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Message to Congress

The demonstrations across the country this week should motivatelawmakers to draft more compassionate immigration reform.

It's not easy to stigmatize laborers, maids and even soldiers whose message is, "Give us a chance for a better life."

When tens of thousands of them take a day off from work to protest peacefully, as immigrants here both legally and illegally did this week, their individual plights become a political movement. Such is the trap congressional Republicans who are pushing a hard line on immigration have set for themselves.

Those lawmakers should have listened to Sen. Mel Martinez, a fellow Republican from Florida and an immigrant to this country. "There are so many millions of us who were not born here but who view ourselves in that same light, who take such offense when people speak in disparaging words about Hispanic immigrants," said Martinez, who fled Cuba as a child. "They should have told us they didn't want our vote if it was a problem, but they never did."

While Congress is on spring break, maybe that message will sink in and members will return motivated to pass immigration reform that will strengthen our borders while also treating millions of hardworking illegal immigrants fairly and with compassion. Martinez gave it his best effort, helping forge a compromise that would have allowed many to earn permanent residency and citizenship. Only last-minute efforts to scuttle the compromise with hostile amendments defeated the measure in the Senate. The House passed a much harsher bill that would erect more fences on the border with Mexico while making criminals of illegal immigrants and their supporters here.

While it is headed in the right direction and strikes a more even-handed approach, Martinez's legislation appears to be unnecessarily complex (and therefore less likely to work). He would put illegal immigrants into one of three categories. Those here five years or more could stay if they learn English and pay back taxes and fines, all reasonable requirements. But those here two to four years would have to return to a border crossing to apply for legal status, and those here fewer than two years would have to return home and apply for legal entry. At least 11-million illegal immigrants live here, and any law that drives many of them further underground by threatening certain deportation would only exacerbate the stress on many communities.

But we give Martinez credit for the effort, and for telling fellow Republicans the truth. As some observers have noted, the mass demonstrations by immigrants are taking on the aura of the civil rights movement. History has shown that those who stand in the way of such movements tend to be the political losers.

The quick collapse of the deal that Martinez helped negotiate does not have to be a permanent defeat. The spring break offers time to assess how counterproductive some of those last-minute amendments would be, and it gives members of Congress an opportunity to listen to their constituents and see the outpouring of demonstrators in the streets. Soon it will be time to choose sides.

[Last modified April 12, 2006, 01:07:16]