Democrats Need To Speak Louder On Immigration

A New York Times editorial points out today the suck-up job Republicans in particular are doing on immigration, with the exception of John McCain, whose campaign has been almost fatally derailed by this issue.

Candidates — and by this we mean the Republicans, mostly — have been striking poses and offering prescriptions that sound tough but will solve nothing. They have distorted or disowned their pasts and attacked one another ferociously, but over appearances, not ideas — over who can claim to be the authentic scourge of illegal immigrants, and who is the Lou-Dobbs-Come-Lately.

Key here is understanding that borders have nothing to do with 40% of undocumented persons:

Huge numbers of illegal immigrants never go anywhere near the border: about 40 percent enter legally and overstay their visas. Nor can the government purge workplaces of illegal workers without doing vast damage to the economy. At some point it must address the 12 million undocumented, who cannot be deported en masse.

Nor can building a fence justify the billions of dollars it would cost, not to mention that you’d still need surveillance. And almost no candidate wants to answer what to do about the 12 million people who are here, not because they want to rape and pillage our country, but because they want better lives (and mostly contribute to our economy in the mean time). I hope Democrats have the courage to do what this editorial suggests:

They have said the right things. Amid all the Republican shouting, it would help if they would speak louder.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.