Why is Immigration Such a Hot-Button Now?
posted at 3:43 pm on May 19, 2006 by Bryan
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There’s no denying that immigration is the main issue on the political radar right now. Some apparently find no reason for immigration’s sudden emergence. For instance Jon Henke, blogger at QandO, in a column for TCS tries his best to understand why immigration has “suddenly” come to dominate the airspace. He goes through the “threats to our way of life” argument, zips past the security argument, and never really arrives anywhere. Except to insist that the border has suddenly become an issue, and that the reason for that is mystifying. He runs through language like “nativist” and “restrictionist,” manages to leave out “racist”…but just barely, though it’s implicit in the mystery itself. Yet he never makes the case for his own position, which appears to be on the open borders bandwagon.
I’d love to hear someone from that side make a cogent argument that having open borders in the middle of a war is a good idea. And I’d love for anyone on the open borders side to acknowledge the recent history of the issue. Or to acknowledge that the previous seven amnesties since 1986 have not curbed illegal immigration, and have made it worse. And I’d love to hear the argument that rewarding illegal behavior won’t beget more illegal behavior. Many on the libertarian right are usually quick to note correctly that when government encourages a behavior by rewarding it, you usually get more of that behavior. Except when it comes to immigration. When it comes to immigration, it’s remarkable how many on the right adopt the tactics of the left–smear first, ignore the facts, engage in spin and pretend history has nothing to do with the present. They also pretend that issues–war with Iraq for the left, immigration for the open borders right–have suddenly emerged ex nihilo, when they have been building in the open for years and everyone knows it.
But back to why it’s a hot issue now. First, it hasn’t “suddenly” become a hot issue. It has been simmering for years, and 9-11 turned up the heat. The boss of this blog wrote a book about the threat that our open borders pose in 2002. That’s four years ago. It’s called Invasion, if you’ve not heard of it.
She opens that book with the same story we told in Vent the other day–two terrorists who helped fly American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon used the illegal alien fake ID trade to get the documents they needed to get on that plane. That seems to be a pretty solid connection from illegal immigration to 9-11 to me. Further, most of the other hijackers took advantage of our lax visa policies to stay here, study flight and plan mayhem long after they were legally allowed to be here.
There was, by the way, a chance long before Bush came into office to have a way to stop the terrorists using the visa process. The Clinton administration in 1999 or 2000 was contemplating tying visa expiration to legal immigrants’ drivers licenses. Had that been in place, Mohammed Atta might have been flagged and detained when he was stopped by a traffic cop in Florida on April 26, 2001. George Stephanopolous shot down the proposal to tie visas to drivers licenses, persuading President Clinton that it would amount to racial profiling. When did immigrants become a race unto themselves? This back story in the war on terrorism comes from Gerald Posner’s 2004 book Why America Slept, if you’re interested in reading up on it.
Why was the Clinton administration even considering tying visas to drivers licenses? Because there was a recognition even then that abuse of the visa process and the general immigration process was a problem. The issue ramped up after 9-11 and came to a head in 2004, so much so that that the president felt forced to say something–anything–about it two years ago. That’s when he essentially embraced amnesty for illegals, and enraged his base. The Minutemen formed up and headed to the border soon after that. The administration remained tone deaf on the issue, and remains so to this day. The president did manage to call the Minutemen “vigilantes,” though. That was in March, 2005–more than a year ago.
So why is illegal immigration such a hot button now? It’s actually very simple. First, it’s an election year and that always stokes the passions, and it’s worse this year because the tone deaf administration actually decided to tout its stance on immigration as a way to fire up the base. Well, it did fire up the base–against the administration. Slick move.
Besides the obvious fact that we’re in an election year, illegal immigration is directly tied to 9-11–pick either border, because both are relevant. 9-11 is also tied to our visa programs (which are part of the immigration process) and to the fake ID trade that flourishes thanks to having millions of illegal immigrants here who need to fool authorities for one reason or another. It’s all tied together and no one has done anything about meaningful it in five years.
