I have already blogged about a couple of Miriam Jordan's articles on illegal immigration from Mexico.
This latest one says: "Recent Republican solidarity on illegal immigration is showing cracks under pressure from agricultural groups..." It says that a bill to be introduced today by Texas Republican Lamar Smith will revise an existing guest worker provision, and allow for up to half a million foreign farm workers to work in the U.S. The number may not be high enough, but it is a step in the right direction.
The article points out that "...concern is also rising for a wider swath of corporate America about the need for a more business-friendly rationalization of immigration policy."
My view is that politicians are simply facing reality. Demagoguery from Presidential candidates aside, migration from the south to the north to work the seasonal harvest has been a feature of American life for centuries, since before there was a border. The idea that the 2000-mile long border can be sealed is a silly impractical waste of money. The sooner politicians recognize this, the better, for our budget and for the economy, among other things. You can't fight nature, history and culture.
We share a continent with Mexico. This is not only a geographical fact, it is also cultural and historical. With an ongoing brutal drug war in Mexico, this may not be the right time for a wide open border, but it should be the ideal towards which we move.
Related posts:
Change to U.S. Immigration Policy, 8/19/11
Illegal Immigration and the Need for Reform, 8/15/11
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