You know the tide has turned when even Clarence Page is calling for enforcement of immigration laws:

If ever there was a time for Mr. Jackson to play his long-standing role as black America's burr under the saddle of the corporate establishment, this was it. At a minimum, Mr. Jackson, the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus and other mainstream black leaders in both parties should be holding Mr. Fox accountable for encouraging illegal migrants from Mexico to make the often-dangerous trek toward U.S. labor markets.

American business and political leaders also need to be held accountable for what amounts to a de facto open-borders immigration policy. In 1986, when Congress and President Ronald Reagan responded with an amnesty bill, an estimated 5 million people lived in this country illegally. Three million eventually qualified for amnesty under a bill that, it was hoped, would discourage further illegal immigration. It failed. Its sanctions against employers of illegals lacked teeth. The illegal population grew again to 7 million by the mid-1990s and an estimated 11 million today.

Now Congress is considering another immigration reform bill. It has a surprisingly broad coalition of business groups, labor organizations and immigrant-rights activists supporting it. It also has a strong skeptical opposition. Judging by history, it's easy to see why.

As a first step to restore public confidence, we need to enforce laws already on the books against illegal immigrants and the employers who hire them. Experience teaches us that when Americans don't take our immigration laws seriously, no one else does either.