PenceBlog: <b><i>WSJ's</i> John Fund: "Support is building for a rational middle ground on immigration proposed by Rep. Mike Pence"</b> - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence : 6th District Of Indiana

John Fund of The Wall Street Journal offers an update on the immigration debate in this column:

Here is an excerpt:

"Border agents tell me they could most effectively do their job and contain the spreading corruption within their ranks is if they didn't have to chase down people coming here to work and instead could focus their resources on catching gang members and terrorists. Support is building for a rational middle ground on immigration proposed by Rep. Mike Pence, chairman of the House Republican Study Committee. It would have the U.S. government contract with private employment agencies such as Kelly Services to establish offices called Ellis Island Centers in countries that today supply the most illegal alien labor.

"'It would encourage illegal aliens to self-deport and come back legally as guest workers,' says Mr. Pence. 'They would benefit from no longer living in fear or in the shadows of life and they could return home for visits. And since employers who hired anyone without such a visa would face stiff fines, it would make it increasingly difficult over time for those who weren't legal guest workers to get jobs.'

"A lot of complications need to be worked out, but the Pence approach recognizes the reality that border enforcement can work only if the pressure is reduced by providing a legal path for workers that recognizes the demands of our economy. It worked a half century ago with the Bracero program. Despite a tripling of resources and personnel on the border over the last decade, advocates of enforcement-only have yet to show that their approach can work in the real world."

posted by Pence Press Office # 8:00 AM