Bush, new Congress may see eye to eye on immigration reform

November 29, 2006

At long last, immigration reform?

It may not come as soon as the millions of immigrants in the United States and their families and friends would like. Meeting last week with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board, U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (5th), an architect of the Democrats' surge to power, predicted the House would vote on a bill within a year. Boosting the minimum wage and expanding the state children's health insurance program to cover all children are higher on the agenda.

But with the shift of power in Congress, the metaphorical wall that immigration reform was running into only a short time ago is falling, brick by brick. President Bush, unable to gain enough support from his party for his guest worker program, now can look forward to seeing one of his pet projects pushed through. New Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and new Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are on board to support a legislative package that will provide a path to legality and citizenship for illegal immigrants while toughening border security -- a bill similar to the Edward Kennedy-John McCain compromise.

How tough the security measures will be remains to be seen. There's little chance they will include the 700-mile fence along the Mexican border authorized -- but not funded -- by both houses of Congress in September. Its costs are estimated at $4 billion to $8 billion. The immigration bill passed by the Senate last May did call for a 370-mile fence, in addition to the incremental hiring of 14,000 more Border Patrol agents by 2011. That fence, however, was a concession to the Republicans then controlling Congress. While concessions still will have to be made to conservative elements in both parties before immigration reforms are passed, members of Congress who campaigned to cut back on spending won't approve the expenditure of billions on a measure as questionable as a fence.

That Americans may have to wait many months before immigration legislation comes to a vote is a bit surprising, considering how close Congress came earlier in the year to reaching an agreement before conservatives looking to November played the punitive card -- and considering the heated emotions that have made this such a hot-button issue. Chicago was one of many cities that saw mass demonstrations by Hispanics calling for reforms. While legal status isn't something that should be doled out without being earned, studies, including one by the Chicago Council on Global Relations, see our economic growth tied to our ability to integrate the rapidly rising number of Mexicans in our midst. It's a timely concern, in practical as well as humanitarian terms.

This represents the view of Sun-Times News Group newspapers in metropolitan Chicago.

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