A BIPARTISAN group of senators, another Gang of Eight bent on bridging partisan differences instead of deepening them, has just turned out a bill to tackle a massive problem that has been put off again and again till, naturally, it has become more massive. Like 12 million illegal aliens in this country, and more sneaking in, or trying to sneak in, every day.
Practical solutions to this mess have been offered at least since the early days of the last administration. That’s when John McCain and Ted Kennedy teamed up to suggest overhauling the country’s clanking immigration system, which by now has become the country’s rusty immigration system.
This time the bipartisan effort includes Senator McCain again, with Chuck Schumer playing Ted Kennedy’s role and a new star in this cast: Marco Rubio, freshman senator from Florida and son of immigrants.
And so, not for the first time, an approach to the problems and promise of immigration in this nation of immigrants is on the table. And at first look, it would seem a fair and practical solution.
Well, that’s two strikes against it.
Because so many of us seem to enjoy fighting this problem instead of solving it.
JUST WHAT would a fair and practical solution look like? You can outline it point by point:
First secure the border and enforce the immigration laws. Continue beefing up the Border Patrol, its manpower, checkpoints, fences, walls and surveillance on the ground and in the air.
Then put an E-verify system into place so an employer has no excuse to hire illegals, and without work, they might have to turn themselves in or sneak back across the border.
Also check on each and every visitor who has become an illegal alien simply by overstaying his visa.
In short, act as if the law is the law- la ley es la ley-and it might become law, instead of a farce.
As for those immigrants with the skills or labor this country needs, from high-tech research centers to orange groves and tomato fields, establish a way to let them into the country for a specific purpose with specific limits.
As for all those millions who now live not in America but in a kind of shadowland between acceptance and illegality, give them an opportunity to come forward and do this right. By meeting tough but fair requirements: Pay their taxes and a stiff fine, clear a criminal-background check, and show they know basic English. Open a path to citizenship for them. Don’t deny them hope. Yes, they’d have to go to the back of the line to apply for citizenship, take the usual course in civics, and wait for years, but American citizenship is more than worth the wait.
As for their children, who may have had no say in their coming to this country when they were small and were raised and educated as Americans, give them a chance to fulfill the American dream. Just as the Marco Rubios and millions before him have done. Give them a chance to contribute to American society as generations of immigrants have done before them. What better way to show that America is still the Land of Opportunity?
Why are we waiting? Because of the usual un-American forces: fear, division, distrust . . . . There is no shortage of stumbling blocks in any society, but this country and its leaders have waited far too long to clear these away. Let’s do it for the benefit of all Americans, old and new. Because when our neighbors prosper, so do we. That’s the way not just a growing economy but a growing country works. Or should.
It was Winston Churchill who said Americans can be counted on to do the right thing-after we’ve tried everything else. Surely by now we’ve tried just about everything else.
Why not finally try the right thing? This bill gives the country still another chance to do just that. It’s fair, it’s practical, and-third reason-it’s sensible.
Or is that strike three against it?
Editorial, Pages 14 on 04/24/2013