Editorial: All eyes on our borders

Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005 | 8:09 a.m.

In signing a nearly $31 billion measure this week to fund the Homeland Security Department, President Bush tried to deflect mounting criticism that he is soft on illegal immigration. "To defend this country we've got to enforce our borders," Bush said. He emphasized how that will be done under the new bill -- there will be more electronic surveillance, border patrol agents, border stations and detention centers for holding captured violators.

Perhaps to mollify his conservative base, Bush also supported deportations "as soon as possible" of anyone caught having entered this country illegally.

We do need to tighten our borders. If harmless people seeking work can run across our borders by the hundreds every day and quickly make their way into our cities and rural areas, so, too, can terrorists and common criminals such as drug runners. But using deportation imagery in such a broad reference was not wise on Bush's part. Most law enforcement agencies want undocumented workers to feel secure in reporting crimes against them, without having to worry about being sent back to their home country.

Bush also renewed his more reasonable call for a guest worker program that would allow undocumented immigrants, after they paid stiff fines, to apply for visas. Once documented, they could work in this country for up to six years before having to return to their home country for at least one year.

This plan would certainly be preferable over the extreme notion that the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants should be rounded up and deported. But it is flawed nevertheless, as it does not give workers (many have started families here) a chance to apply for permanent residency.

There are now two bills before Congress loosely patterned after Bush's general vision. One, introduced by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., would give illegal immigrants five years to leave the country on their own. It would allow them to return as documented immigrants and work for two years in jobs unable to be filled by Americans. But what happens after the five years? A roundup of possibly millions of workers who didn't leave?

The other bill is sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. It would allow undocumented workers to remain employed here for up to six years. After that they could stay if they had applied for residency. The bill also would require them to pay up to $2,000 in fees and make good-faith efforts to learn English. We support this bill. Combined with tighter border enforcement, it would provide a solution to the immigration problem short of punishing millions of people who have labored hard here as the only way of providing for themselves and their families.