Rethink how Congress deals with immigration

Immigration reform has long been a concern in the United States; efforts have been many and generally proved to be controversial, ineffective and inadequate. Perhaps a well-conceived, coordinated congressional reform could prove successful.

Previous efforts at reform included the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which made the recruitment and hiring of undocumented workers illegal but granted amnesty to those who had entered the U.S. without documents before Jan. 1, 1992. Since then, six other amnesties have been enacted and 11 million undocumented immigrants now require amnesty to embark on a path to citizenship.

Throughout these reform efforts, both the legislative and the executive branches of government have tended to react rather than focus on developing a long-term, well-conceived immigration policy. Few legislators seem able to agree on what might constitute a workable and effective policy.

Congress should assume the lead role in formulating workable immigration reforms, and the initial congressional action should be reorganization of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services. The department has for years been inefficient and woefully inadequate in the processing of immigration documents. Applications and supporting papers are lost or misfiled; applicants or their representatives may be verbally abused or accused of misconduct based on mistakes of a departmental employee.

Congress should create permanent congressional committees on immigration and remove the responsibility for immigration and naturalization from subcommittees of the House and Senate judiciary committees. Moving the responsibility for immigration out of the judiciary committees would make the focus on immigration more inclusive and coordinated and encourage more effective immigration procedure supervision.