It seems that Ed Morrissey is upset about the fact that the bill before the Senate has been scored as only reducing illegal immigration by 25%. Never mind that this is just an analysis from some academics/number-crunchers at CBO, which might bear as much relationship to reality as unicorns and the tooth fairy. The fact is that even if this estimate (or more accurately, a WAG) is accurate, it is still progress. I, for one, will take that as a good start, especially with the low-hanging fruit that is out there.

Folks, imperfection is the rule, not the exception, when one discusses legislation. This is even more true when the Democrats are running things. Passing a major piece of legislation on an emotional issue like immigration will involve a lot of give and take.

Most of the illegal immigrants that are here are not MS-13 gang members, terrorists, or other folks who we wouldn’t want here. They’re people here working, often at low-skilled jobs – landscapers, cleaning ladies, honor students, day laborers and construction workers. In other words, folks who work for a living, like the rest of us.

Furthermore, Fred Barnes points out that this bill has good features. We dump chain migration for a merit-based system, much like Australia’s. We’re also eliminating the “diversity visa” as well. The broder security measures in this bill come first. While Barnes celebrates the lack of a path to citizenship for temporary workers, I think it is a mistake. Any temporary worker who has complied with the terms of a Y visa has something that a green card applicant would not: A track record of good behavior. That should be rewarded – call it adding a carrot to comply with the terms.

Barnes also raises one other point:

The default position of conservatives is to do nothing at all on immigration. It assumes that things could be worse, and indeed will be, if any conceivable legislation passes. But immigration is not like a weak economy that will revive sooner if government doesn’t act. The immigration problem will only get worse absent reform. We have the example of the past several decades as proof.

Folks, to do nothing about the presently FUBAR situation is wrong and foolish. It is like delaying efforts to deal with a car that is burning oil. Sooner or later, you will be unable to avoid having to deal with the problem – and it will cost you much more than if you had dealt with it earlier.

This bill is not perfect – implementation will not be perfect, either. In fact, implementation would be imperfect if the immigration bill of Michelle Malkin’s wildest dreams were to be passed. ICE, the Border Patrol, and USCIS are no more immune to making colossal screw-ups than the FBI, IRS, EPA, US Fish and Wildlife Service, BATFE, OSHA, LAPD, NYPD, DEA, or any other law enforcement or government agency.

I would hesitate to greatly empower the Border Patrol, ICE or USCIS any more than I would want the BATFE, OHSA, or EPA to be greatly empowered by a Hillary Administration. I don’t think that any of those would be good for America.

Folks, we need to start somewhere with the problem. Let’s get a few steps forward, see what happens, and then figure out what else we need. It may be more Border Patrol agents. It may be that we need to set a deadline to apply for a Z visa. We may find that we may need more temporary workers – or that we need more fencing. We might even have to raise legal immigration quotas. But we need to get a start before we can figure out what else we need to do.

It is one thing to rely on a bunch of think tanks and CBO analysts, who don’t have to do things in the real world. A 25% reduction in illegal immigrants would leave the total at 9 to 15 million. Compared to our total prison population of 2.3 million, that is only 4 to 6 times as many – a far cry from the 5 to 9 times that we deal with now. That sounds like a problem that is more easy to manage to me.

So can we at least make a start on the problem? If things aren’t working, I’m willing to re-evaluate. But let’s get a start – and deal with both political realities (a Democratic Congress), and the fact that this problem has been festering for decades and is not getting better the longer we wait to do something.