authorities.

A third bill would make being undocumented in the state a felony. And another would penalize charitable organizations for providing assistance to people who cannot prove they are in the country legally.

The bills would even forbid private citizens from providing undocumented workers with food and shelter from the cold.

All this comes from a House of Delegates controlled by Republicans. Tim Kane, the Democratic governor of the state, has threatened to veto the legislation.

Still, undocumented workers in Virginia and throughout the country are terrified by new laws and the ongoing raids on aliens with criminal records. Too many of those arrested and deported have no criminal record and are leaving behind American-born children who suddenly are separated from their parents.

Who is responsible for this mess? There is plenty of blame -- or credit, depending on each individual's point of view -- to share.

First and foremost is the hypocrisy of President Bush. He knows better. He has been a strong advocate of a comprehensive immigration reform bill and personally a friend of these poor people who come to this country seeking a better life. He talks a good game, but his government has been quite repressive: While he speaks the right language, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security raid businesses and arrest and deport aliens at a level not seen in many years.

Don't exempt the Democrats in Congress from this duplicity. Leaders in both chambers advocate comprehensive immigration reform. Many voted for it last year and say they are willing to do the same this year.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's program of bills the Democrats would enact in their first 100 hours in office did not have a single word on immigration reform. It is as if they are waiting to see which benefits the party more: enacting immigration reform, as many of its leaders promised, or waiting while anti-immigrant Republicans continue to drive Hispanics out of that party.

Newspapers throughout the country have begun criticizing Democrats for their inaction. "(It) will be mostly up to Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco to resist the temptation to put politics above policy and prioritize resolving what is a pressing problem for her state and for the nation," said a Los Angeles Times editorial last week.

The problem will not go away. Each week that passes, more and more people are arrested and deported; families are split; agricultural businesses do not have sufficient workers to harvest crops; children go without schooling or medical care.

A huge underground "country" of 12 million people lives in constant fear. Meanwhile, politicians of both parties play their fiddles and wait to see who can benefit most from this human tragedy.

Politicians are too busy running for the White House in 2008 or engaged in the bizarre politics of passing a non-binding resolution about the Iraq war. Where is the leadership in this new Congress? Until it steps up, we will all suffer the consequences of a growing crisis in our own country.

First and foremost is the hypocrisy of President Bush. He knows better. He has been a strong advocate of a comprehensive immigration reform bill and personally a friend of these poor people who come to this country seeking a better life.

Americans do not have an obligation, morally or otherwise to give away their prosperity.