New York Times Editorial - An immigration impasse
New York Times Editorial - An immigration impasse
Copyright by The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2006
If there ever was a moment in the American debate over immigration when presidential leadership was urgently needed, it was on Monday, when Congress returned from its two-week intermission with the Senate's short-lived compromise in tatters. But all President George W. Bush offered was a restatement of the painfully obvious and a bunch of bland generalities.
In the last installment of this melodrama, Senate leaders failed to find the courage to foil the Republicans who had lighted the fuse on amendments intended to blow apart a pale and fragile compromise. Meanwhile, nervous and defensive Democrats wrapped the bill tightly in a procedural blanket.
Bush might have thought he was answering lawmakers' pleas for help when he informed an audience in California that mass deportations wouldn't work. That's a sensible - if fairly obvious - generality. But this is a moment for specifics. The president could have argued forcefully for comprehensive reform and spelled out the distinction between an earned route to legalization and the detested free ride of amnesty.
The pieces of comprehensive reform are in place: tighter borders and stricter enforcement of employment laws, more visas for temporary workers, and a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million to 12 million people who are in the United States illegally. But the ingredients of an endless stalemate are there, too, nurtured by a Republican hard core that blindly insists that there are only two things to do with illegal immigrants: exploit them or expel them.
The Senate's latest immigration bill is an awkward, unappetizing compromise, which would shut out many newer immigrants and impose daunting red-tape hurdles on the rest. But at least it remains wrapped around a vital principle: the option of citizenship for those who want and deserve to become Americans.
Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, insists that a majority in the Senate support comprehensive reform. But it's not clear how willing the majority leader, Bill Frist, is to stand up to those in his party's right wing who want to enshrine police-state enforcement as the beginning and the end of immigration strategy.
With a strong push from Bush, the tardy Frist could guide this wearying saga to a better ending. Millions are watching, and waiting.
Copyright by The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2006
If there ever was a moment in the American debate over immigration when presidential leadership was urgently needed, it was on Monday, when Congress returned from its two-week intermission with the Senate's short-lived compromise in tatters. But all President George W. Bush offered was a restatement of the painfully obvious and a bunch of bland generalities.
In the last installment of this melodrama, Senate leaders failed to find the courage to foil the Republicans who had lighted the fuse on amendments intended to blow apart a pale and fragile compromise. Meanwhile, nervous and defensive Democrats wrapped the bill tightly in a procedural blanket.
Bush might have thought he was answering lawmakers' pleas for help when he informed an audience in California that mass deportations wouldn't work. That's a sensible - if fairly obvious - generality. But this is a moment for specifics. The president could have argued forcefully for comprehensive reform and spelled out the distinction between an earned route to legalization and the detested free ride of amnesty.
The pieces of comprehensive reform are in place: tighter borders and stricter enforcement of employment laws, more visas for temporary workers, and a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million to 12 million people who are in the United States illegally. But the ingredients of an endless stalemate are there, too, nurtured by a Republican hard core that blindly insists that there are only two things to do with illegal immigrants: exploit them or expel them.
The Senate's latest immigration bill is an awkward, unappetizing compromise, which would shut out many newer immigrants and impose daunting red-tape hurdles on the rest. But at least it remains wrapped around a vital principle: the option of citizenship for those who want and deserve to become Americans.
Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, insists that a majority in the Senate support comprehensive reform. But it's not clear how willing the majority leader, Bill Frist, is to stand up to those in his party's right wing who want to enshrine police-state enforcement as the beginning and the end of immigration strategy.
With a strong push from Bush, the tardy Frist could guide this wearying saga to a better ending. Millions are watching, and waiting.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 7:45 AM
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