Immigration Reform School

Recent developments in Congress have made it very unlikely that the nation's immigration policies will be overhauled anytime soon.  First, the Senate halted the ill advised Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (the DREAM Act).  Then, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that the House of Representatives would soon begin to work a drastically reduced schedule.  The Democratically controlled Congress has not only failed to pass the legislation it committed to a year ago, it hasn't passed the minimum bills need to operate the government. 

Although an immigration policy solution is doubtful, this does necessarily prevent progress.  Reducing the influx of illegal immigrants is one of the more challenging (and expensive) tasks, and curbing the demand for cheap labor is at the core of this problem.  Since tough regulations on companies are on hold, I'm a big proponent of aggressively pursuing technology solutions in industries where manual labor is currently the predominate or desired mechanism.  One example of such an application is machinery that can harvest crops currently dependent on handpicking.

So while it's hard to achieve political solutions, technology can help with the immigration problem.  However, this tech-centric approach requires Congressional support.  As a nation, we spend tens of billions trying to curb illegal immigration, spending a fraction of this amount to address the root of the problem is certainly appropriate.  Since Congress still has not finalized the appropriation bill that would incorporate such a change, there is time to accommodate this approach.