Immigration: A second chance

A LAT editorial today argues for passage of the immigration bill, which the Senate is planning to resurrect. The LAT rightly calls Reid's attempt last week to call off debate "reckless." And it laments possible Senate consideration of an amendment expected to be introduced by Kay Bailey Hutchison. The LAT argues that the immigration bill is a finely tuned compromise that shouldn't be amended further. It praises President Bush for supporting the bill, something that is rare for the LAT. But the LAT puts most emphasis on legalizing the illegals who are already in the U.S., without trying to justify it. They could have said that illegals broke the law when they entered illegally but the penalty should not be death or life imprisonment. The lawbreakers should pay a penalty but the central question is: What should that penalty be? Ideally, the penalty would be deportation, but that isn't realistic for an illegal population of 12 million people. The challenge will be to find a penalty that is acceptable to all sides. Once that's agreed, the next challenge will be to insure that border security is beefed up enough to stop further illegal entries.