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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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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
But those willing to place part of the blame for Sept. 11 on the illegals
that Bush would like to place within the reach of our immigration bureaucracy are
confusing the issue. As much as we have a right to be afraid of
fundamentalists who want to destroy America, keeping out the millions who want to be part
of the American dream won't make us safer.
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
No less a figure than Daniel Pipes, the nation's leading expert on radical
Islam, predicted in a January 2000 speech that Muslim immigrants were subject to
the same process of assimilation that has changed every other immigrant group
to this country. While correctly predicting that Islamist terrorism would
grow in the coming years, Pipes said he believed future generations of American
Muslims would ultimately find a way to join the mainstream of American society.
I think Pipes is right, but there is one threat to this thesis. Writing this
week about the Bush initiative, Boston Globe and JWR columnist Jeff Jacoby pointed out
that assimilation of immigrants is directly threatened by a "corrosive
muliculturalism" that denigrates American values, and by affirmative action and
welfare policies that undermined the process by which American values were
adopted.
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.
Jonathan Tobin Archives
© 2004, Jonathan Tobin
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