New York Times Editorial: The Immigration Reform Team

New York Times Editorial: The Immigration Reform Team
Copyright by the New York Times
Published: June 24, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/opinion/25fri4.html?th&emc=th


Mayor Michael Bloomberg, making good on an inaugural pledge, has stepped up to help lead the national battle for immigration reform. On Thursday, he announced a partnership of mayors and business leaders to make the economic case for reform, including mayors of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Phoenix, and top executives of companies like Walt Disney, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing and the New York Mets.

Rupert Murdoch — chairman of the News Corporation, naturalized citizen and member of the coalition — stated its views succinctly: “This country can and must enact new immigration policies that fulfill our employment needs, provide a careful pathway to legal status for undocumented residents, and end illegal immigration.”

Mr. Bloomberg was even blunter in making the case for reforming immigration policy, in which restrictive laws, stifling bureaucracy and aggressive enforcement have closed the path to green cards or citizenship for millions of hopeful entrepreneurs, workers and other would-be Americans. He called it “national suicide.”

Theirs is the capsule version of the argument for comprehensive legislation that the country has needed for years but that has failed in Congress for years.

Hopes for passage this year are quite dim, but the argument still needs to be made. If anyone can make it, it’s the mayor of New York City, which is at the heart of America’s immigrant story.

Mr. Bloomberg and his partners recognize that people who are dynamic, hard-working, entrepreneurial, innovative and creative are the kinds of people any city, or country, should want. More green cards mean more start-up companies and jobs.

(The mayor’s strong case would be even stronger if he weren’t trying to eliminate some legal services and English classes for immigrants. A tiny city program, Immigrant Opportunities Initiative, saw its budget halved to $5 million in fiscal 2010, and then zeroed out in the mayor’s 2011 budget. He should find the money.)

The unfortunate side of Mr. Bloomberg’s welcome entry into the immigration debate is that it is necessary at all. The White House and Congress should be stepping up to the issue.