Tackling Illegal Immigration from the Top: A Crackdown on Alleged Smuggling Operations Is a Step in the Right Direction

Los Angeles Times: When President Obama took office, his administration promised to focus immigration enforcement resources on employers rather than workers, and on dangerous criminals rather than nannies and gardeners. To that end, the government has stepped up scrutiny of companies' employment paperwork, and audits are up tenfold. At the same time, the workplace roundups popular during the George W. Bush years, which punished illegal immigrants but not the companies that were enticing them into the country with jobs, have diminished. As hopes for comprehensive immigration legislation recede, reform advocates are growing concerned about the rate at which immigrants are still being rounded up. We too are anxious about the fate of reform. But the Houston raids should accord with everyone's priorities. Cracking down on smugglers who endanger and exploit migrants is a corrective that's long overdue.