President-Elect Obama’s pick to be secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Arizona Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, has received media praise for being a “centrist,” while the facts about her record as a policymaker continue to be overlooked. But don’t be fooled by the hype. Gov. Napolitano talks tough, but her record of immigration enforcement is weak. While she may sound pro-enforcement, her policies reflect a pro-amnesty agenda.

One of the big bonuses Democrats enjoyed this year was a surge of support among Hispanic voters, a surge larger than the party would have dared to dream of just a couple of years ago.

Now, one of the biggest questions Democrats face is whether hardening attitudes toward immigration, aggravated by hard economic times and rising unemployment, will push the party down paths that could undercut that Hispanic support, much as hardening rhetoric undermined Hispanic support for Republicans in the past two years.

Specifically, a bill to give the kids of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

Sen. Richard Lugar has been a longtime and consistent supporter of such an approach, but intense – and often ugly – emotions have blocked it.

The U.S. routinely awards green cards to more than a million legal immigrants each year. They play by the rules, and together with those who have come before them, now comprise the largest legal immigrant population in U.S. history. But to sustain this generous legal immigration policy, we must put an end to illegal immigration.

The solution is simple: enforce current law.

Farmers would have an easier and cheaper time securing foreign guest workers under pending Bush administration rules.

The controversial changes to the so-called H-2A guest-worker program could cut wages and speed worker recruitment. They also would relax requirements for providing foreign workers with housing and transportation.

"The Department of Labor is going to weaken oversight and enforcement," Bruce Goldstein, the executive director of the Farmworker Justice Fund, charged Wednesday.

"Congress is leaning toward a guest worker-type program as one means of addressing illegal immigration, 1st District Congressman John Sullivan said Friday at a Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce breakfast."

One of the proposals being looked at is a card for those who want to work here that would be good for, let's say, three to five years," Sullivan said. "There'd be some sort of biometric identification and a background check to make sure they're not a criminal. They'd be able to work here, and they'd also pay taxes...."

Something unorthodox occurred on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The House Republican leadership began pushing a “discharge petition” — a procedural maneuver designed to force a floor vote — on a piece of Democratic legislation. The bill in question is the SAVE Act, authored by freshmen Congressman Heath Shuler (D., N.C.). As written, the SAVE Act’s most notable provisions would add 8,000 border-patrol agents, and within four years mandate that businesses use a government program to verify the legal citizenship of all employees...

... Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.), backed by her leaders, filed the discharge petition calling for a vote on the Shuler bill, which would add 8,000 border guards to the federal payroll, expedite the deportation of illegal immigrants and expand an existing database for employers to check the eligibility of a potential worker. ...

Minority Whip Roy Blunt , R-Mo., said he expects about 100 Republicans to sign the petition by Rep. Thelma Drake , R-Va., which seeks to bring to the House floor border enforcement legislation introduced by Rep. Heath Shuler , D-N.C. Shuler’s bill has 141 cosponsors — 93 Republicans and 48 Democrats. But it is not clear how many Democrats will sign the discharge petition. The petition represents a direct challenge to their party’s leaders, who have not embraced Shuler’s bill.