We’re not the betting kind, but here’s a sure thing: Congress will not fix the immigration system this year.

Or ever.

Ask anyone and they will bend your ear about everything that’s wrong with immigration. The border is a 1,954-mile-long sieve, they will say. Illegal immigrants have more rights than legal citizens, they will say. The availability of fake documents makes it easy for an illegal immigrant to get a job, they will say.

The list of grievances goes on.

And yet Congress, the 535 people in the U.S. who do can something about it, refuses to lift a finger to fix the many easily recognizable problems.

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

Here’s the reason. For all of their chatter about immigration, members of Congress prefer complaining over fixing. With this being an election year, it’s especially important that Congress do nothing to fix immigration.

If a sane immigration system were put in place, what would the candidates for Congress and the presidency have to talk about? The weather?

Even efforts at partial fixes to the immigration system have been tossed aside. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2023 was a good-faith effort to fix the H-2A guestworker program for farmworkers. It would establish a certified agricultural worker status that would allow them to be employed in agriculture, including dairies, and ultimately to receive a green card.

So where did that legislation, called HR 4319, go in Congress? Approximately nowhere. The speaker of the House referred it to four committees, almost guaranteeing it will get no attention.

HR 4319 is not perfect. Neither are the other bills that have been introduced during the past two decades, but they all have received the same lack of action. Even if the House passes a bill like HR 4319, you can bet the Senate will torpedo it.

It’s been said that immigration reform is a third rail in Congress. No one in either party wants to touch it for fear of fixing a problem and taking it away from those who prefer to complain.

Which brings us to a lack of courage found among many members of Congress. They are so busy running for reelection that they dare not stick their necks out to fix a problem like immigration.

Ironically, these folks are the same ones who will crow about all they do for their constituents when running for office.

The next time a candidate shows up for a town hall or other meeting, ask him or her what they have done to fix the immigration system. Ask what they have done to fix the H-2A guestworker system. Ask what they have done help farmers, orchardists and dairy operators find help, either for harvest or year around.

And then listen for the silence, or the complaints about the other party. Or the fancy footwork they use to avoid answering the question.

What you won’t hear is a practical way to fix the immigration system and the H-2A guestworker system.

You can bet on it.