IMMIGRATION: The Road To Reform
Last Friday at the Center for American Progress, Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano delivered her first
comprehensive remarks
on immigration policy. In her path-breaking speech, Napolitano --
President Obama's immigration
point-person -- announced that her department has laid the foundation
for immigration reform in 2010 and detailed what it should look like. In
April,
Obama indicated that the government has to prove it's "competent in
getting results around immigration" in terms of enforcing the laws that
are already in place, before the American people can have "confidence that
if we actually put a [immigration reform] package together we can
execute." Napolitano pointed out last week that DHS has done everything it
can "within the current legal framework" to get those results and that
"the laws themselves need to be reformed" by Congress. In a timely
appearance on CNN's State of the Union yesterday, senior White House
adviser David Axelrod confirmed that work on a bipartisan immigration
reform bill is advancing
and the White House is engaging members of Congress from both sides of the
aisle to avoid the political "impasse"
that characterized past attempts. "I know a major shift when I see one,
and what I have seen makes reform far more attainable this time around,"
proclaimed Napolitano.
PAVING THE
WAY: During her speech, Napolitano listed a series of initiatives
that DHS has undertaken that have drastically changed the "immigration
landscape." To begin with, DHS has made significant progress in securing
the nation's borders and met the benchmarks
set by conservative lawmakers who voted down immigration reform in 2007.
The government has "dedicated unprecedented resources to the Mexican
border in terms of manpower, technology and infrastructure," which has
allowed DHS to increase the border patrol to more than 20,000 officers,
build 600 miles of border fencing, and effectively target drug cartels
through the Southwest
Border Initiative. According to Napolitano, DHS has audited
thousands of employers who hired undocumented workers, improved its technology
for screening undocumented immigrants, and revised
its agreements with state and local police to effectively prioritize
the apprehension of "dangerous criminal aliens." Napolitano believes DHS's
crackdown, together with an unfortunate economic downturn, has contributed
to a sharp decline in illegal immigration and an increase in seizures
in all categories -- drugs, smuggled cash, and illegal weapons. Meanwhile,
the year-long backlog
for background checks on applicants for green cards and naturalization has
also been eliminated, and DHS is already preparing
for the possibility of requiring millions of undocumented immigrants to
register with the government.
PRINCIPLES OF REFORM: The biggest change
Napolitano has witnessed is a growing
segment of the American public that wants to see "a sensible solution
to this problem." "Everybody recognizes that our current system isn't
working. ... The picture of how exactly those laws need to be changed has
become clearer than ever before," stated Napolitano. For Napolitano,
immigration reform should resemble a "three-legged stool" that consists of
"serious and effective enforcement," a rational system for dealing with
future flows of immigrants, and a "tough and fair" path to legalization
for those who are already here. Undocumented immigrants should be required
to register with the government, pay all taxes they owe, and face certain
penalties as part of earning legal status. Otherwise, "we will never have
fully effective law enforcement or national security as long as so many
millions remain in the shadows," explained Napolitano. However,
immigration reform isn't just about enforcement and security. Napolitano
points out that "this reform will be part of the new foundation for
growth, prosperity, and security that this administration is working to
create." Immigration reform would be an economic
boon that would transform 12 million undocumented immigrants into
taxpaying residents and level the playing field for all workers and
businesses. National polling consistently shows a clear majority
of voters support immigration reform that contains the same components
that Napolitano referenced.
OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME: Napolitano's
ramped-up enforcement efforts are not without controversy. DHS' Secure
Communities jail finger-printing program screens immigrants regardless
of their guilt or innocence and the 287(g) program that allows local
police to enforce immigration laws still faces serious criticism from immigrant
and civil
rights activists. Citizenship application fees are prohibitively
high and there is talk of more
increases. The immigrant community is growing impatient and
the business community frustrated as they wait for reform in an
environment of stepped-up enforcement. Right-wing nativists continue to confuse
sensible immigration reform with "amnesty" and anti-immigrant groups are
exploiting
the anger of the right-wing Tea Party movement in an effort to recruit
more supporters to join their hateful cause. Vulnerable House and Senate
Democrats want to skip
controversial agenda items like immigration reform before the midterm
elections, and many members of Congress still need to be convinced that
tackli ng immigration during a recession makes economic
sense. Immigration reform won't be easy, but some timid Democrats and
other anti-immigrant demagogues are out of tune with the needs and
sentiments of the American people. The nation's immigration system has
been broken for a long time, and members of the 111th Congress would pick
up votes and a place in history for being the ones to finally fix
it.
