Our View - Tuesday

Try, try again

Immigration reform on the docket once more

You have to admire the tenacity of lawmakers who continue to look for some kind of immigration reform bill that might break the logjam in Congress. We hope their perseverance eventually pays off. The latest effort at a compromise bill was announced Thursday by Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.. Dubbed the “Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act,” the bipartisan bill offers new formulas that supporters hope will garner enough votes to establish a working policy toward immigration, rather than the limbo the country has endured, while border control hard-liners have blocked every immigration proposal that has been offered in the past several years.

One factor standing in the way of STRIVE Act passage is that it is a comprehensive bill; it tries to address most issues that currently deal with immigration. It would hire even more Border Patrol agents to make illegal crossings more difficult; push the development of biometric identification to streamline legal crossings and employment; establish a program through which employers needing workers can solicit them from other countries; and better define and strengthen protections for children of undocumented immigrants, or those who themselves were brought into this country as children.

These provisions all make sense. But it’s doubtful the hardliners will be won over, as long as politics can be played with the issue.

To begin with, the argument that potential terrorists are streaming across the border is unproven. A majority of people who are in this country illegally have overstayed temporary visas. They were here legally and, it can be assumed, passed all checks that might have raised flags about any terrorist intent.

The need for workers is obvious. Even with an estimated 12 million people living in this country off the books, the nation’s unemployment rate remains near 4 percent. There are obviously enough jobs for all Americans who want to work, and enough left over to create a high demand for imported labor.

Maintaining smooth border crossings is essential. Measures that would make legal entry more difficult, or that would deter casual crossings, would devastate the economy in border states and inhibit free trade.

Polls consistently indicate that most Americans favor reform that is not punitive. In fact, voters last year repudiated most candidates who ran anti-immigration campaigns. Let’s hope that the congressional hard-liners’ desire to stay in office is stronger than their desire to play politics with the border issue, and that they can finally be persuaded to support comprehensive immigration reform.

Wolf set free

In the end, Josh Wolf, the freelance video blogger and journalist who spent a record 226 days behind bars for refusing to turn over unpublished video footage to the police and testify before a grand jury, was released Tuesday on the basis of a common-sense deal that could have been arrived at about six minutes into his imprisonment.

Wolf, 24, refused a subpoena to turn over video from a 2005 protest during the G-8 economic summit in San Francisco where self-proclaimed anarchists were suspected of trashing a police car and fracturing a police officer’s skull. California’s “shield law” for journalists would probably have protected him from being forced to testify, but since the federal government provides some money to the San Francisco Police Department, they made a federal case of it. There is no federal shield law.

In the end, after all the posturing, the authorities agreed to tell Wolf the two key questions to which they wanted answers: Did you see the police officer get hit in the head and do you have video of the incident? He said the answer was no. He then agreed to put all his video footage on his Web site and turn it over to the police.

Some people have questioned whether Wolf is a “real” journalist. It’s an interesting but ultimately irrelevant question. The First Amendment was not written to create a privileged class of duly certified journalists, but to recognize the rights of all the people. Were Thomas Paine and other pre-revolutionary pamphleteers “real” journalists? No matter. They were people with opinions who wanted to disseminate them. Under the First Amendment the rights of such people take precedence over the desire of government to suppress or control them.

Is Rockies region making the grade?

Whether you’re an academician, journalist, fact-hound or just an engaged citizen, curious about the fascinating part of the country you call home, Colorado College’s annual State of the Rockies Report Card will be an invaluable addition to your bookshelf. The fourth annual report was issued Monday, in conjunction with the ongoing State of the Rockies conference at CC.

This year’s report focuses on what the authors call a “perfect storm” of challenges facing the region, including droughtand diseased-ravaged forests, a domestic energy boom, water woes and population growth that’s 4.5 times the national average. One chapter also deals with changes in the region’s political landscape, as evidenced by the gains Democrats have made. Another, “Feeding at the Federal Trough,” focuses on how dependent the region is on federal largess. Remarkably, the report is largely the work of CC students, working under the guidance of economics professor Walt Hecox.

The report is available for $17 at the conference or $20 from the Colorado College Bookstore. More information on the report and conference can be found at www.stateoftherockies. com.