History lessons of immigration

So the immigration debate has you confused and frustrated? Arnold Torres has it all figured out.

"Those of us who have done this before can see every move two steps before it's made," he told me.

It's not enough to say that the Sacramento-based political and public affairs consultant has seen this movie before. He was once cast in a starring role.

Torres' first taste of politics came shortly after graduating from college in the 1970s. That's when he went to Washington - to work first for Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., and later for Sen. John Tunney, D-Calif. Among the issues he dealt with for the lawmakers: immigration.

Within a few years, Torres was working as congressional liaison for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the nation's oldest Latino civil rights group. And in 1981, he was named the national executive director. He was 27. Among the issues that Torres worked on for LULAC: immigration.

He even had a hand in helping shape U.S. immigration policy by serving as a major player in the debate that resulted in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. That law, among others things, legalized more than 2 million immigrants. Torres testified before Congress more than 100 times, he recalls. One of his frequent sparring partners was Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, the lead sponsor of the act.

Torres warned that the bill failed to address the root cause of immigration - economic inequalities between the United States and the countries in Latin America, especially Mexico.

As long as those inequalities existed, he argued, immigrants would come whether we wanted them to or not.

Make no mistake: We want them to. Americans habitually complain about illegal immigrants, but the truth is that we'd be lost without them.

"This country has grown up with the backbone of illegal immigration," Torres said. "Every country in the world that is currently complaining about having an immigration problem at one point in history saw immigration as an opportunity to grow, expand and survive."

He isn't surprised that Americans are still having the same argument they had a quarter-century ago.

"When you have a problem that is largely an economic problem, being dealt with only in the context of an enforcement approach," he said, "you're going to miss the boat."

Torres has fashioned a comprehensive immigration reform plan with six components: security and enforcement; economic development in Mexico; a temporary worker program; permanent changes to the legal immigration system; a new focus on the U.S.-Mexico border that allows people to move freely for the economic well-being of both countries; and legal status for those illegal immigrants who've been in the United States for many years.

Since leaving Washington, Torres has built a successful consulting business, written op-ed articles for newspapers, and served as a political analyst for Univision, the Spanish-language television network. In 2006, the longtime Democrat - who developed an independent streak over the years - worked for a Republican when he headed up the Hispanic outreach effort of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Now, the one-time wunderkind is an aging veterano, one who has forgotten more about the immigration debate than most Americans know. And as far as Torres is concerned, the legislative aides who work for the lawmakers of today could benefit from a quick history lesson.

"They didn't learn from any of the things we did," he said. "That's the fundamental problem. If you don't bother to have an appreciation for what came before you, so that you don't repeat those kinds of mistakes or waste time going over certain issues that are not constructive to dialogue, what does that tell you?"

What it tells Torres is that the national debate over immigration reform is speeding down a familiar dead-end road. This time, he said, the situation is even worse than it was before.

"Back then, we knew there had to be a give-and-take because we had to fashion a solution, and I don't think that is the disposition today," he said. "Now it is truly an ideological war. You don't have problem-solvers there. You have grandstanders. You have demagogues."

If Arnold Torres is right - and on this issue, he usually is - then we also have something else: trouble.

• Ruben Navarrette's e-mail address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.

© 2010, The Washington Post Writers Group