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Jewish World Review Jan. 20, 2004 / 26 Teves, 5764 Opening the Gates By Jonathan Tobin
Backlash against Bush immigration proposal confuses fear with security
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
When President Bush announced his initiative last week that would effectively
offer a form of amnesty to illegal immigrant workers, he reignited a debate
that is as old as the republic.
The details will be endlessly debated, but it would be disingenuous to merely
assert that the backlash against his proposals is just a 21st century version
of good-old American Know Nothing-ism. The post-Sept. 11 United States is a
place where fear of the foreigner, especially Muslims, has been thoroughly
legitimized.
Not all of us have been ready to fully comprehend that the terror attacks
proved we were at war with an international, fascist, Islamist culture. But it
was not hard for most to conclude that the only proper response to the
atrocities was to further restrict the ability of foreigners to enter the country.
So it is no surprise that a lot of Americans think of the 10 million or more
people who are currently in this country illegally as not merely scofflaws but
as potential terrorists.
And that is why the harsh reaction to Bush's initiative in some quarters has
risen above the traditional nativist loathing for the newcomer. Indeed, even
within the American Jewish community, voices can be heard urging an end to this
immigrant-based community's longstanding support for immigrant rights.
New York Jewish Week editor Gary Rosenblatt seemed to echo these fears in a
column published here last week that spoke of
support for immigration as one based in "nostalgia and political correctness."
For those who share this view, the recent influx of Muslims who have,
Rosenblatt said, "negative feelings about Jews and Israel" may cause us to "help
lead a move to block, not shut," America's "open door."
A THROWBACK TO PROHIBITION
If anything, the rigidity of our current system has helped create a chaotic
situation that can potentially allow terrorists into our country. The notion
that we can prevent future attacks by making it hard on poor people who come
here to do the jobs that Americans are uninterested in doing is farcical. Current
law has drastically restricted legal immigration to this country. And in the
best tradition of market economics, this has created a situation where the law
is routinely flouted.
As Tamar Jacoby of the Manhattan Institute think tank has written, the
virtual logjam on legal migration has led to a situation that is analogous to the
prohibition-era ban on liquor. And just as organized crime filled the needs of
thirsty Americans in the 1920s, so have immigrants come to this country to fill
the need in our economy for low-paying manual laborers. We cannot extinguish
the demand for their services, which they are so eager to perform.
Some insist that the only answer is better law enforcement. Various polls
tell us that 80 percent or more Americans want not only the illegals amnestied,
but deported. Even if that were possible — and it is not — pouring more
resources into the cat-and-mouse games going on along the California and Texas
borders will not enhance our security. In fact, even under our current policy, the
emphasis on enforcement of unenforceable laws has undermined our security.
As Jacoby has written, "Instead of devoting their time to hunting terrorists,
the border patrol is tied up chasing busboys."
Most of the other canards about immigrants — legal or illegal — are easily
dismissed. Immigrants are not taking jobs away from Americans. They are doing
jobs Americans don't want. The overwhelming majority of them are hardworking
people who have often braved hardships to get here, and want nothing more than
to better their lives and those of their children.
Our borders are not being flooded by hordes of Al Qaeda operatives; they are
swarming with people who are responding to the same call of freedom and
opportunity that brought most of us here. The current tide of illegal immigration is
a function of American prosperity no less than the unrestricted immigration
of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was.
And for all of the talk about the unique danger from Muslims, the truth is,
most Muslim and Arab immigrants are following the same pattern of immigrant
behavior that Eastern European Jews did 100 years ago. Worries about support from
them for Islamist radicals is not unfounded, but if you substitute the word
socialist for Islamist, you'll find that the same sort of thing was said about
Jewish immigrants.
Is the analogy off-base? I don't think so.
ASSIMILATION IS THE ANSWER
He fears that if this is now a country where the ideal is no longer a unified
America, where despite our differences we consider ourselves part of one
nation, then immigrants will become stuck in ethnic ghettos rather than being
welcomed into every sphere of society, as Jews have ultimately been.
Those who care about defending immigration need to think seriously about
these concerns rather than merely dismiss them.
The xenophobic sentiments that have always fueled anti-immigrant rhetoric
have not vanished. But just as it is wrong to confuse legitimate security
concerns with a foolhardy opposition to immigration, we must also oppose those
trends that will hamper the natural tendency for immigrants to become part of our
American democracy.
Bush's decision to ease the burden on newcomers is a move in the right
direction, but unless we preserve the society they wish to join, we will all be the
losers in the long run.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. Let him know what you think by clicking here. In June, Mr. Tobin won first places honors in the American Jewish Press Association's Louis Rapaport Award for Excellence in Commentary as well as the Philadelphia Press Association's Media Award for top weekly columnist. Both competitions were for articles written in the year 2002.
© 2004, Jonathan Tobin | ||||||||||
