Opinion - Our View

POSTED: Saturday, Mar. 21, 2009

Immigration issues needs solutions, not more raids

The recent immigration raid at Yamato Engine Specialists is a failure on many levels.

It disrupted an important local business with many employees. It "rounded up" more than two dozen hard-working people in our community. And it did nothing to stop the flow of illegal immigration in to the United States.

The arrest of 28 suspected illegal immigrants in Bellingham, Wash., is meaningless in the larger scheme of the immigration struggle in the United States. We take care to remember, and you should too, that despite the heated debate since the raid the business' owners and those arrested are innocent until proven guilty.

Illegal immigration is a complex matter that will never be solved by random arrests. How long would it take to round up 12 million illegal immigrants 28 at a time? What is needed is not heavy-handed police raids on individual businesses, but a comprehensive reform of the entire system.

Our country needs to let more workers in legally. It needs to recognize that millions of people are already here, working and paying taxes. We need to find a way to take the cloud from over their contributions to our society. To the extent that immigration is tied to the economics of Mexico or other countries, our leaders should work with officials from those to find a system that allows their citizens to come to the U.S. to work. And they should find ways to improve economies in those other countries so more of their citizens will want to stay home.

Immigration raids make big headlines and are seen as either heroic or evil depending on the readers' point of view. But we believe they are little more than a show meant to draw attention to the immigration issue. We don't mean any disrespect to the hard-working and honorable men and women who protect America's borders when we say that. We know that they are just doing their job and that most do their jobs protecting America with skill, courage and humility.

But our immigration officers are tasked with fighting a losing battle. Yes we must protect our country from outside criminals and terrorists. But why do we need to arrest single-mothers and fathers who support large families by working hard? The vast majority of immigrants in America are here to work hard and provide a better life for their families here and back home. They are not a threat to America. Why does our outdated immigration system force them to break the law to work here?

Now the Yamato raid will become a political hot potato. With a new administration in Washington, D.C., there will be a review of the raid and probably demands from Congress to do more, or less, depending on the politician.

But it is way, way past time for our nation to stop with the short-sightedness around immigration and completely overhaul the system. It's time to recognize that people who come here to work and lead productive, peaceful lives are no threat. It's time to recognize that businesses across this nation need these workers or they would not be finding work.

We need a new immigration system in the United States. Perhaps if we are lucky the Yamato raid will be the catalyst to the creation of that new system.