Dangerous crossing

Washington Post: Like hurricanes or locust plagues, horrific tragedies on the U.S.-Mexico border seem to come in terrible, predictable cycles. Two weeks ago, 19 people, including a 5-year-old boy, died in the back of a tractor-trailer where scores had been locked in, and deprived of air, for many hours. But this, the worst such tragedy to date, is only one of many. Over the past five years, some 2,000 others have drowned, frozen or suffocated trying to get across the Mexican border to the United States. At least 11 other people, according to Post reporters Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan, died, mostly unnoticed, within a week of the tractor-trailer accident. To see people die following their dreams is very sad, President Vicente Fox told Sullivan and Jordan.
Consular documents
He is right. While the United States is under no obligation to accept every person who wants to live in this country, our current immigration policy has long been absurd and is growing worse. Theoretically, the U.S. government sets strict limits; in practice, the U.S. economy relies on immigrants, and businesses compete for them. Knowing this, immigrants keep coming, and local authorities have no choice but to deal with them.
Last week, Montgomery County, Md., became the first Washington-area jurisdiction to decide to accept Mexican and Guatemalan consular documents as legal proof of identity. Some will criticize the county leadership for contributing to the weakening of immigration law, and they have a point. But officials in Montgomery County, and elsewhere, have no choice: If they do not accept some form of identity card from illegal immigrants, those immigrants will simply join the cash economy, living even further outside the law.