Coming out of the shadows: immigration reform in policy and real life.

• Author: Cote, Mike
• Position: COTE'S [colorado]

As the crowd began dispersing after the press conference, Lalo Pacheco stood in front of a television camera, offering his take in fluent Spanish on the one-year immigration study by a nonpartisan University of Denver panel.

Of the hundred or so people gathered that December morning, it's a safe bet Pacheco was among only a handful of people who could have provided such commentary for the Univision network. The DU sophomore grew up in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado among the children of Mexican families.

But neither Pacheco nor his parents are immigrants. His family arrived in Colorado several generations ago from Spain. So for Pacheco, citizenship has never been an issue as it has for some Hispanics his age who are here illegally thanks to the circumstances of their birth.

"Architecture for Immigration Reform: Fitting the Pieces of Public Policy" is the 50-page report DU panel chairman James Griesemer introduced that morning. Pacheco applauded the path to citizenship the report advocates, but said he had reservations about the document.

"It could have been more progressive and more socially based," said Pacheco, a member of DU Students for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. "More humanity, rather than just business and the United States' self interest."

Bridging those two interests--social needs versus economic needs--has proven to be such a daunting task that the United States has avoided tackling immigration reform. The DU report's 25 recommendations include employment verification, the use of national identification cards, promoting English language proficiency, unifying families and simplifying visas.

The report neither advocates a blanket amnesty for undocumented residents nor suggests booting all 12 million of them out of the country. As it acknowledges the need for securing borders it also recognizes the economic advantages of immigrant labor.

In his remarks, Griesemer talked of allowing "people to come out of the shadows." We're about to find out if we're ready to shine a light into those shadows. As ColoradoBiz went to press, an immigration reform bill was introduced in Congress. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperty Act has 80 co-sponsors including Colorado Democratic congressional representatives Jared Polis, John Salazar, Ed Perlmutter and Diana DeGette. (The nonpartisan Competitive Enterprise Institute immediately declared the bill a "mixed bag," saying its E-Verify provision would...