But why the urgency on the southern border and not the northern border? For starters, you don’t have the Canadians openly undermining even the most basic US border security concerns. From the Canadian side you don’t have the government publishing comic books to help illegal entry and you don’t have the Canadian government threatening to sue us if we defend our own border. And the Canadians, whatever else their flaws, are actually an ally in the WOT. They’re fighting alongside our troops in Afghanistan. Mexico–well, they have been awfully quiet about al Qaeda. They have done nothing to help the war and have criticized us at every turn in it.
You don’t have an Aztlan equivalent in Canada that wants to break off a chunk of the US. Mexico is descending into chaos, as it tends to do every 60 or so years. Nuevo Laredo is a lawless badland and it’s right across the border from Laredo, TX. You don’t have shootouts between police and drug cartels on the streets of Canada; you do have them in Nuevo Laredo routinely. That lawlessness may spill over into Texas at some point. The drug trade already has. Canada and Mexico simply aren’t the same, as any fool can see. One is a first-world peer that mostly solves its own issues, the other is a Third-World problem that exports its issues to us.
Henke’s article misses most of these relevant points. In fact, it misses all of them.
Both borders and our entire immigration system need fixing. It’s a shame and a travesty that in nearly five years since 9-11 so little has been done to correct the problems that contributed to 9-11. It all needs a serious overhaul, but of the two the southern border needs fixing the most, and the most urgently.
UPDATE: Henke calls me out! Yes, John, I read your article. I just didn’t find it persuasive. And I think he’s confused on terminology–”peaceful migrants” and illegal aliens aren’t the same thing. “Peaceful migrants” do not overrun the property of law-abiding citizens by the thousands every day. Illegal aliens from south of the border do that every single day. “Peaceful migrants” do not break into your property and territory and then demand that you give them all the rights of citizenship without accepting any of the responsibilities that go along with it. Did you miss those massive marches for rights a few weeks back? Do you realize that the illegal alien population makes up about a quarter of our prison population? “Peaceful migrants” don’t live their lives in ways that undermine our basic national security. Or do you think the coyote smugglers always make sure their lucrative human cargo is from Mexico as opposed to, say, the Middle East before shuttling them into the US?
In short, what we have coming in through Mexico to the tune of about 6,000 “peaceful migrants” a day would be called a refugee crisis if were going on anywhere else in the world. We need to get our heads around that. And we need to find ways to encourage resource-rich Mexico to join the first world, which is where it belongs. One reason I supported NAFTA is that I believed it would help raise Mexico and over time its southern neighbors up to our economic level. That obviously hasn’t happened, and it won’t as long as Mexico can just keep driving its unemployed our way.
I will, however, accept that Jon didn’t mean to imply the racist charge in his article. We have been slimed with that charge often lately (right, Macranger?). I appreciate that Jon wasn’t sliming us and I retract that reference in the original post.
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“First, it hasn’t “suddenly” become a hot issue. It has been simmering for years, and 9-11 turned up the heat”
Exactly so. Americans have had this issue simmering since Reagan’s first failed amnesty plan.
I suppose it is a mixture of nativism along with the border issues, but the fact is Americans have felt as if they are losing their country for quite a while.
It was bound to come to a head eventually.
Warner Todd Huston on May 19, 2006 at 3:57 PM
It’s an issue that neither party is serious about solving and in a two-party system that creates quite the cluster.
Hoodlumman on May 19, 2006 at 4:18 PM
Annex Mexico, fire Presidente Fox, shoot the corrupt cops, send their “army” to Iran (that would wake the world up), and put everyone to work in one huge world-class burrito factory.
“Burritos n Beer” could be the name of the franchise, which would take off, and profits could cover the expenses of this third world country easily. Export burritos to Japan, call them “Mexicoburgers” and include a dvd of Mexican rap.
Oh yeah.
Part of me likes it.
clyde on May 19, 2006 at 4:23 PM
This period in history is the awakening of the Great Unwashed, and bodes ill for the intelligencia from the ruling class of the US Congress and state legislatures.
With the Senate of the United States acting more like a gaggle of junior high pre-menstrual teenyboppers, there is no wonder we peons have begun to raise our voices.
