The U. S. Senate has a historic chance to pass a strong immigration reform. Senate action could lead to a law that strengthens the border and helps millions of undocumented workers come out of the shadows and find legal employment.
A thoughtfully constructed bill could end a treacherous era in which the letter of law has been unevenly applied: Sometimes the country winks at immigration violations; sometimes officials crack down hard. Without a clear, consistent policy, the unspoken advice to undocumented workers is chilly: Just don’t get caught.
Two years ago, a bipartisan bill held out a reasonable compromise. Sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, the bill got tough on border enforcement and was smart on workplace regulations, recognizing that many parts of the economy — including restaurants, hotels, meat processing, agriculture and construction — rely heavily on immigrant workers.
This year, the bill has been overtaken by politics. Now that he’s running for president, McCain has backed away from parts of the bill. And other presidential candidates have attacked the Mc-Cain-Kennedy bill for offering a supposed amnesty to the estimated 12 million undocumented people who live in the United States. What the bill actually called for was fining people and putting them at the back of the line to legalize their status here. Fortunately, there is hope that a deal will be struck before the Senate takes up the issue. That deal could strengthen the border and create a worker identification system, so that employers could more readily determine who is eligible to work in the United States. Once these pieces were in place, there would be a mechanism to help workers legalize their status if they learn English and pay fines. If no deal is struck, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, will still bring the issue to the floor Wednesday, by presenting an unwieldy bill that the Senate passed last year. Deal or no deal, the last thing the country needs is another political showdown. There has already been enough drama — enough promises that reform was imminent, when in fact it wasn’t.
— The Boston Globe
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