The House passed Jim Sensenbrenner’s immigration-control bill Friday night, representing a milestone on the road to ending immigration anarchy. This the first time either house has voted for mandatory electronic verification of new hires, which they should have done 19 years ago when they banned the employment of illegals. The House also strengthened the bill with several important amendments, each getting a significant number of Democrat votes (Pelosi told her members they could vote for immigration control if they thought their rube constituents cared about that sort of thing). One added provision enhances cooperation between immigration authories and state and local cops; another mandates extension of the Israeli-style border fence; yet another requires that all security checks be completed before an alien is given a green card (so, you thought that already happened?). My personal favorite is an amendment putting the citizenship oath in statute and requiring State and DHS to inform embassies that their former citizens are now Americans and thus no longer their concern (I actually thought that one up). Finally, the House voted almost 2-1 to kill the ridiculous Visa Lottery, the first time in generations that a legal immigration category was eliminated.

The Senate won’t get to its immigration bill til at least February, and will likely include an amnesty — sorry, a “temporary” worker program. The two chambers may not be able to agree on a compromise bill, and the whole thing then would turn into a pumpkin at the end of next year. But intense public concern seems to be pushing lawmakers in the direction they should have been moving all along.