Flashback: "Sen. John McCain's recovery took off when he backed away from his support of immigration reform that did not first ensure the closure of the border"
The Messy Politics of Illegal Immigration
By Victor Davis Hanson
With
the war in Iraq politically on the backburner, illegal immigration is
heating up as a campaign issue. The public wants action, and the
candidates are scrambling to react.
Sen. Hillary Clinton's sure
nomination was first questioned when she flubbed an easy debate question
about driver's licenses for illegal aliens.
Sen. John McCain's
recovery took off when he backed away from his support of immigration
reform that did not first ensure the closure of the border.
Former
Mayor Rudy Giuliani is no longer for "sanctuary cities" that shield
illegal aliens from arrest. Like former Gov. Mike Huckabee, he's now a
born-again opponent of illegal immigration.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney assures us that some illegal aliens can be deported within 90 days after he's elected.
Sen.
Barack Obama may talk of "change," but his relative fuzziness about
illegal immigration can't last forever, and at some point he will have
to offer more specific proposals.
Some time ago, supporters of
open borders lost the debate. The majority of Americans want them closed
-- now! They ignore the tired slurs like "anti-immigrant," "racist,"
"protectionist" and "nativist." And noisy May Day parades with Mexican
flags and heated rhetoric from the National Council of La Raza ("The
Race") only turn more people off.
It doesn't do any good, either, for
a Mexico City functionary to cry about how mean we are to want a secure
border with Mexico. Most Americans also tuned that out long ago.
They
know instead that Mexico cares mostly about sending north those it
won't or can't feed and house -- so it can skim off from them billions
in remittances once they arrive in the United States.
Mexico
City, of course, could reform the country's laws and economy whenever it
wants. But it changes only enough to draw in tourists or Americans
looking to buy vacation homes, not to better the lives of millions of
its mestizo poor in the heartland.
The spin masters may think
illegal immigration is an issue that pits conservative Republicans
against liberal Democrats. But it doesn't always.
Nowadays, worry
about illegal immigration is just as likely to mean that
African-Americans are terrified of racist alien gangs in Los Angeles.
Asian-Americans are frustrated that their relatives with college degrees
wait years to emigrate legally, while thousands without high-school
diplomas to the south simply break the law to enter the United States.
And
many Mexican-Americans are probably tired of being expected to defend
the indefensible of foreign nationals breaking immigration laws simply
because they may share an ethnic heritage with illegal aliens.
To
the extent Democratic candidates ignore illegal immigration, or
demonize those who worry over hundreds of thousands of new illegal
aliens each year, or talk of guest workers and amnesty before they
mention closing the borders, it is a losing issue that could alienate
millions of voters.
Democratic candidates can't really claim that
redneck racists are rushing to the border to clash with poor campesinos
just crossing to better their lives, because many poor Democrats also
resent how illegal labor drives down their own wages. It is mostly the
American poor and middle class who worry about the sudden influx of
thousands who don't speak English and often need public assistance.
But
the Republican candidates have to watch it, too. If blanket amnesty is a
losing issue, so also is mass deportation -- the practicality and
morality of which are rarely considered by those rightly calling for an
end to illegal immigration. Busing every illegal alien back to Mexico
right now might resemble the past messy partition of India and Pakistan,
and reopen the issue in a way that Democrats can legitimately exploit.
What then might an astute candidate advocate?
Close
the border now through fencing, more agents, employer sanctions,
enforcement of the law and verifiable identification. Restore faith in
the melting pot by insisting that new legal arrivals learn English and
the customs and protocols of the United States.
Explain to the
Mexican and Central American governments that using the United States to
avoid addressing internal problems -- while making easy dollars off the
backs of their own expatriate laborers -- is over.
Finally,
deport aliens who have broken the law, are not working or have just
arrived. Some illegal aliens will not like the new atmosphere of tough
enforcement and will voluntarily go back home. Others may have criminal
records or no history of employment and should leave as well.
But
many millions of law-abiding, employed illegal aliens of long residence
will wish to stay. We should allow these to remain in the United States
while they apply for citizenship -- if they are willing to learn
promptly our language and customs.
Republican candidates must
risk angering their base by ruling out mass deportation. Democrats
should support closing the border tightly and quickly -- and not cave in
to open-borders pressure groups.
Making these tough choices now
is what most voters want. The candidates of both parties in the next few
months will either adjust accordingly or lose elections.
Victor
Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution,
Stanford University, and author, most recently, of "A War Like No Other:
How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War." You can
reach him by e-mailing author@victorhanson.com.
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