The Meaning of an "Enforcement Now, Enforcement Forever" Policy

There is an interesting juxtaposition of immigration stories in the N.Y. Times today.  Julia Preston writes about the controversey surrounding the 1800 immigrants losing their jobs in Los Angeles at the American Apparel, a garment manufacturer.  Nina Bernstein in the N.Y. Times writes about the by-gone era of Chinese "paper sons," another time when migrants seeking to come to the United States attempted to evade the restrictive (and blatantly discriminatory) immigration laws.  Today, most observers admit that the Chinese exclusion laws were an incredible mistake and do not begrudge the paper sons for attempting to circumvent the law.

How will we view our treatment of undocumented immigrants a century from now?  It is noteworthy that a report released today documents the increase in border deaths, deaths that a direct result of increased U.S. border enforcement efforts.  The report, which is available here, was prepared by the American Civil Liberties of San Diego and Imperial Counties and the National Commission of Human Rights; it is entitled Humanitarian Crisis: Migrant Deaths at the US/Mexico Border.

KJ