It's hard to leave a legacy when you don't have support. President Bush came back to one of his pet issues, immigration, in a speech he gave yesterday in the border town of Yuma, Ariz. While the President seems clearly able to understand and articulate the extent of the immigration problem, he's not offering the country any clear-cut solutions.
To his credit, Bush did identify crucial points of immigration reform in his speech yesterday: increasing border security, raising pressure on employers who hire illegal immigrants, developing a legal way to welcome guest workers, and resolving the status of current undocumented workers.
What seems to be the most worrisome part of the President's vague calls for reform is his inability to create a workable plan for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now working in the United States. These workers are currently establishing lives for themselves in this country - marrying, starting families - when they could be thrown out at any given moment. They're also straining the health care and educational resources of a government to whom they pay no taxes.
Clearly, resolving the fate of these 12 million workers and their approximately 3 million American-born children is of utmost importance. They should not be subject to unreasonable penalty for having fled extreme poverty in their home countries.
While it is true that lenient treatment might encourage more immigrants to pour through America's borders, if humane treatment of undocumented workers is coupled with more stringent border protection, our country can manage its current problem while preventing a future one.
In any case, one proposal put forth by a group of GOP senators working with the President seems particularly unreasonable. Forcing undocumented workers to return home and apply for legal residency at a U.S. embassy or consulate while also paying a $10,000 fine essentially takes away their hope of becoming citizens. These workers do not have excess money to spare, and even asking $3,500 for a three-year work visa is unrealistic.
The cost of allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens is small in comparison with the burdens that these people would have to bear if deported. Being uprooted from the lives and families they have created is no small worry. And we might do well to consider that these workers are currently making the lives of Americans easier by doing the jobs that many citizens are loath to accept.
While we would advocate fair and just treatment of undocumented workers, we certainly do not think that the United States should become a safety valve for the socio-economic problems of Mexico, Honduras or El Salvador. As unpalatable as the border fence seems in concept, we might do well to put serious barriers between our country and the lands which lie south of the border. Giving countries the option of releasing their impoverished on a different government provides little incentive for developing viable economic and social policies.
Recent initiatives to step up security along the 2,100-mile Mexican border (including the construction of a fence spanning one-third that distance) seem to be working: Bush pointed out in his speech that the 400 people per day apprehended by Border Patrol agents last year has now dwindled to approximately 140.
It is in no one's best interest to see a free-for-all for U.S. citizenship. Taking up allegiance to a new country is a serious commitment, and welcoming new residents permanently changes the face of America. But as a nation of immigrants, turning the cold shoulder shouldn't be an option for us.
