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ISSUE GUIDES: Immigration

CONSIDER THE CHOICES

 

PERSPECTIVES IN BRIEF

Honoring our commitment to newcomers
Cutting back to preserve our security and culture
Cutting back in response to economic realities

The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we've never had cause to regret that. It's part of what makes us different from so many more narrow, authoritarian societies, and it's what makes us strong. So we have a special obligation to welcome newcomers. U. S. immigration policy must reflect our ideals, our humanitarian concern and our commitment to the plight of refugees worldwide. Besides, the United States benefits from immigration. Hard-working immigrants start businesses, create jobs, and help the economy grow. Culturally, immigrants enrich America with their arts, traditions, and languages. The U.S. has always gained more by immigration than we've lost and there's no reason to think that will change.
We need to control immigration to secure our borders and protect our unity. September 11th showed how our immigration policies have failed to keep criminals and terrorists out of the country. Millions of people have evaded our immigration laws and the government has no idea whether any of them pose a threat to us. In addition, the recent wave of immigration has brought increasing pressure to accommodate immigrants by accepting bilingualism. We should honor diversity, but not at the cost of breaking the bonds of cohesion: common ideals, a common language, and common political institutions that hold the nation together.
The first concern should be theeconomic cost imposed by the huge influx of immigrants and their effects on wages and jobs. The fact is that we need to educateand employ the people already here before we can worry about paying for the education, welfare,and health care of hundreds of thousands of newcomers each year. Plus, the burden isn't spread evenly; most immigrants settle in big cities and Sun Belt states. We should restrict the number of newcomers and look more closely at how their arrival affects us. The immigrants we do accept should either have jobs waiting here or have the skills to support themselves.The nations first obligation is to protect the welfare and well being of those who are already American citizens.

PERSPECTIVES IN DETAIL

Honoring our commitment to newcomers
Cutting back to preserve our security and culture
Cutting back in response to economic realities


What should be done?

  • Maintain legal immigration at current levels.
  • Ensure that all legal immigrants get the benefits that come with citizenship.
  • Use amnesty programs and guest worker visas to give illegal immigrants who hold down jobs away to become legal residents.
  • Continue to be a refuge for individuals who face political oppression in their home countries.
  • Let people keep their native languages and customs if they choose to do so.
  • Tighten visa requirements. Increase funding to improve border security, upgrade computers and hire immigration agents.
  • Sharply reduce legal immigration, including student and work visas. Accept only as many immigrants as can be checked out by authorities.
  • Reform bilingual education and require immigrant students to learn English as quickly as possible.
  • Deport immigrants who commit crimes in the U.S. and pursue illegal immigrants more aggressively.
  • Cut the total number of legal immigrants.
  • Accept immigrants only if they can support themselves here. Favor newcomers who either have useful skills or who are willing to take jobs Americans don't want.
  • Require sponsors of legal immigrants to earn substantially more than poverty-level wages.
  • Grant political asylum only to individuals who can prove that they face persecution.


    • Arguments For This Approach

  • On balance, the cultural and economic benefits we get from immigrants more than outweigh the short-term costs.
  • Simple decency ought to require us to take in people fleeing political and social persecution.
  • Immigrants are highly motivated people who contribute to the economy with their entrepreneurial activity and hard work.
  • The concerns about language and culture are overblown. We've always had ethnic neighborhoods and people who cling to their home language. America has coped with this before and we can do so again.
  • In an age of terrorism, we cannot allow lax immigration policy that allows terrorists to enter the country unchallenged.
  • We can't keep allowing more immigrants in than the authorities can check out, or more than we can integrate into society.
  • Most countries insist that immigrants enter the cultural mainstream by learning their language.
  • If trends continue, English will no longer be our common language. Without a common language, the U.S. will fracture into separate cultures.
  • The influx of immigrants is straining public schools, hospitals and other services in the states that get more than their share of newcomers.There's only so much we can afford to do.
  • Many Americans are struggling economically. The government should not make things worse by inviting millions of immigrants to compete for jobs.
  • Providing immigrants with generous public services turns America into a magnet for the world's poor.
  • We should take care of American citizens first -- in public services, jobs and education.


    • Arguments Against This Approach

  • Our first obligation is to provide jobs and social services for people already living in this country. We cannot afford to help everyone who wants to come.
  • In the past, large waves of immigration were followed by periods where the rules were tightened up. We need a breathing space to absorb the immigrants we already have.
  • September 11th shows that we need better border security. We shouldn't let anyone in this country unless we know who they are and where they're going to be.
  • Amnesty programs reward people for breaking the law. That's not only a bad precedent, it's also an insult to the many immigrants who followed the rules and went through the red tape to get here legally.
  • Historically, there have always been dire predictions that immigrants are too different and won't integrate into society. They were wrong before and they're wrong now.
  • Experience shows that while some first generation immigrants don't master English, the second generation is almost always fluent and Americanized.
  • This favors white Europeans and excludes the rest of the world.
  • This punishes the vast majority of immigrants, who only want a better life, out of fear of a few radicals and terrorists.
  • Immigrants open businesses, create jobs, and bring needed skills to U.S. companies.
  • Relatively few immigrants receive public assistance.
  • Legal immigrants pay taxes. They ought to be able to benefit from the public services their taxes pay for, just like any other taxpayer.
  • Many immigrants are working in menial low-wage jobs that native-born Americans shun. They're not depriving anyone of work.


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