06/15/07 Saving Immigration Reform

Saving Immigration Reform. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. What will it take to pass immigration reform? That's a big question that a lot of people are asking and I'm not sure there is an answer. Oh, there are a lot of answers but is there one that can be agreed upon? Last week the Senate's debate on the issue broke down and many claimed the issue was dead. The issue can't be dead&we need a fix. Not only do we need to protect our borders but the American agriculture industry depends on that labor force. The President really wants to see an agreement reached before he leaves office. Yesterday in a speech to the Associated Builders and Contractors he said when you find something that doesn't work, you fix it. BUSH: Our immigration system has been broken for many years. Most Americans agree that the 1986 immigration law failed; it didn't work. It failed because it did not secure our border. It failed because it did not create a reliable system for employers to verify the legal status of their workers. And it encouraged more people to come to America illegally. It didn't work, and it needs to be fixed. When you find something that doesn't work, you have a responsibility to fix it. According to Washington Congressman Doc Hastings, it doesn't really matter how hard the President pushes, it's up to the Senate to get it back on track. HASTINGS: Because unless they pass something there will be nothing, the House simply won't take up the bill. In fact there is an article in one of the daily news items here that Speaker Pelosi said she's not interested in taking something up unless the Senate passes it. Earlier this week an immigration raid in Portland, Oregon three people were arrested for providing false ID's. Bush's remarked there is a whole sub-culture evolving from the current illegal immigration mess. BUSH: The number of illegal immigrants in our country has continued to grow. And illegal immigration is now supported by criminal enterprises. In other words, there are people who are preying on these folks that are coming to do work that Americans aren't doing. You've got a whole system of coyotes -- those are smugglers -- human smugglers taking advantage of a broken system. You've got document forgers -- people wanting to work and they know they've got to have some papers, and there are people, a whole industry of people providing them with false documents. People are being exploited as a result of a broken system, and this isn't right. We can do better. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.