Illegal? Sure, like Tony Soprano

At first, with the blank screen, I thought my cable blew out. When I realized that was the ending, I was disappointed. But later, after it sunk in, I knew it was perfect. It was glorious.

The Sopranos was always many stories in one: about good and evil; the trade-off between our values and ambitions; the reality that lurks behind any definition of the "American Dream"; the seething conflicts that make up our diverse culture. The academics will be feeding off of it for years to come.

But one theme was always explicit. That a huge number of Americans, even a majority, have only a limited commitment to the rule of law. That is the case in America today, and the final episode nailed it.

How appropriate, how brilliant, that the episode should be shown right after the defeat of Immigration reform in the Senate. The parallels are blinding. Tony Soprano was only able to thrive because he was providing a service that people wanted. Everyone knew he was a criminal. He could have been "neutralized" by the criminal justice system. It would have taken time and money, of course, but it would have happened.

But then what? David Chase was saying that the system was in place for the next Tony Soprano. And we don't have a criminal justice system that can prevent that. Why not? Because crime at the Sopranos level only succeeds because of public support. Never openly. While individual criminals may be brought to justice, our own communities have a built-in structure that accommodates criminal commerce from top to bottom. We live among those people. Their children play with our kids on the soccer team.

The "illegal" twelve million or so aliens that have settled in our country over the past few decades are not invisible. Their employers know who they are. And we continue to go to the restaurants where they clean the tables.

The law was last changed in 1986. But since then, no one was preventing Congress from putting money into a genuine enforcement of the immigration laws. But that can never be done at the border alone. It demands the criminal prosecution of employers who accept and even recruit illegal aliens throughout the entire country.

It is clear that the politicians who demonstrate their "outrage" over anything that even suggests amnesty have an immigration policy of their own. In two words: do nothing!

They don't want to change a thing.

Some of those interviewed have said that it's better to defeat this bill than to accept one that is this "flawed".

That's a lie. Their policy is to defeat any immigration reform at all.

We may lock up Tony Soprano. But we'll all be ready when AJ's gang supplies hijacked designer jeans for the chains at the mall.

Premature (one hopes) Lament for Lost Immigration Reform 2007

It is undisputed that there will be no genuine reform of the immigration system unless Congress creates a politically viable solution for processing the over twelve million undocumented aliens now living in this country. Last year I proposed, in a newswire article, that one possible answer is the creation of individual accounts for those aliens who have resided here and have broken no other law than to enter the country illegally. These accounts would set a dollar amount on unpaid taxes and entitlements issued, and eventual citizenship would depend upon repayment of the debt.

I think this is still a workable solution, but it needs the cooperation of the Mexican and other country-of-origin governments to succeed. Specifically, those countries can sequester the assets of any of their citizens who are currently living in the United States and wish to become American citizens. The assets can then be applied toward payment of the alien's personal debt. Of course, the alien should have the right to refuse this, but that would still mean that he or she cannot be granted American citizenship until the debt is repaid.


I believe that such assets may be larger than one would think, since it may include inherited property.


However, this is only my personal take on an idea that others have suggested. And it looked, for awhile, that Congress would be willing to create some form of repayment system or fine to pave the way for eventual citizenship.


But now it looks like that chance is gone.


If anything, it seems that conservatives in his own party feel so betrayed by President Bush that they might kill immigration reform solely to deny him a political victory.


If that happens, I'll examine another approach which is likely to be even more painful.