Op-Ed Contributors | Transitions

Call Off the Immigrant Hunt



By JORGE G. CASTAÑEDA

Published: December 27, 2008

New York Times

THERE are myriad claims to Barack Obama’s attention, and the list will only grow before Jan. 20. But immigration reform and, more immediately, putting an end to the outgoing administration’s unfortunate and inhuman immigration enforcement policy should be high on the president-elect’s list.



One —Mr. Obama can learn from his predecessor. President Bush wanted comprehensive immigration reform in 2001, but 9/11 got in the way. He started over in 2004, but did little given the imperatives of re-election. He pushed it gently in 2006 and failed, and then went all out in 2007 but failed again.



Immigration reform is the sort of complex and costly project that, as a rule, presidents accomplish only at the peak of their power — when their term begins. If Mr. Obama decides to postpone immigration reform until later, he runs the risk of no longer possessing the leverage to convince his party’s legislators to brave the furies of the extreme right wing.



But even without comprehensive reform, Mr. Obama can make a huge difference in the lives of millions of undocumented migrants in the United States today. Since late 2006, the Bush administration has been carrying out the “tough loveâ€