08/12/2007

News / Corzine offers half of an immigration plan

The way it is envisioned, Gov. Jon S. Corzine's special panel to study immigration in New Jersey looks less like a way to better monitor and regulate the flow of illegal aliens into the Garden State than it is a way to encourage that migration, with potentially injurious results. Besides, the 27-member panel is so large and unwieldy a collection of minds that it is unlikely to ever yield clear and meaningful public policies of positive value to the state. These sorts of one-topic commissions are commonplace in state lore. Yet they rarely produce. And when they are driven by a political agenda, as this one seems to be, perhaps it is better that they don't. Either way, the advantage is hard to grasp.


One clue to the governor's true intentions lies in the fact that during the unveiling of his Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigration Policy, never once did he use the word "illegal" to categorize the population it intends to study. But of course that is what they are: individuals who are breaking U.S. law, no matter what label is applied to them, be it "undocumented immigrant" or some other variation of the phrase.

Corzine went on to demonize anyone who looks upon illegal immigrants as "outsiders," following up by reminding that the inclusion of immigrants is "fundamental" to the American story. But of course it is — so long as that assimilation takes place in an orderly, by-the-book fashion. So spare the lecture.

This isn't to say the state should ignore immigration reform altogether. Quite the opposite. With the unconscionable failure of Congress this summer to tackle the issue at hand, it is only natural that New Jersey take up the charge. But methodology is key.

The governor's panel has been instructed to examine ways to help the immigrant community in the areas of education, health care, housing, employment and language proficiency, to name but a few. Fine. With an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already residing in the United States, and unknown tens of thousands of them living in New Jersey, it is only sensible to address these questions, because illegal immigrants are here to stay. Still, if any policy is to be balanced, if it is to serve the best interests of all, most especially U.S. citizens, it ought to at least make some mention of how illegal immigration can and should be effectively policed. This isn't a dilemma that Washington alone can solve. The states must do their part. National security — the security of this state as well — demands there be a method of accounting for exactly who is here and why.

Rather, the governor seems to want to attack the problem through even more costly bureaucracy and Trenton give-aways, suggesting that New Jersey might create a permanent state office with the sole function of handling illegal immigration affairs. Ironic: Citizens would have to pay and noncitizens would benefit.

State Assemblyman Christopher J. Connors, R-Ocean, was correct when he said the governor's strategy is backward: "When we do come across illegal immigration, nothing is being done. Nothing is being done to those who hire them, and nothing is being done to secure our borders . . . That is where our energies . . . should be."

So, back to Congress, because whatever the state does or doesn't do to manage illegal immigration isn't likely to have the strongest effect until those U.S. senators and representatives take the lead. Such an agenda must include stronger interdiction along the borders, including stepped-up patrols and completion of a security fence between the U.S. and Mexico; closer federal monitoring of foreign visitors who overstay their visas; a clear path to citizenship, with incentives for those who apply and penalties for those who do not; a national I.D. card for noncitizens, entitling them to certain privileges such as a driver's license; enforcement of laws that already exist, and increased federal funding for these initiatives.

There is no doubt that immigration delivers new blood, talent and ideas, creating a stronger nation. But the Corzine administration's plan, and the absence of one in Washington, invites the process to evolve haphazardly, and that is to no one's good.

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