Immigration reform needs Nebraskans

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All of Nebraska’s congressional delegation should join Sen. Chuck Hagel and President Bush to finally enact real immigration reform.

Prospects that the long impasse on the controversial topic finally can be broken are the brightest in years.

House Republicans torpedoed reform attempts last year in a failed attempt to exploit anti-immigrant sentiment in the November election.

Bush put the issue on the table again this week in his State of the Union speech when he identified immigration reform as one of his top four domestic priorities.

True immigration reform must be comprehensive, including better security at borders, tougher penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants, a guest workers program and a path to citizenship.

Congress took a step forward toward one of those goals last year when it approved a 700-mile fence at the U.S.-Mexican border. The U.S. Border Patrol also is in the process of being doubled in size.

But piecemeal solutions aren’t enough. It will take years to build the fence, and even when it is completed, it will cover only a portion of the border, which is about 1,951 miles long.

Bush put the issue succinctly: “Yet even with all these steps, we cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure off the border — and that requires a temporary worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, they won’t have to try to sneak in, and that will leave border agents free to chase down drug smugglers and criminals and terrorists.”

The November election may have provided the congressional support needed to fully address the problem.

Support for comprehensive reform is fairly strong in the Senate, which passed a reasonable bill last year. Last year, House leadership was intransigent on reform as it pursued its shortsighted and ultimately futile election strategy.

Now Democrats say they need support from 50 to 60 of the 202 House Republicans in order to win passage.

Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who supports comprehensive reform, predicted that “a good section of my party” will join in the reform effort.

Nebraska’s three House members and Sen. Ben Nelson should be among them. Immigration reform has been stalled too long. It’s time for Republicans and Democrats to work together for a realistic comprehensive solution.