New York Times
Editorial

June 1, 2004
Crosses on the Border

Almost five months ago, President Bush announced that America's immigration policy was "broken"

and that he was ready to mend it. Instantly, the anti-immigration forces in Mr. Bush's own party began

venting their outrage about anything that might impose a measure of rationality on the system, especially

if it eased the plight of the nation's millions of illegalimmigrants. The White House has barely

mentioned the issue since.

Sadly, this brief story in Washington has turned into an ongoing tragedy in
places like the Sonoran Desert area in southern Arizona. American border
agents working that unforgiving terrain have reported a spike in immigrant
deaths as more people from Mexico try to navigate the deadly passage north.
Many of them come with the mistaken impression that America's president has now made

it possible for them to work in America legally. The plight of more immigrants running what

one minister in Arizona calls "the gantlet of death" should send the latest and most urgent

reminder to Washington. Mr. Bush and Congress need to start dealing seriously with

comprehensive immigration reform.

An overhaul of immigration policies that is humane and addresses both
America's economic and security needs will be a painstaking affair. But that
is no argument for waiting until after this year's elections to get started.
In fact, more delays by the Bush White House will raise suspicions that the
president's immigration policy was less a call for change than an appeal for
Hispanic votes. At the same time, immigrants suffer at the borders,
America's black market for labor thrives, and some 10 million immigrants
live in an underground society that hardly enhances the nation's security.

Two bills with strong bipartisan support in Congress could be passed swiftly
with the president's support. One, the "AgJobs" bill, would help give legal
status to half a million agricultural workers already laboring in this
country. Another, the Dream Act, would allow the illegal immigrants'
children who have grown up in this country to pay in-state tuition for
college and eventually earn a path to citizenship.

The groundwork has also been laid on Capitol Hill for a more comprehensive reform.

The president's vague proposal in January tracks a bill offered by Senator John McCain of

Arizona and two of his Republican colleagues, while Democrats, including Senator Edward Kennedy

of Massachusetts and Representative Robert Menendez of New Jersey, offer a more attractive

alternative. It's a shame Mr. Bush refuses to prod these legislators to work on a compromise.

Mr. Bush early on identified the need for an ambitious immigration reform,
but he has failed to exert himself on its behalf. In the meantime, the death
toll in the desert keeps rising. The United States government has bought ads
in Mexico pleading for "no mas cruces en la frontera." Maybe it's time to
buy some of those ads in Washington.