Originally intended as a comment on this diary but outgrew itself... you know how it is.
It is nice to talk about welcoming everyone who wants to come here, but it is quite another to explain how we are supposed to deal with a rush of new warm bodies that we are not prepared to integrate into our economy or our society. We like to think of America as the melting pot country, but it takes years for new arrivals to adequately melt in.
People are sensitive about illegal immigration for a variety of reasons. For quite some time they have been used to this standoff:
- Bush: let's work something out so that they can all come here to get work
- GOP: let's secure our borders and deport the lot of them to the back of the line
- Democrats: let's make them all citizens so they can join unions and vote Democrat
UPDATE: I don't mean to associate "Amnesty" with the current bill. Stop accusing me of that. Read the original paragraph (below the fold) carefully. I just wanted to make an observation about the bill and then talk about "Amnesty" and why people I know are against it.
Original previous paragraph:
The recent compromise bill is certainly a surprise. But I believe people are mad only because they feel betrayed by those they thought had their best interests at heart. For now though, let me just tackle what I see as the major opposition points to Amnesty specifically (below the fold):
- I've spoken to Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Europeans who followed the official naturalization process. Many of them deeply resent the idea that Mexicans will be allowed to bypass all that simply by virtue of being able to avoid deportation long enough. It is not just redneck wingnuts who oppose Amnesty.
- Birthright citizenship has become a loophole that encourages illegals to come here and manage to have a baby who will then bypass the whole process. This is why many people support making birthright citizenship conditional on the legality of both parents (I believe this is what most of them mean even if they talk about repealing it).
- Unions in blue-collar industries have resented the influx of immigrants for years because the supply of eligible scab labor undercuts the union's ability to force employers to negotiate. I'm sure Rove likes undermining unions who vote Democrat and replacing them with immigrants who are easier to disenfranchise.
- Our economy hasn't grown fast enough to absorb this many people. The extra competition for jobs is helping to keep wages down. Any classical economist would say we should expect this. I have a fair amount of sympathy for rednecks crying "they tewk our jahbs!" because there is a decent-sized nugget of truth in it. Wage suppression is a general phenomenon -- outsourcing and H1-B visas have a similar effect on white-collar workers.
- Our society can only absorb and assimilate new citizens so fast. People tolerate enclaves like Chinatowns and such, but the southwest is starting to look more like a spanish version of Quebec. For example, in many parts of California now, fast-food chains insist on having bilingual staff in the store at all times -- so if you are a white kid in Orange County (south of Los Angeles), learn spanish or forget about a McJob. There are valid pragmatic reasons to enforce immigration quotas, even without racism or xenophobia tainting the discussion.
As for myself, I'm just a pasty white boy tech geek living near San Francisco, but I have lots of immigrant friends, and I care a lot about the Constitution and the theory of operation of our great country. I see a lot of manipulation and exploitation by the power elites to distort our "Free" Markets, "Free" Trade, and immigration policies like visas. (H1-B's are a great example of how loopholes in the law enable an exaggerated phony shortage to keep wages down. I have followed the H1-B issue for years as it directly threatens my own salary potential.)