The new Republican wedge issue of the moment is clearly immigration. Chapters of the Minutemen sprung up like mushrooms overnight all across the land after an original act of spontaneous generation in counties along our border with Mexico. We even have such a chapter in Herndon, Virginia, actively spying on day laborers and their hiring hall. Minutemen and their opponents faced off in demonstrations in the District, and House Republicans introduced punitive legislation. Let's take a look at what cooler heads on both Republican and Democratic sides are saying... it may surprise you.*Illegals steal jobs from native-born Americans and depress wages in general
*Illegal immigration is a Fairness issue, because the system today is not fair to those who do obey the law
*Too many of the immigrants are deliberately not assimilating, thus changing our culture
On the last point, the concern is that, without assimilation and with the constant reinforcement by new arrivals from their home countries, these immigrants could separate themselves culturally, ethnically, and linguistically from the rest of society. Any legislation on immigration must therefore address issues of cultural assimilation and patriotism.
That said, the majority of Americans are not anti-Latino as such, but they also reject any notion of keeping immigrants as a distinct, separate cultural group that never become a full member of our community. Americans suspect that many immigrants do not want to assimilate, but do in fact want to create a cultural balkanization of America. It looks to many Americans as though our immigration-assimilation system is broken. The point of our immigration system isn't to satiate labor-market demands, it is to create new Americans. To restore the system, first curb immigration and control our borders.
ANALYSIS: Antle correctly lists three main threads in conservative dialog on immigration: economic (jobs), fairness/justice, and culture. Antle ignores national security issues, and fails to examine the interest of businesses in maintaining the immigration status quo. The latter issue is the main reason the Republican Party has such a difficult time coming up with answers on immigration. Essentially, two out of three of the threads - authoritarian legalism and cultural ideology - are ready-made for Republicans, but they trip up on the business/economic issue.
Everyone across the political spectrum seems to agree that we must control our borders. But then what? I say, we should consider the European experience. Sweden. Germany, and France all had genuine labor shortages after World War II, and encouraged the immigration of foreign, often Muslim, unskilled labor. Germany and France discouraged their immigrants from becoming full citizens, even had the workers particularly wanted such status, which many did not. The result was labor unrest, strikes, even riots by the children of the unassimilated immigrants in Germany and France. Sweden, on the other hand, strictly required that all such immigrants learn Swedish and become candidates for citizenship, forcing them to assimilate. In Sweden, the result was generally peace and absorption.
America has historically had enormous influxes of immigration, with similar tensions over jobs and cultural differences. It was possible in the 1930s, for example, to go for miles through New York City and never hear English spoken or see an English-language newspaper(but the foreign food was great!). By and large, fears over the foreign cultural influence evaporated with the passage of time.
Policies which encourage round-robin immigration and the establishment of a permanent under-class, like repeated blanket amnesty or business-oriented guest-worker visas do not promote assimilation. American trade negotiations should take into consideration not only business interests with an occasional bow to human rights, but also the rights of workers in originating countries. Improved living conditions and enhanced development in the immigrants' home countries will staunch the flow of migrants and most likely increase American trade with those countries as well. And, finally, our own public education system, which has always worked successfully to Americanize the children of immigrants, will need help to continue doing that job well. That means, among other things, money to fix No Child Left Behind.
Next: Walter Tejada (Arlington) and others with immigrant background have had something to say on this issue.