Immigrants Are Everywhere
And that has many Americans anxious.
BY BRENDAN MINITER
Tuesday, April 18, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
There is no stronger advocate for sealing the borders now in Congress than Rep. Tom Tancredo. And usually he couches his arguments in the familiar terms of lost jobs, general lawlessness and the "cost" of having 11 million illegal immigrants in this country. But push hard enough--as we did when he dropped by The Wall Street Journal's offices last year--and even he will admit that deep down his concern isn't entirely with illegal immigration, but also with those who are here legally, and who are changing the face of this nation. Call this the cultural argument. And with many Americans feeling like they will soon be strangers in their own communities, it is often the unaddressed concern in this raucous debate.
A few years ago the University of Southern California published a study that reveals why immigration stirs emotions in even seemingly sleepy towns across the country. As late as 1990 California alone was the destination (not just entry point) of some 38% of all immigrants coming to this country. California, New York and Texas combined were home to 60% of the new arrivals. Today the three states are home to a little more than a third of new immigrants (those who have been here less than a decade). Over the past 16 years, newly arriving immigrants (legal and otherwise) have been spreading out across the country and ending up in surprising places--wherever there are jobs to be had. Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Virginia and even Idaho are now magnets for many new arrivals. The percentage of new immigrants in North Carolina has doubled in the past decade and a half to 2% of all new arrivals in the country.
Rep. Tancredo has managed to get himself out in front of the anxiety that this demographic change naturally creates and to do so while still winning elections. But he is somewhat of an aberration. When Pete Wilson was governor of California in the 1990s, he somehow managed to preside over the destruction of the state's Republican Party after pushing the passage of a popular initiative to block illegal immigrants from being able to use government services.
"Anti-immigration" candidates have also run for Congress in Republican-leaning districts in Arizona, California, Utah and elsewhere. But each time the "seal the border" crowd loses at the ballot box. Last year in Virginia, Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore tried beating up on illegal immigrants in a last-ditch effort to save his campaign. He lost by 6% to Democrat Tim Kaine in a state President Bush carried a year earlier by 8%. But more Republicans will try to walk Mr. Tancredo's line as immigration moves up the list of concerns for more voters.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is trying to herd cats on the issue now. But it's unlikely the effort will bolster his leadership credentials. If there is a third rail in politics today, immigration is it.
What then can be done? Perhaps the most significant contribution this Republican Congress can make is to keep stoking the economy with tax cuts. With the national unemployment rate under 5%, immigrants are clearly not sinking the economy, and most are contributing to what can rightly be called the Bush boom. But we can imagine how rancorous the debate would become if the unemployment rate rose to the level of, say, France.
From there it comes down to political leadership. There is no shortage of ideas on what to do about illegal immigration. There isn't, however, anything in the way of a consensus about how to address the broader problem of a nation that needs more workers but is also unsure of the power of its own culture to assimilate millions of new arrivals. In a nation where the definition of marriage is open for debate, where the Pledge of Allegiance can be ruled unconstitutional, and where we can't even agree that human liberty is a universal value, hiring more border agents isn't going to quell anxiety over the country being culturally adrift.
The solution is to create respect for the rule of law by making it possible for foreign workers to come here and fill the jobs the economy needs filled. Immigrants will use legal avenues to enter this country if they are open to them--even at a small cost--for the simple reason that it is more profitable to live outside the shadows than inside barrios where hustlers can take advantage of them without fear of the long arm of the law. That means vastly more work visas than the U.S. now issues, and it is why President Bush is pushing for a guest worker program.
Once immigrants are allowed to live outside of the shadows, it will be much easier for the nation to assimilate them and then target drug traffickers and others who still sneak across the border. The strongest fence is the economic opportunity of a life out in the open. It's about time this nation started using economic incentives to its advantage.
Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Tuesdays.
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