To continually insult our intelligence with such asinine suggestions as stuffing the illegal’s safe box with taxpayer Social Security payments, or the English language only diatribe that accomplished absolutely nothing. We can and will do better than these dweebs.
The only thing left to accomplish for us insolent members of the uneducated and unsophisticated class is to throw these indolent and arrogant buttheads out of office and send them to the unemployment line. We have a duty and a responsibility to save the Republic. Send them packing with extreme prejudice.
Senator, make that a double fry!
Grouper on May 19, 2006 at 4:24 PM
This has been an issue for years. The Senate has ignored it as has Bush when his ratings have plummeted whenever he brought it up previously. I quess he figures he can sell out the country to big business and Mexico now that his elections are over. I will stop funding the Republican hoax.
pat on May 19, 2006 at 4:34 PM
Since our senators so graciously granted OUR social security to ILLEGALS who worked here under FALSE PRETENSES I feel it only right that I stop paying into it. I heard South America is pretty much empty. They’re all coming here for those GREAT benefits. What an utter disaster. Thanks senators.
darwin on May 19, 2006 at 4:35 PM
Great piece, Bryan.
No wonder the Congress is so generous with our Social Security. They have their own private pension fund, no matter how crappy they do their jobs.
pistolero on May 19, 2006 at 4:44 PM
It’s always been an issue in Southern California where I live. Amazingly there was more emphasis on crackdowns on illegal immigration during the Clinton years than under Bush. One need only look at workplace enforcement arrests and fines. The best year during Clinton dwarfs the 5 years under Bush.
Still, I tend to believe that Illegal Immigration has become a bigger issue recently because its starting to spread beyond the border states, and because the Bush administration has been so negligent in its enforcement duties. Five years ago you didn’t have 25% of LA County Hospitals closing because of being forced to take care of illegals who couldn’t pay, now you do, and that is a direct result of court decisions that came to bear post 2000.
Yes there is a very real Nativist issue, but its not by Americans, its by Mexicans, need proof, just visit California State University Northridge to get a taste of it.
Its been 12 years since the GOP took control of Congress, and 5 years since its had a pretty solid lock on government, yet almost none of the reforms promised in 1994 have come to pass. At some point American citizens need to come to grips with the corruption that has permeated Congress and do something about it. The two major parties are only concerned with gaining power and tend to ignore their constituents. Term limits would help, but I think a viable third party with a general consensus of the good from both Democrat/Republican would be the best solution.
thegreatsatan on May 19, 2006 at 4:47 PM
Private citizens doing a better job on the border than the government is something no politician could stand. They had to pick up the baton or look even more inept than we think they are.
They made a lot of noise beating their chests and sounding all tough on it, then they found their wobbly legs and couldn’t even make English our official language. Hypocrits like Mike DeWine of Ohio win their primaries and head back to RINO-land.
Now on the heel of $3 a gallon gas, they renew the ban on off-shore drilling. What a bunch of Bozos, no offense intended to the clown.
Skyfrog on May 19, 2006 at 4:49 PM
A big hooyaah to Bryan!!! That was a very well written post. Thank you so much for bringing it in perspective in a concise way.
br8veheart on May 19, 2006 at 5:00 PM
I think, oddly enough, the Dubai Ports fiasco highlighted a hole in W’s national security bona fides and thereby reminded everybody how miserable he was on securing our southern border.
thirteen28 on May 19, 2006 at 5:09 PM
Violence connected to illegal drugs is something we brought upon ourselves. In a capitalist system, when you make a desired product illegal, a black market will spring up to satisfy demand. You won’t get much traction arguing that angle. The national security argument is valid, but enforcing our current laws while demand for entrance is so high is financially impossible.
The answer is to make it easier to get into the U.S. legally, for new immigrants, and to make punishment for illegal immigration stricter. You give them a channel for entrance, but insist that it be used. That’d lighten the burden on the border patrol substantially, and allow them to focus on the people who don’t use the legitimate system (likely criminals or terrorists). Oh, and you don’t let first generation immigrants have any government benefit like medicare of welfare or social security. Make it clear that we’re looking for workers, not leeches.
