In recent months, the national debate on illegal immigration has reached a level of intensity that has lead some pundits to predict the issue will rival gay marriage or abortion in sheer controversy. Georgetown students should take a reasoned stand on this issue and not fall back on a knee-jerk partisan response. Despite the urgency of the immigration problem, neither the outspoken conservative viewpoint nor the silence of the left provide solutions; rather, immigration can become a true consensus issue.
It is hard to deny there is a crisis of illegal immigration; it is harder to prove that this immigration has a negative effect on the U.S. economy or culture. Due to heavy restrictions on visas-only 5000 workers are allowed to cross legally every year-immigrants flood illegally over our porous, sandy southern border to find jobs. Arizona and New Mexico have declared states of emergency, and now the speaker of the California Assembly is calling for a similar declaration there. Vigilante groups like the Minutemen have declared the border their turf, and make the crossing more dangerous for the Border Patrol and illegals alike.
In reality, illegal immigrants aren’t hurting the American economy. The four states most affected-California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico-maintain normal unemployment rates, indicating that jobs are not being lost to these workers. Despite the constant rumors that illegal immigrants are a burden on America’s entitlement programs, many illegals in fact pay billions of dollars into Medicare and Social Security programs through payroll taxes, benefits that they can never claim.
The real threat here isn’t the problem of illegal immigration but rather the threat these unauthorized border crossings represent. Our weakened borders provide an opportunity for terrorists to cross into our country. The other threat is that of increased crime from immigrants involved with Mexico’s drug cartels. What is needed is a comprehensive approach, one that unites a pragmatic, tolerant-even sympathetic-approach towards illegal immigrants looking for a job with an effective stance against threats to our country’s security. Even better, creating the former will make it easier to establish the latter. Once immigrants are able to register with our government, Homeland Security will be able to focus on the true dangers along the border.
Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) have proposed legislation that creates a graduated program towards citizenship that begins with a fine while providing a reasonable increase in funding towards border security. This pragmatic approach is unloved on both the far right and left, but the fact that it could work should outweigh extremist positions. At the end of the day, xenophobia and racism seem to be the main causes of groundless anti-immigrant rhetoric. It is a rare time when a contentious issue can be answered with reasoned public policy: We should celebrate it.
