Editorial: Stalled immigration reform

Wednesday, June 13, 2007 | 7:25 a.m.

T he immigration bill that had been debated in the U.S. Senate all last week, and the week before that, is for now in limbo, owing to considerable opposition from Republican senators who equate it to amnesty.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pulled the bill Thursday night when it became obvious that Republicans were ready to debate and offer amendments forever rather than let the bill proceed to a vote.

Republican opposition to the bill revolves mainly around its provision to allow the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States a path to citizenship. The conservative base of the Republican Party prefers a bill that would deport the undocumented workers.

"Meaningful immigration reform legislation was lost the moment the bill emerged ... with an immediate path to amnesty for anywhere from 12 million to 20 million illegal immigrants," Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., told The New York Times.

Some pundits fault Reid for pulling the bill, which has consumed months of legislative time. But we do not see that he had any choice. With Republican opposition so strong against the legislation, there was no realistic chance that continued debate would accomplish anything.

To get an idea of just how strong their opposition is, consider this: President Bush, who strongly supports the bill, joined the Senate's GOP membership for lunch Tuesday at the Capitol and asked the senators to back off from their recalcitrance. It was only the second time since he became president that Bush attended the weekly, closed-door lunch, according to the Associated Press.

Depending on how much influence Bush still has, his pitch might yield results, as Reid on Thursday told The New York Times: "I will bring the immigration bill back ... as soon as enough Republicans are ready to join us in moving forward ... "

We oppose the bill as written, but for different reasons than the Republicans. In our view, the process for undocumented workers to gain citizenship is an unworkable ordeal. There are also problems with the guest-worker aspect of the bill, which would turn the workers into second-class citizens and separate them from their families.

As the millions of undocumented workers have proven themselves invaluable over the years to the U.S. economy, we would like to see Congress agree on a bill that strengthens border security, speeds legal immigration and provides a humane path to citizenship for all whose only crime has been to illegally cross a border in a desperate effort to support themselves and their families.