The immigration debate is once more dominating the news as members of Congress target the long-neglected problem of fixing our’s failed immigration laws. Yankee lawmakers are now at a critical point. Tripled the quantity of agents on the border, quintupled the budget, hardened our enforcement methods and heavily fortified urban entry points. Yet in the same period of time, America saw record levels of illegal immigration, porous borders, a cottage industry made for smugglers and document forgers and sad deaths in our deserts. We must learn from our mistakes, not repeat them. What we need is comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that deals smartly with the reckoned 11,000,000 undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S. Voters and lawful residents or employees holding roles that Americans don’t need.

John McCain, R-Ariz, Sen. It mixes toughness with fairness, making a new non permanent visa program that provides a legal flow of employees.

In addition, reducing the decade-long backlog in family-based immigration would reunite families quicker and make it doubtful that folks would cross the border unlawfully to be with their family. Congress and the administration must act wisely as they weigh their choices. We have had enough’quick fixes’ that have made an already infeasible system worse. We won’t control our borders -, or augment our traditional security -, till we enact total immigration reform. Deborah Notkin is president of the Yank Immigration Barristers organisation. - NU.