Sunday, April 9, 2006 | 7:31 a.m.
The politics of bad policy.
The U.S. Senate is still grappling over legislation that is de-signed to deal with the problem of illegal immigration and the overly porous borders that have allowed some 11 million people to enter this country without the benefit of legal sanction.
Whether or not the senators, who adjourned Friday for a two-week recess, are able to pass anything remains to be seen. And, if they are successful, there is still the onerous House legislation to contend with before there is a bill to send to the White House for signature. In short, this issue is not an easy one to resolve and it is still an open question whether or not something good and responsible will come from all this activity.
I believe the problem is exactly what our own Sen. John Ensign referred to as the clash between policy and politics. While he stated the obvious - because everything in Washington these days is viewed through a political prism - he seemed to be concerned, as many are, that this is one of those rare times in the legislative history of man when policy should trump any political concerns.
So let's talk about the policy. If we can get agreement on what the proper policy should be, the politics should follow.
So, what have we been hearing about what's right and what's wrong? From one side of the Republican Party we hear that there will be no amnesty for any of the illegal immigrants because it wouldn't be right to let them benefit from their lawbreaking. From the economic side of the GOP - that would be the Chamber of Commerce folks - we hear that the illegal workers are an integral part of our economy and we better find a way to keep them working. Both are clear, simple and unequivocal views of the world. That's why they don't work.
There is nothing simple about this issue. It is wrong for a country like ours to do what the monied side of the Republican Party wants, which is to use these people to build our houses, care for our homes, landscape our cities, feed our families and have nothing to show for all that but a life living in the shadows of respectable citizenship.
It is also wrong to take such a simplistic view of the legal versus illegal argument because that is just not the case. If the people flowing through the holes in our borders were doing it without help, connivance and condonation of Americans on the other side, then the "throw them out" chorus would have a valid point.
But Americans are as much to blame for the influx of illegal workers as the workers themselves. Perhaps even more so. A hungry, ambitious person from Mexico who crosses the border - at significant risk and usually at great expense - is doing so in search of a better life, an ability to feed his family and the opportunity to raise his children in a world of far greater opportunity. We cannot blame this human condition on anyone. We need to encourage people everywhere to have that same attitude.
Where we are complicit in the lawbreaking is in the fact that we know that the people we hire at half the cost to build, a fraction of the cost to grow and a pittance of the price to serve are all illegal. That's why they cost so little!
The chamber types are screaming that we need the low-priced labor. Those who have been displaced from higher-paying jobs are screaming that these illegals are stealing their jobs - but they are the same folks who are crying out for the cheaper goods and services that lower-paid people can produce.
And the family values group is having conniptions because these folks have broken our laws and should be sent back. Never mind the fact that these people are having children once they get here - United States citizens - and sending Mom and Dad back without their kids is inhumane and sending the kids back with them is illegal.
So, since we are guilty of harboring, hiring and benefiting from the labor of this illegal underclass, where do we get off taking a holier-than-thou stance that says they have no right to be here. We have, by our tacit activity, invited and accepted them on this side of the border. If they have to go back as their penalty, what shall the price be for our wrongdoing?
Now that we all can or should accept some guilt in this matter, the policy is easy to fashion. The first thing we need to do is spend money. That could mean higher taxes, but who cares about that! Spend more money on better border control, better technology, more people and a more serious effort to make people obey the immigration laws of this country.
The next thing we need to do is figure out a common-sense solution to the problem of at least 11 million people who are living in the shadows, working for unlivable wages and trying to educate their children in an environment that discourages parental involvement, a surefire way toward educational failure.
Give the people who are here - all of them - a path out of the shadows of a substandard life and toward a path that leads to citizenship and all sorts of good things can happen. For one thing, if people can live in the open without fear of governmental reprisals, they can work for more responsible wages. Those jobs that many in society believe were stolen from them will begin to pay market rates and competition, not compulsion, will determine who gets the work. For the jobs that no one else seems to want, they too will pay better wages so that families can start to live in the direction of the American dream.
That, in my opinion, is where the good policy lies. And, yes, it involves a form of amnesty. Now I will watch C-Span and see how politics rears its ugly, insensitive, vote-seeking head.
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