Mendocino County’s opinions on the issues

Check out today’s editorial columns and letters to the editor from our readers.

Comprehensive immigration reform has proven elusive for decades, despite the clear need for it. With roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country, most of whom have lived and worked here for over a decade, according to the Pew Research Center, it is untenable for Congress to continue to do nothing. We encourage President Joe Biden to pursue immigration reform and for Congress to take it up.

President Biden has proposed a sweeping immigration reform plan that includes offering temporary legal status for undocumented immigrants who meet certain requirements, an eight-year path to citizenship for those who meet further requirements, expanding opportunities for legal immigration and investing in border security.

That’s a sound starting point for a resolution to the problems that come with having over 10 million people in the country off the books, improving the current slow and overly restrictive legal immigration system and reducing illegal border crossings.

The reality is that the vast majority of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country will not be going anywhere. They live here, often with American citizen children, work here and are firmly established in communities across the country. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, nearly one in 10 California workers is undocumented.

Keeping this population underground does no one any good. As President Ronald Reagan recognized, “Illegal immigrants in considerable numbers have become productive members of our society and are a basic part of our work force. Those who have established equities in the United States should be recognized and accorded legal status. At the same time, in so doing, we must not encourage illegal immigration.”

That’s right.

Likewise, it’s true that one of the best means of limiting illegal immigration is to expand opportunities for legal immigration.

There’s plenty of opportunity for Congress and President Biden to hammer out legislation to make something comprehensive work.

We’re not under the illusion this will be easy, though, or that Biden’s full proposal will make it through. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-florida, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-south Carolina, who have previously backed reform efforts, have already declared it a nonstarter for them.

Graham suggests a permanent fix for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals could be more viable in the newly evenly split Senate. We would strongly encourage Congress to pass a permanent DACA fix, too. Instead of continuing the back-and-forth executive actions on DACA, a legislative solution is and always has been the proper way of aiding young people who were brought to the U.S. illegally.

But at some point, the larger undocumented immigration population, the legal immigration system and border security have to be addressed too. They won’t magically resolve themselves.

That successful long-term approach will involve something resembling the Biden proposal, with some tweaks and changes to be sure. Whether Congress will get around to it sooner than later remains to be seen.