Obama Right and Wrong About Arizona Law (& "attrition through enforcement")

[pampango]

http://www.truthout.org/obama-right-and-wrong-about-arizona-law59357

The new anti-illegal immigrant law in Arizona highlights the two dueling strategies to address what is commonly regarded as a broken immigration system: comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) and "attrition through enforcement."

The responsible strategy, according to the president, would be a CIR. The centerpiece of such a reform would be a pathway to citizenship for the existing illegal immigrant population. While proponents differ on the mix, a CIR package would likely include the following components in addition to legalization: increased border security measures, biometric identification or some system of worker verification, tough immigration enforcement and a new guest-worker program.

Among liberals and CIR advocates, the Arizona law is regarded as yet another reason why the federal government needs to act quickly to pass immigration reform. But the passing of the harsh law also highlighted the seemingly unstoppable march of the attrition through enforcement agenda.

With the prospects for CIR fading - even as the new "tough but fair" version of CIR is loaded with border security, immigration enforcement and "get right with the law" provisional legalization measures - the attrition through enforcement approach to the country's immigration policy crisis has become the prevailing response.

The Arizona law is the latest manifestation of the attrition through enforcement strategy advocated by immigration restrictionists and allied conservatives. Like most nonviolent, nonvigilante strategies to address what is regarded as "mass immigration," the latest legislative initiative in Arizona did not emerge independently, but can be readily traced to the research, analysis and policy advocacy of the restrictionist policy institutes in Washington, DC. These are the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), NumbersUSA and Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).

Although all three institutes have been leading voices of the attrition through enforcement response to illegal immigration, the restrictionist think-tank CIS can be credited as being the first to articulate the logic and dimensions of this strategy. In April 2006, CIS published a policy backgrounder titled http://www.cis.org/Enforcement-IllegalPopulation">"Attrition through Enforcement: A Cost-Effective Strategy to Shrink the Illegal Population."