Comprehensive reform that will work

James Jay Carafano:

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Rather than just throwing up its hands, throwing around blame, and throwing out the hope of comprehensive reform, Congress should try an alternative approach: (1) Deny amnesty to people here illegally that will help deter future illegal migration and make the point that we insist everyone respect the rule of law. (2) Enforce workplace laws on the books and gain back control of our southern border. (3) Create more practical and flexible legal opportunities to come and work in the United States. Together these measures offer a real strategy for breaking America’s addiction to undocumented labor.

This strategy is not only realistic. It is within our grasp. Most of the authorities required to beef-up border security and workplace enforcement are already on the books, approved by Congress. In addition, the defeat of the Senate bill is a rejection of amnesty. What is needed to complete the picture is practical and realistic legal alternatives to undocumented workers. That means more visas for high-skilled labor and a temporary-worker program. These initiatives must be based on the labor needs of the marketplace and not driven by bureaucratic direction from Washington, nor undermined by the unrealistic requirements demanded by organized labor.

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The Senate bill attempted to construct artificial consequences for coming here illegally, but opponents were not persuaded they would have any deterrent effect. In fact, opponents were concerned that they would encourage further illegal immigration. This was caused by a complete lack of confidence in the border protection provisions. While some consequences were in place to get citizenship, the bill legalized the presence without citizenship making those consequences easily avoidable.