Blue Dogs and Republicans Team Up Against Immigration Reform

Unfortunately, bipartisanship and immigration reform can cut both ways. In the Senate, it gives us hope that losing in Massachusetts won't destroy the chances for comprehensive immigration reform. But a new resolution in the House shows that working across the aisle can also threaten the opportunity to fix our system.

A new bill introduced into the House by Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Frank Kratovil (D-MD) would bar undocumented immigrants from entering on a pathway to legalization, which has Numbers USA in a very good mood. Now, I am loathe to call the conservative Blue Dog Democrats actual Democrats, and all but one of the Democratic supporters of this bill are blue through and through. But, ignoring the fact that most of these Dogs should probably follow Parker Griffith and switch to red already, the bill is technically bipartisan. And it shows terrible judgment on both sides.

While the proposed legislation obviously appeals to those concerned that amnesty will give undocumented immigrants a free pass -- and we just can't have that -- its wording also denies any possibility of paying fees and fines and fulfilling requirement to become legalized. The only option for the country's 12 million undocumented immigrants, then, would seem to be deportation, an extremely cost-prohibitive resolution. Not to mention one that will break up families, ruin lives, and hurt the economy.

The proposed bill pushes border security, unsurprisingly. But it also calls for mandatory use of E-verify, a problematic program that is supposed to tell employers whether someone is legally in the country and permitted to work or not. In practice, however, employers who are already knowingly breaking the law by hiring, and often exploiting, undocumented immigrants won't be any more responsible about using E-verify. On the other hand, the flaws of the system, which is run by the Social Security Administration and ever-competent Department of Homeland Security, include the fact that it is error-ridden, and could keep legal immigrants and U.S. citizens out of the workforce. Full implementation would cost a boatload and delay disability benefits by overwhelming Social Security -- which, by the way, doesn't even use its own program much of the time.

Blue or red, everybody should know a bad idea when they see one.

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