http://news.yahoo.com

IMMIGRATION ISSUES REQUIRE COOL HEADS, NOT NATIVIST RANTS
By Cynthia Tucker
Fri Jan 27, 9:02 PM ET



The Statue of Liberty gives the wrong impression. Its fabled inscription -- "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" -- is a collection of beautiful, empty words, a kind of trick welcome mat. When the tired, poor, etc. have the temerity to show up, the first thing we do is try to yank that welcome mat out from under them.

As much as we like to lay claim to our history as a nation of immigrants, the story of newcomers' assimilation is a complicated one -- a tale of gradual and uneasy accommodation. Europeans arrived on these shores desperately poor, many illiterate and unable to speak English. And many of those who did weren't quickly embraced. Seeking work or lodging, Irish immigrants were often greeted with signs that read, "No dogs or Irish allowed."

It's worth keeping that history in mind as a controversy over illegal immigration rages anew. Despite the rants of the nativists -- those who would round up all undocumented workers and ship them back, sealing our borders behind them -- the United States will survive this wave of immigrants. Indeed, we will probably be better off for their coming. Without immigrants, an aging U.S. population would be as moribund as Japan's, with little prospect of younger workers to support a huge cohort of retirees.

Edging black Americans into second place, Latinos are now the nation's largest minority group, accounting for about 14 percent of the population. And that influx has spread beyond the border states. Since 1990, there has been a tenfold increase in the number of immigrants living beyond border areas, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Does the influx of illegal immigrants create burdens? Certainly. In some communities -- especially small cities with fewer financial resources -- taxpayers are rightly frustrated by schools forced to accommodate non-English speakers, hospital emergency rooms beset by uninsured patients, and perceptions of higher crime rates. And actual crime. There are towns and cities where home-cooked methamphetamine is being replaced by "ice," a purer and more potent form of meth manufactured in Mexico and brought in by drug smugglers.

But the bigger problem may stem from the tendency of illegal immigrants to work so hard in jobs that pay so little. A huge pool of undocumented workers tends to suppress wages for low-skilled jobs, damaging the economic prospects of other menial laborers, especially low-skilled black men.

With race and class, crime and economic competition all thrown in, it's no wonder illegal immigration is such a touchy subject. It's one that desperately needs cooler heads and thoughtful leadership.

In his State of the Union speech next week, President Bush ought to address the growing backlash over illegal immigration with a dose of straightforward common sense, reminding Americans that most immigrants, including those who came here illegally, are productive and law-abiding. And he ought to own up to federal responsibilities, including providing resources to communities swamped by immigrants needing medical care, housing and education.

The president ought to make it clear as well that business owners should be harshly prosecuted for hiring undocumented workers. (To make that stick, the feds first have to institute a reliable and efficient system that allows employers to quickly check a potential employee's immigration status. That system doesn't currently exist.)

Reducing the job supply would do more to curb illegal immigration than any shortsighted policy to deny them medical or educational benefits. Of course, pointing the finger at employers would alienate one of the GOP's most reliable constituencies: business.

Equally important, Bush ought to stand up to the nativist bullies in his own party. Let's face it: Some of the backlash grows out of simple jingoism, a resentment of those who look and sound different.

Just listen to the words of U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., renowned immigrant-basher:

"I tell you that we are facing a situation, where if we don't control immigration, legal and illegal, we will eventually reach the point where it won't be what kind of a nation we are, balkanized or united, we will actually have to face the fact that we are no longer a nation at all. That is the honest to God eventual outcome of this kind of massive immigration combined with the cult of multiculturalism that permeates our society."

That sort of claptrap only inflames prejudices. The president ought to say that, too.

Cynthia Tucker is editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She can be reached by e-mail: cynthia@ajc.com.