The Border Hawks have a point. A just society should not turn a blind eye to massive violations of law just because Green Giant needs its beans picked or The Greenbriar needs its greens mowed. Immigrants entering the country illegally must be brought under control. And immigrants already here illegally must pay their dues.

Let’s start with the dues part. What should the dues be?

Two Years of Service at a Living Wage. One thing we know about illegal immigrants. They’re not afraid of hard work. So let’s use this crisis to create something America badly needs anyway--a hard-working National Service Corps.

How would it work? First we mandate “Blue Card Week.” All undocumented aliens must report to the passport window at the nearest Post Office, to be issued their Blue Cards.

Why will they show up? Because the Blue Card provides the only path to U.S. citizenship. And because without it, they can’t legally work.

The Blue Card mandates, at some point over the next decade, two years of duty in a National Service Corps.

What kind of duty? The army? For God’s sake--No. We don’t want to kill them, wound them or turn them into psychopaths. The Army Corps of Engineers? Maybe. The Peace Corps? Definitely. A natural disaster task force? Definitely—once FEMA’s back in competent hands.

And—a National Park Restoration Corps. Five years of Bush neglect have built up is $6.8 billion backlog of needed park repairs.

That takes care of past abuses. How do we deal with the future?

Enforce the Law on the Demand Side. As always, Bush provides a reliable guide. Do the opposite of what he does.

Militarizing the border—the threat of barbed-wire barriers, motion sensors, unmanned drones, trigger-happy high-school dropouts with lethal weapons--is a nightmare. It can’t work. The U.S. has no leverage with desperate immigrants who have nothing to lose.

Instead, enforce the law where we do have leverage--with hirers who exploit undocumented labor. Punish them with fines and felony indictments. Meanwhile, work with Mexican and Central American governments to air public education spots that tell prospective emigrants the new reality: jobs don’t exist for undocumented workers.

One Last Thing: The “Arnold” Amendment to the Constitution. As you watch our Presidential candidates perform, have you ever asked yourself, “Are these guys really the best America can do?” No, they probably aren’t, so shouldn’t we at least expand the talent pool as wide as possible? Shouldn’t Democrats endorse making naturalized citizens eligible to be President?

The Founding Fathers Thought So. Jefferson & Co. weren’t foolish enough to bar foreign-born talent from the Presidency. They said anyone who was a citizen when the Constitution was adopted could be President —as long as he was 35 years old and a resident for 15 years.

Thus they made certain Alexander Hamilton (born in Nevis in 1755) and Albert Gallatin (born in Switzerland in 1761) could be President. Had a bodybuilder come over from Austria before 1787 why yes, he could have been President, too. In fact the possibility of a foreign-born President still existed into the 1840s.

Why Bother with This Symbolic Gesture? Because symbolic gestures matter. Because it shows respect—for our own immigrant roots as well as for these indefatigable souls.
Because the spring demonstrations exposed the amazing energy behind Immigrant Pride. And because Democrats today need all the energy they can muster.