Obama’s executive amnesty is not “reform.” It’s capitulation in the face of mass lawlessness at the behest of wealthy business and ethnic lobbies looking to avoid the constitutional process and expand the open borders agenda.

Congress has already passed seven amnesties for 6 million illegal immigrants, massively expanded legal visas, and now we have another 12 million illegal workers. Obama’s executive action simply perpetuates what we’ve already done. It reforms nothing.

Our immigration system is not “broken.” We accept over a million legal immigrants each year without problems. What’s broken is the federal government’s willingness to enforce existing laws. The key to effective enforcement is to take away the jobs magnet by passing mandatory E-Verify.

We don’t need more drones at the border or mass deportations.

So what do we do with the illegal population already here? First of all, recognize that we are a constitutional democracy, in which Congress passes the laws and the president executes them.

We have just had an election in which the people have expressed their opinion on a variety of matters, including immigration. Both red states and blue states repudiated candidates and legislation supporting Obama’s immigration policies. Allow the president and Congress to work together to craft a solution.

Reaching consensus is maddeningly slow, but it is the constitutional process. We are not a banana republic.

And what might an alternative solution look like?

We need to face reality. The threat of deportation is silly. Our courts are overwhelmed. And there’s no way we could prosecute employers or illegal immigrants for years of tax evasion, document fraud and identity theft.

If Americans commit these felonies, they face serious penalties. And while it offends one’s sense of “blind justice,” we need to face reality and extend amnesty again. They won’t be prosecuted. But neither do we need to reward everyone with American citizenship.

We could issue work permits, allowing the millions already here to keep their current jobs. But they shouldn’t get the same benefits as legal immigrants who respected our laws, like citizenship, access to welfare programs, or the opportunity to compete with American workers and legal immigrants for the better paid jobs.

The greatest travesty of Obama’s executive action is that by legalizing the illegal immigrant population, freeing them to leave their current jobs, he is swamping the labor markets of American workers in the better paid industries: construction, manufacturing, etc.

After decades of stagnant wages and 18 million Americans looking for full-time work today, American families should be our first priority.

There are many ways to reform our immigration system besides another legalization scheme that harms American workers and undermines respect for government and the rule of law.

If the president insists on legalization by executive action, Congress should resist. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, Reps. Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree should vote for a short term spending bill that withholds funding for Obama’s executive action and requires him to negotiate true immigration reform in good faith with the next Congress.

He’s going to have to listen and compromise.

It is a complex emotional issue. Let’s work piece by piece. There are multiple areas of bipartisan consensus: mandatory E-verify, the entry-exit system, more highly skilled, fewer less skilled workers, ending the visa lottery, etc., but all those specific reforms were held hostage by Obama’s uncompromising crusade demanding another blanket amnesty for the illegal population.

Jonette Christian of Holden is one of the founding members of Mainers for Sensible Immigration Policy.