Opinion: Keep the politicians out of immigration reform debate

On the heels of an electoral drubbing, the President and Republican leaders of the new Congress remain at odds over immigration. The Republican meme of ‘securing the border’ is beginning to skip like a scratched record. But the President’s ‘phone and pen’ aren’t even on the constitutional playlist. We need a new song, a hit single to refresh the debate.

The argument over the U.S./Mexican border is stale. I grew up within sight of the border, and used to throw the old San Diego Union over white picket fences early in the morning, saying “buenas dias” to the daily line of illegal immigrants being smuggled through our neighborhood. We who live here understand the importance of a sensible, legal process. But we also understand the difference between being here illegally, and being a criminal. They are manifestly not the same thing.

It wasn’t until I met a wonderful lady from Malaysia who would become my wife – after getting her a fiancée visa – that I grasped the real problem. And it was not at the border, and it had nothing to do with border security.