Thread: NCT EDITORIAL: LAST BEST CHANCE FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

Last best chance for immigration reform is here

By: North County Times Opinion staff -
MAY 20, 2007

Our view: Deal reached by the Senate deserves a fair hearing

The rapidly closing window in Washington for achieving comprehensive immigration reform was propped open, imperfectly and perhaps temporarily, on Thursday. We've been debating immigration reform in earnest for about two years, and the only consensus the nation has been able to reach is that the current system doesn't work. Last week's announcement of a compromise in the U.S. Senate is a chance to seize this moment and accomplish something before the window slams shut, the conversation collapses into its calcified catch-phrases and our immigration situation returns to its familiar foolishness.

Few Americans are satisfied with U.S. border and immigration policies, especially those riled up by the untold numbers of people entering this country illegally each year from Mexico and parts south.


Aside from a few flagrant violators, employers don't like being forced to rely on questionable documents when hiring, especially as immigration enforcement agents step up their workplace raids. Local law enforcement agencies don't like having to police foreign nationals, especially repeat offenders for whom deportation is a temporary setback. States and municipalities complain about budgets breaking under the burden of increased demands on services and infrastructure that aren't always recoverable in taxes. The federal government doesn't care to host millions of foreigners it can't account for within its borders.

Finally, and most importantly, many, many everyday folks are unhappy with the cultural, social and economic impacts that have rapidly changed the fabric of communities across this nation within a very short time.

The compromise plan introduced late last week points a way out of this morass.

While many details of the proposal have yet to be fully fleshed out, the plan's components include the creation of a new class of visa that would allow immigrants in the country illegally to pay fines and begin the process toward permanent residency (and eventually citizenship), a revamped guest-worker program, increased border enforcement, and a decreased reliance on family reunification -- one of the main avenues of legal immigration to this country in recent decades.

While by no means perfect, this compromise does appear to go a long way toward minimizing, if not eliminating, the many immigration fault lines that run through this county.

People who have come here seeking opportunity, albeit illegally, would have the chance to step out of the shadows and begin a new life. By entering the mainstream of American society, they will be more likely to assimilate and learn English.

An updated guest-worker program should drastically reduce the incentive to sneak into the country and, as a result, re-establish the rule of law along a 2,000-mile border that has become a war zone. In the bargain, border vigilantes and others who have been the most vocal about the chaos should see border enforcement dramatically increased.

Those who have long called for a smarter immigration system can point to the merit-based system that will peg future immigration quotas to the economic needs of this country.

After decades of debate, all of the arguments for and against immigration reform -- some insightful, others incendiary -- have been floated, punctured and floated again. It is time for the dust to settle and for final negotiations to begin.

With the 2008 presidential and congressional election campaigns off to an early start, there's not much time for political progress this year. President Bush, whose instincts on immigration reform have been better than most, has just this one last chance to bolster his legacy with a significant domestic achievement.

The Senate's compromise is not perfect, but it is pragmatic. It's a starting point, and it must not become another dead end for comprehensive immigration reform. The time is short, the need is great, and the rhetoric's temperature is ever rising.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05 ... _19_07.txt

Add Your Comments or Letter to the Editor

By entering the mainstream of American society, they will be more likely to assimilate and learn English.

SURE!

By entering the mainstream of American society, they will be more likely to assimilate and learn English.

Yeah ...right ...tell that to Californians and Texans ...many of them have lived here for years and have never attempted assimilation

Just ask Jaun in Houston

Many illegals do not want citizenship, they come to make money and
remain loyal to their own country, do not want to learn English or
assimilate into the U.S. culture.

An updated guest-worker program should drastically reduce the incentive to sneak into the country and, as a result, re-establish the rule of law along a 2,000-mile border that has become a war zone. In the bargain, border vigilantes and others who have been the most vocal about the chaos should see border enforcement dramatically increased.

Those who have long called for a smarter immigration system can point to the merit-based system that will peg future immigration quotas to the economic needs of this country.

What a load of crap!!