Editorial Immigration in the House By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Published: July 7, 2013 The Republican caucus of the United States House of Representatives is holding a private meeting on Wednesday. The subject will be immigration. Perhaps it will be a showdown or a summit that will reset the party’s direction on this issue. Maybe party leaders and moderates will push back against Tea Party no-dealers and hard-core members, like Steve King of Iowa, who want to kill any bill that allows undocumented immigrants to become Americans. Maybe Republicans will decide to accept bipartisan immigration reform as a step toward becoming a party with something to offer Latino and Asian voters besides hostility and fear. Or maybe not. Now that the Senate has passed its version of reform — a comprehensive bill with a long but real citizenship path — the ball is in the House. It might be stuck there: the speaker, John Boehner, has ruled out voting on the Senate bill, or on any immigration bill not supported by the majority of his caucus. That is a recipe for failure, but the House has nothing else to offer right now, no other solutions to match the scale of the problem. Four immigration bills have passed the House Judiciary Committee, each with its own nonanswers. The SAFE Act doubles down on the failed strategy of trying to force millions of immigrants to self-deport. It would free states to write their own immigration laws, give state and local law enforcement more power to make immigration arrests, and remove the discretion for the Homeland Security Department to defer the deportations of harmless immigrants in favor of all-out, indiscriminate enforcement. The Ag Act would make it easier to exploit cheap temporary workers, who would be deported when their jobs were done. The Legal Workforce Act would vastly expand the use of federal electronic databases to screen job applicants, an invitation to discrimination. And the Skills Visa Act would create an immigration path for thousands of entrepreneurs and workers in science, technology, engineering and math fields — a worthwhile goal but a very narrow one. A bipartisan gang of House members has been working on a broader bill, but nobody has seen it yet and it may go nowhere because it is said to include a path to citizenship. About all that can be safely predicted is that we are in for a summer of heat and pressure, with immigrant advocates loudly demanding a bill and defiant Republicans digging in to make sure that reform collapses. If only enough House Republicans could see that the bill is one that embraces many of their own priorities. It shrinks the deficit and satisfies big-business interests with more visas for agricultural and information-technology workers. It ushers millions of shadow workers into the higher-earning, taxpaying, aboveground economy, a sure recipe for jobs and growth. And it heaps billions on defense contractors to supply the surveillance tools and weaponry to fortify the border. The coalition behind comprehensive reform is large. It includes evangelicals and Catholics, law-enforcement and business groups, and Republicans like Jeb Bush and former President George W. Bush. Immigrant-rights advocates and Democrats are solidly lined up, too, even those who want a shorter path to citizenship and less money thrown at the border buildup. Mr. Boehner has a choice. He can let reform go forward with bipartisan support — House Republicans and Democrats together could pass a good bill. This would infuriate the hotheads in his caucus but save the Republican Party from itself. Or he can stand back and let his party kill reform. As the issue festers, a nation is watching to see whether the Republicans can work out their Steve King problem and do something difficult for their own good, and the country’s. Meet The New York Times’s Editorial Board »
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 04:31:21 +0000