Q&A: Chertoff's Immigration Odyssey
What do you think of the intensity of the anti amnesty rhetoric this year? Does it make it hard for you to continue pushing so hard for this bill?
I respect the strong views on different sides of the issue, and I respect my friends who strongly disagree with the bill because they don't like any possibility of regularizing the 12 million [illegal immigrants already in the country], but I have to say I respectfully think that they're wrong. I have not heard another solution. I guess nobody's claiming anymore that they really want to deport them all, what I'm hearing is what I saw [Washington Post columnist] George Will say, which is benign neglect of illegal immigrants in the hope they leave on their own. Well, what is that but silent amnesty? What does that really mean, you're going to just ignore them? Is that a cure for the problem? If it was a problem a year ago, it's still a problem today. I'd rather put these people in a visible system and then focus on the ones that aren't going to be legalized because they're criminals and have committed crimes in the U.S.
You've worked on this for months. Did you realize it was going to be such a giant commitment when you began working on this?
I've spent much more time on this piece of legislation than I ever dreamed I would spend on a piece of legislation. It's taken much more time than we ever expected.
What motivated you to get so involved?
The president asked Secretary Gutierrez and me to get involved and be much more active this year than was the case last year. I was particularly interested in making sure that whatever came out of Congress was workable—that it wasn't just an accumulation of compromises that scratched a lot of political itches but at the end of the day couldn't be made to work.
Many commentators have said President Bush wants to make reforming the immigration system a hallmark of his legacy. Is this legislative effort something you hope will be a key part of your legacy as well?
I'm always hesitant to talk about legacy. I hope that my legacy is defined by a well - functioning department. I would like to think that there would be a lot of satisfaction in accomplishing something [on the immigration issue]. Fixing a big problem in a way that maybe is not perfect but is sensible and really moves the ball forward. That seems to me to be a reward in its own self, and that's why you do these jobs. It's certainly not for the pay.
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