Thread: Break The Stalemate (Opinion)

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opin ... ation.html

Break the stalemate

To tackle illegal immigration, Congress first must carve out separate action to enforce workplace laws

Published on: 03/16/06
The subject of illegal immigration has become a political hot potato — provoking inflammatory rhetoric, contentious debates and roiling disputes. All of that will make it hard for Congress to pass comprehensive reform, especially during an election year.

Instead, both houses should work to approve a smaller, separate bill quickly that makes it harder for illegal aliens to find work in the United States and for employers to hire them. That would do more to stop illegal immigration than a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, as the House has proposed.

Both chambers have similar fixes in mind to reduce the power of jobs as a lure to illegal aliens, which should make it easier for them to reach an agreement on the details. Unfortunately, the fixes are buried within massive proposals burdened with conflicting provisions. The House has passed its version of immigration law reform; the Senate Judiciary Committee is working on a bill compiled from various proposals out of that chamber.

There are significant philosophical differences between what the House has approved and what the Senate committee is considering. Disagreements, particularly over whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to continue working in the United States, will make it difficult to reach a compromise.

U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), who introduced the House-passed bill, made that clear in December: "This bill doesn't give amnesty to illegal aliens, and it shouldn't because that would reward someone for breaking our laws."

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who is leading the Senate's effort to write a final version of immigration legislation, counters that something must be offered to illegal workers in the United States to bring them "out from the shadows."

While the sparring continues on that contentious issue, 97 more illegal immigrants sneak into the United States each hour; more than 2,300 each day; about 850,000 a year, according to the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington. The longer the delay in acting, the greater the problem: The Pew think-tank estimates that as many as 12 million illegal aliens are already in the United States. More than 7 million of them hold jobs; together they account for nearly 5 percent of the American work force.

The common ground in both the House and Senate is the realization that current federal law prohibiting the employment of illegal aliens in the United States is not working. The illegal workers present counterfeit documents and lie to employers to get work; too many employers willingly look the other way to hire cheap labor, knowing their chances of getting caught are exceedingly low.

The Senate and House bills would require fraud-resistant immigration documents, greater vigilance on the part of employers and mandatory use of a beefed-up system to check the names and Social Security numbers of job applicants to assure they are authorized to work in the United States.

However, the current system makes compliance voluntary; it is also subject to errors and is ill-equipped to handle a flood of inquires from employers.

Congress will need to plug the holes in that system to close the gaps at the U.S. borders.

That march in Chicago last week should convince everyone that 'they' are OUT of the SHADOWS...for pete's sake.

RR