Immigration reforms a welcome start
Houston’s experience should lead Congress to embrace a fair, firm and welcoming policy.
Beyond forbidding walls and taut, guarded fences, beyond wild-eyed Paul Revere warnings about roiling waves of desperate people lapping at our door, beyond the fear, cruelty and suspicion of a nativist Stephen Miller as official government policy, we would like to think this week’s new beginning in Washington also inaugurates a new beginning for immigration reform.
For those lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, interested in actually getting things done, the task of establishing reasonable and pragmatic metes and bounds for the nation offers a real opportunity, just as it did in 2013. That’s when a Democratic-led Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform legislation that would have provided a path to citizenship for the undocumented, paired with tough border-security measures. Supporters of that ambitious legislative package included Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, but in the House a nascent Tea Party sent GOP members scurrying like startled quail. No vote was ever taken.
We’re pleased that President Joe Biden has made immigration reform a legislative priority, pleased that he immediately signed executive orders dismantling several of the more egregious policies of his predecessor. Biden acknowledged, however, that executive orders are mere “starting points.” Actual immigration reform — the durable kind that requires legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by the president — has proven devilishly difficult over the years, and there’s little reason to think this time will be any different.
We choose to hope, though, that under Biden’s leadership, members of both parties realize that fair, orderly and reliable immigration policy is good for this country — the comprehensive kind and, if need be, even the piecemeal kind.
Biden’s Day One orders last week included immediately halting construction of the border wall. They put deportations on hold, lifted the so-called “Muslim Ban” affecting travel, and
preserved the DACA program that allows undocumented immigrants brought here as children to stay without fear of deportation.
The hard part remains: Convincing Congress to find a permanent solution, and to address the estimated 11 million immigrants who live and work in the U.S. without proper documentation, including an estimated 1.7 million in Texas. The new administration calls for an eight-year pathway to citizenship, granting five-year temporary residency status for qualified applicants, who would then be able to apply for a green card or permanent residency status, conditional on passing background checks and paying taxes.
The Biden package would provide DACA recipients, some agricultural workers and recipients of the program known as Temporary Protected Status a faster path to citizenship by letting them apply for green cards immediately. After three years, green card holders would be allowed to apply for citizenship if they pass additional background checks, learn English and become familiar with U.S. civics.
The new legislation would increase the number of immigration judges working in the backlogged immigration court system — something many Republicans, including both Texas senators, have called for — and would fund legal counsel for children and other vulnerable immigrants. And it would authorize regional processing centers in Central America to register and process those applying for refugee resettlement.
Biden’s immigration-policy focus is a reminder that we are a nation of immigrants, as we’re often told.
True, of course, but the new administration cannot rely on high-minded admonitions.
Biden and company must make the case that our immigration policies not only “are in line with our values and priorities,” but also are sensible. They must make sense to the Energy Corridor high-tech company that needs workers from overseas, to the Brazoria County farmer who relies on seasonal workers, to the aspiring medical student from India or Nigeria or China who will inevitably contribute to this community.
Open borders do not make sense. A nation closed off to the rest of the world makes no sense either.
When it comes to making immigration work, a big, sprawling Texas city that we know well has a message for Congress, particularly Republican lawmakers. Look to one of the most diverse cities in the nation, a city that relies on international trade for its economic vitality and on newcomers for its continuing cultural vitality.
Houston is proof positive that immigration works for everyone. Crafting sensible, fair and reliable immigration policy will make it work even better.