ARIZONA REPUBLIC (Editorial): Below the belt
Congressional delay on border reforms is a sucker punch for Arizona and for the nation

Jul. 21, 2005

We've been sucker-punched.

When Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist deemed it unlikely that Congress would pass a major immigration reform bill this year, Arizona took a hard shot to the solar plexus.

This state has provided real leadership on the issue. The bipartisan guest-worker legislation offered by Arizona's Sen. John McCain and Massachusetts' Ted Kennedy is a pragmatic approach that addresses immigration reform as a law enforcement, human rights, economic and national security issue.

That bill has been waiting as Congress wallowed in denial.

Years of federal inaction have resulted in a population of undocumented immigrants estimated at 10 million. The out-of-control border not only brings workers to employers who gladly hire them, it provides cover for terrorists who want to slip in unnoticed.

Instead of embracing responsibility at long last, Frist offers this: Maybe next year.

A breathtaking, heartbreaking assessment considering that next year is an election year; that was the excuse for not tackling this issue in 2004.

Arizona took the punch and staggered to its feet with yet another proposal to fix the broken federal system.

Jon Kyl, Arizona's junior senator, offered a bill this week with Texas Sen. John Cornyn that also seeks to move the immigration debate forward.

This proposal wisely puts more emphasis on workplace enforcement. Illegal immigration will stop only when employers stop hiring undocumented immigrants.

But the measure's approach to the current undocumented population is unrealistic. Under the McCain-Kennedy approach, those working here illegally could remain after paying a fine. This provides a needed incentive for people to identify themselves, and it keeps the workforce in place.

The Kyl-Cornyn bill requires undocumented immigrants to sign up for a "mandatory departure" program. They could then remain for up to five years but would have to leave at the end of that time.

Many members of the undocumented population have been living here for most of their adult lives. They have families and social ties. They are unlikely to step forward into deportation.

The Kyl-Cornyn bill lands somewhere between the McCain-Kennedy approach and a highly punitive measure being offered by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., which, among other things, makes it a felony to be in the country illegally.

Kyl and Cornyn have scheduled a hearing on their bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. That would be a good time to begin a debate that should include the McCain-Kennedy approach.

It's time Senate leadership gave them the support they need to move ahead. The same week Frist was delivering his gloomy prognosis on immigration reform, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called for an expanded guest-worker program and increased border enforcement for the sake of national security.

As Chertoff recognizes - even if the Republican leadership of Congress does not - illegal immigration is a serious national concern. Congress needs to deal with it now.

Offering excuses for delay is a sucker punch that does more than take the wind out of Arizona - it affects the entire nation.