Smart Bombs: Where’s the path to an immigration solution?

Politicians know there isn’t an easy solution to illegal immigration. They know massive deportation is unrealistic, but they also know that acknowledging this can be hazardous to their careers. The word “amnesty” makes them weak in the knees.

In 2007, President George W. Bush pushed for immigration reform that included a path to citizenship, and it went nowhere. So what’s the alternative? For many politicians, the solution to their problem is to set a standard for border security that’s impossible to achieve, so they don’t have to confront the thornier issues of what do to next. So Bush’s plan was met with a loud chorus of: “Secure the borders first.”

Six years later, the Senate passed an immigration reform bill that pays a great deal of attention to that mantra. The 12-year journey to citizenship cannot begin until security measures are in place. Sixty-eight senators, including 14 Republicans, voted for the bill. According to a summary put together by the Immigration Policy Center, Senate Bill 744 would:

Deploy 38,405 full-time Border Patrol agents along the southern border – twice the number currently in place. Build at least 700 miles of fencing, including double fencing in some places. Install electronic exit systems at all ports where customs and border protection agents are deployed. Build more Border Patrol stations and operating bases outfitted with camera systems, mobile surveillance systems, ground sensors, fiber-optic tank inspection scopes, portable contraband detectors, radiation isotope identification devices, mobile automated targeting systems, unmanned aircraft, helicopters and marine vessels.

The bill would also mandate 24-hour surveillance of the border, and hire more prosecutors, judges and staff to speed deportation proceedings. It would close 90 percent of the cases of immigrants who have overstayed their visas.

The total cost would be $46.3 billion, most of which will be spent on supersized security. It’s more than the entire 2015 Homeland Security budget. It’s a ridiculous sum, but it was offered in response to the border security cry. And it lured Republican votes.

After passage in the Senate, the bill languished. In the House of Representatives, it’s as if it never happened. The mantra remains: “Secure the borders first.”

So the question becomes: What will it take to sufficiently safeguard the border before moving on to other areas of reform? Apparently, $46.3 billion isn’t enough, so what is the appropriate figure?

The House should put its answer in the form of legislation. Failure to do so will just confirm the suspicion that the real goal is to keep illegal immigrants around to exploit for political gain.

Fix it. Hang on. I’ve been asked to look up “illegal.” OK, I still know what it means.

Your turn. Look up “solution.” Now, use it in a sentence about the 11 million or so illegal immigrants already in the country. Leave them in the shadows, where they get de facto amnesty? If not, then what? Be specific. Be realistic.

Self-defeating. Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary for President George W. Bush, wrote a smart column recently on immigration reform. He notes the current do-nothing strategy of Republicans could block their path to the White House.

He notes that in the presidential race, Republicans have won the popular vote only once since 1992. That was in 2004, when Bush got 44 percent of the Hispanic vote. In 2012, Mitt “Self-Deportation” Romney got 27 percent. Fleischer figures that a Republican will need about 35 percent of the Hispanic vote to win back the White House.

Maybe one of the candidates can smuggle in a solution.