Who's cutting Romney's lawn?

THE NEWS that Governor Romney employed illegal immigrants to care for his lawn in Belmont should not come as a surprise. It's obvious to anyone who lives in the Boston area that many people who work for landscaping services are immigrants without proper documents. Now that the governor knows the truth about the people who work at his house, perhaps he'll change his views about the need for punitive anti-immigrant policies.

A day before the Globe published its articles about the lawn crew last week, the Romney administration announced the State Police would begin enforcing federal immigration laws. The troopers will check on immigration status during a traffic stop or other routine work if they believe something is amiss, and only a few of the force's 2,500 officers will be involved. Even on a limited basis, however, this is an unnecessary broadening of responsibility and will do little to diminish the flow of illegal immigrants, who surely number in the tens of thousands across Massachusetts.

The Globe article offered a telling glimpse into the reality of immigration in the United States. Millions of people, mostly from Latin America, have entered this country over the past couple of decades. Jobs in the United States offer wages they could not hope to earn in their homelands. One of the men who worked on Romney's lawn was able to move back to Guatemala and buy land for a house. Economic necessity will trump a show of enforcement in Massachusetts.

Romney has been edging to the right on this issue as he prepares to run for president. His seeming objective is to outflank Senator John McCain, the front-runner for the Republican nomination. But Romney's support for a fence at the Mexican border and State Police enforcement won't alter the economic imbalances that drive the exodus.

McCain's bill, co-sponsored by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, would offer a more balanced approach. It would combine a guest worker program and hope of eventual citizenship for some illegals with tougher enforcement against employers who continue to hire illegal immigrants.

Community Lawn Service with a Heart, the company that does Romney's lawn, also works for the Massachusetts Port Authority and the City of Chelsea. Public agencies cannot be complicit in violation of immigration law, and the company should be denied this business unless it can prove its compliance. But cracking down on one company does not constitute an immigration policy. The next US president ought to build on the McCain bill to maintain a controlled flow of workers while discouraging employers from hiring those who come here illegally. The Guatemalans who worked at Romney's house remember with affection the governor's cheery "buenos dias." A little of that attitude -- plus some recognition that the problem is complex -- should replace the round-'em-up, lock-'em-out posture he's adopted for the campaign.