Immigration

In preparation for the arguments of the right-wing (most notably Dan Stein in todays USA Today), I have been developing a position on illegal immigration, an issue which inevitably comes up during presidential elections. Depending on your region of the U.S., this may or may not be a major issue -- however regardless of where you live, it is a national issue among politicians and has many demographic and cultural implications for the future, including issues regarding terrorism and border security, etc.

Here are a few of my preliminary thoughts:

Legal immigration is what helped form American society. As the great Bill Murray said in one of his films, our ancestors were kicked out of every respectable country in Europe! (points for naming the film) Of course the reasons for immigration are far more complex. Most scholars who study immigration are familiar with the push-pulls migration, etc...

Illegal immigration to the U.S. also occurred during the early 1900's but was often overlooked because those immigrants had the "right look." You all know what I am saying here.

Political problems associated with illegal immigration include starting life in a new country as a criminal, vulnerabilities to extortion, to organized crime, to economic exploitation by employers, and to lack of political representation, therefore being an illegal immigrant does not automatically lead to sucking the teat of the welfare state (as the nut-wing would have us believe, especially Michael Savage).

Social problems associated with illegal immigration include questionable rights to education, social services, voting, property, and even to driver's licenses and other common privileges of citizenship. Other issues include the willingness or unwillingness of new immigrants to become citizens and to participate in American civic and cultural traditions, language barriers, etc. Again, this leads to many challenges. What does scapegoating or racism do to help any of us? Does blaming really help us deal with any of these problems?

Another important issue relates to just how long immigrants stay in the U.S. Many only stay for a few years, despite the stereotype that they stay forever.

And finally, the role of the U.S. in creating poverty in Latin America, thereby creating pressures on people to move here for reasons of sheer survivial -- that is important to examine when all the politicans want to do is to blame illegal immigrants. We must help disabuse people of the notion that a supposedly "generous" USA is being exploited by the immigrants!

Here is Stein's article:

USA TODAY
August 2, 2004
Plans aren't in U.S. interest
Dan Stein

Today's debate: Illegal immigrants

Opposing view: Bush, Kerry immigration 'reforms' would badly harm the middle class.

Both President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., have unveiled remarkably similar immigration "reform" proposals that will essentially eliminate limits on the number of people settling in the USA. The Republican and Democratic plans are premised on two erroneous beliefs: Illegal immigration cannot be stopped, so we might as well let just about anybody who wants to come here do so legally. And virtually open immigration and amnesty for illegal aliens is the key to winning the growing Hispanic vote.

Both plans -- which include amnesty for up to 10 million illegal aliens, substantial increases in legal immigration, which already exceeds 1 million a year, and massive new guest-worker programs -- would signal the death knell of the middle class in America. Labor markets, public school systems and public health care, already overwhelmed by the impact of mass illegal and legal immigration, would be devastated by the proposals of the two presidential contenders.

Job growth in America, which has been robust in the past several months, as the Bush campaign repeatedly stresses, has failed to keep pace with the increase in the labor supply, as the Kerry campaign is quick to point out. As some 1.5 million new immigrants settle legally and illegally each year, immigration is a key reason we find job growth does not equal lower unemployment, and why the middle class is working harder and longer with less to show for it.

Similarly, no matter how much local communities around the country invest in new schools and teachers, because of mass immigration, they cannot keep ahead of the influx of new students. The immigration plans being proposed also would add people to the ranks of the 44 million who lack health insurance and further increase the number of jobs that don't offer coverage.

What all Americans -- including Latinos -- want is an immigration policy that puts the interests of the American people ahead of the special interests that see the policy as a pipeline for low-wage labor or a means to build a political constituency. And the recent release of the 9/11 Commission's report reminds us that our lax immigration laws continue to threaten homeland security.

Unfortunately, in "Hispandering" for votes in battleground states, both Bush and Kerry have lost sight of the interests of the middle class and the security of our country.