Posizione WSJ contro i
“restrizionisti” repubblicani
pro iniziative di integrazione
immigrati
[tradizionale posizione liberista]
- Alla Camera gara (propagandistica, secondo WSJ)
a proporre misure draconiane anti-immigrazione: - Deputati Colorado e Arizona: polizia statale e locale
dovrebbe rastrellare i 10 milioni di clandestini e deportarli in massa…
Duncan Hunter (California): costruire muro lungo tutto
il confine messicano;
John Hostettler (Indiana):ddl per mettere soldati lungo
tutto il muro..- Ultimo decennio varate almeno 6 leggi costrittive
anti-clandestini
MA popolazione immigrata illegale ha continuato ad
aumentare (ultimo anno da 10,3 a 11 milioni, secondo Pew Hispanic
Center.- “Ciò suggerisce che c’è qualcosa di più che il
desiderio di evitare i controlli alla frontiera che spinge questa migrazione di
forza lavoro – precisamente le opportunità economiche negli USA… Una politica
basata sulla sola repressione non fermerà esseri umani determinati a cercarsi
una vita migliore”. - In Senato ddl bipartisan John McKain-Ted Kennedy
per una legge che favorisca l’inserimento al lavoro. - Bush ha osservato che sono stati fatti
stanziamenti per 1.900 nuovi agenti di frontiera, ma che per poter applicare le
leggi sull’immigrazione occorre creare un programma di lavoro temporaneo
November 29, 2005; Page A18
The White House is wading back into the
immigration debate, and some GOP restrictionists think (hope) they’ve
detected a change in emphasis, and maybe policy. If that’s the case, you
couldn’t tell from President Bush’s remarks yesterday in Tucson, Arizona, which
sounded to us as if the Administration is sticking to its plan to address
illegal immigration by pairing border security with a guest-worker program.
It’s a sensible strategy, especially given
that Congress has tried enforcement-only fixes time and again without
much success. But short-term memory loss seems to descend on lawmakers every
time they turn their attention to immigration. So with House Republicans
gearing up to pass yet another enforcement bill, let’s rehash how often this
approach to curbing illegal immigration has been attempted in recent years.
According to the National Foundation for
American Policy, Congress has passed no fewer than six
immigration-enforcement bills that became law in the past decade. Combined,
the measures run to 450 pages, and they include:
– The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act, which expanded the border patrol’s deportation
authority.
– The 2002 Enhanced Security and Visa Reform
Act, which established additional data-sharing requirements among local
authorities, the State Department and the Immigration and Naturalization
Service.
– The 2002 Homeland Security Act, which
created the Department of Homeland Security. This new agency swallowed
up the INS entirely and divorced its border control functions from service
functions — a move that the restrictionists told us would make both more
effective.
– The 2004 Intelligence Reform and Prevention
Act, yet another law aimed at making our intelligence agencies "more
unified, coordinated and effective" in order to strengthen "the
security of our nation’s borders," according to Mr. Bush.
– The 2005 Real ID Act, which grants
Homeland Security the authority to build barriers along the Mexican border.
It also forces states to revamp policies for issuing driver’s licenses,
thereby making it harder for illegal aliens to obtain them.
This list is far from complete, by the way.
It doesn’t include administrative measures that don’t require
legislation. Nor does it include rapidly increasing spending on technology,
facilities and personnel in annual appropriations bills. But it does illustrate
our point, which is that U.S. immigration policy at least since the
passage of the Simpson-Mazzoli law in 1986 and certainly since the 1990s has
emphasized "security" above all else.
The results? Well, according to the Pew
Hispanic Center, the illegal immigrant population in the U.S. has shown
"steady growth" in recent years, with undocumented residents
conservatively approaching 11 million, up from 10.3 million last year. This
suggests that something more than the desire to dodge border patrols is
driving this labor migration — notably, economic opportunity in the U.S.
And it also suggests that an enforcement-only policy won’t stop human beings
who are determined to seek a better life.
All this came to mind when we learned that
House Majority Leader Roy Blunt has promised to mark up a "major
piece" of border-security legislation in coming weeks. And it looks
like he’ll have plenty of options to choose from, even if they all amount to
more extreme, and in some cases grotesque, versions of what we’ve seen before.
Colorado’s Tom Tancredo and Arizona’s J.D.
Hayworth want to deputize state and local police to help round up the 10
million or so illegal aliens already in the country and forcibly deport them en
masse. Duncan Hunter of California wants to build a wall along the entire
southern border, from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, to prevent them
from returning. And Indiana’s John Hostettler has
introduced a bill that would station U.S. soldiers along that wall, East
German-style, to keep all those aspiring gardeners, busboys and
chambermaids at bay. We haven’t yet heard anyone propose underwater mines in
the Rio Grande, but give it some time.
While the House is content to posture,
however, the Senate seems interested in taking steps on immigration that
would actually move beyond the status quo. Majority Leader Bill Frist has said
the Senate will consider a guest-worker bill — introduced by John McCain
and Ted Kennedy — that would not only lead to a more secure Mexican border
but also recognizes the labor demands of the U.S. economy.
President Bush noted again yesterday that
he has increased funding for border security by 60% and added 1,900 new border
agents. Yet he’s also repeatedly called for comprehensive reform that
doesn’t ignore labor market incentives. "People in this debate must
recognize that we will not be able to effectively enforce our immigration
laws," said Mr. Bush, "until we create a temporary-worker
program."
It’s too bad the President’s impeccable logic
has so far escaped much of the Republican leadership in Congress.