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Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly recently defended his Border Patrol and Immigration officers against congressional complaints that they were being too aggressive.

If lawmakers do not like the laws theyve passed and we are charged to enforce, then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws. Secretary Kelly was absolutely right.

Anecdotes abound about immigration officials treating visitors rudely and arbitrarily at borders. At least 5,000 undocumented persons with no criminal record, including mothers, students and veterans, have been deported this year. Attorney General Jeff Sessions preferred adjective to describe all undocumented immigrants has hardened from illegal to criminal.

None of this is the fault of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol. Yes, individual agents and their supervisors should be held accountable for how they execute their job responsibilities, but their agencies do not control the policies they must carry out.

Immigration is a complicated issue. Tens of millions live in the U.S. without proper documentation. Children who only know themselves as American live under the threat of exile to a foreign country. Entire industries, including the food supply chain, depend on immigrant workers. The best universities in the world develop skills that are drained away to benefit other nations.

Ultra-nationalists have used the nations failure to comprehensively address immigration as an excuse for dehumanizing non-white non-Europeans. Xenophobic language and impossible campaign promises are morphing into federal policy.

House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., responded to Secretary Kelly by pointing out that Democrats are frustrated by the current administrations immigration policies, but are unable to change laws because they dont currently control Congress. Democratic whining moves the nation no closer to fixing a broken system.

Almost four years ago, the U.S. Senate passed a bi-partisan reform proposal that would have addressed immigration laws, undocumented residents and border security. Republicans in the House have refused to debate it.

The truth is that we American voters are responsible for our immigration mess. We allow employers to treat undocumented workers as little more than slaves. We turn our backs on desperate refugees. We fail to realize that those being demonized are actually our neighbors and friends.

Voters can fix the mess by turning out any lawmaker who does not demonstrate the courage and skill that can make comprehensive immigration reform happen.

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Immigration reform is the job of lawmakers, not enforcers | Editorials ... - Idaho Mountain Express and Guide