The lead article in today’s New York Times, titled “National Guard will be Deployed to Aid at Border,” describes President Obama’s decision to send 1,200 troops to the border to combat illegal drug trafficking and immigration. The moved was not announced with great fanfare but leaked through a Democratic candidate for the House in Arizona.

Predictably, Senator McCain said the deployment was inadequate, but several Democrats and Republicans rushed to take credit for the moving including the Republican Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, and her Democratic opponent, Teddy Goddard.

The article notes that President Bush had as many as 6,000 troops at the border who arrested 162,000 illegal immigrants and confiscated $69,000 and 305,000 pounds of illicit drugs.

Meanwhile, the furor over illegal immigration continues as well as the boycotts of Arizona due to their draconian law allowing police to demand the production of papers proving residency by anyone they stop for other reasons and deem suspicious.

President Obama’s action comes on the heels of a major debate in Congress over immigration reform and, in my opinion, is designed to head off demands to secure the border first. This decision may reflect political realities of the upcoming debate as well as a reaction to genuine need.

We’ll see how the situation develops. The article noted that the troops are not specifically trained to arrest people and would not do so.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration,” describes a new law signed by the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, yesterday requiring all non-citizens to carry their immigration papers with them and empowering the police to stop anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant to demand production of those papers.

The law created an immediate furor among Hispanic activist groups and even drew a negative comment from President Obama, unusual since the President does not normally take a stand on state laws. Reading between the lines, the Governor may have felt forced to sign the legislation because she is up for reelection this year. As an indication of her sentiments, she refused to take a stand on the law until she actually signed it.

Republicans, as a Party, seem very short-sighted about this issue. Their attempt to court the growing Hispanic vote is bound to fail if they continue to cater to the nativistic elements of their base. And the refusal to compromise regarding the illegal immigrant situation is unrealistic given the number of them present in our society. Even John McCain, who previously supported immigration reform, has been forced to renounce that effort and support the Arizona law due to a primary challenge from the right.

Where are the Republican leaders who are supposed to show responsibility and leadership based on both compassion and justice? Does compassionate conservatism even exist anymore?

The lead article in today’s New York Times is titled, “Obama to Push Immigration Bill as One Priority.” It describes the current administration’s plans for “policy reform” on illegal immigration.

The article shows President Obama’s faithfullness to his campaign commitments. He made promises to many Hispanic groups about tackling the controversial issue of illegal administration and make it a priority. As a result, he received substantial support, not surprising considering the Republican Party’s nativistic viewpoint in this regard.

When are people going to learn that this President means what he says? He has proceeded to address many other issues promised during the campaign as well, despite pressure from both critics and friends to go slow, to raise one issue at a time, or other tactics designed to make him back away from his word.

The issue of illegal immigration, as described in the article, carries particular poignancy because many families are being destroyed as a result of our current short-sighted system. Husbands with American wives and American children, and a steady job, are facing deportation.

And the argument about foreign workers taking jobs that could otherwise go to citizens during the current recession just shows the lack of compassion by the people who raise it. First of all, illegal immigrants generally take jobs Americans refuse such as backbreaking farm work or other “sweatshop” or demeaning labor. Secondly, we are all human beings, and we need a certain amount of empathy for the less fortunate among us.

Kudos to President Obama for refusing to be limited to one issue at a time, as his true enemies would prefer!