The other thing we need to do is get rid of the minimum wage. The minimum wage makes the hiring of immigrants at competetive wages impossible. Take away the minimum wage and let the market take care of it. Penalizing businesses for wanting to utilize cheap labor is harmful to our economy.
Mark Jaquith on May 19, 2006 at 5:11 PM
It has been an issue that was on the back burners until Bush pushed forward again, after 9/11, with amnesty and guest worker programs. It is an issue because Bush and Mexipublicans like Hagel and Martinez have made it an issue.
tommy1 on May 19, 2006 at 5:15 PM
Immigration is a strange issue in that it’s not enough for one side to be right and the other wrong, but that even *considering* it an issue, even *thinking* about it, is creepy and can only be the result of bigotry. The leads to it not even being debated, which is the open borders crowd’s most effective tactic.
Henke thinks assimilation worked in the Ellis Island era without control on the numbers, but the 1924 halt for digestion was crucial, and even prior to that the numbers went up and down in clear waves. Our current era is just one ever-growing tsunami. And he ignores the ethnic homogeneity of our current wave compared to the divided nature of the last one.
He thinks Hispanics are assimilating now, but his supportive study, a recent job currently hot among immigration boosters such as racebaiting twit Matthew Yglesias yesterday, is of Latinos born a century ago:
http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDNjYTdmNWJkMWRlODE3N2M4ZTNlMWI1OWM2ZTA0OTU=
The kids who don’t speak English, lag academically, and join gangs were born in the last twenty years (since 1986, after their parents were amenstied).
His big warrant for saying that immigration is an economic plus is a lousy $7 billion net gain. This is peanuts in a multitrillion economy. And most of that goes to the immigrants themselves, so the gain to preexisting America is even less. Finally, that figure is dwarfed by the annual costs to the welfare state and infrastructure. He argues against wage damps by saying “many studies” indicate the effect is minor. Well, “many studies” say the opposite, as do people working in industries where their salaries haven’t gone up in decades.
He doesn’t mention crime. MS-13 are mostly illegals, and entirely illegal aliens, immigrants, or an immediate generation thereof.
The point is, when you’re this clueless about the subject, you just default to the the position all of us would normally have: immigration is romantic and cool and of course we should have it. This makes people unable to understand why anyone would make a big deal out of it unless they were evil. The problem is, the emotional attachment is so strong it inhibits people from ever ceasing to be clueless.
Alex K on May 19, 2006 at 5:19 PM
I think ALL of the politicians care about securiy about as much as an elephant needs a bicycle.
Make that the Country’s security, they care greatly fo their own financial security.
It looks like we have “The best government that money can buy” because there must be SOME explaination for the actions of these traitorous idiots.
Duty, Honor, Country
(in THAT order)
Rowane
Rowane on May 19, 2006 at 5:39 PM
My apologies for sort of a double post… I posted the following in the comments section of the story about Carboro, NC allowing illegals to vote. I wanted to re-post here because this is a related and fresher news story… and I am interested in your thoughts referencing mine.
WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! The question is: How best do we?
This all makes my head ache… and I don’t get them normally.
You know, folks, there are a LOT of really strong brains here, with conviction and principle. Remember the impact the straight talk from the Swift Boat crew had during the ‘04 election?
Pick one of these hot button articles and read through the comments… pretty strong and with full, rich flavor, eh? Does it make your react? Of course it does! We need to share these with others who are not active… our friends, neighbors, workmates (the LEGAL ONES)! …Because these comments are motivating. We need to motivate the people of like minds that are inactive now. Lots of them (most?) care, but don’t stay informed.
I can remember clearly, during the Clinton nightmare years, the feeling that I was on an “island” and MUST BE the only one who could see the damage that was taking place. Of course, I wasn’t, but it was getting active and talking and sharing ideas that finally removed that notion. And then I worked really hard, just like you all did, I’ll bet. And then we won a majority that… HAS FAILED US!
