Anyone that pays scant attention to politics still knows that immigration is percolating below the surface – even in non-border states. The influx of illegal immigrants, particularly post-9/11, has frustrated Americans of every political party and polling shows that there is very little daylight among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents on the issue.
A great indicator of how powerful this issue has become was the Democrat governors of
The challenge however is what to do. Since Prop. 187, little has been done on the issue at the federal or state level and President Bush failed miserably in his proposal which is essentially amnesty for 11 million illegals in the
Commonly, there are considered to be three legs to the immigration stool, 1) border security, 2) law enforcement, and 3) guest worker. I’d add a fourth: culture.
With Republicans in the worst political situation in years, with an unpopular president, and congressional leaders embroiled in ethics investigations, the mood is bad. The prescription for these ailments is a bold conservative agenda to get us back on track and energize the base. Immigration is just the issue that could do that – and attract Democrats and Independents.
House leaders weeks ago put the issue on the table and House Judiciary chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) plans to bring the issue through his committee but only to deal with the law enforcement and border security issues. However, if we really want to make long-term progress on this issue rather than just feel-good symbolism, we have to deal with the guest worker program.
The plan then is to have the House push through a law enforcement/border security bill and wait for the Senate to push through a bill that includes a guest worker program. Then the difference can be ironed out in conference. While it seems that the initiative is there, it remains to be seen if the commitment is. Chairman Sensenbrenner met with not-indicted Karl Rove to discuss the issue last week while the Senate announced that they won’t move on immigration until next year.
I mentioned a fourth issue, culture. One of the things that needs to be included is a provision that deals with assimilation. For many Americans, the most offensive issue related to illegal immigration is the failure of the new immigrants to become a part of this country, not merely be foreigners that live in the There are numerous issues you could point to here but specifically – and most importantly to their future – speaking English. Whatever we do on immigration reform if fail to put some basic language requirements, we will be failing Americans and the immigrants who want to become Americans.