omething must be done to secure our porous border and on Thursday the Senate begins to tackle the issue. Unlike previous Congressional debates, this one is the first since the terrorist strikes of 9/11 and is influenced by national security concerns. It is an issue Congress has struggled with for at least thirty years. The Senate and House are not in accord. The Senate is considering a range of options, including temporary worker programs, which would deal with the status of illegal immigrants while, at the same time, it strengthens border security. In December of 2005 the House passed a tough border-security bill that did not concern itself with the status of immigrants who are already here in the U.S. illegally. Their bill would include a 700 mile fence along the southern border, a requirement that

businesses must check the immigration status of new workers and first-ever criminal penalties for those in the U.S. illegally.
Both the House and Senate call for more personnel and technological assets along our nation's borders.
The last major overhaul of federal immigration law was in 1986 but unlike that reform package, employers would be required to take "reasonable steps to verify that employees are authorized to work." The Senate goes further with a proposal to create a new temporary worker visa. The visa would be renewable for as many as six years, but requires that the worker must leave the country at the end of the authorized period.
In 1988 the estimated number of illegals living in this country was under 2 million.
Now that figure has grown to well over 10 million. It surely is not realistic, possible or desirable to round them all up and kick them out.
We are both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.
Ignored, the problem will only grow. I wonder if either the Senate or House will consider ways for the undocumented people to, become, officially, part of America's future.
I'm an immigrant and in the days when I applied for entry to the United States all that was required of me was that I fill out a form at the American Embassy in London and within 24 hours I received the necessary paper-work to plan my future in this country.
If you have thoughts or comments you'd care to share on what, as you view it, needs to be done about our borders, border security and the status of people here without documentation, I would really enjoy reading them. Just e-mail your ideas to michael@michaeljacksontalkradio.com.