The Immigration Debate

Okay, I’ve got to insert my comments into this silly immigration debate. I have my opinions on what should be done, but those ideas differ greatly from what I believe will actually be done. You want to know the Congress will accomplish on this issue? Nothing. Not a thing, because it is in nobody’s interest to do anything. Oh, both sides believe that they can use the debate to damage the opposition and bolster their base, but there’s no actual need to get their hands dirty by passing legislation.

As for what I think should be done, it is certainly not most politically viable option. Not the most popular option, and not necessarily the same as the ideas of the Democratic leadership. I don’t think anything can be done on immigration without first securing the border. I don’t think that a hot-button idea like a “wall” makes much sense, but putting more money into border security so that more guards can be hired and more surveillance done would help the situation. The next course of action would be to increase enforcement. Here, again, we’re talking about more personnel, more funding so we can complete the actions that laws require. While I don’t think large sweeps to try and remove large numbers would be any good for anybody, I just want to know that people who are charged with crimes in the U.S. do not get to stay in the U.S. And I also think increasing pressure on employers would help (I know there are any number of issues that influence these things, and each is contentious). Only after we make some headway on these first two problems can we begin to even think about the idea of guest workers. We do have many of illegal immigrants working and surviving and contributing to our system, and finding somewhat to legitimize their status makes sense. And I wouldn’t call it “amnesty.” I don’t even know that putting these people on a path to citizenship is the right course.

I don’t know that we’re getting anywhere in this debate. I just hope we can get it off the front page so that I don’t have to hear anything more about Tom Tancredo. He is my Congressman, and it’s damned embarrassing.