Lawmakers must work up their courage and confront the issue.

Washington politicians in both political parties don't get it. In their safe districts, without threat of defeat for their inaction, they've done literally nothing about illegal immigration. The White House, tough as it is on terrorism, is inexplicably weak on the issue. Citizens are up in arms about it — literally, to the point of patrolling the borders themselves. Astonishingly, the president refers to them as vigilantes. He couldn't be more wrong.

In a vacuum, illegal immigration may become the one issue that leads the Democrats out of the political wilderness, as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano are now taking matters into their own hands. Why shouldn't they? Their borders are in chaos. The health care, education and law enforcement infrastructures in those states are being crushed like California's. As leaders, they have to act. If they can pull the rest of the Democrat Party with them, they've got a winning issue and will be seen as acting in the country's best interests.

The U.S. illegal immigrant population is estimated upward of 11 million, and we know little about them. This is a threat to our national security. After Sept.11, Republicans could have acted to secure our borders, but failed. As a result, we must assume that Middle Eastern terrorists have since entered our country illegally.

Running scared

As an insider, I am left scratching my head. I can only conclude that Republicans are afraid to risk political gains made in the last election among Hispanic voters, and are bowing to pressure from agricultural and business groups that need a labor pool. If true, the Congress and White House are trading our nation's security for political gain. We hear tired arguments that "illegal immigrants do jobs Americans won't do" which is unproven nonsense. Five percent of our work force is unemployed and taxpayers are subsidizing this unemployment with various benefits — that's why Americans won't "do those jobs."

Democrats are certainly no better, and their political calculations are just as disturbing. They want open borders and amnesty for the 11 million illegal immigrants in this country for one purpose — amnesty means citizenship, and new Democrat voters. No wonder Americans are cynical. Democrats poison the dialogue because proponents of illegal immigration label anyone arguing for secure borders as "racist," ending all serious discussion about the issue. They also refuse to distinguish legal and illegal immigration — another ridiculous stance.

A reasonable solution to illegal immigration starts with a reasonable position, and the first political party to adopt to adopt a pro-immigration, anti-illegal immigration platform will win America's favor. All who want to come here legally should be welcome. All who break the law to get here should be immediately deported, regardless of race.

Instead, all we could get out of the GOP Congress is the "Real ID Act," passed earlier this year with much consternation. The act essentially requires minimum standards for states to use in issuing identification. It also narrows circumstances for which asylum can be used to gain entrance to the U.S. This type of common sense reform should have been enacted after we were struck in New York and Washington four years ago, but it took Congress more than three years to put some teeth into how we issue identification in this country.

Flawed bill

There has been considerable discussion about the "AgJobs" bill proposed in Congress, which grants guest worker provisions to those working here illegally, but it is a badly flawed effort, not going nearly far enough in addressing border security.

Perhaps the most sensible bill being discussed currently is the Kyl-Cornyn bill, which acts as a "work and return" guest worker bill. It limits the time an immigrant may work in the United States, requires them to leave and return legally, and creates an orderly process for illegals to leave and come back legally. The legislation also calls for the Social Security Administration to issue machine-readable, fraud-proof Social Security cards; increases penalties for employers of illegal workers; authorizes 10,000 new agents over five years to investigate employers hiring illegal workers; and changes laws restricting state and local enforcement of immigration laws. Of all the proposals in the works, although not perfect, it is the best.

It is clear Congress needs to do something substantial about this crisis, before its weight collapses our societal systems, and leads to another terrorist attack. The question is, is there the courage to do what is right? So far, the answer is no.