Thread: Tucson Citizen:Why we need immigration reform

Published: 05.02.2008
Our Opinion: Why we need immigration reform
Piecemeal fixes fail to address problems caused by feds' failure
Tucson Citizen
letters@tucsoncitizen.com

As comprehensive immigration reform remains out of reach nationally, federal and state authorities are grasping at anything, hoping to make a difference.
Yet those efforts have fallen short - sometimes costing money for unsatisfactory results, sometimes producing new and unanticipated problems.
The logical answer is, of course, a guest worker program that would allow willing workers to be identified, checked for a criminal background, then safely enter the United States to take available jobs that otherwise would go unfilled.
But until and unless that happens, we are left to chip away at the margins. Some examples:
Fixes to employer sanctions
Last year, the Legislature signed a bill touted as one of the toughest in the nation against employers who hired illegal immigrants.
Business licenses could be suspended and revoked for employers who knowingly hired a person in the country illegally.
Unfortunately, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed the flawed bill into law, concerned that a more onerous initiative would be approved by voters and could never be changed.
Nonetheless, work on two initiatives continues - one that would toughen laws, one that would be more acceptable to businesses. And this week, the Legislature fixed some of the problems with the law.
The changes make it clear the penalties apply only to workers hired after the first of this year. However, the law still allows anonymous complaints - a major problem that allows disgruntled employees and competitors to launch investigations.
Illegal immigrant apprehensions are down, but that likely is due more to the soft economy and less demand for workers than to the sanctions law.
This is an area that should be regulated by the federal government as part of a comprehensive law instead of allowing a hodgepodge of state laws.
Local police involvement
The Legislature also tried a different tack to go after illegal immigrants, but that failed.
A bill required city and county police agencies to have programs to confront federal immigration violations.
Napolitano rightly vetoed the bill. Requiring local police to also be involved in immigration enforcement would have compromised their ability to win the cooperation of witnesses and victims of crimes who may be in the country illegally.
One portion of the bill would have allowed federal officers to be deputized to work with local authorities - something Napolitano said already was permitted. And this week, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik deputized two Border Patrol agents.
The agents will not enforce local laws, but will work with deputies on the border-crimes unit.
A guest worker program would drastically cut the number of people entering the country illegally and cut border-related crimes.
A fake fence, a real failure
The virtual fence has been a flop and the dollars it wasted have been real.
Two months ago, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff officially accepted the 28-mile, $20 million "fence" - a network of towers, radar, cameras and computer software.
Last week, Chertoff declared the fence a failure. It didn't work and couldn't be fixed. So $20 million is down the drain. The virtual fence will be rebuilt.
Real walls and fences being built along the border are even more expensive and have run into opposition from landowners and environmentalists.
In all these cases, comprehensive immigration reform would be more effective by cutting the number of illegal border crossers, allowing authorities to focus on the criminals and possibly terrorists.
We would hope Congress would look and learn.
FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson Citizen
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/opinion/84181.php

A bill required city and county police agencies to have programs to confront federal immigration violations.
Napolitano rightly vetoed the bill. Requiring local police to also be involved in immigration enforcement would have compromised their ability to win the cooperation of witnesses and victims of crimes who may be in the country illegally.

Another Progressive hack at work . Talk to your Governor that threw you under the Bus !!!
That is a very lame and stupid excuse the lame duck Governor used to screw her people . And at the same time look good to the NAU !! Kick her out of office .