Thread: Enforcement not all it takes to resolve immigration issue

Excerpted from a recent editorial:


http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... 312/-1/all

For those who see the nation's immigration and security issues as nothing more than an enforcement problem, recent events demonstrate just how difficult solving those problems will be.

Anyone seeking a passport this summer knows full well what the pitfalls are. The U.S. State Department has been forced to postpone a requirement that everyone arriving in the U.S. by plane - including Americans returning from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean - possess a passport because of a wave of passport applications that has overwhelmed State's staff. Hundreds of department employees have been reassigned to passport duty, and officials have asked Congress to allow them to rehire retired workers.


The passport crisis will end one day, though another requirement that those re-entering the country by land to have passports is likely to set off another rush.

The Department of Homeland Security plan to construct a 370-mile-long fence, 16 feet high, between the U.S. and Mexico may never be finished, if a 14-mile stretch at San Diego is any indication.

That fence was begun in 1996 and still has five miles to go. As is true for just about every project undertaken these days - power plants, power lines, you name it - building a fence runs into lots of opposition and regulations. In Texas, a proposed fence would cut off access to the Rio Grande River, damage the environment and keep shoppers and tourists from crossing the border, as they've done for years. That would be a severe blow to the economy in many border towns.

In Arizona, the fence would pass through sensitive land in two wildlife refuges and miles of private property, the owners of which are not keen on having the steel fence on their property.

Meanwhile, farmers report that they don't have enough workers to get the crops in this year. The shortage eventually will hit consumers, already faced with higher prices that can be attributed to the rising cost of fuel and the ethanol boom, in the pocketbook.

All of these problems seemingly can be solved ... if Congress and the president really want them solved. But so far they've accomplished little, and as the 2008 election gets closer, it's even less likely that a satisfactory solution will be found.

But, then, if they're looking for simple solutions, there simply are none.

The Louisville

Courier Journal

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http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/193707

Opinion
Congress must do much more to fix immigration
Our view: Kyl's amendment is one step toward a comprehensive solution of border problems.
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.28.2007
advertisementThe Senate's passage Thursday of the Border Security First Act must be the first step in a series of acts that eventually reform the nation's immigration system comprehensively.
The legislation, an amendment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security appropriations package, would allocate $3 billion to fund more Border Patrol officers, fencing, unmanned aerial vehicles and other mechanisms that would help plug the porous U.S.-Mexico border. The measure is similar to the security-only portion of the comprehensive immigration-reform package that died earlier this summer.
Thursday evening, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who championed the failed comprehensive plan and the new security act, got the Senate to add $60 million to the amendment for improvements to the Basic Pilot Program, the federal database of those able to work in the country legally.
Kyl said Thursday that he has not given up on the comprehensive approach, but it will be hard to accomplish this session.
Thus, he said, he "took advantage of an opportunity on the Homeland Security appropriation bill to send a strong message that we're serious about enforcement."
Kyl said the public is reluctant to accept reform until there is action on enforcement.
Without question, security must be part of immigration reform. The Star's long-held position is that immigration reform must be comprehensive and include security, as well as a guest-worker program, workplace controls and an equitable system for dealing with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants working in our country and contributing to its economy.
Kyl told us he hopes enforcement funding will encourage people to look toward other areas of reform. We hope he's right and that the security boost placates the enforcement-only factions and that other aspects of immigration reform will be able to move forward.
The $60 million boost for the Basic Pilot Program should help Arizona employers smacked by a draconian state law that requires verification of new employees' legal status using the iffy system. Under the ill-conceived employer-sanctions law, a business' license could be suspended and the workplace shut down — leaving all employees out of work — if the business knowingly hires an undocumented worker.
The law was a knee-jerk response by a frustrated Arizona Legislature to Congress' inaction in solving the illegal-immigration problem. The law penalizes businesses and gives them responsibility for immigration enforcement without giving them adequate tools to meet the task.
The unintended consequences of the law may be that U.S. citizens and folks legitimately in the country are denied employment because of an inaccurate database. This is a civil rights lawsuit against the state waiting to happen. The law goes into effect Jan. 1.
If the security amendment gets congressional approval and the president's signature, it must be a beginning to solutions on illegal immigration. It will not end the problem.

Kyl told us he hopes enforcement funding will encourage people to look toward other areas of reform. We hope he's right and that the security boost placates the enforcement-only factions and that other aspects of immigration reform will be able to move forward.

TRANSLATION: Now that we've made a start in placating those radical patriots that scream about border security, we can start working on amnesty again.

Under the ill-conceived employer-sanctions law, a business' license could be suspended and the workplace shut down — leaving all employees out of work — if the business knowingly hires an undocumented worker.

...frankly, I see no problem with this. Time for business to pay the piper. Enforce the law literally and as written as soon as the business comuntity sees fellow lawbreakers fined, imprisoned and shut down...you can bet they'll get serious about jettisoning illegals from their work force.

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, IT'S ABOUT NORTH AMERICAN UNION, NOT IMMIGRATION!! WE DO NOT NEED ANY MORE IMMIGRATION LAWS OR GUEST WORKER PROGRAMS!

ANY NEW LAWS CONCERNING IMMIGRATION ARE JUST A STEP TO GET MORE MEXICANS IN HERE TO SUPPORT NAU. WAKE THE HELL UP!

SEAL THE BORDER, ENFORCE THE CURRENT LAWS, DEPORT ALL SUBVERSIVE ILLEGALS NOW!