Business, faith leaders right on immigration

Eagle Editorials

For all the heat generated by legislative hearings on illegal immigration last week, there is reason to hope that the Legislature won't do more harm than good on the issue this session. Leaders in the faith and business communities are to be praised for stepping forward and saying what needed to be said: That illegal immigration is a federal problem, and that the Legislature should not pass costly, unenforceable laws that would turn caring clergy into criminals, treat local law enforcement officers like immigration agents, punish children for their parents' decisions, and imperil the state's work force and economy.

The Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Farm Bureau, the Kansas Building Industry Association and nearly 30 other groups recently urged the Legislature not to penalize agriculture and business for trying to follow federal guidelines. They also have questioned the accuracy of the identity verification system on which the legislation depends. It's prone to false positives, they say, which puts businesses at risk of being penalized for the federal system's mistakes.

Plus, "there's already federal law" that does what the state might do, Tim Witsman, president of the Wichita Independent Business Association, told The Eagle editorial board last week.

"From our perspective, this is a work force issue," Witsman said.

Lawmakers cannot act against illegal immigration without worsening the worker shortages being seen in some counties in the state, which has a 4 percent unemployment rate.

In recent days, the leaders of the United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas called on Kansans "to reject demagoguery that is spreading its own kind of fear and terror." Earlier, Bishop Michael Jackels of the Catholic Diocese of Wichita counseled lawmakers to seek "laws that respect the dignity of the human person and that are tempered with compassion."

After several days' worth of testimony end this week, maybe lawmakers will decide there is a need for legislation to underscore the consequences for the few Kansas businesses that routinely and willfully hire illegal immigrants, including some that also deal in fake ID documents. Kansas needs jobs and workers, but it doesn't need companies that exploit and prey on the undocumented. There remains some bipartisan interest in such measures.

But to those who suggest that nearby states' crackdowns have forced Kansas to do likewise, said Pete Schrepferman, owner of Johnstone Supply and a former WIBA chairman: "Personally, I think -- ignore what they're doing and do what we think is right."

For decades, leaders of both political parties looked the other way and let the undocumented population grow. When a comprehensive solution seemed at hand last year, members of Congress buckled and opted to pander and procrastinate. Neither their inaction nor the misguided actions among states change the fact that illegal immigration is a federal problem.

If the Legislature shows restraint, as it should, disappointed Kansans should focus their frustration on Washington, D.C. --not on those who overstayed visas and slipped across borders in search of better jobs and lives, and whose labors are now as much a part of the U.S. economy as Americans' own.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman
http://www.kansas.com:80/611/story/328480.html