SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
April 1, 2007 4:47 p.m. PT
After months of hearing about it, we finally know what the White House's immigration reform plan looks like. Reports of the proposal's details vary, but one thing remains clear: It's not a particularly workable one.
It allows for increasing the number of visas for skilled workers, provided that the number of visas issued to their family members be limited. Most illegal workers don't make much, and most send up to half their modest salaries back home (supporting families is often what drives illegal workers into the U.S.). The proposed plan would require illegal immigrants seeking legal status to pay $2,000 for every three-year period they legally work and live in the U.S. Then there's the $1,500 fee they'd have to pay for renewing their "Z" visas. They're also required, at some point, to leave the U.S. (and their jobs) for six months. Should they apply for a green card and get approved, they must pay a $10,000 fine. Oh, and they'd have to apply for the green card from their home country. Those fees can only discourage illegal workers from applying for legal status. They might make it impossible.
If we're going to reform immigration laws -- and with 12 million illegal immigrants here, it's clear we must -- let's do so effectively. Otherwise, why bother?
