Immigration 'Victory'

Wall Street Journal
June 29, 2007

Immigration reform died in the Senate yesterday, a victim of populist anger on the right and political cynicism on the left. We hope the victors are prepared to live with the immigration status quo they purport to hate, because that is what they have now guaranteed.

As a matter of policy, this is far from the worst outcome. It would be better to bring some rationality to the reality of North American labor movements, and bringing illegals into the open would be good for national security. But the 12 million or so immigrants who are here illegally will continue building homes and cleaning hotel rooms, and more will arrive or leave depending on the job opportunities. At least the feds won't have more authority and money to harass more innocent employers who hire illegals owing to the ease of forging government documents.

Perhaps now, too, reformers can rally around more modest reforms, such as an expansion of H1-B visas for skilled immigrants. Either the U.S. will accept more of these workers, especially from American graduate schools, or more U.S. companies will outsource more high-tech jobs to Ireland and India. A left-right coalition might also be able to agree on an expansion of visas for agricultural workers, who are now in short supply. Here, too, U.S. companies will either grow vegetables in America harvested by foreign workers, or the U.S. will import foreign vegetables harvested by foreign workers. Restrictionists can't have it both ways.

As for the politics, the press will call this a defeat for President Bush, but he deserves credit for trying. This late in his term and with his low approval rating, he simply lacked the political capital to persuade Republicans spooked by talk radio and cable TV hosts.
Mr. Bush was also trying to do his fellow Republicans a favor by forging a new relationship with Hispanic-Americans, even though he'll never be on another ballot. We look forward to seeing how GOP candidates win elections as Democrats grab a larger share of America's fastest growing voter bloc. Perhaps Lou Dobbs has some campaign tips.

As for Democrats, their cynicism has rarely been so obvious. Senate Majority Harry Reid pulled the bill earlier this month when GOP leaders wanted only another day or two for amendments. Then when he brought the bill back to the floor, he doomed it with faint support and by letting his party add amendments he knew would drive Republicans away. Now he and his fellow Democrats will tell Hispanic voters that they could have passed reform if not for those bigoted Republicans.

Mark it down: Chuck Schumer will use this against GOP Senators next year. And should they win more Senators and the White House, Democrats in 2009 will be in position to pass their own immigration reform that will be far less restrictive than this one. The conservatives who "won" this week will deserve much of the credit.