Must read on immigration from E. J. Dionne: "A Debate Beyond the Fence"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501989.html

A Debate Beyond The Fence

Immigration Issues We're Overlooking

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, May 26, 2006; A21

In our debate over immigration, we're talking past each other on issues of genuine concern to both sides, and we're using our confrontation over immigration to evade larger questions.

As the Senate moved to set up a clash with the House over how to deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, the country faced the prospect of a narrow and confusing discussion. On one side are those who just want to deal with border security and would like to deport a lot of those immigrants. On the other are those who also want to deal with security but would provide a path to citizenship for most, though not all, of those illegally in our country.

On the whole, senators -- such as John McCain and Ted Kennedy -- who want to deal with both security and legalization have the better of the argument. As President Bush has said, we're not about to round up and deport 12 million people, and we might as well face that fact. It is far better for our country, perhaps especially for the native-born, to transform members of an illegal subclass into taxpaying, rights-bearing citizens who can openly live up to their responsibilities as Americans.

But advocates of a more liberal policy toward illegal immigrants need to take seriously the discontent that the anti-immigration movement has tapped into. Immigration has been a blessing to the United States, but it is not an unmixed blessing, and the costs of our immigration policies are borne more heavily by some parts of our society than others. Rather than dismiss all immigration critics as xenophobes, supporters of immigrant rights need to deal with the legitimate gripes of their opponents.

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