The Persecution Continues

The New York Times reports today that 270 illegal immigrants have been sentenced to five months in prison as part of "a sharp escalation in the Bush administration’s crackdown on illegal workers."

Last year, Congress was thisclose to a comprehensive package of immigration reform -- but it died, largely due to objections from the Right. They refused to compromise, killing the bill, and now they are getting everything they want -- border fences, stiffer penalties, a massive crackdown -- with none of the actual reform.

This sucks. I'm hoping either Obama or McCain will make genuine reform a priority in January -- before more immigrants wind up dead, in jail, in bleak and barren border deserts, or from the coming wave of anti-immigrant hysteria that people like Linbaugh and Lou Dobbs promote.