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If Congress wants to lower the national temperature and quell the protests and bad feelings rapidly mounting across our land, they might consider listening more closely to Bill Flores when it comes to the combustible issue of immigration. The low-key Republican congressman from Central Texas offers a viable blueprint for immigration reform whose time, we believe, has come.

By getting to work on immigration reform complete with realistic remedies involving not only border security but also the 11.5 million or so people in the United States illegally Republicans can address an issue that drove President Trumps phenomenal 2016 campaign but in ways that are both humane and shrewdly pro-business.

Frankly, to let President Trump set the agenda with conflicting statements at rallies and in meetings is to allow Congress to abandon its Article I duties and responsibilities. And given that the Republican Congress has complained for several years about President Obamas federal overreach in this particular area, its high time for lawmakers to prove they offer more than campaign rhetoric.

Congressman Flores ideas, outlined in a Trib Q&A conducted by staff writers J.B. Smith and Phillip Ericksen, makes clear that a physical wall is not always practical considering the borderland terrain, yet border security is an absolute must. Expediting the processing of visas for certain trades is also a necessity, particularly for industries where workers are needed and Americans fail to fill the ranks.

Most controversially, Flores has for some time proposed a system of fines for those who came to this country illegally, even as he proposes ways to make them legal, given many of them are part of the foundation for construction, hospitality and agricultural endeavors in our state, including here in Central Texas.

And, yes, this includes a path to U.S. citizenship for the so-called Dreamers. As he told Ericksen and Smith: Look, if you take someone who was brought here when they were 2 years old and say, Now were going to ship you to Venezuela, theyd be lost. Theyre Americans. Weve educated them. Why not make Americans out of them? Legal Americans.

Some insist that Congressman Flores ideas amount to amnesty, but they need to consult a dictionary. Paying fines for long-ago offenses is not amnesty. And its important that local, state and federal governments know who these people are and ensure theyre paying taxes. And we hope this nation has not sunk to the level of imposing hardships on those who came here as innocent children.

To his credit, Flores ideas have been shaped and refined over the past few years by local folks, including business leaders as well as pastors. And when he invited comment from a mostly conservative crowd on his ideas at a town-hall meeting at Texas State Technical Colleges Waco campus last August, no one objected. Lets hope Flores can now employ his considerable influence in Washington including that from his chairmanship of the solidly conservative Republican Study Committee last session and help put this problem to rest before it rips this nation apart.

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EDITORIAL: Congressman Flores offers sane path on immigration reform - Waco Tribune-Herald