War Of Words In Immigration Debate

Protests Sweeping The Nation, Politicians And Pundits Weigh In

(CBS) 

"What's happened is every major city in close to 40 states has had spontaneous demonstrations," Richardson added. "This is bigger than the civil rights movement in the '60s. This is huge. And what this is building is enormous pressure on the congress to pass a comprehensive immigration bill. Tighten border security, more Border Patrol agents, secure the border from drugs and illegal traffic, but also a sensible legalization plan that brings the 11 million undocumented workers out of the shadows. Those that pay taxes, back taxes, speak English, pass background checks, and participate in civic affairs. What needs to happen now is the president, who's been saying the right words, needs to use his muscle on Republican legislators that right now are the basic problem."

Dobbs sees the demonstrations in a different light. "These were not spontaneous demonstrations but carefully organized and orchestrated over some time for the precise purpose, as Congressman Pete King of New York said, to intimidate the U.S. Senate," he said. "We don't see 280 million Americans in the streets with these folks. These folks obviously have their right to demonstrate, even though it's a right of citizenship. They have a right to put this issue before the American people. But we also have a responsibility to point out that half of the Hispanics in this country are dropping out of high school. Half of our African-American students are dropping out of high school. We have schools that are overcrowded. Taxpayers that are overburdened. And we have to deal with the simple fact that immigration reform cannot take place until we can control immigration."

It's an assertion that Richardson says is hard to argue with, but that doesn't resolve the underlying problems. "Lou says the right words, and I generally agree with him, but what are you going to do? Deport them? Knock on the doors of 11 million undocumented workers, many that have children that are citizens, that are in the armed forces fighting for us in Iraq and around the world. That is not practical. So what you do is create a legalization plan that might eventually lead over 11 years to permanent residency, possibly eventual citizenship, based on behavior. You have to be practical. It's a messy situation, but we've got to act because this is America. And we've got to do the right thing."