If you could zip the United States-Mexican border closed, round up the illegal immigrants now in the country and have them follow the guidelines to become citizens as set forth in the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act supported by Tennessee Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker last year, it would be a step forward.
The 11 million who are here illegally but want to become citizens would have to pay penalties and back taxes, have jobs and not be convicted of felonies. The bill also would double the number of border patrol agents and add 35 miles of border fencing.
The bill passed the Senate but not the House. And even if it had passed the House, the bill’s measures could not have been enacted quickly enough to keep the recent surge of illegal immigrants from crossing the country’s southern border into the U.S.
That the border is so porous after years of a recognized problem is awful. That so many in the recent surge are young people is a sad commentary on their life in their native, mostly Central American countries. That some of the recent illegals are from Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen and have ties to terrorists is downright scary and ought to give the United States pause.
So it’s a good thing House Speaker John Boehner recently told President Barack Obama there would be no House vote on comprehensive immigration reform this year.