Our View: Rep. Darrell Issa's bill is an honest approach to a difficult subject

By: North County Times - Editorial | Saturday, December 20, 2003 7:18 PM PST ∞

Two immigration bills proposed by local congressmen last week include some of the best and the worst thinking ever offered in response to undocumented immigration.

The proposal from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, is the worst.

The proposal from Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, makes a lot of sense.

Rohrabacher said he will introduce a bill in January that will force hospitals to report undocumented people to the Immigration and Naturalization Service if they request treatment in an emergency room.

That's a horrible idea for public health. It is in no one's interest to have people who are ill with communicable diseases afraid to seek medical treatment. Doctors, hospital administrators and public health workers are virtually unanimous in opposing it.

We suspect Rohrabacher offered the bill for political reasons. He is being challenged in the Republican primary by the former congressman, Robert "B-1 Bob" Dornan. This counterproductive bill is a way of assuring that Dornan will not outflank him on the right. But bad public policy offered for political ends is still bad public policy.

Issa's immigration bill is not perfect, but it has the great virtue of being honest. "You can't fix (undocumented) immigration," Issa said. "You manage it."

That's a welcome breath of honesty on a difficult subject. U.S. immigration policies are so riddled with deceit and corruption it is impossible to straighten them all out at once. But Issa's proposal would help.

The Alien Accountability Act would allow undocumented immigrants to register with the Department of Homeland Security, in return for which they could stay here for up to six years, renewing their status each year. They could leave the country and return but would not qualify for permanent residency. Their part of the deal would be to tell federal officials who helped them come here illegally and who gave them jobs.

The purpose is to clear out the underground, cash economy that allows employers to dodge taxes and cheat workers. "A cash economy, an underground economy is the best for criminals and terrorists," Issa said.

"We specifically give amnesty to employers who turn themselves in. They would have no criminal prosecution, but they would have to make full restitution of taxes, penalties and interest because they're guilty of tax evasion. We're going to the employer and say, 'You owe your FICA, you owe your Social Security, you owe your Medicare ... (you owe) the income tax that should have been withheld.' From an IRS standpoint, we could be talking about billions and billions of dollars."

So Issa's bill would be self-financing. That should help allay Rohrabacher's concerns about costs. And Issa's would not lead to legalization, or amnesty. Issa said, correctly, that many immigrant workers do not want U.S. citizenship. They want to make a decent living to support their families back home, and perhaps save enough money to set up a business in their own country. This bill would help them do that. It would help fill our need for labor, and it would cut out the predatory coyotes who rob, rape and kill on the border.

The vast majority of undocumented people come here to work, and despite the law, employers are given a free ride to hire them. Employer sanctions are a weak joke. The INS gives employers three days notice before work-place "raids" today, as a "courtesy." The hypocritical truth is, we don't want to catch the people who wash our dishes, change our sheets in hotels and pick our vegetables.

There is no perfect solution to undocumented immigration because we have relied upon it for too long. It is a radioactive issue and Issa will gain no political points for this, but it's a good plan. We congratulate him for having the courage to offer it.