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As the presidential campaigns shift from intra-party primary debates to general election debates, several issues will no doubt raise their divisive heads. Among them, I am sure, will be the issue of immigration.
Sadly, it has somehow become mandatory that Republican candidates oppose any form of amnesty for illegal immigrants and instead support large-scale deportation. Even Mike Huckabee, who had very open policies as governor of Arkansas, changed his tune when he began to seek the nomination. John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, may well have a more welcoming view on immigration than some, but even if he does, he will have to keep quiet or lie about it, as he is already seen by some as “not conservative enough.”
This is a shame, and yet somehow the issue was closed and built into the Republican party’s core platform. When did this happen? Who decided that if you are conservative, you must also want to get rid of any illegal immigrants? Not only that, but, more importantly, what do they expect to happen? Has no one considered the consequences of deporting millions of our workers? Whether we like it or not, we cannot function without our workers who happen to be lacking their papers. Most (all) of our illegal immigrants come to work, and they come because we need them. If we didn’t, there would be no jobs for them, and they would have no reason to come. Some claim that illegal immigrants “steal” our jobs, as though there are 10 million legal citizens sitting around wishing for a chance to do the jobs our immigrants are doing. Are the opponents of immigration willing or even able to provide all the services which would be lost if they were gone? Apparently not, or we wouldn’t have needed them in the first place.
To be fair, there are arguments against illegal immigration. Some would say that many illegals do not pay income tax. This is true, but that is because they cannot for fear of being discovered and deported. It is also true that some of the money they make may be sent out of the country (to Mexico, mostly), but it is in our best economic interests to have a prosperous neighbor, and if immigrant workers can help pull Mexico out of its poverty, all the better.
Some detractors insist “But they are criminals, they broke the law.” This is also true, but they are only criminals in the same sense that a Chinese Christian is a criminal, or that a Cuban who speaks against the government is a criminal. If we decide to let them come freely then, presto, they are no longer criminals. During the New Hampshire debates, Mitt Romney emphasized that he fully supports legal immigration; it is illegal immigration that he opposes. If that is the case, then he should support full amnesty, because that would make more immigration legal.
I don’t think that any of this is the key, however. I think instead that, in large part, we do not like illegals because they are not like us. They speak Spanish, they eat different food, and they go to mass. We are worried that they will not assimilate and our culture will collapse. If you worry about this, don’t. Society will not fall apart; they are here now, and it hasn’t happened. They come from another culture, yes, but they will assimilate, as has every other immigrant group from the Irish to the Poles to the West Africans. Our Hispanic immigrants are friendly, hardworking, family-centered and they throw great parties. We couldn’t ask for better citizens to add to our nation.
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