Back to immigration.

Byline: The Register-Guard

President Bush will find many doors closed to him by the new Democratic majority in Congress. But he may find the portal leading to one of his top priorities - comprehensive immigration reform - waiting wide open.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that a coalition of Democratic lawmakers and Republican moderates is already working on measures that would combine tougher enforcement with a guest-worker program and legal status for many illegal immigrants, including the possibility of citizenship for those who clear specified hurdles.

That's a welcome contrast to the sham immigration reforms that Republicans pushed through before last November's election. The effort was a final, flailing attempt to keep control of Congress, and it fell flatter than a tortilla with voters.

The Times reports that lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., are crafting new legislation that would place millions of illegal immigrants on an even more direct path to citizenship than the comprehensive reforms that the Senate passed last spring.

Lawmakers may also deny funding for construction of 700 miles of fence along remote sections of the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico. In the last session, the Republican majority, with significant Democratic support, pushed through this myopic enforcement-only measure.

Ironically called the Secure Fence Act, the legislation called for construction of a $2 billion fence that would have covered little more than a third of the vast border and could probably be breached by a $125 extension ladder from Home Depot. Nor would the fence do anything to remedy the underlying problem with the nation's immigration system - the need to bolster national security while at the same time providing a steady, reliable flow of immigrant workers essential to a vibrant and growing U.S. economy.

Details of the new bill have yet to be finalized, but lawmakers should make certain it addresses all three elements of the immigration equation: a workable plan to stem the flow of illegal immigrants across the border, a realistic accommodation for the 12 million immigrants who are already here, and a higher limit on the number of visas for workers qualified in fields where there is a verifiable shortage of qualified or willing U.S. workers.

The legislation approved seven months ago by the U.S. Senate was far from perfect, but provides a good starting point for lawmakers. It called for tougher border policing and workplace verification of legal residency, along with an expansion of guest-worker programs matching immigrant workers with jobs that would otherwise go unfilled.

The Senate bill also would have made it possible for some of those already here illegally to eventually obtain legal residency. But its strategy for doing so - dividing illegal immigrants into three groups and requiring the majority of them to leave the country in order to be eligible for legal status - was arbitrary and unrealistic, designed more to gain the support of reluctant Republicans than to create workable policy.

In the wake of last November's election, lawmakers have an opportunity to enact meaningful immigration reform, one of the few domestic policy issues on which President Bush and most Democrats are likely to find common ground.

With a strong push from the White House and Democratic leaders who can no longer be ignored, Congress may finally produce the sensible, balanced and effective immigration reform that is critical to the future of this nation.