GOOD NEWS, IMMIGRATION BILL FALLS IN SENATE

Good news, the immigration bill stalled last night in the Senate, probably never to be revived in this Congress. Why good news?

Because the bill was excessively harsh on immigrants, especially on Latinos and Mexicans. It would make the 12 million undocumented workers currently jump through unreasonable hoops to stay in the United States. It would make them pay at a minimum $5,000 to apply for permanent residency. Heads of households would need to return to their country of origin to make application. It would complete the hated wall between the U.S. and Mexico, much like the wall in Berlin and Israel. It would increase criminal penalties for those immigrants in the future who tried to come to the U.S. to seek work and to support their families. It would create an underclass of "temporary workers" who would be disenfranchised from any benefits of citizenship and who would be required to return home after every work period of two years.

This was a bad bill. Bad for Latino immigrants. Bad for families. Bad for Americans' sense of their own inherent generosity and magnanimity towards immigration.