Mr. Berlusconi's latest proposal sounds draconian: he advocates that no immigrant be allowed to enter Italy until he or she secures a job and a work permit.
Protected immigrants are allowed to work legally and cannot be detained or deported.
I can't say for certain what his gesture meant, but it seemed to me: whether or not immigrants are allowed from now on is a moot point.
"If the current abuse of illegal immigrants is allowed to continue," he writes, "the United States soon won't have to import a foreign peasantry.
Spain, with a unemployment rate of 15.5percentt, has adopted a similar program, but immigrants are allowed to reclaim their residency and work visas after three years.
During his tenure, extensive environmental legislation passed to protect the Chesapeake Bay, gay marriage was legalized, the minimum wage was raised, the death penalty was abolished and undocumented immigrants were allowed to receive driver's licenses.
In 2006 George Bush said he would end a policy known as "catch and release", whereby illegal immigrants were allowed to go free after being caught because so many of them failed to turn up for subsequent court proceedings.
Crucially, it would also lift the limits on how many immigrants are allowed in from each country, which has meant that citizens of populous countries like India end up waiting far longer than others.
Dozens of Haitians and African-Americans, led by Representative Carrie P. Meek, Democrat of Florida, waved placards reading "Equal Justice for Haitians" and demanded that the immigrants be allowed to stay.
WILLIAM FINNEGAN: I think you're right — those politicians and voters who want to see "lawbreakers punished" won't be persuaded by any hurdles the Obama administration places between illegal immigrants and citizenship if and when the immigrants are allowed to come in from the cold.
