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In the spirit of the political season, with a nod of appreciation to Charles Dickens, I offer up an immigration version of "A Christmas Carol."

U.S. Rep. Ebenezer Scrooge last week successfully pushed an enforcement-only immigration reform bill through the House of Representatives.

The bill, which requires Senate approval, would authorize construction of a dual fence along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, make undocumented immigrants felons, require employers to verify legal status of workers and impose stricter penalties on employers who hire illegal workers.

On the eve of Christmas Eve, Mr. Scrooge went to his clean home and well-tended children. The maid and gardener, an undocumented immigrant couple from Guatemala, and his illegal Salvadoran nanny had gone home disappointed. Mr. Scrooge had not given them a Christmas bonus.

In the night, Mr. Scrooge awoke to a voice. It was Dominic Rossi, the Italian-born ghost of immigration past. The ghost took him to America 100 years earlier.

People were arriving in large numbers. They wore tattered clothes and spoke foreign languages. Their skin was olive or dark.

"Who are these people?" asked a disdainful Mr. Scrooge.

"They are your forefathers," Rossi told him. "They are poor, uneducated immigrants, chased away by crushing poverty and political indifference in their home countries, and attracted by visions of a better life here. I was one of them."

The ghost escorted Mr. Scrooge across the country, where they saw scores of legal and illegal immigrants building the country, mining and tilling the earth, attending religious services, educating their children and becoming U.S. citizens.

Mr. Scrooge heard Americans scorn the newcomers and blame them for times gone sour. He saw Congress pass laws restricting immigrants' entry. He witnessed border agents forcibly return Mexican immigrants and their American-born children to Mexico.

He hung his head in shame. "I can not believe the immigrants were treated this way," he said.

"They were," said the ghost as he bid Mr. Scrooge goodbye.

Before long, a second ghost — the ghost of immigration present — appeared. He was Juan Gonzalez, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, who took Mr. Scrooge to the Southern Arizona desert.

There, Mr. Scrooge saw undocumented immigrants dying of thirst. He saw Americans waving flags, signs and guns, demanding that a wall be built and calling the illegal border crossers terrorists and criminals.

"But they're not terrorists or criminals," said a now-adamant Mr. Scrooge. "They're hungry people looking for work."

"I know," Gonzalez agreed. "I was one of them."

And then the ghost departed.

As Mr. Scrooge pondered all he had seen, there appeared the ghost of immigration future, Haipeng Wu, a Chinese woman living illegally in the U.S. on an expired visa.

The two glided over the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, now lined with a 12-foot double fence equipped with electronic sensors and guarded by soldiers. Mr. Scrooge watched in horror as the soldiers shot water cannons at border crossers who tried to climb over.

They passed over the coastlines, where Mr. Scrooge watched small boats crowded with desperate people try to reach the shore. He spied small airplanes, carrying far more people than allowed, landing on clandestine inland airstrips.

Up north, along the U.S.-Canadian border, Mr. Scrooge saw people crossing on foot, some dying in the dead of winter.

"Is this what will become of us?" he asked his guide.

"Sadly, yes," said the ghost of immigration future.

"Tell me what I can do to prevent it," begged Mr. Scrooge.

The ghost thought for a minute.

"Pass a comprehensive immigration plan that allows people to work here legally and humanely," she said. "Persuade the U.S. government and foreign companies to improve economic conditions in the immigrants' home countries so they will not be so desperate to leave. And treat undocumented people with the dignity all humans deserve."

"Yes, I will," promised Mr. Scrooge. And the third ghost vanished.

In the morning, a revitalized Mr. Scrooge awoke as a new man, with a new outlook.

Wherever he goes on Christmas Day, Mr. Scrooge will be heard to offer this heartfelt wish: "Goodwill and peace, to all people on Earth."