Ending illegal immigration requires both sides to yield
As the debate for Immigration reform begins sometime next week with an Immigration hearing in the Senate's Immigration sub-committee,it can be only hoped that both parties not yield to the extreme ideology in either party that doomed former efforts at reform before.The opinion in this article lays out why that is important.
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The Issue: President Barack Obama is working on immigration-reform legislation to be introduced later this year.<br />
Our Opinion: Unless both sides on this issue are willing to compromise, the bill will go nowhere, regardless of what it contains.
Fulfilling a campaign promise, President Barack Obama is planning to push this year for comprehensive immigration reform that will include a provision that would enable illegal aliens to gain legal status and, perhaps, eventually become citizens.
Although the details of the president's proposal have not been revealed, it seems pretty clear he will have an uphill fight on his hands regardless of what he proposes. Illegal immigration is a divisive issue that has gotten even more contentious, if that is possible, since the economy went south.
Many who have lost their jobs have pointed to the estimated 12 million to 15 million undocumented workers who are in this country illegally and accuse them of taking what few jobs are available away from American citizens.
To be fair, the economy also has taken its toll on the illegal immigrants, forcing some to return to their native countries because they couldn't find jobs in the United States. The numbers, however, have not been high enough to make illegal immigration a nonissue.
Indeed, we seem to be at an impasse. On one side are those who have called for a tightening of the border and unyielding enforcement of U.S. laws, which includes deporting anyone who is in the country illegally. On the other side are those who call for some means - call it amnesty or something else - that will enable hardworking illegals who have broken no laws other than immigration laws to remain in the country, gain legal status and perhaps even become citizens.
There doesn't seem to be much room for compromise.
Two years ago, however, a compromise proposal was cobbled by a bipartisan group of senators and members of President George W. Bush's administration. It would have granted quick legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States while fortifying the border.
Illegals would have been able to obtain a Z visa after paying fees and a $5,000 fine and get on track for permanent residency, which could take between eight and 13 years. Meanwhile a temporary-worker program would have allowed additional people to come to this country, as a separate program covering agricultural workers would have.
In addition, high-tech enforcement efforts would have been established to ensure the workers are in this country legally and leave when their work term expires.
House members who opposed what they called the amnesty provisions of the legislation objected, and the proposal never got to a vote.
History shows several attempts to resolve the problem. In 1986, President Reagan granted an amnesty that eventually resolved the status of 2.7 million illegal immigrants but offered no permanent solution.
A guest-worker program in the 1950s cut arrests for illegal immigration from nearly 900,000 annually to 45,000 in just two years. But by 1960 Congress shut down the program for a number of reasons, not the least of which was pressure from American labor.
Unless both sides are willing to compromise, it doesn't matter what the president proposes. The problem will continue, and that will help no one.
Hopefully,any meeting with the President will bring forth such a compromise.
