Obama hits the right balance as he restarts immigration-reform efforts

ANOTHER harvest has started without immigration reform, but at least the first harvest of President Obama's administration will not end without a redoubled effort to bring some reason to U.S. immigration policy.

Thursday, Obama met with members of Congress to lay out a strategy for finally bringing about comprehensive reform despite the virulent demagoguery and ugly debate it no doubt will revive.

In his comments after the meeting, Obama outlined a wise approach. Reform should increase enforcement at borders and should crack down on employers who knowingly hire workers who are not in the United States legally. But as importantly, reform should take responsibility for the decades of laxity and lack of enforcement that fostered an underground economy for workers without legal resident status — workers who have become critical to the success of the agriculture, construction and hospitality industries, among many others.

Congressional leaders are committed to re-engaging the debate, but the Obama administration already has started tackling some challenges administratively. Among them is the Federal Bureau of Investigation clearing up the backlog of immigration background checks. And the Department of Homeland Security has been devising ways to crack down on employers, something that Secretary Janet Napolitano began to do when she was Arizona's governor.

But Obama also made clear reform must find a way to "recognize and legalize" the status of undocumented workers that already are here.

"I'm confident if we enter into this with the notion that this is a nation of laws that have to be observed and this is a nation of immigrants," he said, "then we're going to create a stronger nation for our children and our grandchildren."

Obama has been aggressive in his first months as president. This effort is no less bold but it remains long overdue.