The defeat of the Dream Act in the lame-duck session slams the lid for this Congress on any meaningful repair of the immigration system, but that should not be the end of it for President Obama and his administration, The New York Times said in an editorial. Excerpt: Obama's strategy of doubling-down on border and workplace enforcement to gain support for legalizing some undocumented immigrants has failed. And the next Congress will be harsher on immigration than this one. But if Obama really feels the passion and disappointment he expressed about steps like the Dream Act, he will not be helpless. He has an array of options to make piecemeal repairs to a system that everyone admits is broken. The Dream Act was the sort of idea both sides of the immigration fight should embrace. It would have given a few hundred thousand young people a chance to better themselves and contribute to this country as soldiers and college students. But it was too much for a hard-line minority in Congress, and it was killed by filibustering Republicans who want no legalization ever. He can halt deportations of students who would have qualified for the Dream Act, under the time-honored practice of deferred action for those who pose no threat. He can have the Labor Department redouble efforts to expose wage-and-hour violations endemic in the immigrant workplace. __
