The shame of the defeat of the Senate bill on illegal immigration is that passing a reform measure should have been relatively easy. Instead, our so-called leaders addressed the issue strictly from a political vantage point. The Democrats saw future votes -- President Bush saw a chance to peel off some of those votes for the GOP.
Now, the Senate appears ready to shelve illegal immigration until after the November 2008 elections, which means the problem we all want to solve will, instead, linger.
First, a couple realities from the defeat of both bills.
Number one, Americans clearly aren't buying vague government promises on border security and enforcement of current laws on illegal immigration. For any future bill to have success, we're going to want to see guarantees that the flow of illegal border-crossers is being stopped. Get the border fence, tangible or virtual, built and we'll maybe begin taking government promises seriously again.
Number two, Americans realize that one of the main reasons why the United States is the greatest country in the world is because of the rule of law. The vast majority of us follow the rules and get along with each other, and we expect our neighbors to do the same. And we really want newcomers to respect the society we've set up by following it's guidelines. So rewarding illegal immigrants with the promise of citizenship is a non-starter. You can have earned citizenship by paying fines and owning up to your crime of entering illegally, or you can have illegal immigrants hung up by their thumbs for a decade in the North Dakota snow -- it doesn't matter. If the first thing you do in the United States is break the law by entering our country illegally, you're not going to be welcomed by most Americans.
So before any bill will be allowed to pass, the government is going to have to get serious about border security and enforcement, and will not be able to offer citizenship to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here. And there is a substantial group of legislators who will not allow any more "border security only" bills to pass. So where does that leave us?
The solution, what should have been easy to pass if the politicians weren't so worried about their various lobbying groups, is that we should have coupled strong border security with a guest-worker program that does not lead to citizenship. With more than 12 million illegal immigrants in country, we won't be able to deport them all, but we have to weed out the criminals and others who have not been productive members of society. Those who have been here, raised families, and worked hard, are simply going to have to stay. They cannot get in line for citizenship, but they can be given legal status that allows them to stay for five years or so.
Such a bill will run into some opposition from those who don't trust the government to actually slow the flow of illegal immigrants, or trade union supporters who don't want guest workers, or immigration advocates who want citizenship for anyone who desires it. But that opposition can be overcome.
Show the border protection people some actual enforcement before the next bill comes along, and then spell out the actual terms that will get the fence built, including the appropriation of money. That -- and citizenship ineligibility -- will get them on board. There's not enough pro-union anti-immigrant worker types to stop a bill. Many of the pro-immigration advocates will end up accepting half a pie.
