John, did you see Senator Durbin’s recent op-ed in the Chicago Tribune ?

In Chicago and beyond, we are long overdue for a fair, humane immigration system

Overwhelmed by poverty, violence and climate upheaval, many of our hemisphere’s poorest are prepared to risk their lives to reach the United States.

Smugglers promise them delivery at our southern border for $10,000 — an unimaginable sum. They borrow and promise whatever it takes to come up with it and often find they have been defrauded without any real help when they need it.

I met one of these families at the Salvation Army Reception Center in Chicago last Friday. Carlos and his wife began their trek from Venezuela on May 15. With two daughters ages 5 and 9 months, they set out on foot to reach the Texas-Mexico border. Carlos said he could no longer feed his children and feared for their safety in Venezuela, a nation so dangerous our State Department warns American travelers to avoid it. His journey was a nightmare of violence, theft and exploitation. He believed they all would die after nine nights in a Panamanian jungle. Rescued by the local military with all their money gone and their cellphones stolen, they gathered up their children and pressed on.

Six months after departing Venezuela, they finally reached our southern border. They convinced immigration officials that they feared for their lives and had a viable claim for asylum in the United States. This is the only way for families such as Carlos’ to seek safety in America. Clearing this essential hurdle places them in our immigration court system, where their fate will be decided at a future date. A final resolution could take years — as it has for thousands of families.

The families in the United States waiting for a hearing are legally barred from working for the first six months while they wait. That cruel standard is a product of restrictionist immigration laws passed in 1996 and made worse by the Trump administration. By design, the standard creates a world in which any attempt to feed your family could end up in deportation.

So they are forced to take cash jobs or create identities acceptable to would-be employers. Where do they work? A leading Chicago restaurateur told me that without undocumented workers, the restaurant industry would close. Behind the swinging doors of many of our favorite restaurants, the cleaning crews at our hotels and nursing homes, and the grounds crews keeping our front lawns and best golf courses perfect are men and women who work hard and pray their true identities will not be discovered.

Living in the shadows, they are forced to accept lower wages and poor working conditions, making things worse for all workers.

As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the author of the original DREAM Act more than 20 years ago, I have the authority to start the process to rewrite the laws that have failed us so badly. Nine years ago, I helped create the Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group of eight senators including me, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Jeff Flake, Chuck Schumer, Bob Menendez and Michael Bennet. We wrote a comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis with 68 votes. The Republican-led House refused to take it up. Even former President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security secretary admits that our border would be much more secure if our bill had become law.

Now I work in a Senate divided between 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, with 60 votes required to take up controversial measures and few Republicans willing to buck the former president. It is a political recipe for frustration and deadlock.

Many of my Republican colleagues believe that doing nothing gives them a political advantage. The specter of thousands of immigrants and the legitimate fear of drugs crossing our borders can easily be packaged into a potent campaign issue. But that approach will not solve the problem.

The clichéd phrase “a broken immigration system” now reflects the reality of a nation desperate for workers and with no orderly process to admit them. There are few viable legal immigration pathways for many in our hemisphere, even with employers willing to sponsor them. The southern border is their only option.

Here is the reality. We have 11 million unfilled jobs and more than 5 million unemployed workers. Our birthrate is not keeping pace with job creation, particularly in starting wage positions. In addition to the jobs that I mentioned earlier, there is a real need for these migrant workers on farms, dairy operations, orchards and meat processing plants. In fact, more than half of America’s farmworkers are undocumented immigrants.

So where do we go from here? First, we need an orderly process at our border. We need humane asylum and refugee programs, but we also need legal work programs for migrants and those in our nation who are undocumented. Put these workers on the books. Have them pay taxes. If they commit a serious crime, punish and deport them. Make certain any job offered to them is first offered to an American. Prioritize family unification and give those who have worked here legally for years and their families a chance to be free of the fear of deportation.

And we should never knowingly allow any dangerous person to enter or stay in our country.

There have always been voices for “ethnic purity” and in fear of “replacement.” Peddling in fear and hate, they always find a following. I am disturbed that this rhetoric has persisted throughout American immigration history. We are a nation of immigrants. Our diversity continues to give all of us a remarkable advantage over countries that aspire to ethnic exclusivity. Immigrants who are willing to literally risk their lives to come here bring with them a determined spirit that is welcome in an innovative economy.

It is long past time for us to revise our immigration system to one that is fair and forward-looking, invites the hardworking and innovative, and reflects the best values of our nation.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is a Democrat from Illinois.









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