Posted: May 07, 2013 3:07 am
Loren Michael wrote:Here in the United States, opponents of immigration reform frequently talk about the dangers of rewarding people who came without authorization or the prospect that immigrants might take jobs from native-born Americans. But there is another concern about immigration that they don’t typically raise, one that you are more likely to hear from the European left than the American right: that immigration undermines the social welfare state by making voters less supportive of public spending.
The logic behind this argument is simple. Writing in the Guardian, David Goodhart contends that “if newcomers do not make some effort to join in it is harder for existing citizens to see them as part of the `imagined community’. When that happens it weakens the bonds of solidarity and in the long run erodes the ‘emotional citizenship’ required to sustain welfare states.”
The striking thing about the United States, though, is that increasing ethnic and racial diversity hasn’t dampened our public investments.
More here.
I detest the term "welfare state." It's a lie.
The single biggest issue in America's current effort to implement immigration reform is the path to citizenship that will be included for those currently in the country illegally. Propositions from the right on this are draconian to say the least, waits of up to ten years, payments of large fines and calculated taxes owing given time-in-country, and other similar measures that are equally obnoxious.
Republicans go on and on about not wanting to grant any of the 11 to 20 million illegal Latinos in America legal status because "they'll vote Democratic." They argue constantly that the Democrats have fostered illegal immigration so they could bolster their voting numbers. The thing is, Latinos do vote Democratic, but for good reasons.
it appears that Mr. Goodhart either isn't listening or he's chosen to ignore this reality.
The single biggest driver of illegal immigration in the US involves the corporate desire for cheap labor, even though it is illegal for them to hire undocumented folks.
This plays out in cities like Las Vegas, Reno, and Phoenix, where at any one time there are some 200,000 or more undocumented immigrants working in the tourism industry, mostly as chambermaids in large resort hotels and casinos. Hotel owners love it. Neither GWB's nor Obama's DOJ has made a single move against this practice, so obviously they love it too. Its been going on more than 50 years.
There appears to be no surety that the Congress can or will enact an immigration reform Bill this year. Senator Marco Rubio is flopping like a tuna over it as he tries to sell his program to those on his right and they keep telling him to stick it up his ass, as do those to his left. He's plunked himself right in the middle of a no-win situation.
Here's the thing, America has never been good at doing the immigration thing. Its immigration policies have almost always been geared to providing cheap labor for American industry and services, like lawn care and mowing and hedge trimming, or ditch digging or being a Cop in the lower east side in 1900 or a pool cleaner in Palm Springs today.
I was witness to this practice in Califonia for 3O years (circa 1940-1970) when a flood of Latinos entered the State from Mexico and went to work in the farming industry. Industrial-scale farmers even built barrios for them to live in. This was mostly a wide open practice. The government looked the other way, after all, it was good for the economy.
The US has been quick to issue work visas and green cards to skilled IT workers, again at the behest of corporations, who pay them less than their American counterparts and thus enhance their profits.
America just doesn't know how to do immigration, at least in a manner that would benefit not only people from other countries but the American nation as a whole.
Having immigrated to Canada (from the US) I found Canada's immigration policies to be far superior to America's. They actually prioritize educational achievement, learned skill sets, and personal health, which would never occur to an American immigration policymaker.
When immigration is done for all the wrong reasons and is motivated by whacko thinking, it's going to end up being a big fat mess, which is exactly what America has on its hands right now.
The proof as they say, is in the pudding.