Only real immigration reform can end the crisis

The crisis unfolding again at the country’s southern border isn’t the result of the latest failed legislative efforts to address immigration, it’s the consequence of ignoring it.

Starting this week, the nation ends so-called Title 42, a vapid ploy to turn back immigrants using the pandemic as a ruse.

The federal executive order instructed customs officials to oust undocumented immigrants, including those seeking asylum, from the United States. The excuse was that immigrant holding facilities were ill-equipped to handle anti-COVID protocols.

Even after Trump was removed from office by voters in 2020, the Biden administration continued the scheme.

The Biden White House has had more than two years to prepare for Title 42 ending and has done little to deal with the expected onslaught of immigrants desperate to get into the United States.

Immigration policy stands out as one of the nation’s most catastrophic and humiliating failures by Republicans and Democrats alike.

Already useless immigration policy fermented by the Obama Administration was weaponized during the Trump presidential campaign and his dismal term in office.

Vastly expensive and wasteful remnants of his notorious “great wall” along segments of the southern border stand as testament to Trump’s insidious exploitation of some Americans’ fear or disdain for immigrants, and especially immigrants who are people of color.

Republicans and Democrats must end the cruelty, the inhumanity and the vast lost opportunities for immigrants and the nation alike. They must work together to finally solve this problem, of which illegal immigration is but a symptom: jobs.

Endless U.S. industries and businesses depend on the cheap labor that illegal immigrants provide. Until that issue is addressed, nothing will change.

For decades, the problem of illegal immigration has been primarily about jobs, and Trump and his acolytes have worked hard to distract from that. Despite all the heated rhetoric and emotional arguments targeting both sides of this thorny issue, there is a growing cadre of inconvenient facts we’ve highlighted repeatedly:

• There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, and their stories and circumstances are astoundingly varied. Officials estimate greater Aurora is home to about 130,000 illegal immigrants.

• Many of these immigrants are settled and integrated into our communities. They have jobs. They own cars and homes. They make more than $60 billion a year from U.S. businesses. They have children in schools. They spend vast sums of money in the community.

• They are our friends, neighbors and a daily part of our lives, distinguishable from the 40 million Americans not born in the United States only by their lack of documentation.

• Business groups and more than a few industries haven’t been shy in making it clear that these immigrants are critical to their operations. Many metro businesses can’t currently find adequate numbers of employees, even with illegal immigrants backfilling the workforce. Removing these people from the workforce would be disastrous to the U.S. economy.

• Deporting illegal immigrants is far from a simple matter. Many families consist of citizens and non-citizens, many with varying degrees of legality. Tearing apart families will only lead to tragedy and increased government expense.

• The cost of rounding up, collecting from holding cells, housing, processing and deporting millions of immigrants would be astronomical. Even proponents admit that.

The answer isn’t knee-jerk racism, disinformation or a wall, it’s employment.

The nation needs a vastly changed immigration system that offers worker permits. It must include heavy penalties for businesses that employee undocumented workers. It must be a system that allows immigrants to work here legally without having to be citizens. It must be a program that allows for accomplishing citizenship for those who play by rules.

The only answer is comprehensive immigration reform that continues America’s lauded policy of open arms, transparency and accountability.

We need good government to take the place of abhorrent politicians.