Yes, he's a notorious toe-sucker, a sometimes-scurrilous gossip, AND, actually hearing his voice on the air (i.e. Hannity) makes my frickin' skin crawl, because he's such a smarmy-sounding f***. Of course Hannity makes my skin crawl, too, as does almost EVERY conservative talk radio host, and I'm......conservative, by and large. Go figger. Butcha know what? The arena of public policy is all about ideas, Alvarado......and framing a message. At that, Mr. Dick Morris can excel, especially in writing - where his unctuous, oleaginous demeanor can be far less prevalent.

And excel he does in this op-ed, published today, on illegal immigration and what's to be done about it, by President Bush.

President Bush seems impaled on the false choice of appealing to the Hispanic vote or enforcing laws against illegal immigration. Politically, legally and morally there is no conflict -- and there is a great deal of synergy -- among these objectives. Bush, searching for a way to recapture the national agenda, needs to seize this issue and make it his own. A full and reasoned program will galvanize national support and unite the nation behind tough measures to enforce our laws and maximize opportunities for those who already live here legally.

Bush must:

Back the fence. Walls work....Good fences make good neighbors and the United States should act to regularize the traffic of immigrants into the country by the kind of border control that only a well-positioned fence can offer....It would be a modern, high tech affair, spotting breaches and relaying the information to highly mobile border guard units to plug them up.

Establish a legal guest-worker program. Nobody can deny the manifest need of Americans -- both individuals and businesses -- for the work that currently illegal immigrants provide....But the plan should include a track to citizenship for these workers, providing certain criteria -- such as English fluency, English literacy and no arrest record -- to let them earn the right to become American citizens.

....Prosecute visa overstays. Half of the people who live here illegally entered the United States with legal visas and overstayed them. All 19 of the Sept. 11 hijackers came here under the law and then stayed on after their visas had expired (or should have been revoked because they did not attend school, having entered on student visas). That we cannot rid our country of these illegal immigrants is hard to understand. We have their names, photos, fingerprints, addresses and phone numbers but we do not deport them.

The main reason for their immunity is the lack of deportation judges and courts and the inadequate number of holding cells for detainees. We need a massive expansion of our judicial infrastructure.

....Immigration is keeping America young and vital. If not for the annual flow of 3 million people -- about half legal and half illegal -- we would be much like the nations of Europe, losing population and watching their populations age. But we cannot afford the current chaotic flow of immigrants over a theoretical border. We need to enforce the law and make it fair.

More from my archives on illegal immigration, via City Journal's stellar Heather Mac Donald, and syndicated columnist Froma Harrop.

TECHNORATI TAGS: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, MEXICO, GEORGE W. BUSH, DICK MORRIS

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Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 15, 2005 01:48 PM