Backing away from Comprehensive Reform

Backing away from Comprehensive Reform

September 21, 2006

In July, President Bush stressed that "if you're going to address the issue of immigration, you've got to address all aspects of the immigration. It's got to be a comprehensive bill if we want there to be an effective bill." The president appears to have changed his mind. Yesterday, Congress "gave up on comprehensive immigration reform" and is pursuing an enforcement only legislation. This approach largely tracks the recommendations of Pat Buchannan and other hard-liners. Yesterday in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Bush said he would abandon his pledge to pass a comprehensive bill and sign whatever legislation comes out of Congress. (Get the facts about immigration and the need for a comprehensive approach from the Center for American Progress.)

• Congress has abandoned real reform for fence building. Instead of fighting for real reform that would truly fix our broken immigration system, Congress has focused its efforts on passing a piecemeal bill that would "require building 700 miles of fence on the southwestern border." The Los Angeles Times explains, "A wall is fine, but not by itself." And as Arizona Governor Napolitano says “You show me a 50-foot wall, and I’ll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border.” Addressing border security alone won't bring people out of the shadows, won't keep one undocumented immigrant from attempting to cross the border and won't fulfill the economy's need for a legal supply of labor. And fence or no fence, the 45% of illegal immigrants who overstay legal visas instead of returning across the border would continue to do so." The fence-only proposal was blasted by several prominent conservative Senators, including Rick Santorum (R-PA), Arlen Specter (R-PA), and Larry Craig (R-ID).
  
  
• Enforcement only has been tried before and has failed. The approach being advanced by Congress—enforcement only—has been tried before, and failed. The Center for Trade and Policy Studies notes, "Despite tripling the size of the U.S. Border Patrol along the southern border between 1990 and 2005 and increasing its funding tenfold between 1986 and 2002, the undocumented population in the United States doubled in size."
  
  
• There is bi-partisan support for comprehensive reform. Yesterday, a bi-partisan task force on immigration—chaired by former Bush Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (R) and former 9/11 Commission Vice-Chair Lee Hamilton (D)—released an extensive report stressing the need for comprehensive reform. Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ) released a joint statement: "Those members of Congress who support an enforcement-only approach may think it is good politics. But after careful study, the Independent Task Force came to the same understanding as President Bush, a bipartisan majority in the Senate, and the American people: Immigration is a serious and complex issue that calls for thoughtful and serious solutions and a comprehensive approach." Apparently, McCain and Kennedy were not aware that President Bush has abandoned his insistence on a comprehensive bill.