The US Senate’s second rejection of the “grand bargain” on immigration finally put a gravely wounded plan out of its misery. Few expect a comparably ambitious proposal to surface again before 2009. It might be better if it never did. The chief flaw in a proposal with many to boast of was that it tried to do too much.

The architects of the grand bargain correctly saw the issue as falling into three main parts. First, tighten security at and behind the border to discourage future illegal immigration. Second, resolve the status of 12m or more illegal immigrants. Third, make entry easier for new foreign workers to live and work in the US. One could quarrel with the bill’s proposals under each heading, but what killed it was the promise to secure the border: nobody believed it. As a result, the second part, which critics call “amnesty” (despite fines and other sanctions), could not be presented as a once-and-for-all expedient.