We need to do it again. A damn near complete and total wardrobe change is in order. We need to USE our good minds COLLECTIVELY towards the common good we all envision. Maybe it is better stated to say it would be towards removing the common bad we all see!
There have been good ideas put forth. I like dumping the 17th Amendment… what would it take? How to get it rolling, effectively? Thoughts? Comments?
I also like the idea of these comments, from these blogs, getting assembled into a letter form and sent to every House and Senate member in Congress. Daily! Day after day, until it gets noticed! Michelle could perhaps call attention to this in appropriate venues… like “Hannity and that idiot Colmes”, Bill O’Reilly, John Gibson, Heartland, etc.. Is this not grassroots at its’ purest??? We are the constituency and our voices should be heard! Your voices are the rawest, most unadulterated appeals from the mind and heart I have ever read… America needs the opportunity to read/hear you, too!
I also think we should appeal to someone like Hannity to give TV exposure to Michelle’s Vent a couple of days back… reminding the people of how the 9-11 terrorists got their documents before flying into the Pentagon. Comments? Michelle, are you listening?
These are important items that might make a difference and we could be the catalyst. If not us, who then?
I have almost zilch for time (mom is sick with cancer and I have a wife and a biz that I run completely alone… no illegals under my roof!)… but I find the time to make comments and stay informed. Just as ALL OF YOU DO, TOO!
If we all put our heads together and give just a little piece of our time, effort, talent… focused on a common goal… what can we do to make a difference???
I would sleep better knowing I tried, and maybe even failed, but DID SOMETHING MORE than just comforted myself by sharing my observations with the rest of you.
My state has two Rhinopublicrats who are firmly clasped in the arms of the liberal hijackers that have taken over my home state. They are lounging in the power and security the libs have bestowed upon them and are actually running UNOPPOSED in November.
So I have decided to look at getting the effective message out on a national basis. I don’t know what might be the best way to proceed, but I want to try.
So this post is my food for thought for all of you… ideas? thoughts? criticisms? gears turning yet?
horsepower_1st on May 19, 2006 at 5:44 PM
Could it be the Democrats started this issue to cause Bush trouble? It seems to have come out of no where..
Brah on May 19, 2006 at 7:38 PM
NewsMax.com just sent me this Fax preview and for a fee, they will FAX it to your choice of Congress disfunctional(s). In this day of e-mail, them taking the opportunity to “sell” a complaint service to you seems pretty um… capitalistic! Their concern for doing the right thing seems to be only outpaced by their wallets.
Anyway, here is their Fax Outline. Copy it, modify it, but SEND IT to the Slacker(s) of your choosing:
RE: Oppose “Guest Worker” Amnesty for Illegal Aliens!
Dear [Congressperson]:
I’m writing to ask you to please oppose ANY “immigration bill” that includes ANY “guest worker” amnesty provisions, and to support the Sensenbrenner immigration bill that has already passed the House of Representatives.
Until the federal government is willing to enforce the immigration laws that are already on the books, Americans will be highly skeptical of any additional promises to enforce a new and deeply flawed approach.
If recent history is an accurate guide, this so-called guest worker notion would only encourage a new wave of illegal aliens and make America ’s uncontrolled and unacceptable immigration debacle even worse than it is now.
Such legislation is a bad idea not only because it creates a transparent path to amnesty, but also because it would reduce work opportunities, depress wages, and lower worker protection for Americans. Further, it would be impossible to administer and even more unlikely to be enforced.
The most important job you have to do right now is to SECURE OUR BORDER against illegal immigration. Like millions of Americans, I’m sick and tired of the “inside the beltway” politics on this issue; I will listen to NO MORE weasel words or slick excuses.
This issue is BLACK OR WHITE - there are NO “shades of gray.” We need you to pass TRUE border security legislation, such as the Sensenbrenner bill already passed by the House. Please, oppose ANY “immigration bill” that includes ANY “guest worker” amnesty provisions.
I will be watching your vote on this issue very closely.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
[ADDRESS]
[CITY], [STATE] [ZIP]
horsepower_1st on May 19, 2006 at 7:45 PM
Nothing will change as a result of the Senate’s pandering. Jorge has decided that, no matter what the Congress legislates, los federales will not enforce it.
