Angela Kelley on Secretary Napolitano and comprehensive immigration reform

Recently, Secretary Napolitano gave a speech on immigration reform, what were the key messages that Secretary Napolitano laid out in the speech?

Secretary Napolitano is making clear what she sees as a path forward on immigration reform. As we're coming to the end of 2009, and people are looking to the legislative agenda for 2010, it's clear that immigration reform is right there at the top. And what Secretary Napolitano indicated is that since the 2007 immigration debate, a lot has been done at the Department of Homeland Security to make us safer. Our border are, in fact, much more secure that they've ever been. She's been vigorous in expanding measures that would crack down on employers who aren't following the rules, and she's been vigorous in going after criminal aliens. But what Secretary Napolitano also made clear is that we're never ever going to be completely secure until we do something about the 12 million people who are living without status, who aren't in the system. And it was her strong recommendation as the top security officer for the administration that we do something that brings these people out of the shadows by requiring them to register, to pay taxes, to learn English, and ensure that they don't have a criminal record. That, in fact, is how we'll enhance our enforcement measures.

Why is legalization a key piece to enforcement?

We have 12 million people living here without status. Many people say they've broken the law, so why do anything for them? Because the truth is that we're not going to deport them. The truth is because we have 5 million kids who were born here, who have one or two parents that one of them is undocumented. The truth is we have 7 million workers that don't have papers. So, it wouldn't make sense to spend over 40 billion dollars a year for five years to try to deport everybody, which is what it would cost. It doesn't make sense to put our precious resources in that direction. What it does make sense though to do is to require folks who are here without status to register, to come forward, to pay taxes, to go through a background check, to learn English. And also require employers who are currently hiring people off the books that they pay their taxes so that employers that are trying to follow the rules aren't undermined by those who aren't. So I think what Secretary Napolitano was saying was that as the top security officer, she can only do so much, and she's done a lot. But at the end of the day, it's up to Congress to act to ensure that we get control of the system again, that we restore the rule of law, and that part of that--not the entire package, but part of that--has to include dealing with the 12 million people who are here without status.

What are the key pieces of immigration reform?

Well, as we've been talking about, certainly we have to do something about the 12 million who are here without status. Another piece of it has to do with the family backlogs. We have many U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who are separated from their spouses, from their children, and we need to simply clear out the backlogs so that we ensure that the people who have been waiting in line get their shot at coming to America first. The next thing we have to do is be smart about how many people do we need to come to the U.S. in the future. We have to ensure that we have enough visas so that employers who are following the rules have the needed workers. At the same time, we have to be sure that we're not letting in so many people that we're undermining U.S. workers' opportunities and wages. And finally, of course, we need enforcement. We need smart enforcement that builds on some of the practices that the Department of Homeland Security has been pursuing. But most especially we need a smart strategy for when a person goes to get a job that we're certain that they're authorized and legal to work, and that we have confidence in that system and that we're sure that employers are following the rules. Those are really the four elements of reform: legalization, family, assessing how many people we need in the future, and smart enforcement.