The Mess Congress Made: Immigration inaction is fueling Irving panic

This article was written by the Dallas Morning News. www.dallasnews.com
06:47 AM CDT on Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Many North Texans are reacting to Irving's crackdown on illegal immigrants by saying: Darn right, they're breaking the law, and it's about time we sent them packing. Folks on the opposite side counter: This is a harsh overreaction against people who are working, contributing to the economy and paying taxes.

The mood is getting nastier by the day. Fear abounds within the Hispanic community. Latino U.S. citizens, along with legal and illegal immigrants, worry that they could be hunted down and deported. Irving schools have noticed a drop in attendance because some parents, fearing deportation, have gone into hiding with their children.

"They get this notion that someone is going to actually come to school and snatch their children," Irving ISD Superintendent Jack Singley told The Dallas Morning News last week.

No matter where you stand in the illegal-immigration debate, this state of affairs should be unsettling. No one wins when children are on the streets instead of in the classroom. Federal law requires schools to educate children regardless of immigration status. A climate of fear, whether prompted by police action or unsubstantiated rumor, can only disrupt learning and ultimately wastes taxpayer dollars.

The crackdown in Irving – along with Farmers Branch and dozens of other communities across the country – is a reaction to a more profound problem. Local governments are getting involved in immigration enforcement because Washington is too timid to confront it.

Congress has repeatedly failed to tackle the issue of comprehensive immigration reform, a hot potato that few politicians want to handle before the November 2008 elections. Having lost patience, local governments increasingly are intervening, even though immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility.

This is an abysmal state of affairs. Members of Congress are fooling themselves if they think immigration reform will somehow get easier the longer they delay it.

We think it's pathetic that Irving schoolchildren are being kept home out of fear. But what's even more pathetic is the fear – of voter reprisal – that is preventing Congress from doing its job.