President Barack Obama has recently stated he is too busy with other things to give attention to immigration reform. But prompt and substantial reform is needed. Much of the conflict we suffer over immigration is consequent to ineffective laws and inadequate enforcement.

The blatant lack of enforcement frustrates my sense of fairness and decency. A judge told me he has given up notifying federal agents when he is about to release an individual whom he knows to be in the country illegally. Not once has any federal agent arrived to take the illegal into custody. Police have told me of handing an illegal alien over to federal authorities after having discovered his status while arresting for a criminal act. Then they picked up the same individual a few weeks later for the same offense.

Our immigration policies and procedures are failing miserably. Illegally aliens are getting into the country daily and many operate here for years without ever being apprehended. At the same time, many legal immigrants are held in suspicion and being treated unfairly although they meet every legal requirement. We can’t tell if existing laws are to blame until we actually enforce them.

The need for substantial immigration reform is at the critical stage. Such reform must be reasonable, realistic, and fair to be effective. It must be morally right more than politically correct. It must be economically and socially effective more than politically convenient or advantageous.

There are so many known illegal aliens in this country now and so many have been here for so long, we are in over our heads. It would be impossible to correct all the errors we have already made. So, I don’t know how any reform can be successful without a reasonable amount of amnesty. If the government were able to identify every illegal here, it would tie up federal courts for years to process them. If deportation were successfully authorized for them all, it would take years more just to transport them back to countries of origin.

Yet, we dare not grant amnesty to every person here illegally. Among them, there is sure to be many dangerous criminals whom we cannot endure.

A popular suggestion is to offer amnesty to any illegal alien who will self-identify within a stipulated period. At least a legal status would then be offered to each unless disqualified by some major factor such as a felony conviction. An alternative would be to deport most who identify themselves but grant preference for their admissions application. Following this period, every remaining illegal alien would be deported with only an administrative hearing, and every new illegal entry would so be deported immediately. Both groups would be permanently denied future legal status.

While there is much to be said for such a radical procedure, I suspect we would find it too ungainly to operate fairly.

The nonsense term “undocumented worker” is invalid also because it presumes they are, in fact, workers. Worse is the fact most are, in fact, “documented.” They are over-documented with any number of fake and forged documents. We need to develop effective methods of making valid documents secure and recognize false documents.

I know of a man arrested with a stolen Social Security number. When this number was run through the federal system, they found 12 people in various parts of the country using the same number. At least eleven are false, but I wonder what the income tax bill is for the one person to whom the number was actually issued.

I think we have a major problem with employers who know — or could know if they wished to know — they have hired illegal aliens. I feel they need to be held accountable for whom they hire. Of course, the documentation problem needs to be solved before this can be done fairly.

So, what should be the nature and extent of immigration reform? I don’t know. I am observing and here comment, but those whose job it is to propose such reform need to work on it full-time.

The president needs to pay attention. Our part comes in voting for those who will.