The discovery of a tractor-trailer in Victoria, Texas in May 2003 was all too familiar for Iowans. Seventeen bodies were discovered among more than 70 immigrants from Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic. Two would die later.

Only seven months earlier, a similar tragedy was discovered in Denison, where 11 decomposing bodies — four women and seven men — were discovered in a grain car that was locked from the outside. Temperatures inside the car reached a smoldering 130 degrees, and the immigrants were trapped inside for more than four months as they slowly suffocated.

Whereas the Denison incident seems forgotten by the media, and no convictions have been made, the deaths of the 19 in Texas are rightfully being avenged in court. One person has already pleaded guilty in the smuggling and three are now on trial in Houston, although each is claiming innocence. Another will be tried separately and could face the death penalty.

Two thousand people have died trying to cross the border in the last six years, according to border patrol officials. During the 2003 fiscal year, more than 300 died in attempts to find a better life in the United States. Trying and convicting those responsible for smuggling illegal immigrants is the first step in saving the lives of these people. The next is reconsidering immigration policies.

Long ago, America was the haven for those seeking freedom and improvement from poverty and oppression. The front door to this nation, the Statue of Liberty, is a permanent reminder to the country’s mission of tolerance: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

But during the 1990s, immigration problems became the focus of a government campaign to improve the “quality of life” in the United States, forgetting that these border crossers were on a mission for the same thing. With the 1996 Immigration Act, more border patrol agents were installed, and fences were put up in the most frequent crossing sites. It isn’t the Israeli wall, but it certainly isn’t a promotion of our once-open culture.

Barriers to legal immigration need to be lessened to head off the influx of dying immigrants. This does not mean pulling border patrol. U.S. borders must be secure, especially after intelligence indicated Sept. 11 hijackers came to the United States through Canada. But programs like President Bush’s temporary worker program — which would provide a legal, renewable three-year residency to foreign workers with a job or job offer — need to pass through Congress as a show of good faith that legislators are working to improve conditions for immigrants. Current immigration policy focuses on allowing in those of higher stature or research skills, but the temporary worker program would show that 12-hour, hard-labor employees are just as valued.

Let those with undesirable lifestyles seek the American dream; let them breathe free.