My Sunday column

Early in his second term President Bush pushed Congress to deal with the issue of illegal immigration. Congress, including many in the president’s own party, pushed back. Nothing was accomplished.
Whatever you think of his specific proposals, Bush deserves credit for trying to deal with a contentious and complicated issue. Not so impressive was the way he chucked the hot potato.
Now, President Obama and his party are in control of Congress.
What should we expect?
Will the White House push hard for legislation on immigration?
I’m skeptical. The Democrats don’t want to give Republicans a powerful issue to use against them in the 2010 mid-term elections — the campaigning never really stops — and there are also fissures in the party on immigration. Obama may well support random measures and he will likely back off any active enforcement of immigration law, but there remains a likelihood that we will have to endure more of the status quo — a leaky border and growing resentment in illegal immigration hotbeds all over the country.
What should the president do?
Congress needs to acknowledge a decades-old, unofficial, open border policy. For years the United States engaged in a wink-wink, nudge-nudge scam. Massive illegal immigration was allowed, if not actively encouraged. U.S. businesses — like our own carpet industry — benefited handsomely.
Illegal aliens aren’t fools. Looking for a better life, millions came to the U.S. surreptitiously, knowing that once they got here they had a very good chance of staying for the long term.
They violated the law, but in this case the law was a bad joke, taken seriously by a handful of federal agents and hardly anyone else.
Now, many of those same illegal aliens have built good lives in this country. They work, raise their families and try to make the best life they can. People like that, whether they came here legally or not, make good citizens. And that should be the thrust of immigration policy. Let’s identify the good and honest and give them the opportunity to “get legal.” Call it amnesty if you want — though that word seems to send shivers down the backs of some — but the main goal is not to reward illegal aliens, it is to strengthen our country. The United States can’t have too many honest, hard-working citizens.
And what about the others, the not-so-honest and not-so-hard working?
Put them in jail or boot them. This isn’t a penal colony and we aren’t obligated, legally or morally, to accept any other nation’s criminal element. (Too bad we can’t ship some of our home-grown thugs out with them.)
There is no doubt that illegal aliens create a burden on taxpayers. Health care, law enforcement and education are three areas where the impact is obvious. But there is no reason why that issue can’t be addressed in the context of overall social policy. Congress should make it clear that if you are in this country illegally, you will qualify for few if any federal benefits until you become a productive citizen. What’s done at the state level should be decided at the state level. If California wants to subsidize illegal aliens, that’s a decision for Californians to make. Georgians may feel differently.
Locally, taxpayers should not have to subsidize illegal aliens.
But the goal remains to get them legal and make them productive.
What should the U.S. do?
1. Take control of the border and shut down the flow of illegal aliens into the country until the system can be fixed.
2. Create a reasonable framework by which illegal aliens already here can become legal citizens. Take advantage of this wonderful human capital.
3. Move aggressively to weed out the criminals and slackers. Put them in jail or send them back to their home countries. Give ICE a job that matters and fund the department.
4. Revamp federal, state and local laws in regard to social service benefits, health care, education, etc. Paying your way is the right way, but then again that should apply to our homegrown deadbeats, too. The key on this point is that policy should be made at the local level. Different communities, different states may choose other options. The best ideas and strategies will eventually emerge.
Illegal immigration needs to be addressed by this administration. If President Obama were to make the right decisions on this issue — unavoidably angering his own party at times — it could be a monumental legacy and a blessing to us all.

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen.