Thread: IMMIGRATION ISSUES REQUIRE COOL HEADS, NOT NATIVIST RANTS

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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.

Europeans arrived on these shores desperately poor, many illiterate and unable to speak English. And many of those who did weren't quickly embraced.

Thank you, Brian, for posting this. I'm going to be drafting a reply to Ms. Tucker later, but I wanted to point out a few thoughts.

First, the immigrants from Ellis Island are different from those who come to our shores today. Ms. Tucker should know this but instead wants to heap condemnation on those in this country who understand the difference and oppose open borders.

This country was built by immigrants. We all know that. What Ms. Tucker needs to understand is that our history also reflects limitations with immigrant groups. Some, such as the Chinese, came and formed their own "Chinatowns" but yet the Naturalization Act of 1870 prevented a mass influx of Chinese immigrants and halted the growth of separatist communities.

Not so with today's immigrants. Now we have millions of undocumented people flooding into our country. Not hundreds of thousands - millions. To say this places a burden on cities and communities around our country is like saying Niagra Falls is a nice bubbling brook.

Secondly, language is a huge issue. The Chinese learned English, as did the Germans, the Italians, and the Polish. Schools were not forced to teach a second language and as a result, the children of these immigrants rapidly assimilated into their new home country. The European immigrants especially, did not consider their former homelands to still be "home" in their households. They were "Americans" and proud to adopt that name.

Now we have people from Latin American countries flying their own flag above our Stars and Stripes. Why wouldn't we as citizens find this offensive?

Nativist rants? Oh, Ms. Tucker, I'm just getting started.

AmericanGal wrote:
Nativist rants? Oh, Ms. Tucker, I'm just getting started.

Me, too, AmericanGal. I am fed up with this whole illegal immigration invasion in our country and I am at the boiling point. I think it's what is going to have to happen to see something REALLY be done!

I don't know, but I suspect that some of you may be as old as I am. I went to grade school in the 1950's. I didn't realize it at the time because even the high percentage of Polish and Italian kids I went to school with spoke English, even when many of their parents had thick accents, but apparently there was controversy then about immigrants.

I say that because in 1960, I participated in a play about immigrants called "I Lift My Lamp (Beside the Golden Door)" It was more or less a tribute to the Statue Of Liberty. Does anyone remember? I'm going to go look this up and satisfy my curiosity if I ever get caught up with what I need to to first.

Now, with regard to this article. I've seen many similar articles lately. The keyword to me is ILLEGAL as opposed to legal. The people who came here then came legally and many came by invitation. Most now just come, therein lies the difference.

I don't recall my parents bad mouthing any particular nationality or spewing hatred against anyone.

My sisters claim they were called "shanty Irish" in school back during the depression but our parents are at least fifth generation Americans and one great grandmother was full blooded Iroquois. None can remember anyone they ever attended school with who spoke any language other than English in school. Some of our elderly neighbors were Polish and German, and about half the town where I grew up was Italian and many of the older people had thick accents but they spoke English. If I were to say to them, "How do you say _____ in Polish," they would tell me, yet their children were forbidden to learn their parents' native tounge in an attempt not to confuse them. I think that was wise parenting, presonally.

Today, people expect us to cripple our school system to teach in two languages and I can tell you that all it does is confuse ALL the kids and hold them ALL back.

And yet MORE claptrap from Cynthia Tucker...I've read her bleeding heart articles before. She seems to think that the bad poetry on the statue is or should be our immigration policy...welcome all...from anywhere...for any reason...I submit that if we did that there would be standing room only for anyone.

This immigration debate is not new...it's been going on for over a century...and for a long time the only immigrants that the US accepted were europeans...peoples of the same backgrounds and religions as those folks already here.

There is no nation anywhere that wasn't begun by immigration simply because during the early centuries most people were nomadic...being run from point a to point b via war and desolation.

We're one of the few countries in the world who are still allowing immigration...I am sure that I don't see all that benefit to our nation by changing our language, etc. And...we're NOT an aging population...that is if they would stop sending our young men to war and killing them off. We'd have many many thousands of young families if we could minus viet nam..etc...

Gosh, there is so much that she states in that article...most of it not worth mentioning...but I, too, am sick of this crap. I predict that if they keep shoving illegal immigration..the needs of people from other counties...down our throats they're going to see a backlash such as they've never dreamed of.

O...somebody take a chisel and erase that stupid poetry off the statue. Fill it up with mortar...anything, but get RID of it.

RR

welcome all...from anywhere...for any reason...I submit that if we did that there would be standing room only for anyone.

But the fact remains that those people were welcomed by the government as LEGAL immigrants at a time when they actually did need people to fill jobs. That is NOT the case now.

cynthia@ajc.com
here I come

If you follow the link to the Yahoo story there is a "discuss" button at the bottom of the story. Some of the fine points made here could be made there as well and might even be more productive there because it may be more of an opportunity to educate the uninformed. I added some stuff there earlier as "major electric" and noticed that somebody didn't really agree with me, but haven't had time to read his comments real throughly or respond. If you haven't posted there you do, I believe, need a Yahoo ID, but I think those are easy to set-up.

How many people here want to come with me and take down that stupid poem inside the Statue of Liberty, and transport it to the Smithsonian Institution? It was written 120 years ago for Pete's sake, America and the world are are entirely different now!