Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has been running around the country attacking federal politicians on immigration issues. He recently visited Utah in order to stir up support for his anti-immigration organizations and goad Cannon into another debate (Cannon wisely refused). Tancredo, who is considering a run for the presidency in 2008, is a complete nuisance. His opinion is that "if we don't control immigration, legal and illegal . . . we are no longer a nation at all." Even better, this windbag suggested that the United States should bomb the "holy sites" in Mecca as retaliation for terrorist conduct. Just by standing next to Tancredo, Cannon instantaneously becomes a statesman. From the age of 15 to my placement as a law clerk, I worked year-round in a multitude of capacities including dishwasher, busboy, janitor, manual labor for construction sites, food preparation and harvesting produce — employment that many Americans now refuse to consider. Recent arrivals to this country willing to perform the miserable tasks that millions like me undertook, regardless of their status and proper documentation, deserve the shot at citizenship the Cannon legislation provides.

Webb: Chris Cannon's heart is in the right place on immigration reform. However, on a practical basis, U.S. immigration policy is in shambles and Congress and the president deserve criticism for not stepping up to this crisis. Almost all of us trace our roots to immigrants. I believe that legal immigrants ought to be welcomed so they can build better lives for themselves and also meet the significant demand for workers in our businesses and industries. Our economy needs immigrant labor at all levels, including high-tech computer programmers.

The problem is, we don't have a workable immigration program in this country that accommodates reasonable immigration. Instead, we have millions of illegal aliens ignoring our laws, streaming across our borders in record numbers (some 11 million now in the country), with a minority of them coming to commit crime and deal drugs. It has gotten so bad that two Democratic border state governors, Janet Napolitano in Arizona and Bill Richardson in New Mexico (who is himself Hispanic), have declared states of emergency on their borders. These are two pro-immigration moderate governors who can hardly be accused of being racist or bigoted. Immigration is a uniquely federal issue, but the federal government isn't enforcing the laws or dealing adequately with the problem, so Congress and the president share and deserve part of the blame.

As a congressional point person on immigration, and a supporter of the White House positions, Cannon is a natural target for the anti-immigration forces. Immigration reform will be a big issue in his re-election campaign next year, as it was last year.