Senator Lindsey Graham

Alberto Gonzales is not making news when he calls the nation's immigration system broken. The current administration and other individuals and entities say the same thing about the nation's system of handling undocumented workers and families.

But, the former Attorney General, who left his post during the George W. Bush administration because of increasing tensions with Congress and some outrageously poor legal advice, such as maintaining that the Geneva Conventions' restrictions on interrogating military detainees do not apply to America's war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, has offered more opposition to talk of undoing the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

In a column for The Washington Post, Gonzales adds his voice to other conservatives who have come out against Sen. Lindsey Graham's argument that the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause should be repealed. That clause guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the country regardless of race, color or status of one's parents or ancestors. As noted by Professor Garrett Epps in a piece for The Atlantic, Graham's call for trashing the 14th Amendment, which was joined by a gaggle of other conservative senators, is all about riling voters during the midterm elections, noting that talk of constitutional amendments often crops up during election time (think Bush I's promotion of an amendment to ban flag burning, and Bush II's use of the federal marriage amendment).

Gonzales says he opposes amending the constitution because such action "should be reserved for extraordinary circumstances that we cannot address effectively through legislation or regulation. Because most undocumented workers come here to provide for themselves and their families, a constitutional amendment will not solve our immigration crisis."

He continues that an immigration policy, among other things, should "promote commerce and strengthen our economy."

For more discussion on immigration reform watch video of a discussion between Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis and the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka here. Video of a plenary panel discussion at the 2010 ACS National Convention, "Immigration Reform: Congress and the States," is here.