The Test of our Times: on Immigration

Tom Ridge: INS is ineffective; US policy is confused

By its own estimation, the capacity of the INS to keep track of the 600,000 students who entered the country on student visas was antiquated, and the results inaccurate, or worse.

Tom Ridge: New visa interview policy unwisely restricts immigration

A fundamental definition of America had changed. We had gone from the country which welcomed the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" [As the Emma Lazarus poem proclaims] to being, almost overnight, one of the world's most restrictive countries. We were trying to cut ourselves off from the world at the very time that it was proving both impossible and unwise to do so. The world had become interconnected--its commerce, its sciences, its personalities, its arts, its technology, its cultures.

Tom Ridge: No amnesty, but a path to legitimate law-abiding aliens

It is estimated we have anywhere from 10 to 14 million illegal aliens among us. It's impossible to accept the notion that this population must be identified and deported before we enact comprehensive immigration legislation.

Let's destroy the infrastructure that treats these unsuspecting illegal immigrants like chattel, indentured servants, or slaves. We should apprehend the predators, drug runners, and thieves who are here illegally, while we find a way to legitimate the presence of those who broke our laws to get here, but who have been law-abiding ever since. This does not mean guaranteeing a path to citizenship. Congress should link strong border enforcement with a biometric-based registration system for foreign workers. Common sense and technology are required, not amnesty.