The frontline isn't the border

Just whom does the president think he's kidding? This idea of sending thousands of National Guard troops to patrol the southern border is, in the words of Rep. Silvestre Reyes, Democrat from El Paso, "cheap political theater." It lets Bush appear to be doing something dramatic about illegal immigrants without depriving American business of cut-rate labor.

Almost everything Bush has done about illegal immigration has been for show. Whenever public fever spikes over the issue, he beefs up the extravaganza at the border. The media run footage of peasants caught on their first or sixth try, lined up in handcuffs — and at least a few people think something's being done.

The real frontline in illegal immigration is not the border, of course, but America's workplaces. These are the factories, construction sites and restaurants that hire undocumented workers. The employers' behavior is equally illegal, but note that the bosses walk free. In his Monday night address, Bush made only vague references to enforcing employer sanctions.

There's one thing you have to say about Bush policy on immigration: It has been consistent. Whether through non-enforcement of employer sanctions or calls for temporary work permits, it ensures the continued flow of cheap labor. And whenever public anger demands a response, there's a new plan that is specifically designed to fail.

Reyes worked 26 years with the Border Patrol in South Texas. He knows firsthand the futility of a policy almost exclusively based on trying to catch people at the border. Illegal aliens understand it's all a game: Once they get past the line of defense, they can work in the United States unmolested.

It happens that Reyes has sponsored a bill, HR 98, that would effectively address the problem because it focuses on the workplace. Its principle is simple: Cut off the job magnet that lures most illegal immigrants into this country, and they won't come. As a bonus, the legislation doesn't demonize the immigrants themselves or make it look like we're at war with Mexico.

For starters, HR 98 would redesign Social Security cards, making them far harder to counterfeit. It would set up a means for employers to quickly verify the right of an applicant to work in this country. The bill has teeth, too. It would authorize 10,000 new agents to ensure that companies follow the law against hiring illegal immigrants. Employers that didn't would face serious penalties, including up to five years in jail. (Visit Reyes' Web site, www.house.gov/reyes.)

Reyes thinks it revealing that the Bush administration has found plenty of money for the picturesque display along our southern border, but not enough to send agents into the workplaces that brazenly employ illegal workers.

"I will guarantee you one thing," Reyes said to CNN's Lou Dobbs. "We pass HR 98, and within a year we're going to see the flow into this country drop by 80 percent."

He is right, and that's why the Republican leadership is basically ignoring his bill. It really doesn't want to slow the supply of cheap labor.

Reyes is frustrated that much of the public hasn't figured this out. "The Republicans control the House, they control the Senate, and they control the White House," he said in exasperation to an agreeing Dobbs. "Why haven't they been able to pass legislation that really affects illegal immigration?"

Reduce illegal border crossings by 80 percent, and the Border Patrol could then concentrate on finding criminals and terrorists. Defending the entries to the United States would become mostly a national-security concern — and not only about Mexico. The Canadian border would be seen as equally important.

Meanwhile, the states along the Mexican frontier could breathe again. They've seen the influx of illegal immigrants strain public services and increase crime. They want that stopped. At the same time, they don't want to turn their border region into a military zone. That would hamper the normal cross-border commerce that underpins their economies.

The informed public understands by now that simply putting more firepower at the border is not going to fix the illegal-immigration problem. Democrats would be smart to make Reyes their point man on immigration and support his bill. It is a rational program that doesn't involve violence, rough up poor people or treat Mexico as an enemy. Best of all, it could work.

Providence Journal columnist Froma Harrop's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is fharrop@projo.com