Welcome to the third world!
MCPO Airdale on May 19, 2006 at 8:48 PM
I would urge everyone to keep the pressure on their Congresspersons and Senators every day. This guest worker amnesty must be stopped and the border must be fixed first, at all costs.
If the politicians don’t listen to the voice of the people, we must make them pay a price at the midterms.
More than ever, I believe we need a leader to step forward and organize a “third option” in time for the ‘08 elections, along with a full slate of candidates who will fix the border and enforce existing laws first, before any new laws should be even considered.
Kilo Echo 4 on May 19, 2006 at 10:32 PM
When you have members of “The Race” holding demonstrations, waving Mexican flags in the streets of US cities, and causing Tyson Foods and other businesses to shut down operations, it tends to call extra attention to the problem. Not to mention all of this was timed to coincide with an international radical leftist holiday (not that the MSM gave that point much mention).
They held 2 demonstrations in my town: Kansas City, Missouri… hardly a “border town”! (To add insult to injury, they gathered for one of them at the World War I memorial).
Speaking of the May Day “work stoppage”, why hasn’t the INS raided illegal enablers like Tyson Foods yet? Didn’t they shut down 4 or 5 of their plants so their “undocumented workers” would be free to attend the ralies? It seems to me the penalties these companies should be forced to pay would help fund a few extra miles of fence along the southern border….
Dave Shay on May 19, 2006 at 10:37 PM
BEST YET—U DA MAN
PAPA BEAR on May 19, 2006 at 10:44 PM
Please call it the UNINVITED guest worker program because that’s what it is. Here’s the Senate oath of office:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
Now, can someone tell me why on earth these senators won’t defend the Constitution and faithfully discharge their duties. I say most of them need a career change.
Mojave Mark on May 19, 2006 at 11:58 PM
ANYTHING that allows them to remain IN COUNTRY is amnesty…….
DO NOT BE DECIEVED!!
:/
VonHelton on May 20, 2006 at 10:14 AM
Come on, Folks; fess up! What really put it on the front burner was 100s of thousands of illegal aliens marching in the street waving flags from other countries, demanding rights in this country! It was ludicrously offensive. That’s what set the spark to the long-simmering, tinder-dry issue. And it’s a good thing it is now an open issue.
Myself, I didn’t care one whit about the marchers’ skin color or language; My wife is a Chinese LEGAL immigrant and is still- after 20 years- as as comfortable in her native language as in English. But she doesn’t demand government documents in her own language. And she expects to abide by the rules of her new country!
Mike O on May 20, 2006 at 12:00 PM
I agree with most here… this has always simered just below boiling point, and things like the marches and whining by the liberals finally pushed it too far.
The only problem is we all have to work to earn the money these illegal interlopers use to feed and house themselves. None of us can afford the time off from our “productive” lives to demonstrate how we feel. So we have to rely on places like the web to get some coverage. Only union members, school children, and day laborers, can afford to take the time to protest in public, since they know we’ll end up paying the bill anyway.
I think I’m going to buy my first gun soon…
Bob Mileti on May 20, 2006 at 1:36 PM
Reading about Tyson Foods brought back some memories…didn’t Hillary have some deal going with them back in her Whitewater days? On their board, they donated to Bill, something like that. Whatever it was I’m sure she had our best interests in mind.
Writing to our RINO’s doesnt do much good. They get full of themselves being part of their elite little group and don’t pay much attention to the great unwashed until campaign time. It may help some, but a RINO will ultimately stay a RINO until voted out. That we must continue to do. I just hope enough strong conservatives will appear for us to support. I’m sure we have the votes to win, as Reagan proved.
I thought I was voting for a conservative when Bush ran but he proved me wrong.
right as rain man on May 21, 2006 at 7:31 AM
It’s time. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,”
hestrold on May 21, 2006 at 11:24 PM
My thoughts
via manual trackback…
Chuck@PodunkOutpost on May 22, 2006 at 2:04 PM