AURORA SENTINEL (Editorial):
December 9, 2009
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2009/12/09/opinion/editorials/doc4b20836a2affb094940211.txt
It’s hard to find any fault with a University of Denver report issued Wednesday calling for immigration reform that would eventually legitimize most of the 12 million illegal immigrants here in the United States.
The 20-member bipartisan panel worked for a year on researching the pervasive and complex problem that vexes communities like Aurora and others across the nation.
There was really nothing new or ground-breaking in the 50-page report, but the panel eloquently states the case for capitalizing on the country’s immigration woes rather than letting them become a sinkhole for money, time and other resources.
The report recommends that the country first do more to control the border with Mexico. This hardly means that the United States must commit to an exorbitantly expensive fence, virtual or otherwise. It simply means that the United States has to do a better job of making sure that those who cross the border don’t sneak in. But one of the panel’s chief recommendations would do more good than anything at stemming the flow of illegal immigrants into the country: implement a verifiable worker identification program.
The group recommends the government require every employer use the E-Verify program, or something similar to it. Panelists suggest that those employers who use the program in good faith and inadvertently hire illegal immigrants be spared, but those who refuse to use it or work to cheat it be punished severely.
You don’t have to be any kind of expert to understand that if these immigrants can’t get jobs, they won’t stay.
Just as important, the report recommends that a more flexible visa program guided by each state be used to bring labor into each community as it sees fit.
But most important, the report faces the reality that there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in this country, many of whom have strong ties to their communities. They have children or other family members who are legal citizens. They have homes and jobs. Above all, there’s no realistic, practical or humane way to move them out of the country. So rather than continue to waste money and time on agonizing over the situation, the panel recommends that we deal with it pragmatically.
These immigrants would have to pay back-taxes, be free of felony convictions, learn English and hold down jobs. It’s clear that many – if not most – of these immigrants are going to remain in the country; it makes so much more sense to bring them to citizenship on our terms rather than theirs.
Illegal immigration is a provocative issue that divides many communities. But if this extremely diverse group of panelists – which included Pete Coors, Polly Baca and Don Ament – can find common ground on this issue, so, too, can Congress and the rest of the country.
President Barack Obama should take the opportunity to use this wise and comprehensive report to begin new immigration reform efforts at the Capitol. Everyone benefits by these recommended changes coming sooner rather than later.