Despite the administration’s noble goals regarding Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR), the enforcement-heavy approach that the DHS will be implementing within the next month will not solve this nation’s immigration crisis. With the exception of adding some additional countries to the visa waiver program and extending the validity period of TN visas from one to three years, the tweaking of existing laws by the administration could be straight out of a restrictionist organization’s manual.
Is there an upside? Perhaps. For one, Secretary Chertoff has indicated that the increased enforcement against employers and resulting chaos and economic hardship on companies, may persuade corporate America to move Congress to enact CIR. Second, enforcement only won’t work. Even the restrictionists were for the most part demanding for enforcement first, now they’ll have it, and maybe a more realistic approach will follow.
In no way is the tweaking of existing laws that DHS has had to make do with comparable to a comprehensive solution to this nation’s immigration problem. To leave millions of undocumented aliens unaccounted for in the US is not a smart solution, either politically or from a security point of view. Despite the fact that some in Washington may tout this approach as success on the immigration front, they should leave their “Mission Accomplished” banners at home.
