Losing Our Way

Note: My Grandmother on my father's side was a Russian immigrant who came here legally, learned to speak, read and write english and became a citizen. My mother was an Italian immigrant who came here legally, learned to speak read and write english and became a citizen. My father-in-law was a Cuban immigrant who came here legally, learned to read, write and speak english and became a citizen.

From IBD:
Posted 3/27/2006

Immigration: Addressing a naturalization ceremony Monday, President Bush tried to place his party back in the Lincolnian tradition. But mass protests and bombastic congressional debate may obstruct the effort.

'No one should play on people's fears or try to pit neighbors against each other," Bush told the foreign-born migrants who became citizens lawfully. "No one should pretend that immigrants are threats to America's identity because immigrants have shaped America's identity."

Abraham Lincoln also saw the human face of the issue. Those who came across our borders then also met fierce political resistance. But Lincoln saw them as a "replenishing stream." They were "flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration."

Bush continued to echo the Republicans' most celebrated figure: "No one should claim that immigrants are a burden on our economy because the work and enterprise of immigrants help sustain our economy. We should not give in to pessimism."

So begins a two-week period in which the House and Senate squabble over immigration. It might be fun to remind them that "the men who wrote that Declaration" included among the many complaints lodged against King George III that he had restricted immigration to the new land.

In those times, of course, politicians addressed the economy with more humility. People who were willing to support themselves with hard work were encouraged to seek opportunity on our soil.

The labor market, by and large, regulated itself. More to the point, it was considered self-evident that people could enter into productive labor contracts without political interference. We've traveled far from those first principles.

Modern immigration law has become encrusted with regulations and quotas — all politically motivated, all with scant consideration for the demands of the marketplace, all failing in one way or another. When the natural flow of the labor market comes into conflict with political designs, the result is widespread lawbreaking.

So do lawmakers stop to figure out how to get back into harmony with the marketplace? Or do they demagogue about all the hard-working people they've made "illegal"?

Unfortunately, as Bush sees clearly, too many Republicans have taken the line of least resistance. They've drafted legislation that would make felons of housecleaners and farm workers — and have written their legislation so sloppily that they would criminalize humanitarian acts that "assist" foreign workers.

Some GOP lawmakers even want to imprison business owners who hire noncitizens. Since when did conservative governance call for conscripting businesses to carry out social policy?

When liberal Democrats try that as, for example, a cheap way to universalize health care, Republicans are the first to seize on dangerously ambiguous verbiage embedded in their proposals.

Bad legislation, even in the formative stages, brings unintended consequences. We saw the reaction last weekend, when hundreds of thousands of the 12 million opportunity seekers who came here illegally poured into the streets in Los Angeles, San Diego and Dallas.

Their protests may well backfire, as citizens recoil from the brazen display of so many Mexican flags and properly demand that such workers assimilate into our culture. And, indeed, the issue may now be impossible to de-politicize.

It points up the wisdom of "the men who wrote that Declaration." At least they were smart enough to let the marketplace decide.