Fixing immigration fairly

INDIVIDUALS willing to close America to the world have hijacked the immigration reform debate.

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Invoking symbols ranging from the Revolutionary War to Martin Luther King Jr., armed vigilantes are patrolling a segment of the Arizona-Mexico border and taking the enforcement of immigration law into their own hands. While they claim only to offer support to the Border Patrol, the Mexican government is on edge, human rights activists have flooded the area, and President Bush has distanced himself from the effort.

The likelihood for human tragedy is high. The impact on the safety and psyche of all immigrants and refugees across the country will be monumental.

These vigilante groups are emboldened by political demagogues who, for example, file federal legislation allowing bounty hunters to pursue immigrants. Such individuals have no interest in our national security and are willing to dismiss America's values and history for the sake of political gain.

It is time to take back our country. We can start at a place where we all agree: The immigration system is broken beyond piecemeal repairs. A comprehensive, realistic, enforceable solution is necessary.

Many in the anti-immigration movement feel we cannot reform the immigration system until we get control of our borders. Yet the truth is that our borders will not be controlled until we reform our immigration laws so they match our reality.

Immigrants wish to achieve the American dream and become part of our society. They do not wish to break the law. However, since our system does not provide opportunities for legal immigration, people are pushed underground. This closing of legal immigration hurts all levels of our workforce, drains our universities of valuable intellectual capital, decreases our ability to innovate, and frays our communities.

Reformed immigration laws must meet the needs of employers, immigrants, and the American people and be efficiently and effectively enforced so we focus scarce security resources on the real threats of terrorism, smuggling, and violent crime.

This comprehensive approach to immigration reform is more realistic, more likely to succeed, and more consistent with our values and traditions as a nation of immigrants.

As a nation of laws, we are very uncomfortable with illegality and a government that doesn't seem to be doing its job. Yet the militia approach is one of guns and aggression. The better approach is to recognize and regulate reality.

President Bush, Senators Edward Kennedy and John McCain, and a growing number of leaders in both parties have put a new approach on the table. This approach would create legal channels for immigrants seeking opportunity, allow immigrants here to come out of the shadows and participate legally in society, deploy humane, intelligent border security measures, and cut off the black market for fake documents, exploitative employers, violent criminals, smugglers, and the like.

Furthermore, these reforms must come with the resources to reduce the backlog of pending citizenship applications. They also must reassert our role as a home for those fleeing violence and create a multilayered border that enhances our national security in all areas, from well-funded foreign consular offices to the protection of civil liberties in local communities.

Only this style of reform will transform a deadly, chaotic, and illegal immigration system into a safe, orderly, and legal one. Only this style of reform will sustain our economy, values, and promise for generations to come.

Making it nearly impossible to come here legally and then manufacturing outrage about the resulting illegality does not lead our country forward. Allowing enough immigration to happen legally so that our economy thrives, our communities prosper, and our border agents, intelligence services, and law enforcement can focus on legitimate security threats is progress.

For generations immigrants have come to America in search of freedom, jobs, and a better way of life. It is our collective responsibility to live up to these values and come up with something better than armed vigilantes as a means of regulating immigration.

Ali Noorani is executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.