GOP should join Democrats in immigration-reform push

GOP should join Democrats in immigration-reform push
Philadelphia Inquirer
April 4, 2010

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/89856727.html

You might not have heard much about it, but immigration supporters held a huge rally on the National Mall two weeks ago. Though overshadowed by the health-care debate, they were out in large numbers: Tens of thousands gathered to urge Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, which would include a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already here.
President Obama's critics frequently claim that he's too ambitious, taking on too many complex and contentious issues. But the president doesn't have much choice: There are several complex and contentious issues that have languished too long. Immigration reform is one of those.

It's a shame that a commonsense bill, supported by the Bush administration, died in 2007 after a backlash from the Republican base. The right continues to denounce what its leaders call "amnesty," but they haven't offered a reasonable plan for helping hardworking painters and plumbers, maids and manicurists to come out of the shadows. Some undocumented workers left after the economic downturn, but many are still here - some of them parents of children who are American citizens.

What kind of country would deport teenage Americans just because their parents came from Guatemala or Gambia without permission? What kind of country would exploit the labor of workers but refuse to allow them the chance at legal status?

Just last week, Homeland Security had to tamp down controversy over a memo issued by a high-ranking border enforcement official who set a "quota" for deportations, even if his agents had to round up offenders whose only crime was lying on immigration documents. That approach, later disowned, would have contradicted a promise by the Obama administration to concentrate deportations on violent offenders.

It's no wonder immigration activists are growing impatient with the president. Obama told the rally that he would start work soon on immigration reform; he has given his blessing to a framework offered by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) and Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.). In a Washington Post essay last month, Graham and Schumer called for a "biometric" Social Security card, stronger border security, increased temporary access for low-skilled workers, and a "tough but fair path to legalization for those already here."

Despite that pledge of bipartisanship, few think the process will be anything but long and bloody. And, in the end, there's no guarantee of Republican votes.

[Posted by:Ida Micaily]