Ben Ray Luján may be walking into a buzz saw — but he's in good company, and in a good cause: On Tuesday he joined 86 other U.S. representatives in a renewed effort at immigration reform.

The latest bill, introduced by Illinois Democrat Luis Gutiérrez, would allow illegal immigrants to become legal ones by paying $500 fines and showing they're proficient in English. Background checks also would be required — no easy step for folks who've been living in a legal netherworld since their arrival in this country.

But if Gutiérrez, Luján and the other co-sponsors think that making immigrants jump through such hoops will make the bill more palatable to conservatives who've shot down earlier compromise legislation, they should think again: Campaigns promoting hatred and fear of immigrants have gained steam with our nation's 10 percent unemployment rate — and with hot-air fabrications of "facts" about the undesirability of people so often drawn here by jobs our populace can't be bothered doing.

The economic recession has had a double-barrel effect on immigration: Menial jobs suddenly look better to the lower-earning ranks of our less-affluent society — such jobs as there are. And word is out in Mexico: Getting a job in gringolandia isn't easy nowadays. Immigration is down — by a guesstimated 25 percent.

So if the immigration flow is down to a low roar, what better time than now to bring rationality to our nation's long-irrational behavior toward border-hopping workers?

More is needed than merely legalizing illegals, which is a good start, but one that's certain to be opposed on the grounds that it rewards lawbreakers. When the U.S. economy recovers, there'll be a need for more workers than our labor market can offer — so a guest-worker program, with steps toward citizenship, should be in place by then.

The bill backed by Northern New Mexico's Rep. Luján might have recent events on its side. Earlier amnesties for people already here were invitations to those over there to get here — quickly, in time to be legalized.

Today, to hear Homeland Security officials boast, there's a combination of border walls and "virtual" fencing to hold off the hordes perceived and dreaded by America-firsters. As for those already here, they're contributing members of society, having income-tax and Social Security withheld from their paychecks — which a vast majority receive, not the imagined greenbacks that go untaxed.

Comprehensive immigration reform could include Labor Department guidelines based on how many workers we need — an admittedly unscientific approach, but one that could go a long way toward reducing frictions with the unions. Broader reforms, however, could be talked to death in Congress; for all the arguments in favor of comprehensive reform, a step-by-step reform might have the better possibility of passage.

We salute Rep. Luján on his immigration-reform support, and wish him well once the process gets moving.