Getting Serious About Illegal Immigration

Ruben Navarrette Jr.

The American people say they want their leaders to get serious about illegal immigration.

Well then, the American people should set the example. As I look around the country, I don't see much seriousness. More like foolishness.

In Texas, a group of conservative students at a university staged a mock roundup of illegal immigrants in which some of the students wore shirts that said "Illegal Immigrant" and "Catch me if U can," and those who nabbed them were rewarded with candy bars.

Insisting that illegal immigration hurts the economy (and thereby demonstrating that they need to take more economics courses), the students said the stunt was intended to sound the alarm for tougher enforcement of federal immigration laws. They also criticized the immigration reform plan being proposed by President Bush, a conservative the young conservatives apparently believe isn't conservative enough on this issue.

In Arizona, more than 200 people have signed up for the "Minutemen Project," a civilian posse planning to head for the Arizona-Mexico border this spring to help the U.S. Border Patrol block the entry of illegal immigrants. Insisting that they are not vigilantes, project organizers say the response has been encouraging and that volunteers are coming from 36 states. Not bad for an effort that has run afoul of the Border Patrol. A spokesman says the agency frowns on civilians taking the law into their own hands. So does the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. A spokeswoman for the center says it is monitoring the Minutemen Project after seeing "a lot of interest" in the project on neo-Nazi Web sites.

Is this a great country, or what? Conservative college students put their ignorance on display by oversimplifying a complicated debate. Meanwhile, a bunch of yahoos plan an "immigrant-palooza" that could turn into a hoedown for bigots.

How appropriate given that much of the hostility to illegal immigrants is rooted in racism. If those streaming across the border had light skin, blue eyes and spoke English, I suspect there wouldn't be such an uproar -- even if they were coming illegally.

Even President Bush can't seem to be serious -- or realistic -- in how he goes about grabbing hold of the thorny issue of illegal immigration. Much of what Bush proposes sounds reasonable: increasing the government's allotment of green cards; creating a national registry where U.S. employers could post job openings which, if not applied for by Americans, could be filled by additional allotments of guest workers; and establishing 401(k)-style savings accounts where these workers could deposit earnings for them to tap into when they return to their home countries.

Far less reasonable is Bush's plan to grant temporary work visas to millions of illegal immigrants already here. Under the president's plan, people who once could be deported would be -- at least for a period of three years -- undeportable. I don't care what the administration says, that's amnesty with a capital "A."

Nor is there much that's reasonable about the open-border rhetoric the president often slips into in promoting his plan. He did it in the State of the Union address when he said, to scattered applause: "We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families." He also did it at a Dec. 20 news conference where he seemed to say that the Border Patrol should turn a blind eye to illegal immigrants and concentrate on apprehending "crooks and thieves and drug runners and terrorists, not good-hearted people who are coming here to work."

Wow. These may well be "good-hearted people who are coming here to work." But if they come illegally, they're also lawbreakers. The answer isn't for law enforcement officers to ignore them and focus on more dangerous criminals.

If that's the way we're going to play it, then why have a Border Patrol at all -- or immigration laws for that matter? Why not just open the border and welcome anyone who comes to the United States to work?

By even suggesting as much, President Bush detracts from the debate, just as surely as those behind the immigrant hunt and the Arizona Minutemen.

The immigration debate has been spoiled by the extremes. We've seen enough theatrics and had our fill of pie-in-the-sky rhetoric. What we need now is a serious discussion -- one that recognizes the right of the United States to protect the sovereignty of its borders and the reality that there will continue to be illegal immigrants as long as Americans continue to hire them.

Ruben Navarrette's e-mail address is ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.