PenceBlog: <b><i>John Fund:</i> Hutchison-Pence Plan will "balance the country's need for labor" with "respect for the rule of law"</b> - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence : 6th District Of Indiana

Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund today penned this column about immigration.

Here is an excerpt:

Any new guest-worker program must avoid such shortcomings. But the striking success of the Bracero program ought to stand as an historical signpost in considering our own immigration situation. With only five weeks to go to reconcile vastly different Senate and House bills on immigration reform, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, both Republicans, are proposing a compromise to tighten border security and then offer temporary work visas to illegal immigrants if they first leave the country -- along the lines of the Bracero program.

"It would encourage illegal aliens to self-deport and come back legally," says Mr. Pence. "They would benefit from no longer living in fear and could return home for visits. Employers who hired anyone without such a visa would face stiff fines, so it would be increasingly difficult for those who weren't legal guest workers to get jobs."

The plan would balance the country's need for labor -- there are only 67,000 H2B visas for the entire country per year -- with respect for the rule of law. Even Rep. Tom Tancredo, an anti-immigration firebrand, has previously introduced two guest-worker bills similar to the Pence-Hutchison bill.

Many Republicans oppose passing any immigration bill this year. That could be a tragic political mistake. In 1994, Democrats spent the whole year talking up health care as a major issue only to bicker and fail to even vote on a reform bill.

"Voters punished us in part for not being competent enough to finish the job," the late Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan told me in recalling that year's GOP electoral tsunami.

Mr. Pence is convinced a similar failure to legislate on immigration this year "could cost Republicans our majority."

posted by Pence Press Office # 9:20 AM