Historian Victor Davis Hanson tries once more to explain why it is so wrong to allow unfettered illegal immigration from Mexico.
Illegal immigration is again in the headlines, but the debate isn't going anywhere. Instead, all the tired controversies are again being aired.Some believe illegal immigration is a win-win bargain: An impoverished Mexico obtains crucial dollars, while job-hungry America receives industrious unskilled workers. Critics counter that millions of illegal workers undermine the sanctity of the law, and only abet a corrupt Mexican government that uses remittances to avoid needed reform.
Both sides agree that when newcomers arrive legally from Mexico in the thousands, rather than unchecked in the millions, these immigrants become among our best American citizens.
The politics are by now surreal. Those of the corporate right want cheap labor. So they join the self-interested multicultural left in politics, journalism and academia who don't mind seeing a growing presence of unassimilated and dependent constituents.
Yet rarely mentioned in the debate are the illiberal aspects of millions coming to the United States in violation of the law.
For too long the debate over illegal immigration has been demagogued on hot-button issues of economics, ethnicity and relations with Mexico. The subtext always has been that those who support open borders are somehow more caring or ethical than their purportedly insensitive opponents who wish a return to measured and legal immigration.
In fact, the opposite is true. More frequently it is an uncaring elite -- made up of both Democrats and Republicans -- that advocates not enforcing immigration laws. And it is past time for them to explain why it is moral or liberal, rather than merely convenient, to import millions outside the law to do the jobs we supposedly cannot.
Too abstract? Read the whole thing for six specific reasons.
Posted by Alan at June 11, 2005 12:38 AM