A lack of information is one of many factors preventing this nation from reaching consensus on the immigration debate.

But the University of Arizona will have the opportunity to help fill that void.

UA has been awarded a $16 million, six-year grant from the U.S. Depart-ment of Homeland Security. The money will allow UA to develop new security technologies and gather data about immigrants.

It also will enable UA to obtain basic information on immigrants: where they go, what they do and how they support the economy.

If Congress ever is to tackle the vexing comprehensive immigration reform issue, its members need solid, factual information.

UA will play a key role in that debate by providing data that is not tainted by politics. It is a crucial undertaking.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion. Tags for this post: History/Culture, Opinion-History/Culture, Opinion-History/Culture-World, page-b01, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.