February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Immigration might be the heart and soul of the great American story but the heart part has been iffy of late, the soul elusive.
These are, to say the least, uncertain times for both immigrants and legislators, many of whom are very wary indeed of grasping an American tradition lately transformed into a political time bomb.
So praise is due indeed for Senators Kennedy and McCain, Lieberman and Brownback and Representatives Gutierrez, Flake and Kolbe.
Move to the top of the class gentlemen, but don’t forget to duck.
It was no surprise that the bill presented by these six legislators was not simply labeled as an immigration reform act with the appropriate date duly tagged onto the end.
No, this was the “Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005.” It was entitled thus because it had to be.
If you want to get off even a few words on immigration on Capitol Hill these days you are wise to couch your language firmly in terms of national security.
The word “orderly” does no harm either because even the most fervent advocate of a more open-ended national immigration policy would agreed that the situation along the border with Mexico in particular is anything but.
It is to be welcomed that the Kennedy/McCain proposal seeks to rope in as cooperative partners nations to the south, most especially Mexico, in order to restore order to the border.
This will be an absolutely vital part of the upcoming debate without which there will be little chance of successfully pursuing relief for the many hard working undocumented immigrants already living within the nation’s borders, many of them for years, even decades.
It’s hard not to sense that what transpires in the coming months might be the last great act in America’s immigration story. Tolerance of large-scale immigration would appear to be waning in Washington. This was the case even before Sept. 11.
And of course, since that fateful day, the trenchant opposition of congressional immigration critics has grown only fiercer.
Meanwhile, the Irish find themselves in an unusual, indeed novel, position as the competing sides run to their corners for the upcoming Capitol Hill battle.
Large-scale immigration from Ireland has all but ceased. But there remains a community of undocumented Irish immigrants in the U.S., many members of which lost out in the Donnelly and Morrison visa schemes because green cards were given to Irish-based applicants who really never had any intention of making full use of them.
Even the harder hearts in Congress have to give a little credit to people who have worked hard, paid taxes, stayed on the right side of the law, in some cases have raised families and even given employment to others. These are the kind of people upon which this country’s very foundations rest.
The new bill contains an earned legalization clause. Again, the wording is critical here. An amnesty implies some sort of charitable freebee.
But any undocumented person who ultimately secures legal residence, should this bill become law, will have created the conditions leading to his or her own legality. Additionally, he or she will have to satisfy a number of clearly stated requirements and pay substantial fees and fines.
Despite this, opposition will come from legislators who see this part of the bill as an amnesty. They will excoriate the bill against the backdrop of a nation nervous of outsiders and, given the events in Washington only last week, that is living day to day on something approaching a hair-trigger defense.
It would all make us yearn for the relatively carefree days of the 1980s and early ’90s when names such as O’Neill, Mazzoli, Donnelly, Morrison, Simpson and of course Kennedy, dominated the immigration landscape. There was Congressman Peter Rodino, too, who passed away only a few days ago.
These guys knew how to cut deals. We can only hope that there are enough of their successors in Washington who can craft agreement out of an immigration mess that has been allowed to run out of control for too long.
Security, yes; order, yes; legal status for those who qualify, yes. And the sooner the better.