Immigration & Assimilation

As I drove my almost 6-year old son home from karate practice, we saw a march of what looked like junior or high school students, waving Mexican flags (no American flags in sight). Jason asked me what’s happening, and I was at a loss for words or, at least, any I would say in front of him.

Peggy Noonan’s essay at Wall Street Journal that I distributed last night struck the chord:

It’s not fear about ‘them.’ It’s anxiety about us. It’s the broad public knowledge, or intuition, in America, that we are not assimilating our immigrants patriotically. And if you don’t do that, you’ll lose it all.

My wife is born in Germany, and my son is completely bi-lingual. The San Diego Union-Tribune featured a photo of him last July 4 holding the American flag at a pancake breakfast. He is “assimilated”, as they say, and multi-cultural. That night we attended a citizenship naturalization celebration dinner for an immigrant from Colombia, the room decked in Stars & Stripes. Nothing less should be acceptable.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s lead editorial today addresses the Spanish talk radio that turned out hundreds of thousands of Mexican immigrants to demonstrate:

More power to them. There's a lot of work to do. And there's plenty of room at the table for those who want to make a positive contribution to our politics, our society and our world. But that requires doing much more than simply pumping up the volume and turning out street protests. It's not just about demanding more rights. It's about owning up to one's responsibilities.

These disc jockeys and dozens like them in cities around the country – from Seattle to Des Moines to Charlotte – obviously have the ear of legions of Latino immigrants and their children. So what are they going to do with it? Here's what they should do – urge people to get involved in their children's education, become U.S. citizens, learn English, and be law-abiding and productive members of society. And that's just for starters.

George Will lists the other reasons many Americans are concerned:

[C]ontrol belongs at the top of the agenda, for four reasons. First, control of borders is an essential attribute of sovereignty. Second, current conditions along the border mock the rule of law. Third, large rallies by immigrants, many of them here illegally, protesting more stringent control of immigration reveal that many immigrants have, alas, assimilated: They have acquired the entitlement mentality spawned by America's welfare state, asserting an entitlement to exemption from the laws of the society they invited themselves into. Fourth, giving Americans a sense that borders are controlled is a prerequisite for calm consideration of what policy that control should serve.

And, Will still supports the leading immigration bill working its way through the Senate.

Another credibly conservative commentator whose views are favorable weighs in at Red State blog:

As promised, I have taken some time to read over the Secure American and Orderly Immigration Act (variously referred to herein and elsewhere as the McCain-Kennedy Immigration Bill, S. 1033, or "SAOI"), and I have come to a very simple conclusion: despite the demonization of this bill as a "soft on immigration" "amnesty proposal," this bill is neither of those things. It's not a perfect bill (no bill is), but it's a surprisingly good one, and the Republican Senators who voted it out of Committee absolutely do not deserve to treatment they have received in some quarters of the conservative blogosphere.
With regards to illegal immigrants, the SAOI does the following important things (among others):
1. Requires the Commissioner of Social Security to set up a national electronic database to verify the legal status of all employees. (Sections 402 and 403, generally). The demands for this system are detailed, and leave the Commissioner with very little discretion.
2. Employers must affirmatively verify that every employee is legally entitled to work in this country. Failure to do so subjects the employers to double civil penalties (Section 406), and also subjects them for criminal penalties of up to five years. (Section 701(m)(1)).
3. No illegal immigrants who were not residents as of May 2005 are eligible to obtain nonimmigrant status under the bill. (Section 701(b)(1)).
4. Those who wish to obtain nonimmigrant status are required to pay a $1,000 fine, get a background check, and leave after six years. (Section 701(i)(3)(A)).
5. Those who wish to stay after the six year period must pay an additional $1,000, pay their back taxes, learn English, undergo a health exam, and educate themselves in American history and civics. (Section 702).
All in all this bill addresses most of the concerns associated with illegal immigration in a very practical way.

I haven’t read the bill, just the sketchy and opinionated news stories.

What I have to say at this point is that unless the assimilation agenda is addressed in a major way, all the rest is a sham and more harmful than any external security or public budget concerns.