Let's reform U.S. immigration laws, stop border chaos

Starting on April Fools' Day in Tombstone, Ariz., volunteers calling themselves the Minuteman Project began gathering for a monthlong demonstration at the U.S. border with Mexico. The estimated 1,000-citizen border patrollers have the wrong prescription for solving the immigration problems that ail us all.

Most of these militia members are as frustrated as I am with our broken immigration system. They are simply pursuing the wrong set of remedies to the problems created by our failed immigration policies.

On one thing, we agree: The immigration system is in desperate need of reform.

Many involved with the Minuteman Project and the broader anti-immigration movement feel that we cannot consider reforming immigration until we get control of our borders, but that is precisely backwards. We cannot gain control of our borders until we reform our immigration laws so they match more closely with reality. Reformed laws must meet the needs of employers, immigrants and this nation's citizens.

They must also be efficiently and effectively enforced so we can free up our security resources to focus on the threats of terrorism, smuggling and violent crime.

That approach to immigration reform is much more realistic, much more likely to succeed and much more consistent with our values and traditions as a nation of immigrants.

Generally, Americans don't hate immigrants. But they are uncomfortable with illegality and a government that doesn't seem to be doing its job.

The militia approach is one of guns and aggression.

The better approach is to recognize and regulate reality.

President Bush, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and a growing number of leaders in both parties have put a new approach on the table. The "big idea" they support is to create legal channels for immigrants seeking opportunity, allow immigrants already here to come out of the shadows and participate legally in our society, deploy humane, intelligent border-security measures and cut off the black market for fake documents, exploitive employers, violent criminals, smugglers and the like.

Only this style of reform will allow us to transform a deadly, chaotic and illegal immigration system into a safe, legal and orderly one.

Making it hard to come here legally and then stirring up outrage about the resulting illegality is a political strategy. Allowing enough immigration to happen legally so that our border agents, intelligence services and law enforcement can focus on legitimate security threats is a security strategy.